Cited: .A Long Way Gone.Beah, Ishmael. A Long Way Gone Memoirs of a boy soldier. New York: Sarah Crichton Books, 2007.…
In today’s society, a majority of people would say that a scenario like the holocaust would be impossible; some say that the holocaust never even existed. Philosopher George Santayana once said, “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.”(George, 1). Because of the denial of society today, situations similar to the Holocaust have been repeated. Even today, there are acts of genocide happening in Bosnia, Rwanda, and Darfur (Modern, 1).…
In the middle of the 20th century the biggest and the most known genocide known as the holocaust took place which had very severe affect on this world. By definition a genocide is a “considered massacre or killing of an enormous group of people particularly those of a specific group or country”. There are several other types of cases of genocides which have took place throughout the history. An other example of a genocide that has occurred is the Bosnian Herzegovina genocide. There are some similarities and some differences in these two totally unlike events.…
During and before WW2, a great tragedy occurred: The Holocaust. The Holocaust was a systemised genocide orchestrated by the Nazis and targeted at the Jews, Roma, and other “Undesirables”. An interesting fact is that Germany was a diverse, scientifically advanced country, so how were the Nazi able to take over with all of their talk of “it was all the Jews’ fault” propaganda and racism? It’s an interesting collection of facts, but while researching them, I discovered something that made me sick. Genocides still happen to this day!…
The term genocide was not coined until 1943 when Raphael Lamkin used it to describe the Nazi reign in Europe (ROD notes). Genocide refers to the systematic destruction of a racial or cultural group. Two examples of this are the Holocaust and the Rape of Nanking. The Holocaust deals with the Nazi’s takeover of Europe during World War II, and the Rape of Nanking is the Japanese invasion of China in the late 1930’s. These events in history serve a painful reminder of the cruelest depths of human nature, but also of the possibilities that lie within every catastrophe.…
Shaw argues that studies on genocide have concentrated too heavily on the specific perpetrators and victims with regard to intentions and identities respectively. Instead, he wants to propose that the crime of genocide should be understood within the structure of conflict situations. The most important aspect of genocide studies from the point of view of politics is that the concept of genocide must be clarified, Shaw believes that scholarship should provide this elucidation. By returning to the original definition proposed by Lemkin, the focus is more generally on attacks by the armed against the unarmed. Shaw states that “Lemkin invented ‘genocide’ because he wanted to describe – and highlight for countervailing action – a general class of violent actions.” Taking lessons from one of the most influential studies on war by Carl von Clausewitz, Shaw sees genocide as a form of war directed against civilians. Debates about genocide have certainly advanced since the introduction of the term, yet, Shaw feels these debates from the 1940s onwards have lost two very key aspects of the original concept. In agreement with Lemkin the omission of cultural genocide or social destruction meaning not just physically but a way of life and how genocide relates to war are vital in understanding the nature of the crime. He argues that “Genocide always involves physical violence but it involves many other things as well. Defining genocide by killing misses the social aims that lie behind it. Genocide involves mass killing but it is much more than mass killing.” Similar to some of the arguments made by Claudia Card in relation to the inclusion of cultural genocide, Shaw’s assertion that genocide must be viewed in the context of war provides a valuable framework for understanding the particular violence against civilians. The use of word civilians here is important for Shaw, rather than the UN Genocide…
History has been no stranger to the multitude of genocides and mass killings in countries all over the world and for various reasons. There are infinite ways to narrate the occurrence of these atrocities; however, they are most frequently characterized as either purposive or illness narratives determined by the culture that is creating the retelling of these experiences. Genocide can be defined as "the deliberate killing of a large group of people, especially those of a particular ethnic group or nation;" therefore to neglect the impact of culture in the created narrative depicting these atrocities would be deemed ignorant, primarily due to the fact that genocide and mass killings…
Genocide is a world issue that can only be stopped if we acknowledge, learn, and never…
Genocide is a human choice. It is the deliberate killing of a large group of people, especially those of a particular ethnic group or nation. Genocide is the result of hate, prejudices, hate language and the individuals or society’s choice to do nothing. After the devastating horrors of the Holocaust were exposed, the slogan of the time by the United Nations became “never again” (document B).The knowledge of the atrocities done to the Jewish people outraged members and produced this well intended ideal. The UN General Assembly of the time define genocide as “acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national ethnic, racial or religious group.” But the history of the twentieth…
In the article “The Charge: Genocide” by Lydia Polgreen and “Armed & Underage” by Jeffrey Gettleman, a claim that could be made is No real justice is being done for the people. So, Even though people responsible are undergoing investigation, children are still being forced to fight for their government and people are still being threatened by genocide. Including , According to “Armed & Underage” by Jeffrey Gettleman it states, “While the number of conflicts involving child soldiers has dropped since 2004 from 27 to 15, human-rights experts estimate that more than 200,000 children worldwide are still being used as combatants, usually against their will. And it isn't just boys: Girls are often pressed into duty as cooks or messengers. Many are…
9. Ward Churchill, A Little Matter of Genocide (San Francisco, 1997), 144. 1 December 2012.…
If you don't know already, there are basically these two perspectives on abortion. The first is that abortion is the murder of an unborn child. The second is that abortion is the disposing of a cluster of cells before it becomes an inconvenience. Think about that second definition, and realize how appalling it is to describe a developing human as a cluster of cells. It is degrading the value of human life,…
6 million exterminated. That number rolls off of our tongues as we sit and learn history in the 6th grade, or we write a paper on WW1. How about 800,000 murdered in 100 days, while Americans attempted to keep our troops of the conflict yet watched the bloody images daily on CNN. Genocide in our world is something that is impossible to justify or embrace, but we must attempt to understand it. It is only through this understanding will we be able to prevent or stop one of the most horrific acts man can do in the future. Genocide, in both the Holocaust and in the 1994 Rwandan genocide, is grounded in self-reification and the external reification of others. This then, when put into certain contexts, can manifest itself in a projection of hate through genocide. Although reification is the process which explains genocide, other social movements, such as extreme nativism in the Rwandan genocide and extreme modernism in the Holocaust, help perpetuate widespread genocide.…
Although it is an atrocity of humanity, Genocide will always be a problem of every era in time. Many people do not want to accept this because they like to live under the illusion that they are in control and that the world will change. They create false hope and live in ignorance to blind themselves from the truth. Genocide is a serious issue and we must do our best to help, but we also must accept the fact that we can never stop…
"People don't simply wake up one day and commit genocide. They start by setting themselves apart from others, diminishing the stature of those adhering to dissenting beliefs in small, insidious steps. They begin by saying, 'We're the righteous, and we'll tolerate those others.' And as the toleration diminishes over time, the inevitable harms are overlooked. It is for that reason that James Madison wisely wrote that 'it is proper to take…