As we enter the twenty- rst century, denial is becoming the inevitable future of genocide. This ... more As we enter the twenty- rst century, denial is becoming the inevitable future of genocide. This is true for numerous particular genocides, including the Holocaust. It is also true of genocide as a general phenomenon, as instance after instance of genocide is swept under the rug by biased politicians , journalists, academics, and others. The intensity, organization, and sophistication of some denials–for example, the Turkish denial of the Armenian genocide and the Japanese denial of various genocidal atrocities in Asia during the 1931–1945 period–is steadily, even exponentially , increasing–as are the institutiona l support and nancial resources backing them. Denials operate through a broad range of strategies, tactics, and methods. What follows is an analysis and critique of a novel strategy, adopted by Princeton University Near Eastern Studies Professor Norman Itzkowitz to deny the Armenian genocide and its concrete links to and serious implications for denials or dismissals of other genocides, including the Holocaust. From 1915 to 1923 the Ottoman Turkish government run by the Young Turk Committee of Union and Progress (CUP) (1915–1918) and subsequently by the forces under the direction of Kemal Ataturk (1919–23) perpetrated a genocide against the Armenian population of Asia Minor. Of between two and two and a half million Armenians in Ottoman Turkish territory before 1915, the Ottoman and later Kemalist forces, of cially sanctioned “irregular” forces, and “bystanders” killed at least one million and probably as many as one and a half million. The CUP leadership, especially Talaat Bey, directed every aspect of the main segment of the genocide (1915–1916), through a hierarchical network of Young Turk party members extending from the central government and military into the local governments and general Turkish populations in Armenianinhabited areas of the Ottoman Empire. After Armenian men in the Ottoman Turkish army and national and local political, religious, and intellectual leaders were killed en masse, the large number of killers practiced almost unimaginable cruelties and barbarities on the remaining women, elderly, and children as part of a systematic extermination plan. They forced victims to walk naked with little or no food and water for weeks through the intense heat of the Syrian desert until their burnt bodies nally collapsed from exhaustion, starvation, disease, or thirst;
RESOLUTION WITH JUSTICE: REPARATIONS FOR THE ARMENIAN GENOCIDE -- THE REPORT OF THE ARMENIAN GENOCIDE REPARATIONS STUDY GROUP, 2015
Co-authored by Henry Theriault, Alfred de Zayas, Jermaine McCalpin, and Ara Papian, this 150-page... more Co-authored by Henry Theriault, Alfred de Zayas, Jermaine McCalpin, and Ara Papian, this 150-page report provides a comprehensive theoretical analysis and concrete proposal for reparations for the Armenian Genocide. It is informed by and highly useful for reparations considerations for other cases of mass violence and systematic oppression.
Prácticas Genocidas y Violencia Estatal en Perspectiva Transdisciplinar, 2014
It is generally agreed that mass human rights violations should be repaired. There are often stra... more It is generally agreed that mass human rights violations should be repaired. There are often straightforward ways of doing this. Yet, some harms appear to be impossible to repair, either by their very nature or because too much time has elapsed. For instance, what does it mean to return territory taken through genocide, when a victim group is now too small demographically to meaningfully inhabit that territory? And what can be done for victims of mass violence once they have passed away, after a long period of denial and refusal to repair by the perpetrator group. This raises a serious problem: if perpetrators engage in destruction so devastating that victims’ recovery is impossible or delay taking responsibility for so long that victims die, can (and should) nothing be done? This paper examines various “impossible” harms, to develop repair approaches that address the harms despite their apparent impossibility.
Abstract: The optimum definition of the term “genocide” has been hotly contested almost since the... more Abstract: The optimum definition of the term “genocide” has been hotly contested almost since the term was coined. Definitional boundaries determine which acts are covered and excluded and thus to a great extent which cases will benefit from international attention, intervention, prosecution, and reparation. The extensive legal, political, and scholarly discussions prior to this article have typically (1) assumed “genocide” to be a fixed social object and attempted to define it as precisely as possible or (2) assumed the need for a fixed convention and sought to stipulate the range of events that should be denoted by the term. Even if its meaning is a matter of convention, however, “genocide” is not a fixed object but varies by context and evolves in methods and forms over time. In fact, as relevant laws, legal interpretations, and political commitments develop, so do would-be perpetrators modify what genocide is in order to avoid political and legal consequences. This article advances an approach to a definition of “genocide” that allows even legal definitions to keep pace with this evolutionary process.
