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MEMO/10/701
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Brussels, 21 December 2010
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Roma Integration: First Findings of Roma Task Force and Report on Social Inclusion
In September, the European Commission established an internal Task Force to assess Member States' use of EU funding with regard to the social and economic integration of Roma, Europe's largest ethnic minority (IP/10/1097). This Task Force now reported its initial findings. It noted that while EU funds offer considerable potential for bolstering Roma inclusion, bottlenecks at national, regional and local levels are limiting their effective use by Member States. The Roma Task Force will continue its work in identifying concrete ways to enhance the funds’ uses. The results will be part of an EU framework for national Roma integration strategies in the Member States that will be presented by the Commission in spring 2011, for discussion in the European Parliament and the Council. A new study – released by the Commission today – analysed national Roma inclusion measures in 18 EU countries and identified a series of successful policy approaches. Integrated policies and projects addressing the multiple causes of social exclusion are the best ways to improve the situation of Roma in Europe, the study says.
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First findings of the Roma Task Force
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The Roma Task Force was established following a proposal by Vice-President Viviane Reding, EU Justice Commissioner; László Andor, EU Commissioner for Employment, Social Affairs and Inclusion; and Cecilia Malmström, EU Commissioner for Home Affairs (IP/10/1097). The Task Force sent questionnaires to the 27 Member States regarding their use of EU funds to address the Roma situation.
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The preliminary findings indicate that Member States do not yet properly use EU money for the purpose of an effective social and economic integration of Roma. Weaknesses exist in the development of appropriate strategies and specific measures to address problems faced by Roma. Implementation at national level is problematic because of a lack of know-how and administrative capacity to absorb EU funds. The report also identifies problems in providing national co-financing as well as a lack of involvement by civil society and Roma communities themselves.
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The management of the bulk of EU funding that may benefit Roma integration is shared with Member States, notably through the European Social Fund (ESF), the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) and to a lesser extent the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development (EAFRD). In May 2010, the EU allowed the use of European regional funding to improve housing for marginalised communities in rural areas (IP/10/589). As is always the case with EU funds, it is up to Member States and managing authorities to come up with viable projects. It is not the European Commission’s role to propose projects (see also MEMO/10/383).
Next steps
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The Commission's Roma Task Force will now identify concrete ways to improve the effectiveness of EU funds in the Member States. These approaches will feed into an EU-level framework for national Roma inclusion strategies, which the Commission plans to adopt in spring 2011.
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New Study on Member States' Projects on Roma Inclusion
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Today's study – carried out on behalf of the Commission – finds that integrated policy approaches designed to tackle the multiple causes of social exclusion affecting Roma are the most successful. Strong political will is also required. Seven of the 18 countries studied have adopted integrated national strategies for Roma inclusion, although these are not always consistently implemented.
Success factors include:
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- effective coordination of policies within national governments and between the national, regional and local levels – such as the national coordination mechanisms set up by Spain and the national Roma strategy in Hungary;
- sustainable programmes with reliable, multi-annual budgets to ensure continuity of results – such as the ACCEDER training programme that began as a temporary project but has since helped 25,000 people find work over a 9-year period in 48 locations across Spain;
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- effective participation and consultation of Roma in inclusion efforts – Austria and Ireland have set up national advisory bodies to consult Roma and Traveller communities on government initiatives, while Romania's Parliament includes a member to represent Roma communities and all Slovene municipalities with Roma populations include at least one Roma councillor;
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- reliable data and evaluation of results – such as initiatives in Slovakia to survey the living conditions and health needs of Roma and Traveller communities.
Background
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The European Roma Rights Centre (ERRC) and the Roma Education Fund (REF) prepared the comparative study, which looks at measures addressing the situation of Roma living in 18 EU Member States with sizeable Romani populations: Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden and the United Kingdom. The study analyses successful activities that seek to improve the situation of Roma in non-discrimination and equality policies, education, employment and training, health care services, housing and gender equality.
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A large proportion of the Roma community in the EU is disproportionately affected by unemployment, extreme poverty, poor housing, low health standards and difficult access to education. The EU – since 2007 – has confirmed that while the social and economic integration of disadvantaged Roma people is primarily a responsibility for each country, there is also a role for the EU. A series of Council conclusions have endorsed the Commission’s assessment (in Communications in 2008 and 2010, see IP/10/407 and MEMO/10/121) that more needs to be done to apply the EU framework of legislative, financial and policy coordination tools to the promote Roma inclusion.
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Today's Roma Task Force findings on the use of EU funds and the comparative study on national Roma Inclusion Measures will be used by the Commission in its further work with Member States on the successful integration of the 10-12 million Roma living in the EU.
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More on this memo can be read at-
http://europa.eu/rapid/pressReleasesAction.do?reference=MEMO/10/701&format=HTML&aged=0&language=EN&guiLanguage=en
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A review of this Memo will be coming soon. More news about the Roma can be read here on Alder's Ledge and at our FaceBook group: search word - Alder's Ledge.
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December 21, 2010
December 13, 2010
Scream Till Your Throat Bleeds...
...Never Relent, Never Stop, Never Forget.
Turkey
Rwanda
Cambodia
Iraq
Germany
Russia
China
Bosnia
Kosovo
Argentina
Australia
Namibia
United States
All of these are just a handful of modern states that have been the place settings of our most awful of sins. In each country the genocides happened through direct actions of the political parties involved. In every case mentioned above the rewards for slaughtering a "target of opportunity" just seemed to be to great to pass up. We as humans have killed each other for literally pennies on the dollar... with little reward for such great efforts of inhumanity.
The Armenian Genocide is still "forgotten" in the fact that the government formed out of its blood will still to this day deny it with ever increasing ferocity. Our government supports Turkey in its denial of the Armenian Genocide. Republicans and Democrats alike share the blame for this atrocious act of profiteering. Greed stifles the screams of long since dead children of Armenia. Lust for blood money and frivolous perks keeps our government in bed with willful murderers.
But as the great butcher once said... "Who alive today remembers the annihilation of the Armenians?"
WE DO.
Though I shut my eyes the images of wronged men linger in my mind. Though my lips fail me this urge to scream arises ever more relentlessly. It is as if I have just seen the murderous acts first hand and yet nobody around me even bothers to help. Instead we walk on past as the dead await their good Samaritan.
