Ethnic Purity

A Tyrant's Pipe-dream
(The Darkness Visible series)

(In Burma its the man with the gun that writes the law.)

When the Serbian nationalist launched their war against the other states that had once made up Yugoslavia the world sat on the sidelines and watched. We watched as radical nationalism led to the same sins that it had produced in Germany. We watched as the barbwire went back up. We watched as rape camps were established. We watched as men and boys were worked to death and starved till they became the walking dead. We watched as what we had called genocide in Germany was renamed "ethnic cleansing". All along we knew it was absolutely wrong. All along we sat silent as the sins of our past were marched back out for the world to see. 

Just as radical nationalism took root in Serbian extremists it can now be seen skulking beneath the surface in the Arakan State of Burma. Like a serpent it slithers just below the facade that the radicalized Rakhine mobs have crafted. The lies that hid for a short while in Serbia are building up the "cause" the Rakhine extremist monks claim to be fighting for. Those who deny it exist refuse that ethnicity lay at the root of the Burmese movement. 

For the past year many have claimed that the Rohingya are spreading Islam where it never existed prior to this outbreak of violence. They claim that the Rohingya are invaders. They claim that the Rohingya are the aggressors. Yet history refuses to back these claims. For lack of evidence, these pillars of the radical Buddhists' movement are left unsupported. 

Without religion to fall back upon, the Rakhine mobs can only rely upon the ethnicity of their victims to rally support amongst poor Rakhine communities. Slurs such as "kalar, ogres, and unclean" float the hate filled message of the true aggressors. These draw upon old ethnic bigotry that the monks were well aware already existed. Islam is just the latest excuse to be added to their arsenal of reasons to attack. 

Yet the Rakhine monks are far from the main reason for the apparently sudden outburst of ethnic violence in Burma. For decades the Burmese military junta have been pushing ethnic minorities toward the borderlands. Those who are not considered ethnically pure are mercilessly attacked. Villages are torched, the inhabitants driven off into the forest and mountains, and the scorched earth filled with landmines. This is a war for ethnic purity. It is a war that has been raging without relent every since the generals hijacked Burma's government.

The Rakhine mobs are simply the willing tools of the "reformed" government. Their targets are highlighted in the same way the Nazis spread across Europe, in a blitz. With government supported propaganda the communities to be "cleared" are highlighted for the mobs. The mobs build, the tension rises, and the stormtroopers come rushing in. All that is left is the lebensraum that the government of Myanmar desired in the first place. 

Radical nationalism is much like genocide in this way, it has patterns. You can check off its rise in stages. And yet we often overlook it's presence with every occurrence of its wretched growth.

In Burma we were shut off from what was happening behind the shroud that the Junta had created. However the moment the door was cracked we should have been able to identify the lies Burma's leaders were feeding us. Instead in the darkness of Burma's past we saw a glimmer of hope for its future.... however misguided that may have been.

The first step for radical nationalism to take root is for the political landscape to be divided into an "us vs them" scenario. If the radical nationalist cannot segregate a party and isolate its members they will resort to ethnic divides to isolate a group to dominate. Once under control the movement can begin to spread its cancer across the landscape.

Much like the Nazi movement and that of the extremist Serbian movement, radical nationalism is alluring to the impoverished and isolated. It offers a cause greater than themselves to which they can attach themselves to. It offers hope to a portion of society that has old scores to settle. And by offering a path forward, even the most extreme views can be swallowed.

When the extremist can seduce their followers to an ideology of "us vs them" they simply have to switch the bait to "you are the oppressed" and "this is your land". With this the extremist become more than just ethnically centered but create the myth that nationalism can be defined by ethnicity and ethnicity alone. With this the excuse for action to right the imagined wrongs can lead to acts previously unimaginable.

In Burma this has meant that select ethnic groups have been given the green light to "retake" lands that they were told were taken from them. Ethnic groups that find themselves on the wrong side of this rewritten history of Burma are pushed out. This has led to the Shan, Chin, Kachin, Kaman, Rohingya, and other minorities being driven to the edges of their homelands. Through being declared "invaders" they have been written out of Myanmar's existence.

We watched the same thing occur in Bosnia. When the Serbs needed excuses to retake their "homeland" in Bosnia they used the same excuse Hitler had for invading the Sudetenland. Ethnic purity and ethnic heritage had given them a perverted justification for genocide. And just as the Serbs and Nazis proved, there is always somebody who just doesn't belong. There is always another undesirable to be removed.

In this aspect ethnic purity is a dream of the radicalized mind. Even if the Rohingya were gone tomorrow there would always be another group that the Burmese majority would need to remove. For at the core of radical nationalism is the need for that "us vs them" mentality. Without it the need for radicalized nationalism ceases to exist.

