The Power of One Girl's Story
Published October 05, 2009 @ 04:54AM PT
The Diary of Anne Frank is, without a doubt, among the most widely-read and influential books in contemporary history. The book ushered in a new wave of Holocaust awareness, and serves as the first exposure to the Holocaust for many, especially young students. As Holocaust survivor Simon Wiesenthal once commented, "People cannot identify with mountains of bodies, but they can with the plight of one 14-year-old child."
The Anne Frank House launched the Official Anne Frank Channel on YouTube last week, expanding its already-impressive online educational resources with new visual resources. The feature video on the channel shows the only-known film footage of Anne, shot in the summer of 1941, just under a year before the Frank family went into hiding. In the short clip, Anne is seen leaning out her window to watch a neighbor's wedding party -- a scene eerily happy and commonplace, given the dramatic turn of events that would come shortly thereafter.
As a testament to the power of her posthumously-published account of her life in hiding, at the time of this writing, the video has been viewed over 1.5 million times since being posted online.
Other videos on the channel include interviews with Anne's father Otto, the only member of the Frank family to survive the Holocaust, Miep Gies, who helped hide the family, and former South African President Nelson Mandela, who read the diary while in prison.
Warsaw's Last Nazi Resister Dies at 90
Published October 04, 2009 @ 03:44PM PT
The last surviving commander of one of the Holocaust's greatest struggles passed away on Friday. Marek Edelman was among the leaders of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising, beginning in April 1943, during which a poorly-armed force of 220 Jewish men and women stalled the Nazi's plans to liquidate the ghetto for almost a month.
After the war, Edelman spoke of the excruciating moral quandaries faced by ghetto residents and other Holocaust victims, and he defended the Holocaust's many victims against post-war critics who questioned their submissiveness:
"These people went quietly and with dignity," he told [Polish author Hanna Krall in 1976]. "It is an awesome thing, when one is going so quietly to one's death. It is definitely more difficult than to go out shooting."
Edelman's thoughts on the uprising reveal a sense of intervention in divine plans -- of human action interrupting the course of God's will, even if only briefly:
"God is trying to blow out the candle, and I'm quickly trying to shield the flame, taking advantage of his brief inattention. To keep the flame flickering, even if only for a little while longer than he would wish."
For more information on Edelman and the Warsaw Ghetto, see the article he wrote to mark the 45th anniversary of the Uprising, a photo gallery from the Teacher's Guide to the Holocaust, and a list of other resources from the Jewish Virtual Library.
[Photo of Edelman at a Warsaw Ghetto memorial on April 19, 1009, submitted to WikiCommons by Mariusz Kubik.]
Carl Wilkens: A True "Changemaker"
Published October 02, 2009 @ 03:07PM PT
Change.org launched its Changemakers Network this week, and is allowing you to nominate and vote for leading activists in the various causes represented on the site. Perhaps it's poor form to publicly pick favorites, but one of my personal heroes is on the list -- he is familiar to many activists deeply-entrenched in anti-genocide work, but might not be as widely recognized as he deserves. So here it goes.
As the genocide picked up speed in Rwanda in April 1994, all Americans were evacuated from the country, save one. Carl Wilkens, who had lived in the country for several years with his family working for Adventist Development and Relief Agency International, chose to remain in Kigali. As militia began to surround the orphanage where he was providing assistance, he made the bold decision to (long story short) approach the prime minister and convinced him to spare the 400 people inside the building:
I put my hand out and I said, "Mr. Prime Minister, I'm Carl Wilkins, the director of ADRA." He stops and he looks at me, and then he takes my hand and shakes it and said, "Yes, I've heard about you and your work. How is it?" I said, "Well, honestly, sir, it's not very good right now. The orphans at Gisimba are surrounded, and I think there's going to be a massacre, if there hasn't been already." He turns around, talks to some of his aides or whatever, [and he turns back to me and] he says, "We're aware of the situation, and those orphans are going to be safe. I'll see to it."
I've heard Carl speak several times -- his message, conveyed with the passion and humility of a true humanitarian, focuses on the connections between ourselves and those around us, on the misperception of difference and the destructive force of hatred, and the transformative power of human good will. He is an "upstander," if there ever was one.
So vote for Carl in the Changemakers Network. He and his wife Teresa are currently touring the country via bicycle -- watch his website for updates on his speaking tour.
Vote for Google to Create a Genocide Alert System
Published October 01, 2009 @ 04:40PM PT
Can you spare 30 seconds to change the world? (No, I am not exaggerating.)