April 24Th marks the bloody beginning of the Armenian Genocide back in 1915. In 1904 the Germans in Namibia began to erect the first death camps of the 20Th century. The Germans began to slaughter the Herero and Namaqua in an effort to gain "vital Lebensraum". General Lothar Von Trotha achieved the Germans' goals by slaughtering an estimated 80 percent of the Herero and just over half of the Namaqua.
Germany today is seemingly believed to have been the kindest "masters" ever to have colonized Africa. Or so people have been led to believe. The "Second Reich" was just as barbaric as the first and last. And as we speak, Germany seems to be on the path toward the far right once more.
The blood on their hands was never washed away. As the saying goes... those who fail to learn from the past are damned to repeat it.
In the United States we seem to feel that our only sins have been to get into bed with the sinners themselves. We seem to forget what we did to the Americans who were here before us. We tend to think of "Indian Reservations" as being "safe places" for the old Americans. We tend not to realize that they were camps much like Buchenwald in the aspect that we set them up only to put the "problems out of sight" and out of mind.
Wounded Knee... the most famous butcher of our American history rode into the Native American camp and ordered the executions of anything that moved. Men, women, children... babies... anything that moved. The reason, the targeted "problems" might be up to something.
We stuck Geronimo on a "reservation" and told him to farm land that white settlers knew was unworkable. When he decided to live the way his ancestors did (instead of starve under white rule) we labeled him an outlaw and a "danger to society". We were not taught in school that the real danger was living in a society that hates you.
Of the sins we do admit... the sins of our allies are far to often never called by their rightful name. Genocide.
And when we have seen such acts taking place we dared not scream. Instead we remained silent and closed our eyes to what was going on before us. In Rwanda the dead and dieing yelled out in many different ways... LOOK AT US!
We decided to do what our good leader, Uncle Bill, told us to... look away.
After the killings were done we decided it was safe to look. After all... you can't help the dead, only the living... right?
We seem even more complacent when these sorta acts are carried out against groups of people to whom we have no connection. When the Serbs began to slaughter the Muslims in Bosnia... it wasn't the United State's problem. Instead we once again sat back and let the bloodbath unfold. We even decided it would be "indecent" to lift the weapons embargo on the Bosnian people, so as to allow them to defend themselves. After all, if we weren't going to ride in and save them why allow them to save themselves?
Trnopolje was the latest concentration camp to be erected upon European soil. Unlike Omarska and Keraterm, Trnopolje was not a standard death camp. And unlike Manjaca, it was not a "political prisoner" camp either. Trnopolje was a camp established to allow Serbian soldiers the pronounced "freedom" of raping Muslim girls and women. Other prisoners at Trnopolje were used in much the same manner and then deported either to other camps or out of Serb held territory.
The United States knew about all four camps in the Prijedor area. We even had photographs of the camp and its prisoners... we just didn't show the public till it was too late.
After all, who alive today remembers the annihilation of the Bosnians?
It has been about the same length of time from now back to the time the Serbs were unleashing hell upon Bosnia as it had been from the time Hitler said the same thing about the Armenians.
And that brings us back to the second genocide of the 20Th century. The attacks on the Armenians marked the first time the entire world knew about the acts of genocide as they were happening. It marks the first time that the entire world knew about the genocide and did nothing to stop it.
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We here at Alder's Ledge invite you to scream with us. Help us by doing anything you can to inform others of genocide. Read articles here on Alder's Ledge that explain how genocides begin, why they begin, and how to stop them. Read about pogroms and other genocidal acts and share them with us here in our comments sections. We will read and reply to every comment you leave in whatever fashion we deem appropriate.
Have questions about anything you have seen here? Just ask us in a comment and we will be more than happy to discuss anything you have questions or concerns about. This is an open forum for you the reader.
And remember... Scream till your throat bleeds or your voice fails you... Never Relent, Never Stop, Never Forget.
You can follow us on FaceBook, key search word... Alder's Ledge. Or follow us on Twitter, @alders_ledge
December 10, 2010
The Untouchables
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Roma: Romany for "man"
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"Self-determination is the right of a people to determine its own destiny," Council of Europe's Convention for the Protection of National Minorities.
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Romania, Bucharest
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Currently the Romanian government is attempting to have the Romani people's official name for their peoples changed to Tigan. Tigan happens to come from the Greek phrase for "untouchables". In other words, the Romanian government is trying to make it official that Roma are less than human.
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"Imagine if a U.S. Congressman proposed to change the name Afro-American back to the insulting term 'nigger'," said David Mark, director of the Roma Civic Alliance in Bucharest, speaking to TIME at a protest outside the government headquarters last week. "It would cause a huge scandal and that Congressman would probably have to resign."
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The politicians in Romania however will not be asked to resign. In fact, many Romanians are in favor of changing the countries classification of Roma to Tigans. That is precisely why people like Silviu Prigoana continue to climb the ranks of Romania's ruling Liberal Democratic Party. His race baiting legislation is more than welcome in the economically troubled Romanian political climate.
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With the backing of Romanian President Traian Basescu the Liberal Democrats will probably be more than able to push their legislation through Romania's legislative process. Little or no opposition is expected seeing as how Romanian peoples seem to bear nothing less than a burning hatred for the "Gypsies". Traian's own party has referred to them as a "scourge".
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Elsewhere in Europe the attacks on Roma continue to spill into the World News (slowly but surely, Europe appears to be willing to let the world see what sins they now perpetrate). Since 1989 in Slovakia 110 documented cases of Roma women being forcibly sterilized have shown up in "Body and Soul: Forced Sterilization and Other Attacks on Roma Reproductive Freedom". All of which have happened under Slovakia's public health care programs. CRR (The Center for Reproductive Rights) has documented 230 women in 40 Romani camps in Slovakia that have been sterilized by the Slovakian government. The process used appears to be a throwback to the Norwegian sterilizations of Roma in Norway some 40 to 60 years ago.
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As for the Czechs, 90 percent of Czechs say that they would rather share their "homeland" with Slovaks and "disabled" than Roma ( half of Czechs polled believe Roma are a source of diseases). In other words, the Czechs openly admit that they would like to see the Roma gone from their country. This holds true for France, Germany, Great Britain, Italy, Sweden, Finland, Switzerland, Luxembourg, Hungary, Austria, and Poland as well (just to name a few).
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In other news from The Czech Republic, The Workers' Social Justice Party may be on the rise seeing as how towns like Novy Bydzov are almost "courting" the "Neo-Nazis". After posting a racist declaration on their towns public website, the citizens of Novy are now getting offers from The Workers to help set up official pogroms. Many of the members own words can be read in the article on Romea.cz. Most of what they have to say sounds almost exactly like Adolf Hitler himself.