Now with more signatures: https://massispost.com/2020/10/international-association-of-genocide-scholars-statement-on-imminent-genocidal-threat-against-artsakh/?fbclid=IwAR3Z9VWGU0Z0Cef2WqAg1ku-AeMe0Xldx7ZGlr7zgRGKh6yx7CbhgkEhrAI, 2020
As we enter the twenty- rst century, denial is becoming the inevitable future of genocide. This ... more As we enter the twenty- rst century, denial is becoming the inevitable future of genocide. This is true for numerous particular genocides, including the Holocaust. It is also true of genocide as a general phenomenon, as instance after instance of genocide is swept under the rug by biased politicians , journalists, academics, and others. The intensity, organization, and sophistication of some denials–for example, the Turkish denial of the Armenian genocide and the Japanese denial of various genocidal atrocities in Asia during the 1931–1945 period–is steadily, even exponentially , increasing–as are the institutiona l support and nancial resources backing them. Denials operate through a broad range of strategies, tactics, and methods. What follows is an analysis and critique of a novel strategy, adopted by Princeton University Near Eastern Studies Professor Norman Itzkowitz to deny the Armenian genocide and its concrete links to and serious implications for denials or dismissals of other genocides, including the Holocaust. From 1915 to 1923 the Ottoman Turkish government run by the Young Turk Committee of Union and Progress (CUP) (1915–1918) and subsequently by the forces under the direction of Kemal Ataturk (1919–23) perpetrated a genocide against the Armenian population of Asia Minor. Of between two and two and a half million Armenians in Ottoman Turkish territory before 1915, the Ottoman and later Kemalist forces, of cially sanctioned “irregular” forces, and “bystanders” killed at least one million and probably as many as one and a half million. The CUP leadership, especially Talaat Bey, directed every aspect of the main segment of the genocide (1915–1916), through a hierarchical network of Young Turk party members extending from the central government and military into the local governments and general Turkish populations in Armenianinhabited areas of the Ottoman Empire. After Armenian men in the Ottoman Turkish army and national and local political, religious, and intellectual leaders were killed en masse, the large number of killers practiced almost unimaginable cruelties and barbarities on the remaining women, elderly, and children as part of a systematic extermination plan. They forced victims to walk naked with little or no food and water for weeks through the intense heat of the Syrian desert until their burnt bodies nally collapsed from exhaustion, starvation, disease, or thirst;
RESOLUTION WITH JUSTICE: REPARATIONS FOR THE ARMENIAN GENOCIDE -- THE REPORT OF THE ARMENIAN GENOCIDE REPARATIONS STUDY GROUP, 2015
Co-authored by Henry Theriault, Alfred de Zayas, Jermaine McCalpin, and Ara Papian, this 150-page... more Co-authored by Henry Theriault, Alfred de Zayas, Jermaine McCalpin, and Ara Papian, this 150-page report provides a comprehensive theoretical analysis and concrete proposal for reparations for the Armenian Genocide. It is informed by and highly useful for reparations considerations for other cases of mass violence and systematic oppression.
Prácticas Genocidas y Violencia Estatal en Perspectiva Transdisciplinar, 2014
It is generally agreed that mass human rights violations should be repaired. There are often stra... more It is generally agreed that mass human rights violations should be repaired. There are often straightforward ways of doing this. Yet, some harms appear to be impossible to repair, either by their very nature or because too much time has elapsed. For instance, what does it mean to return territory taken through genocide, when a victim group is now too small demographically to meaningfully inhabit that territory? And what can be done for victims of mass violence once they have passed away, after a long period of denial and refusal to repair by the perpetrator group. This raises a serious problem: if perpetrators engage in destruction so devastating that victims’ recovery is impossible or delay taking responsibility for so long that victims die, can (and should) nothing be done? This paper examines various “impossible” harms, to develop repair approaches that address the harms despite their apparent impossibility.
Abstract: The optimum definition of the term “genocide” has been hotly contested almost since the... more Abstract: The optimum definition of the term “genocide” has been hotly contested almost since the term was coined. Definitional boundaries determine which acts are covered and excluded and thus to a great extent which cases will benefit from international attention, intervention, prosecution, and reparation. The extensive legal, political, and scholarly discussions prior to this article have typically (1) assumed “genocide” to be a fixed social object and attempted to define it as precisely as possible or (2) assumed the need for a fixed convention and sought to stipulate the range of events that should be denoted by the term. Even if its meaning is a matter of convention, however, “genocide” is not a fixed object but varies by context and evolves in methods and forms over time. In fact, as relevant laws, legal interpretations, and political commitments develop, so do would-be perpetrators modify what genocide is in order to avoid political and legal consequences. This article advances an approach to a definition of “genocide” that allows even legal definitions to keep pace with this evolutionary process.
Now with more signatures: https://massispost.com/2020/10/international-association-of-genocide-scholars-statement-on-imminent-genocidal-threat-against-artsakh/?fbclid=IwAR3Z9VWGU0Z0Cef2WqAg1ku-AeMe0Xldx7ZGlr7zgRGKh6yx7CbhgkEhrAI, 2020
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http://www.genocide-museum.am/eng/23.10.2020.php?fbclid=IwAR3MPHgGbQ_3BRLK67L2A-AHQc9rLti1aGCauU4ZqJ042koaD7YchBzhz7I
https://massispost.com/2020/10/international-association-of-genocide-scholars-statement-on-imminent-genocidal-threat-against-artsakh/?fbclid=IwAR3Z9VWGU0Z0Cef2WqAg1ku-AeMe0Xldx7ZGlr7zgRGKh6yx7CbhgkEhrAI
http://www.genocide-museum.am/eng/23.10.2020.php?fbclid=IwAR3MPHgGbQ_3BRLK67L2A-AHQc9rLti1aGCauU4ZqJ042koaD7YchBzhz7I
https://massispost.com/2020/10/international-association-of-genocide-scholars-statement-on-imminent-genocidal-threat-against-artsakh/?fbclid=IwAR3Z9VWGU0Z0Cef2WqAg1ku-AeMe0Xldx7ZGlr7zgRGKh6yx7CbhgkEhrAI