So now we must ask ourselves; are we going to set on the sidelines in Burma? Will we watch as the same sins of our past are dragged out for the world to see? Are we to watch as the Rohingya are starved to death in camps as the barb wire goes back up? Or will we take this opportunity to learn from the lessons history is attempting to teach us yet again?

The blockades that existed prior to the cyclone still exist. Food, clean water, and medicine are still being withheld from Rohingya as they die in the squalor of Burma's version of concentration camps. With every passing day they perish from diseases that could have been easily prevented. With every passing hour they fall to starvation and thirst.

For my ancestors who suffered under the yoke of radical nationalism there were liberators in the form of resistance. Brave young men and women took up arms against a foe that appeared to be impregnable. Through their actions the blood of my ancestors was not lost to the pages of history. With their courage came freedom.

We may not be able to storm the beaches of the Arakan with guns blazing. Yet our resistance is just as dangerous in this modern age. As Stalin said, "ideas are more dangerous than guns...". Our voices are our ammunition.

So take this opportunity to resist. Take this opportunity to scream for those who have been made voiceless. Pick up your weapon and join the fight.

How to Scream:

• Share articles like this one on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterist, Blogger, Tumbler, and other social media outlets.
• Write your local and federal Representatives in government and ask that they stand up for the Rohingya.
• Join "tweet storms" and other social media protest in support of the Rohingya. 
• Share the plight of the Rohingya with your family and friends (maybe even the old fashion way, you know... face to face). 
• Email your religious organizations the story of the Rohingyas' plight in Burma. 
• Contact local leaders in your community and ask them to support the Rohingya in any way possible. 
• And just get creative in ways to spread the message as far and wide as possible (please keep it legal though). 

Literally thousands of lives rely upon you, the free world, to speak up and join the fight. So use your freedoms in the way that they were meant to be used... to help others.

Sins Of The Past

Tragedy Of The Present
(part of The Darkness Visible series)

The quickest way to destroy an enemy that you perceive due to race is ironically not through the bullet. Bullets are costly when you are talking about killing not only the living but those still yet to be born. Soldiers have to be rewarded for their efforts in annihilating another race of man. Eventually hatred alone is not the only sin needed to continue the descent into hell. Bullets are the embodiment of hate on genocidal battlefields. But they can't sustain a prolonged effort to exterminate. That is where other sins come in. Sins such as lust.

When the Serbian militias began their war to purge old Yugoslavia of Bosnian blood their commanders knew the battle would be long. Almost from the beginning the leaders of death squads knew that payment and patriotism alone would not keep their savage troops on the battlefield. Leaders like Mladic and his fellow dogs told their soldiers that the rape of a Bosnian was their duty to the Serbian people. Through "breeding" the Bosnian out, the Serbs could end an entire ethnicity. And through that approach they could save their bullets for the religion of the Bosnian people while their soldiers could get cheap entertainment at the cost of the Bosnian women and girls.

Today the lessons of Bosnia are being repeated as history itself tries to teach us what we apparently didn't learn the first time. In places such as the Congo and Burma rape is once again being used to motivate murderers and keep them on the battlefield. The human cost unfortunately is harder to measure than simply putting another tally mark on the wall or adding another body to the count. The initial victim passes on her misery and pain to future generations. Her family and friends experience the crime in ways they themselves could have never imagined. And the war criminal usually gets to walk away without even facing a judge or jury.

Recently Assed Baig released an article about the Myanmar military's use of sex trafficking as a weapon of war. In it he describes how the Burmese government is complacent in allowing it's soldiers to keep Rohingya women as sex slaves. In particular, Assed Baig focused on Regiment 270's encampment just outside Sittwe where Rohingya girls are taken and held as sexual slaves.
(Link listed in Source Documents)

The story of the Rohingya's exploitation is remarkably similar to that of the Bosnian people during the Serbian prosecuted genocide against the Bosnians. Once again we can see that the militants use the Rohingya as a source of military moral. Prisoners that happen to be male are beaten and at times killed by Burmese military who become bored with the lulls between "riots" (pogroms). Rohingya women however are subject to a living hell.

 Rohingya women are claimed by a Burmese soldier or the entire camp. Their families, especially their children, are used as leverage to keep them silent during their imprisonment. During their imprisonment the Rohingya women are subjected to abuse and rape whenever the Burmese soldiers wish. It is only upon release that the Rohingya women are given an illusion of liberty. Their families are still kept as leverage (threatened to kill or have killed) to keep them quite after they have left the custody of the camp.