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Looking toward more popular images of Europe we now turn toward Athens. In just the last couple weeks the attacks on "immigrants" have been stepped up as racist groups like "Golden Dawn" (Chrysi Avgi) take their seats in local government.
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Citizens in Athens have resorted to using Molotov Cocktails in their attacks on Muslims and Roma in Greece. One of the most infamous attacks happened in the end of October when Greek citizens locked the doors to a temporary mosque and then hurled Molotov Cocktails through the building's windows. Four worshipers inside were nearly killed as the Greeks fought to keep them locked inside.
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While most of the violence in Greece is being directed at Turkish immigrants and other Muslims, the attacks on Roma in Athens and the rest of Greece continue to rise. Once again, the far right elements in Greece are targeting the "usual scapegoat"... the Roma.
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In the Scandinavian countries the rise of eugenic based laws and proposed laws are beginning to appear just as they did in the 1930s. Norway's far right and Sweden's far right have proposed that Roma should either leave their countries or accept and expect sterilization. The proposals are both socially based and loosely based of the Nazi belief of eugenics.
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All of these crimes against the basic human rights of Roma are somewhat quickly combining into the racist agenda of the National Socialist Workers' Party. If left unchecked we all know where these ideals lead... like train tracks to the iron gates. Under that hollow phrase, "work will set you free", the Roma are being exploited and abused to full fill a basic European desire... if all be it xenophobic... A world without Roma.
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Please read the other articles posted here on Alder's Ledge and check us out on FaceBook. We will be doing whatever we can to "Scream" out on behalf of those the world now chooses to neglect.
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Source Documents for this Post
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http://reproductiverights.org/en/document/body-and-soul-forced-sterilization-and-other-assaults-on-roma-reproductive-freedom
- The Center for Reproductive Rights
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http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,418541,00.html
http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,2035862,00.html
- Time Magazine Online
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http://www.praguemonitor.com/2010/12/10/poll-most-czechs-resent-sharing-state-drug-addicts-roma
- Prague Daily Monitor Online
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http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/01/world/europe/01greece.html
- The New York Times Online
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http://www.axt.org.uk/antisem/countries/norway/norway.htm
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December 8, 2010
Complacent Reaper
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Spontaneous Hell
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A Brief History of Pogroms and Genocide
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"Armenians in Baku"
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If you have read this blog at least once or twice in the past you should be at least familiar with the Armenian Genocide in the old Ottoman Empire. And for most of us that is the one and only genocidal act the Armenians have had to deal with. But for me, the events in Baku, Azerbaijan constitute a pogrom at least... if not a small scale genocide at best.
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In 1990 the local population in Baku was whipped into a frenzy over most everything there was to be angry about. However, the Armenian population seemed to invoke a special level of hatred from their neighbors... particularly the Azeris neighbors.
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Soviet authorities did little or nothing to stem the violence once it began. Police and military officials were far more complacent than they had been in previous decades. Some accounts even indicate that the police were helping local citizens round up Armenians. The attacks were therefore not "spontaneous" as the Soviets claimed seeing as how the attacker's had been provided with list of victims names and addresses.
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Like in Rwanda, the 100,000 victims were beaten to death or stabbed to death. No gunshot wounds were recorded. This was yet once again, a genocide in which the "gas chambers" were not the icons of death.
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So how did it happen? And why?
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Well the question of why is impossible to answer seeing as how the human mind is impossible to accurately dissect. But the political gains that resulted from the killings show that the Azerbaijan Popular Front was politically motivated in its participation.
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As with most pogroms, these attacks were planned from the beginning. And just as with most others, the group responsible did not come right out with the truth about what they had planned. Instead the attacks were ramped up over a relatively short period of time. The political backing had simply accelerated the attacks into a full blown "devouring" of the Armenian population.
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This sort of political backing however is never simply political in nature. The group that forms the political base for such a party usually already harbors such animosities. And it is from this base of hatred that the Azerbaijan Popular Front got its start.
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But how does a far flung group of race baiters get their start?
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History has shown us that in times of economic uncertainty the far right and far left of society swell in numbers. Despite debate among the two sides, both are fanatical in their aims and goals. And it is in this phenomena that the rise of racist fascism gets its leg up in the world.
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In Baku the organization of the attacks also shows intense planning by the "grass roots" base. "The Party" knew who its targets were but the low ranking party followers did not. So to speed up the attacks, the names and addresses were printed out and passed around. That would have still allowed for "interference" in some manner. So the attackers were broken up into organized "mobs".
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Some "mobs" began to set up blockades both in front of military and police stations and then in the main roadways in and out of the city. The blockades in front of the military and police stations were simply meant to exert "The Party"'s power and authority. They also gave the military and police excuses for not stopping the attacks.
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As for the blockading of roadways... this is a trademark of modern pogroms. Mobs are set in place to keep the targets in place. The blockades were meant to stop any "flocking" of victims out of the targeted area. It also allows the "roaming mobs" to herd their targets into the "slaughter houses".
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Victims that fought back in Baku were almost always killed before they could be herded into the designated killing fields. That is the goal of these "havoc" filled pogroms. The main aim is to cut the victim off from their two main responses... fight or flight.
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In one aspect it seems easy to understand pogroms. They seem so simple in hindsight and yet they seem impossible to spot till they are already past. We know the signs and yet we seem incapable of stopping them.
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The following is an account I read before writing this article. I hope you read it through and continue reading future post on this subject. It is important that we learn from our past so that we do not have to repeat it.
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I was born on October 28, 1978 in the city of Baku. My family had two apartments- one in the 8Th district, the second one in Razino – Kirov str. 7, apt. 48. I still remember the postal code (370040) and the telephone number -25-10-75. We had a multinational neighborhood, with Azeris, Armenians (nearly all of them managed to escape on time), Germans, Russian, Jews, Lezghins, etc living around. In a word, it was a multinational city. Before the Sumgait events I didn’t know what nationality I belonged to. The nationality did not matter then. Nothing portended these events; my family believed in the Party up to the last minute. I’m not going to speak about the prerequisites; they are well known.
Everything started for my family on December 1, 1989 when my father got fired due to his being Armenian. He left for Russia searching for a job with family hostel for us. Unfortunately, he didn’t find anything and came back the same month.
