Mike,
Attending to brutality everywhere is most likely the best we can do to
pay tribute and to try to prevent future genocides. I am glad you
noticed and noted April 24 here, and I do apologize for being strident,
however, the NYTimes article on the Armenian Genocide was a travesty, a
direct assault on the integrity and legitimacy of the suffering of
Armenians and a direct attack on Armenian efforts to have the United
States and Turkey officially recognize what occured in the lands
controlled by the Ottoman Turks in 1915-1917 as genocide. Kinzer wrote
as if the NYTimes had never recognized the events...See the Times of
July 13, 1919.... He referred to the Armenian Genocide Museum as
"polemical" and "funded by two donors" of "an influential ethnic
minority." Hardly as "influential" as another "ethnic minority" to which
I belong that also has a quite distinquished Museum on the Mall. Kinzer
is known as an apologist, defender of the Turkish government's 'version'
of these matters. From the Armenian perspective, Kinzer's article is
part of a propaganda campaign, well-financed by the Turkish government.
By the way, the Christian Science Monitor wrote a brief paragraph
acknowledging the Armenian Genocide while they said April 24 "is the
anniversary of the day in 1915 when many Armenians were executed for
allegedly helping invading Russian forces in World War I." Now, can you
imagine someone writing that on Kristalnacht, "Jewish synagogues were
demolished because Jews were allegedly .......!" Or, something
comparable on YomHa Shoa?
April 24, 1915 is the day Armenian intellectuals and community leaders
were shot.....as a means of annihilating the people and the culture. The
denial argument about "helping invading Russian forces" was propaganda
then...
On the bright side, France and Italy have formally recognized the
Armenian Genocide in the past two years, and contrary to US claims that
Turkey might retaliate if we were to do so, they have not experienced
much more than threats. Also on the bright side is a book to be released
soon on the community life and infrastructure of the Armenians in the
regions of the Ottoman Empire prior to the Genocide.
You may be interested in a new book by Samantha Power, A Problem from
Hell: America in the Age of Genocide in the 20th Century, which
carefully describes the dynamics of US refusal to name the disasters of
Rwanda, Cambodia, Bosnia, and Armenia as genocide.
Molly
Mike Cole wrote:
>Musing--
>
>No one noted that yesterday was the anniversary of the Turkish genocidal
>attack on Armenians. There were stories in both the new york times and
>los angeles times. I am thankful I learned to pay attention here.
>
>I am looking at statistics on infant mortalilty around the world. In
>a group in Nepal, infant mortality INCREASES if the mother goes to
>modern medical facilties.
>
>And of course, there is the US. For a story that makes one weep at the
>thought of Paul Wellstone being ill, visit
>
>http://www.press-on.net/articles/1-25indian_children.
>
>The weather in southern california is beautiful and our local 5thD is
>full of kids from many backgrounds, having fun, and ucsd undergraduates,
>from generally more privileged backgrounds, having fun too.
>
>And i get to have fun next week. The person who teaches the 5thD Class
>will be away, so I "have" to teach the course. sigh.
>mike
>PS-- I had this really strange experience. A colleague I have known for
>many years met me several times at AERA but she couldn't recognize me
>to say hello. I must be getting REALLY old.
>
>
>
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Wed May 08 2002 - 12:53:46 PDT