This is how rape is used in war. It is a weapon meant to degrade the lives of the targeted community. When it kills its victims it adds another number to the body count in the eyes of the outside world. But for the victims, death is a release from the hell their captors have made for them. For most this form of victimization is one that they will have to live with. It is a nightmare that will forever haunt them. It is a weapon worse than bullets alone... for it not only damages the flesh but manages to wound the soul as well.





Source Documents
(note that not all sources are listed)

Assed's Article via Vice
http://m.vice.com/en_uk/read/rohingya-women-are-being-kept-as-sex-slaves-by-the-burmese-military

Be Happy, Sad Mother...

The Holocaust in Croatia

 

 Like heroes, like Croats,

They poured blood for homeland!

~ Lijepa nasa domovino ~

Croatian National Anthem

In September of 1939 Yugoslavia declared itself neutral in the new war that was sweeping across Europe. However the dogs of war had already been howling for sometime in Yugoslavia. After the last "Great War" the Powers of Europe had carved up the territories once held by the Ottomans and Austrians. The failure to take note of the ethnic and religious differences that officially demarcated the region of the now Yugoslav kingdom was coming back to haunt the region. Croatia was just the first dog to bite.

In March of 1941 the Yugoslavia signed the Tripartite Pact sealing its desire to be left out of the war. Yet no matter how often Yugoslavia assured the Axis, Germany especially, that they would adhere to the treaty the Axis didn't seem to believe them. This suspicion was fueled in part by Yugoslavia's leadership at the time. It was also fueled by Croatia's flirtation with the Nazis.

Upon Germany's invasion of Yugoslavia on April 6th of 1941 the Croatian political class began to maneuver for an independent state within the Third Reich. Only four days later, on April 10th, the Croatian politicians got exactly what they wanted as Germany allowed Croatia to declare itself independent of Yugoslavia. However Croatia would be expected to fall in line with Hitler's Europe. A catch in the agreement that Croatia's Ustase party was far too willing to take part in.

The Ustaše were Croatia's ultra fascist political party that had come to power by taking advantage of the economic depression which hit small economies like Croatia's disproportionately. They had realized that without implementing extreme policies like those of Hitler's Croatia would not be able to recover. Thus Croatians across Yugoslavia began to flock to the party. After all, this was the party that was promising the moon (for Croats only) and linking the Croatians to Aryans.

For the Jews, Roma, Homosexuals, Handicapped, or Mentally Handicapped this call to arms was the sound of the clock striking midnight. The darkness of the Holocaust was now spreading across Croatia and over all the rest of Yugoslavia. There was nowhere left for Yugoslavian Jews to run. Europe had been devoured by Hitler's army. Croatia was simply driving the final nail into the coffin.

(Ustaše Murders Resorting to Axes At Jasenovac Death Camp)

In Croatia the Holocaust came in a unique manner. The German SS weren't the main presence at death camps like Jasenovac. Instead the Croatians, almost as a whole, were the leaders of the operations to slaughter the Croatian Jews and Romani. With their ruthless Ustaše, the Croatians employed massacres using axes, hammers, and at times their own hands. Many Ustaše leaders were known to grab children up by their legs and bash their heads against walls as a means of instilling fear among new inmates. In Croatia the Holocaust was almost more personal than it was ever meant to be. 

All across Europe Jewish businesses were confiscated and handed out to loyal Nazi party members. The Legal Decree on the Nationalization of Jewish Properties and Jewish Companies of October 10th, 1941 made it far to easy for any Croatian to claim ownership of their neighbors home or their competitor's business. The government of Croatia also stated that it would not prevent or prosecute the blatant murder of Jews and Roma within Croatia. Thus allowing even noncombatants to engage in the Holocaust in as much a role as the Gestapo of Germany. 

Across the border in Bosnia the Croatians lend Ustaše commanders to the "Grand Mufti's" Bosnian SS units. These Croats were eager to work toward the goal of cleansing not only Croatia of Serbs, Jews, and Roma but also wanted their borders cleared of any future resistance. The compromise here was simple, work with Muslims and Arabs or allow Bosnia to fall to the Yugoslav partisans. 

In further support of Hitler's goals the Ustaše and Croat politicians ordered the construction of Koprivnica, Pag Island, Jadovno, and Kruščica death camps. These camps were raised in the spring of 1941 and each would continue their industry of death and murder till October of 1942 when Jasenovac is fully operational. However unlike in Germany and Poland, the local politicians did not wait for the German Nazis to order the construction of the said camps. In Croatia it seemed to be a status symbol for the politicians in the new regime to have a concentration camp operating in their region of the state.