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On Saturday, January 13, 1990 I was at school. We had then classes on Saturdays. Life went on normally. That day my Azeri classmate (I don’t remember his name) told me that the next day (January 14) the war between the Armenian and Azeris would break out. I didn’t understand what he meant; several hours later I realized everything.
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About 10 PM, January 13, 1990 (A Georgian movie “Donki Khod” was being broadcast on TV at that moment). Some strangers knocked at our door saying they wanted to buy our apartment. We explained that the house was not for sale. They kept demanding that we open the door. We did not. And then everything began; they started breaking our door. As ill luck would have it, we had a brazier in the corridor, and they used it. Fortunately, our door was armored. They had cut the telephone cable beforehand. Somehow, shouting, we called the police. None of our neighbors interfered. I don’t remember what the police told us then, they just came, spent there some time and left. After they left my father took my sister and me across the balcony to our Russian neighbors with the help of an ironing board. Since then I vaguely remember what was going on. My parents told me they tried to break our door twice, and twice the police were arriving. My father moved the coach up to the door - our door was opening inside. The Azeris said, “You’ll see tomorrow what we’ll do to you”. At night an Azeri neighbor of ours came to our apartment (to my parents) with a knife, sort of to protect us. (He didn’t bear ill will to anybody, he was a 35-year-old hashish-addict, had spent some time in prison). My parents deposited with him some valuable books and some other things. I don’t know what happened next, but my father came to us on January 14 morning, we left the house quickly and went to the road. The only thing I noticed was our broken window. The cab was waiting for us. We were going to the center of Baku, where my mother’s friend, a Jewish woman was living. As far as I understood the cab had come to our house twice. The first time it took out Grandmother with our living essentials, and then us. The taxi-driver was a Lezghin, and treated us normally. He also took offence at the Azeris.
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January 14 we spent at my mother’s Jewish friend. At 2 o’clock in the afternoon everything started, mass pogroms of Armenians began. My mother’s friend was in the city, she told that Armenians were being killed in the streets. We sat very silently so that the neighbors didn’t inform against us. The horror began next day.
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On January 15 we went to the station to leave the city. There were no trains. Our family consisted of five people. I don’t remember how we got to the station; we had a few packs with the necessities. My father and I were carrying our bags from a nearby square to the station. We couldn’t “flock”, that could arouse suspicions. My mother and sister stayed at the station, my father and I went to find my Grandmother, but failed to. My mother told my father to stay with my sister, and I went to search for my grandmother with my mother. Male Armenians were being killed. We couldn’t find my grandmother. (Later we learned that Azeris had taken her to “Shafag” cinema where Armenians were being driven together. They took away all valuable things that Granny had with, even pulled out her teeth with golden crowns, and then took her to the ferry berth). Upon arriving at the station we didn’t find my father and sister. The police told us they were catching Armenians and taking them to the ferry berth. They took us to the station square; a bus was waiting there (a village-type “Gaz” bus). Azeri builders and Russian soldiers were setting us in the bus. I remember them curtaining the windows. I saw horrible scene on the way.
Beaten Armenians were being taken out on lorries from the yards, and Azeris were standing around and shouting things. We didn’t find either my grandmother or father and sister on the ferry berth. Mom decided they could have returned to her Jewish friend. We got somehow to her place; they were not there. (Later we learned that they were at the same Armenian-collector cinema, grandmother was taken to Krasnovodsk on the ferry on January 15, and my father and sister – on January 16). My mother called to her Azeri deputy director (she worked at a musical school) to ask for some money. We had only two kopecks around.
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We met on January 16. I remember Azeris checking documents of all men. The deputy director gave us some money and took us to another place Armenians were being taken to. (Afterwards we learned that Azeris killed him). I guess that was an officer house, there were Russian military and a gun. Later a bus took us to the ferry berth. It was horrible – beaten Armenians, mainly children, elderly and women. Male Armenians were being killed. The last thing I saw in Baku was the Government House and the monument to 26 Baku commissioners. We were kept inside the bus for a few hours, and then taken to the berth. It was the first time I saw soldiers in black uniform with shields; that was amazing to me. The evening was cold, we were kept at the berth till morning, a cool wind was blowing. I remember in the evening Azeris brought a wagon with bread. They gave everybody buns and water. Early in the morning the ferry arrived. The soldiers circled the berth. People were striving to get on the ferry; Azeris were shouting something. I was standing facing a soldier’s shield. Then they let us on the ferry. We were lucky to get to the saloon; some people were in the engine-room. They told us Azeris drowned the first ferry - fortunately it was empty. Azeris wanted to drown the ferry my father and sister were in, but a plane or a helicopter from Krasnovodsk drowned the Azeri boat. I remember we went out to the deck; I was scared. A storm broke out, or maybe that just seemed to me - that was the fist time I appeared in the open sea. There was volleyball net on the ferry. I don’t remember how long we sailed.
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It seems to me we arrived in Krasnovodsk on January 18 morning. They took us to a house; a crowd was standing there. They gave us a “Refugee leaflet”; I keep it up to now. I can’t figure out when they managed to print them. Then Turkmen gave us some rice to eat and then separated us. Those wishing to get to Moscow were leaving by train, and those who wished to leave for Yerevan were taken to the airport. I fell asleep as soon as I appeared in the plane, and then woke up at the landing.
This is the story of my life. We were fortunate to find each other. My father was waiting for us at “Zvartnots” airport; we had buns and tea there. We all stayed with our relatives. Thus I became a refugee. Naturally, I don’t remember all the details; maybe I’m lucky to. It’s a pity few people talk about these events.
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Karen Harutyunyan
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It is a pity that more people do not talk about those events. That is why we here at Alder's Ledge will continue to post such accounts and study such events. The next post will once again turn back toward the United States as we study the relations between our Government and the native peoples we have so often neglected.
Spontaneous Hell
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A Brief History of Pogroms and Genocide
-
"Armenians in Baku"
-
-
If you have read this blog at least once or twice in the past you should be at least familiar with the Armenian Genocide in the old Ottoman Empire. And for most of us that is the one and only genocidal act the Armenians have had to deal with. But for me, the events in Baku, Azerbaijan constitute a pogrom at least... if not a small scale genocide at best.
-
In 1990 the local population in Baku was whipped into a frenzy over most everything there was to be angry about. However, the Armenian population seemed to invoke a special level of hatred from their neighbors... particularly the Azeris neighbors.
