Stories of Survival
"They Threw all our Children in the Fire."
Published August 31, 2009 @ 12:43PM PT
The "What to do about Darfur" debate is becoming more and more of a wonk-fest, with conversations either a.) centering on complicated context and policy options or b.) devolving into territory-marking and mud-slinging. (I'm certainly guilty of both, as I think we all are.)
Some veins of this now-global conversation seem increasingly detached from what should be the central motivating concern: The victims of horrific acts of violence, and the survivors still living in precarious situation in Darfur. Even the debate over who has the best "on the ground" perspective on Darfur often seems more concerned with ownership over the analysis rather than the analysis itself.
The desire to alleviate and prevent further human suffering is implicit in most cases. Those who trample through the weeds of the policy debates -- discussing sanctions, no-fly zones, peace talks, justice, counter-terrorism, and so on -- all know why they are there.
Still, we all need to be re-grounded from time to time. Questions of "what" and "how" to respond to Darfur are complicated, but the question of "why" is not.
The video above features the testimony of a woman who lost six children in an attack on her village. If that isn't reason enough to care about this issue, then I don't know what is.
Miss Landmine Pageant: Empowerment, or Mockery?
Published August 04, 2009 @ 07:00AM PT
Not directly genocide related, but in the category of survivors of egregious human rights abuses (and in a place that has experienced genocide):
The government of Cambodia announced the cancellation of the Miss Landmine 2009 beauty pageant, scheduled to take place later this week. According to the government, the event is an insult to the disabled, and "would make a mockery of Cambodia's land mine victims."
The Miss Landmine Manifesto, however, states that its purpose is to empower female survivors and promote landmine awareness, to "challenge inferiority and/or guilt complexes that hinder creativity," and to "question established concepts of physical perfection."
I'm typically in favor of this sort of empowerment, especially when it comes to questioning "established concepts of physical perfection," but I can also see where the Cambodian government is coming from. I also think that if the women want to be a part of this, then let them --- who is anyone else to decide what their message is about their own bodies?
In a post on the Political Minefields blog in March, though, Dr. Jean Chapman counters, "Empowerment is when an amputee is chosen as the most beautiful women in Angola because she is beautiful. That implies that everyone is invited to compete: amputees, non-amputees, and women of all races. That was not the case."
But what do y'all think?
Stories of Survival: "We had no idea of the scale of what followed."
Published July 28, 2009 @ 03:00PM PT
"Stories of Survival" is an occasional series here at Stop Genocide, which seeks to break through the sterility and distance of overwhelming statistics and present the real impact of genocide on individual lives, families, and communities.
"On 18 April the militia arrived and we saw them preparing to attack. We gathered all the old people, women and children in the buildings and formed four fronts outside to protect them. Young girls found stones for us to throw, and we kept them away for four days. By then it wasn't just the militias, it was the rest of the population as well, including the friend who had warned us - everybody had been brainwashed by the militia to join in. They had machetes, sticks, clubs and grenades. I remember seeing one of my friends hit by a grenade - it scattered his body parts all around."
Holocaust Survivors Speak at USHMM
Published July 26, 2009 @ 10:20AM PT
If you happen to find yourself in Washington, DC on a Wednesday, and sometimes even a Tuesday, afternoon this summer, the First Person - Conversations with Holocaust Survivors program runs through August at the US Holocaust Memorial Museum. The program is free and open to the public. While you're there, check out the museum's new interactive exhibit, From Memory to Action: Meeting the Challenge of Genocide.
If you can't make it, though, the museum also posts podcasts of the interviews.
[Photo: Family portrait from Helen Lebowitz Goldkind, scheduled to speak at the museum on Tuesday, July 28 at 1pm.]
The meaning of America to a suvivor of the Holocaust
Published July 03, 2009 @ 03:27PM PT
Peter A. Zuckerman, a Holocaust survivor with a wonderful personal website, tells this story of his arrival in America:
After receiving my immigration papers I boarded the Marine Marlin, one of the 900 passengers that had a chance to start a new life in America.
Like millions of other immigrants to America, I experienced the elation of seeing the Statue of Liberty looming up at the entrance of New York Harbor. After the stormy crossing of the Atlantic the skies cleared as if by magic. The ship floated over the smooth surface of a suddenly tranquil sea. It seemed as if the elements themselves became subdued by the torch lifted high, promising freedom to the oppressed masses of humanity.
For me and my fellow survivors the words of Emma Lazarus -- carved on the pedestal of the Statue of Liberty -- were especially appropriate. Our ship indeed carried the "huddled masses yearning to breathe free." I experienced the exultation and emotions of joy as we disembarked in Ellis Island, the gateway for millions of immigrants to America. My sufferings came to an end. The promise of the New World, at one time unattainably distant, now became a reality. I even received a brief recognition, as the New York Herald Tribune reported our arrival (January 25, 1947).
As Americans celebrate our independence this weekend it's interesting to reflect on the many meanings of our country to survivors of genocide - those we have fought for, those we have advocated for, and those we have forgotten.
Stories of Survival: "During that time we never saw any daylight."
Published June 27, 2009 @ 12:00PM PT
I find few things more compelling and captivating than the testimony of genocide survivors. Occasionally, I highlight such stories on the blog, which often appear in local newspaper following a survivor's presentation at a school, place of worship, or business.
Many people risked their own lives to keep Jewish families --- or often, just the children --- in hiding. Gary Pollex hid with 10 other children at a Benedictine monastery in Poland:
In 1943, the 74-year-old said, "I was taken into hiding from the Nazis by the monks at a Benedictine monastery in Poland. There were 11 of us children, and for two years we hid in a wine cellar.
"During that time we never saw any daylight. It was cold and damp, and we had very little to eat. Only four of us survived; the other children died of malnutrition, pneumonia or just plain sadness."
Stories of Advocacy: Peer Support in Rwanda
Published June 25, 2009 @ 08:59PM PT
Michelle often posts powerful stories of survival - amazing accounts of the horrors genocide survivors have seen and how they survived those horrors.
In that tradition (but with a twist), I'd like to highlight the story of Albert Nzamukwereka. He says,
I am not myself a survivor, but I have a big family... members of my family have been killed in the genocide. In 1994 I came back from where I was living as a refugee in the DRC, and I found that the the whole country has been decimated.
Albert is now the Country Program Coordinator for Survivor Corps Rwanda, and is interviewed in this video by Lisa Rogoff, an Advocacy Project fellow with Survivor Corps in Rwanda this summer.
Albert also recently began a blog, Ibyiza Birimbere Rwanda, starting off with a article on the problems of teaching history in Rwanda:
Rwanda is not an exceptional case. The majority of post-conflict countries have had to rewrite textbooks and organise national debates to correct mistakes of the past or to discuss controversial issues. This is an experience of countries like Germany France, and Poland after the world wars, and recently in South Africa following apartheid.
I encourage you to follow the ongoing advocacy story that is the work of Albert and Survivor Corps Rwanda.