One of the projects currently up for voting at Google's Project 10^100 is the creation of a genocide monitoring and alert system. As reported earlier this week, internet mapping technology is already being put to good use in mass atrocity situations, but dedicated time and resources from the Google team could take the concept to a whole new level. As Google describes:
"Much of the necessary technology and data-gathering methodology already exists both for general crisis mapping and for early warning systems capable of preventing mass atrocities. A key remaining step is to make this data more widely available to strengthen international aid agency coordination, improve resource allocation, develop timely policy and help evaluate current humanitarian practices."
Google has the technology, the know-how, and the money -- lots of it -- so all you have to do is vote. And tell your friends to vote, before October 8. Never underestimate the power of peer pressure, especially when accompanied by an icy cold stare down.
For the social media-inclined, copy and paste this to your Twitter and/or Facebook pages: Pass it along - Vote to create a genocide monitoring and alert system at Google's Project 10^100 http://bit.ly/2IFNrQ
Do it.
(Thanks to several Change.org members for bringing this to my attention.)
Iran to Sudan: Reagan-Era Troublemaker Back in Business
Published September 30, 2009 @ 05:39PM PT
What is American foreign policy without a good scandal? And who better to deliver than an old pro?
In its second major Sudan piece this week, the Washington Post reported today that former Reagan aide Robert "Bud" McFarlane, of Iran-Contra Scandal fame, is working on behalf of the Sudanese government, collecting some $1.3 million in his effort to convince the Obama administration to normalize relations with the pariah regime. While the money officially came from the government of Qatar, the Post reports that a Sudanese diplomat, in close contact with Sudanese intelligence officials, played a key role in the negotiations and had frequent contact with McFarlane.
The fact that Qatar is paying for such services on behalf of the government of Sudan casts serious doubt on its already-questioned ability to act as an impartial mediator between Khartoum and the rebels in Darfur.
In his defense, Bud wrote to the Post:
"In the course of this work, I have of necessity had periodic contact with Sudanese officials. However, I do not now, nor have I ever had a business or other affiliation with any part of the Government of Sudan."
Spoken like a true politician -- wrapped so snuggly in his moral and legal gray zone that he wouldn't know his conscience was calling even if it jumped up and bit him in the you-know-what.
Gration's Good Intentions Gone Awry
Published September 29, 2009 @ 07:32PM PT
I would imagine that, right about now, US Special Envoy Scott Gration is regretting his (post-Senate-hearings-need-to-improve-his-PR) decision to invite press along for his trip to Sudan earlier this month.
As predicted, Stephanie McCrummen's less-than-flattering profile of the envoy in the Washington Post is causing quite a stir, even prompting rather strong statements from senior officials and the press team at the White House, who accused McCrummen of "wildly misrepresent[ing] the policy discussions that have occurred in the White House with quotes that been cobbled together out of context."
But McCrummen isn't covering discussions that have occurred in the White House -- she's covering what has thus far been the only public face of the Obama Administration's Sudan policy, as the much anticipated official policy review still has not been released. We are not privy to White House discussions on Sudan -- our only window is an envoy who, despite his good intentions, is a walking PR disaster.
And, as I've written many times, it does seem like Gration is allowing himself to be willfully duped by Khartoum, as he touts the regime's supposed good will while its leaders continue to undermine prospects for peace. According to McCrummen, Gration was surprised to hear of ongoing problems with humanitarian access -- problems that have been a hallmark of the conflict since the beginning -- telling an aid worker, "I thought that problem was fixed," and then deflecting responsibility away from the central government in Khartoum.
New Press Freedom in Sudan? Doubtful.
Published September 28, 2009 @ 04:28AM PT
Does the end of pre-publication censorship of newspapers by the National Intelligence and Security Services (NISS) signal an opening of freedom of expression in Sudan?
Likely no, because President/War Criminal Omar al-Bashir replaced pre-censorship with self-censorship, warning journalists and editors to "avoid what leads to exceeding the red lines and avoid mixing what is patriotic and what is destructive to the nation, sovereignty, security, values and its morality."
Given Khartoum's penchant for intimidating and arresting those not toeing the party line, and is generally a less-than-enthusiastic upholder of basic human rights principles, the move is the equivalent of:
a.) paying lip-service to benchmarks for democratic transformation, while
b.) sending a clear message to would-be dissidents that nothing of the sort is actually intended, and
c.) testing Bashir's power to keep people in check, with or without censorship laws.
In other words: The more things change, the more they stay the same.