-
Soviet authorities did little or nothing to stem the violence once it began. Police and military officials were far more complacent than they had been in previous decades. Some accounts even indicate that the police were helping local citizens round up Armenians. The attacks were therefore not "spontaneous" as the Soviets claimed seeing as how the attacker's had been provided with list of victims names and addresses.
-
Like in Rwanda, the 100,000 victims were beaten to death or stabbed to death. No gunshot wounds were recorded. This was yet once again, a genocide in which the "gas chambers" were not the icons of death.
-
So how did it happen? And why?
-
Well the question of why is impossible to answer seeing as how the human mind is impossible to accurately dissect. But the political gains that resulted from the killings show that the Azerbaijan Popular Front was politically motivated in its participation.
-
As with most pogroms, these attacks were planned from the beginning. And just as with most others, the group responsible did not come right out with the truth about what they had planned. Instead the attacks were ramped up over a relatively short period of time. The political backing had simply accelerated the attacks into a full blown "devouring" of the Armenian population.
-
This sort of political backing however is never simply political in nature. The group that forms the political base for such a party usually already harbors such animosities. And it is from this base of hatred that the Azerbaijan Popular Front got its start.
-
But how does a far flung group of race baiters get their start?
-
History has shown us that in times of economic uncertainty the far right and far left of society swell in numbers. Despite debate among the two sides, both are fanatical in their aims and goals. And it is in this phenomena that the rise of racist fascism gets its leg up in the world.
-
In Baku the organization of the attacks also shows intense planning by the "grass roots" base. "The Party" knew who its targets were but the low ranking party followers did not. So to speed up the attacks, the names and addresses were printed out and passed around. That would have still allowed for "interference" in some manner. So the attackers were broken up into organized "mobs".
-
Some "mobs" began to set up blockades both in front of military and police stations and then in the main roadways in and out of the city. The blockades in front of the military and police stations were simply meant to exert "The Party"'s power and authority. They also gave the military and police excuses for not stopping the attacks.
-
As for the blockading of roadways... this is a trademark of modern pogroms. Mobs are set in place to keep the targets in place. The blockades were meant to stop any "flocking" of victims out of the targeted area. It also allows the "roaming mobs" to herd their targets into the "slaughter houses".
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Victims that fought back in Baku were almost always killed before they could be herded into the designated killing fields. That is the goal of these "havoc" filled pogroms. The main aim is to cut the victim off from their two main responses... fight or flight.
-
In one aspect it seems easy to understand pogroms. They seem so simple in hindsight and yet they seem impossible to spot till they are already past. We know the signs and yet we seem incapable of stopping them.
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The following is an account I read before writing this article. I hope you read it through and continue reading future post on this subject. It is important that we learn from our past so that we do not have to repeat it.
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-
I was born on October 28, 1978 in the city of Baku. My family had two apartments- one in the 8Th district, the second one in Razino – Kirov str. 7, apt. 48. I still remember the postal code (370040) and the telephone number -25-10-75. We had a multinational neighborhood, with Azeris, Armenians (nearly all of them managed to escape on time), Germans, Russian, Jews, Lezghins, etc living around. In a word, it was a multinational city. Before the Sumgait events I didn’t know what nationality I belonged to. The nationality did not matter then. Nothing portended these events; my family believed in the Party up to the last minute. I’m not going to speak about the prerequisites; they are well known.
Everything started for my family on December 1, 1989 when my father got fired due to his being Armenian. He left for Russia searching for a job with family hostel for us. Unfortunately, he didn’t find anything and came back the same month.
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On Saturday, January 13, 1990 I was at school. We had then classes on Saturdays. Life went on normally. That day my Azeri classmate (I don’t remember his name) told me that the next day (January 14) the war between the Armenian and Azeris would break out. I didn’t understand what he meant; several hours later I realized everything.
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About 10 PM, January 13, 1990 (A Georgian movie “Donki Khod” was being broadcast on TV at that moment). Some strangers knocked at our door saying they wanted to buy our apartment. We explained that the house was not for sale. They kept demanding that we open the door. We did not. And then everything began; they started breaking our door. As ill luck would have it, we had a brazier in the corridor, and they used it. Fortunately, our door was armored. They had cut the telephone cable beforehand. Somehow, shouting, we called the police. None of our neighbors interfered. I don’t remember what the police told us then, they just came, spent there some time and left. After they left my father took my sister and me across the balcony to our Russian neighbors with the help of an ironing board. Since then I vaguely remember what was going on. My parents told me they tried to break our door twice, and twice the police were arriving. My father moved the coach up to the door - our door was opening inside. The Azeris said, “You’ll see tomorrow what we’ll do to you”. At night an Azeri neighbor of ours came to our apartment (to my parents) with a knife, sort of to protect us. (He didn’t bear ill will to anybody, he was a 35-year-old hashish-addict, had spent some time in prison). My parents deposited with him some valuable books and some other things. I don’t know what happened next, but my father came to us on January 14 morning, we left the house quickly and went to the road. The only thing I noticed was our broken window. The cab was waiting for us. We were going to the center of Baku, where my mother’s friend, a Jewish woman was living. As far as I understood the cab had come to our house twice. The first time it took out Grandmother with our living essentials, and then us. The taxi-driver was a Lezghin, and treated us normally. He also took offence at the Azeris.
-
January 14 we spent at my mother’s Jewish friend. At 2 o’clock in the afternoon everything started, mass pogroms of Armenians began. My mother’s friend was in the city, she told that Armenians were being killed in the streets. We sat very silently so that the neighbors didn’t inform against us. The horror began next day.
-
On January 15 we went to the station to leave the city. There were no trains. Our family consisted of five people. I don’t remember how we got to the station; we had a few packs with the necessities. My father and I were carrying our bags from a nearby square to the station. We couldn’t “flock”, that could arouse suspicions. My mother and sister stayed at the station, my father and I went to find my Grandmother, but failed to. My mother told my father to stay with my sister, and I went to search for my grandmother with my mother. Male Armenians were being killed. We couldn’t find my grandmother. (Later we learned that Azeris had taken her to “Shafag” cinema where Armenians were being driven together. They took away all valuable things that Granny had with, even pulled out her teeth with golden crowns, and then took her to the ferry berth). Upon arriving at the station we didn’t find my father and sister. The police told us they were catching Armenians and taking them to the ferry berth. They took us to the station square; a bus was waiting there (a village-type “Gaz” bus). Azeri builders and Russian soldiers were setting us in the bus. I remember them curtaining the windows. I saw horrible scene on the way.
Beaten Armenians were being taken out on lorries from the yards, and Azeris were standing around and shouting things. We didn’t find either my grandmother or father and sister on the ferry berth. Mom decided they could have returned to her Jewish friend. We got somehow to her place; they were not there. (Later we learned that they were at the same Armenian-collector cinema, grandmother was taken to Krasnovodsk on the ferry on January 15, and my father and sister – on January 16). My mother called to her Azeri deputy director (she worked at a musical school) to ask for some money. We had only two kopecks around.
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We met on January 16. I remember Azeris checking documents of all men. The deputy director gave us some money and took us to another place Armenians were being taken to. (Afterwards we learned that Azeris killed him). I guess that was an officer house, there were Russian military and a gun. Later a bus took us to the ferry berth. It was horrible – beaten Armenians, mainly children, elderly and women. Male Armenians were being killed. The last thing I saw in Baku was the Government House and the monument to 26 Baku commissioners. We were kept inside the bus for a few hours, and then taken to the berth. It was the first time I saw soldiers in black uniform with shields; that was amazing to me. The evening was cold, we were kept at the berth till morning, a cool wind was blowing. I remember in the evening Azeris brought a wagon with bread. They gave everybody buns and water. Early in the morning the ferry arrived. The soldiers circled the berth. People were striving to get on the ferry; Azeris were shouting something. I was standing facing a soldier’s shield. Then they let us on the ferry. We were lucky to get to the saloon; some people were in the engine-room. They told us Azeris drowned the first ferry - fortunately it was empty. Azeris wanted to drown the ferry my father and sister were in, but a plane or a helicopter from Krasnovodsk drowned the Azeri boat. I remember we went out to the deck; I was scared. A storm broke out, or maybe that just seemed to me - that was the fist time I appeared in the open sea. There was volleyball net on the ferry. I don’t remember how long we sailed.
-
It seems to me we arrived in Krasnovodsk on January 18 morning. They took us to a house; a crowd was standing there. They gave us a “Refugee leaflet”; I keep it up to now. I can’t figure out when they managed to print them. Then Turkmen gave us some rice to eat and then separated us. Those wishing to get to Moscow were leaving by train, and those who wished to leave for Yerevan were taken to the airport. I fell asleep as soon as I appeared in the plane, and then woke up at the landing.
This is the story of my life. We were fortunate to find each other. My father was waiting for us at “Zvartnots” airport; we had buns and tea there. We all stayed with our relatives. Thus I became a refugee. Naturally, I don’t remember all the details; maybe I’m lucky to. It’s a pity few people talk about these events.
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Karen Harutyunyan
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It is a pity that more people do not talk about those events. That is why we here at Alder's Ledge will continue to post such accounts and study such events. The next post will once again turn back toward the United States as we study the relations between our Government and the native peoples we have so often neglected.
December 3, 2010
We Wish To Inform You...
That Tomorrow We Will Be Killed With Our Families
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A Brief History of Pogroms and Organized Chaos
-
-
American Style
-
-
The very word Pogrom means to literally "wreak havoc". It is a relatively new Russian word with ancient roots in human history. And in most incidents it is used to describe organized killings of Jewish communities in highly antisemitic cultures. Yet for the most part these sorts of attempts to "demolish violently" in part or in whole have been used against any minority.
-
In the United States we have witnessed these sorts of "state sponsored terrorism" in our recent past... we far to often ignore them and hide them. Under General Custer's dirty flag of freedom we marched into the West with one goal... "to demolish violently" the native way of life. Like the Spanish Conquistadors that came before us, we introduced a way of thinking not to different from the natives. The only difference was that we had the "human waves" to back our hatred and annihilate the peoples of the plains.
-
If you talk to very many average blue color working Americans you will find that the "Arab" is our new Native American. Among the liberal "upper crust" the Muslim is a novelty to be admired from afar... still not to be fully embraced. Among the conservative "working class" Islam is a foreign invader ready to rape and pillage... in much the same way they painted the Native American. And yet we hide away our animosity in much the same manner as our forefathers did; silently waiting for the opportunity to launch our assault.
-
The Hispanic community has gotten even less respect in recent history. But that is even more taboo to bring up than the "Arab". Yet here I go...
-
With a broad brush we often paint with fabricated numbers and bloated statistics the entire Latin community as "illegal aliens". When we feel generous we give them the titles of "immigrant", "migrant workers", or simply "illegals". But for the most part the goal is segregation. We seem to willfully forget that if you go back far enough even the Native American is an immigrant to this continent.
-
Forget about how we treated the blacks, gypsies, Japanese, Chinese, gays, or Jews. The cases for the Native Americans, Muslims, and Hispanics most clearly make my case for why we here at home are far from exempt from the hatred that feeds widespread "havoc". After all, we have made our own concentration camps... we have organized government to slaughter the weak... and we have washed our hands of innocent blood.
-
So how do pogroms get started?
-
"Where one or more are gathered..." evil will always be lingering close behind. After all, we are a species born to sin and to sin we so often turn. This just happens to be the worse form of sin we far too often take to. With our prejudice always at the front of our arsenals we take up arms when the world offers us "change".
-
With the harsh introduction of "radical Islam" we took up arms for good reasons against foreign foes. But for those left behind to fight upon the home front... we needed a face to a foe who dared not raise its head in public. For this we painted all Muslims as al-Quada or "radicals". For some, this meant that we were not at war with any particular sect of Islam but rather with Islam itself.
-
No greater lie has been spread since that fateful September.
-
Now we face a sect of Westerners that have "radicalized" as once again the world they knew changed... and abruptly at that. The conservative values of even liberal Muslims are now subjected to Western prejudice while Mormons are allowed to abuse their children. Lies about Islam are born and bread by people who have not even once read the Koran. Let alone the fact that most of us here in the United States know absolutely nothing about the Muslim's traditions or even their religion.
-
But this is a potential pogrom in the making. We don't have a government these days that will allow the masses to arm themselves and thus descend upon the Muslim community to "wreak havoc". Thank God.
-
We do however have a government that will not, mainly due to conservative fears, more aggressively identify "hate groups". Therefore the government can not nor will not prosecute hate group members for hate crimes when they do in fact happen. And for this reason the rise of violence against Muslims and their mosque continues.
-
A true pogrom against the Muslims in America would and could happen if the far right were allowed to organize a political party without public condemnation. Like the "brown shirts" in Washington during World War Two, this party would rise upon the growing prejudice against "common foes" such as the Muslims or Latinos. Ascending in power the group would need to quench the thirst of hatred amongst it members. So like other public figures, this group would allow publicly or in party memos the organized chaos that would follow. Like Krystalnaucht, the violence would be backed by the politician yet carried out by the people. Attacks would break out with true "havoc" being achieved almost over night. Only due to opposition by the Left, hopefully, the violence would end with the targeted community bloodied and in hiding.
-
I know that most reading this are probably upset that I am using America as my example while Europe is currently in the midst of government backed pogroms... but we must never forget just how vulnerable to Hitler's lures we truly are.
-
We have in our past raised hidden camps in isolated places in attempts to demoralize and destroy targeted communities. Like it or not, we have proven time and time again that we as Americans are far more than capable of uniting as the Nazis did in our hatred.
-
Indiana was once the site of a Osama like figure. Tecumseh, the military side of "radicalized" native society, led a "holy war" against the invading whites. Relentless in his attempts to destroy or at least demoralize the white Americans, Tecumseh launched, at times suicidal, attacks on much larger foes. His prejudice were of course formed out of his realization that the world as he knew it was changing... shrinking.
-
In my opinion, Islam has only radicalized due to... in part, the shrinking of the world the Middle Eastern Muslims once knew. The other factors are of course the many promises the West has made and broken (another link in my mind to Tecumseh). Then you have the exploitation of the Middle Easterners' resources (again Tecumseh). And finally the fact that Western ideals are being and have been forced upon the Arab world for decades now (most of which are incompatible with Islam itself).
-
Attacking Pigeon Roost, a band of natives linked to Tecumseh, massacred the local citizens without resistance. The fact that they then sliced the gut of a white women who was pregnant to make certain her baby was dead only galvanized the white Americans' hatred. So in response, orders were given to the Indiana Rangers to take no prisoners and spare nothing... woman, child, or animal.
-
The war from this point was one of burning abhorrence for the enemy on both sides. And in each camp the orders were interpreted to include the use of "pogroms" to strip the enemy of its will to fight.
-
Tecumseh would go on to target white settlements he knew to be unarmed and without young men to protect them. White men we here in Indiana hail as heroes made names for themselves by slaughtering Native American women and children while the "braves" were away. In both camps these were known as "targets of opportunity".
-
Pogroms are often carried out against "targets of opportunity". They are carried out by people who are either well armed or just plain better armed than their targets (in Rwanda the pogroms that grew into genocide were often carried out with machetes). In every case the targets most harassed are women, children, and old men. Young men that can fight back are mainly attacked when they are severely out numbered or unarmed. These tactics are almost universal in both pogroms carried out under the fog of war and pogroms that are carried out ahead of war or genocide.
-
At Wounded Knee the American cavalry and light infantry used the fog of war to cover up their genocidal acts. Knowing that the "enemy" or "target of opportunity" was vulnerable in the dead of winter the American Army attacked. In the same fashion of Hitler's Blitz, the Army made certain to shoot every woman and child they could find (in my opinion this was to force the tribe's men to fight since their families were now dead). It was then recorded that American soldiers walked among the dead with pistols in hand. Shooting those who survived the initial blitz... these SS like warriors finished the job.
-
The goal of a pogrom is simple. The perpetrators want one of two things. They either want the targeted community to leave the claimed territory or to gather in designated community areas. In the second of these two the goal is to form ghettos. Next, once ghettos are formed, the pogroms intensify and the genocide officially begins.
-
To better understand what the Roma in Europe are going through I decided before writing this brief history and introduction into "pogroms" that we should first understand how they work. I fully believe that we should be aware of this and understand that in no way are we here at home immune to such acts.
-
I will be writing more this month on clear cut cases of "pogroms" and genocide due to the Roma in Eastern Europe who are undergoing a clear cut case of "government backed pogroms". I hope you understand that I am not targeting America or Americans for any undue criticism. I believe that as Americans we should recognize both the great wonderful things we have accomplished and the nightmares we have wrought upon others. In this belief, I therefore believe other nations and peoples should do the same... i.e. Turkey and the Europeans at large.
-
My next example will be the Armenian Pogrom in Baku during January 1990. This will be an example of a pogrom being used to "expel the undesirables". And it will be only a temporary break from my look at American pogroms and genocides.
-
Please keep reading and please have an open mind when it comes to this rather unpleasent part of our history. After all, if we do not learn from our past we are damned to repeat it.
-
-
You can read brief updates and follow future post on our Facebook group page by searching Alder's Ledge on Facebook. Make sure to click on the group page and feel free to click "like" on our information page as well.
-
-
-
A Brief History of Pogroms and Organized Chaos
-
-
American Style
-
-
The very word Pogrom means to literally "wreak havoc". It is a relatively new Russian word with ancient roots in human history. And in most incidents it is used to describe organized killings of Jewish communities in highly antisemitic cultures. Yet for the most part these sorts of attempts to "demolish violently" in part or in whole have been used against any minority.
-
In the United States we have witnessed these sorts of "state sponsored terrorism" in our recent past... we far to often ignore them and hide them. Under General Custer's dirty flag of freedom we marched into the West with one goal... "to demolish violently" the native way of life. Like the Spanish Conquistadors that came before us, we introduced a way of thinking not to different from the natives. The only difference was that we had the "human waves" to back our hatred and annihilate the peoples of the plains.
-
If you talk to very many average blue color working Americans you will find that the "Arab" is our new Native American. Among the liberal "upper crust" the Muslim is a novelty to be admired from afar... still not to be fully embraced. Among the conservative "working class" Islam is a foreign invader ready to rape and pillage... in much the same way they painted the Native American. And yet we hide away our animosity in much the same manner as our forefathers did; silently waiting for the opportunity to launch our assault.
-
The Hispanic community has gotten even less respect in recent history. But that is even more taboo to bring up than the "Arab". Yet here I go...
-
With a broad brush we often paint with fabricated numbers and bloated statistics the entire Latin community as "illegal aliens". When we feel generous we give them the titles of "immigrant", "migrant workers", or simply "illegals". But for the most part the goal is segregation. We seem to willfully forget that if you go back far enough even the Native American is an immigrant to this continent.
-
Forget about how we treated the blacks, gypsies, Japanese, Chinese, gays, or Jews. The cases for the Native Americans, Muslims, and Hispanics most clearly make my case for why we here at home are far from exempt from the hatred that feeds widespread "havoc". After all, we have made our own concentration camps... we have organized government to slaughter the weak... and we have washed our hands of innocent blood.
-
So how do pogroms get started?
-
"Where one or more are gathered..." evil will always be lingering close behind. After all, we are a species born to sin and to sin we so often turn. This just happens to be the worse form of sin we far too often take to. With our prejudice always at the front of our arsenals we take up arms when the world offers us "change".
-
With the harsh introduction of "radical Islam" we took up arms for good reasons against foreign foes. But for those left behind to fight upon the home front... we needed a face to a foe who dared not raise its head in public. For this we painted all Muslims as al-Quada or "radicals". For some, this meant that we were not at war with any particular sect of Islam but rather with Islam itself.
-
No greater lie has been spread since that fateful September.
-
Now we face a sect of Westerners that have "radicalized" as once again the world they knew changed... and abruptly at that. The conservative values of even liberal Muslims are now subjected to Western prejudice while Mormons are allowed to abuse their children. Lies about Islam are born and bread by people who have not even once read the Koran. Let alone the fact that most of us here in the United States know absolutely nothing about the Muslim's traditions or even their religion.
-
But this is a potential pogrom in the making. We don't have a government these days that will allow the masses to arm themselves and thus descend upon the Muslim community to "wreak havoc". Thank God.
-
We do however have a government that will not, mainly due to conservative fears, more aggressively identify "hate groups". Therefore the government can not nor will not prosecute hate group members for hate crimes when they do in fact happen. And for this reason the rise of violence against Muslims and their mosque continues.
-
A true pogrom against the Muslims in America would and could happen if the far right were allowed to organize a political party without public condemnation. Like the "brown shirts" in Washington during World War Two, this party would rise upon the growing prejudice against "common foes" such as the Muslims or Latinos. Ascending in power the group would need to quench the thirst of hatred amongst it members. So like other public figures, this group would allow publicly or in party memos the organized chaos that would follow. Like Krystalnaucht, the violence would be backed by the politician yet carried out by the people. Attacks would break out with true "havoc" being achieved almost over night. Only due to opposition by the Left, hopefully, the violence would end with the targeted community bloodied and in hiding.
-
I know that most reading this are probably upset that I am using America as my example while Europe is currently in the midst of government backed pogroms... but we must never forget just how vulnerable to Hitler's lures we truly are.
-
We have in our past raised hidden camps in isolated places in attempts to demoralize and destroy targeted communities. Like it or not, we have proven time and time again that we as Americans are far more than capable of uniting as the Nazis did in our hatred.
-
Indiana was once the site of a Osama like figure. Tecumseh, the military side of "radicalized" native society, led a "holy war" against the invading whites. Relentless in his attempts to destroy or at least demoralize the white Americans, Tecumseh launched, at times suicidal, attacks on much larger foes. His prejudice were of course formed out of his realization that the world as he knew it was changing... shrinking.
-
In my opinion, Islam has only radicalized due to... in part, the shrinking of the world the Middle Eastern Muslims once knew. The other factors are of course the many promises the West has made and broken (another link in my mind to Tecumseh). Then you have the exploitation of the Middle Easterners' resources (again Tecumseh). And finally the fact that Western ideals are being and have been forced upon the Arab world for decades now (most of which are incompatible with Islam itself).
-
Attacking Pigeon Roost, a band of natives linked to Tecumseh, massacred the local citizens without resistance. The fact that they then sliced the gut of a white women who was pregnant to make certain her baby was dead only galvanized the white Americans' hatred. So in response, orders were given to the Indiana Rangers to take no prisoners and spare nothing... woman, child, or animal.
-
The war from this point was one of burning abhorrence for the enemy on both sides. And in each camp the orders were interpreted to include the use of "pogroms" to strip the enemy of its will to fight.
-
Tecumseh would go on to target white settlements he knew to be unarmed and without young men to protect them. White men we here in Indiana hail as heroes made names for themselves by slaughtering Native American women and children while the "braves" were away. In both camps these were known as "targets of opportunity".
-
Pogroms are often carried out against "targets of opportunity". They are carried out by people who are either well armed or just plain better armed than their targets (in Rwanda the pogroms that grew into genocide were often carried out with machetes). In every case the targets most harassed are women, children, and old men. Young men that can fight back are mainly attacked when they are severely out numbered or unarmed. These tactics are almost universal in both pogroms carried out under the fog of war and pogroms that are carried out ahead of war or genocide.
-
At Wounded Knee the American cavalry and light infantry used the fog of war to cover up their genocidal acts. Knowing that the "enemy" or "target of opportunity" was vulnerable in the dead of winter the American Army attacked. In the same fashion of Hitler's Blitz, the Army made certain to shoot every woman and child they could find (in my opinion this was to force the tribe's men to fight since their families were now dead). It was then recorded that American soldiers walked among the dead with pistols in hand. Shooting those who survived the initial blitz... these SS like warriors finished the job.
-
The goal of a pogrom is simple. The perpetrators want one of two things. They either want the targeted community to leave the claimed territory or to gather in designated community areas. In the second of these two the goal is to form ghettos. Next, once ghettos are formed, the pogroms intensify and the genocide officially begins.
-
To better understand what the Roma in Europe are going through I decided before writing this brief history and introduction into "pogroms" that we should first understand how they work. I fully believe that we should be aware of this and understand that in no way are we here at home immune to such acts.
-
I will be writing more this month on clear cut cases of "pogroms" and genocide due to the Roma in Eastern Europe who are undergoing a clear cut case of "government backed pogroms". I hope you understand that I am not targeting America or Americans for any undue criticism. I believe that as Americans we should recognize both the great wonderful things we have accomplished and the nightmares we have wrought upon others. In this belief, I therefore believe other nations and peoples should do the same... i.e. Turkey and the Europeans at large.
-
My next example will be the Armenian Pogrom in Baku during January 1990. This will be an example of a pogrom being used to "expel the undesirables". And it will be only a temporary break from my look at American pogroms and genocides.
-
Please keep reading and please have an open mind when it comes to this rather unpleasent part of our history. After all, if we do not learn from our past we are damned to repeat it.
-
-
You can read brief updates and follow future post on our Facebook group page by searching Alder's Ledge on Facebook. Make sure to click on the group page and feel free to click "like" on our information page as well.
-
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