From August of 1941through February of 1942 the Ustaše established the Jasenovac camps: Krapje, Bročica, Ciglana, Kozara, and Stara Gradiška. This group of satellite camps would rival the horrors of Auschwitz and Dachau. And at its heart was the aim of killing all of Croatia's Romani community as well as importing Serbian and Bosnian Roma. The Jews of this area were often sent off to Auschwitz as the war came to a close so as to make room for Roma and Serbian prisoners. 

(Emaciated Child at Jasenovac Death Camp)

The Ustaše camp guards however did not readily send off their prisoners. Instead the Croatian SS were notorious for working for days on end as they carried out massive executions of prisoners to decrease the number of victims needed to be sent out to German concentration camps. Guards in Croatia were renowned for their lack of concern for the health of the inmates kept in their camps. Thus extraordinary cruelty, even by Nazi standards, was often overlooked by Ustaše SS units. 

It wasn't till September of 1941 that the Ustaše even began to admit that they could not kill all the Jews in Croatia without some form of help from Germany. Thus from September of 1941 through March of 1942 the Ustaše establishes the Ðakovo, Tenje, and Loborgrad camps. All three served as transit sites for Croat Jews whom Croatian authorities turned over to the Germans for deportation to Auschwitz. 

In many cases the Holocaust in Croatia was not stopped until Yugoslavian partisans under Tito were able to overrun the camps. In select cases the local Croatian authorities would dismantle the death camps and attempt to hide their crimes as the partisans approached. These cases were often induced by the sheer fear of reprisals that often marked the liberation of camps by Tito's militias. In most cases however the Croatian SS and Ustaše combatants would fight tooth and nail to keep hold of their villages and the camps they supported. 

(Tito's Army - Yugoslav Partisans)

The Yugoslav liberators were amongst the few groups of liberators that seemed to not be surprised by what they found upon entering Croat death camps. Tito's Army had been told what awaited them when pushing back the Mufti's SS and the Ustaše forces. In every village they entered the Croatian fascist had turned the basements and cellars into miniature death camps. Through the entire liberation of Croatia the Ustaše forces carried out a scorched earth campaign as they withdrew. And just as the Germans would do as the Russians approached Berlin, Croat forces would leave stragglers to "nip at the heels" of the "barbarians". 

Of the nearly 40,000 Jews that lived in Croatia at the outbreak of the Holocaust only around 9,000 would survive its rapid spread across the new state. For the Roma the Porajmos (the devouring) in Croatia was just as horrific. The land that many Croat Jews had loved and been loyal to had nearly erased three quarters of their community. And to make things worse, the Catholic Church (which remains a major part in Croatian politics) had played a major role in this horrific act of genocide. 

On May 5th, 1945 the Legal Decree of the Equalization of Members of the Independent State of Croatia Based on Racial Origin was passed and repealed the race laws imposed by the Ustaše. For many this was the sign that signified the end of the Holocaust in their homeland. It would, in a legal sense, insure at least some safety for the Jews still living in Yugoslavia. Yet the wounds inflicted upon the Yugoslavian community by the Ustaše would never truly heal. 

For forty years the Balkans remained the "powder keg" of Europe. The sins of the Ustaše remained like scars upon Croatia and its neighbors. And in 1995 the horrors carried out by the Mufti SS and Ustaše would come back to surface once more. Proving to the world once again that if we never learn from history we will always find a way to reenact our mistakes. Without addressing the sins of our fathers we will surely repeat their misdeeds.

If They Were Christians Would We Help?

From Syria to Burma
(The Darkness Visible series)

(Just Another Funeral in Syria) 

Over the past few months I have found it hard to not ask myself if things would be different if the current genocide victims were not Muslim. From Syria (where Assad, an Alawi, slaughters Sunni Muslims) to Burma (where the Buddhist regime targets Muslims for extermination) the victims all have one thing in common. Their faith. 

The response given by the United Nations and the Western governments that help guide it has reminded me since the start of how the UN responded to Bosnia. In 1992 the Serbian forces within Bosnia decided that the Muslims had to die to help create a "Greater Serbia". The United Nations responded just as one might have expected. Their actions helped further the cause of the Christian Serbs while punishing the Bosnian Muslims. No arms were allowed to be distributed to the Bosnian forces so as to help defend themselves and their families. Aid to the Bosnian community was seemingly given under the conditions that Bosnian Muslims would not defend themselves but commit to damned attempts at "diplomacy". All the while Serbs were allowed to funnel arms and ammunition across the border from Serbia so as to fuel their war upon Islam. 

The entire time I spent studying Srebrenica I couldn't help but ask myself... if the dead weren't Muslims would the West care? 

In Syria today the Alawi, a minute percentage of the population, have taken every action to reduce the Shiite population while securing power for the Shia minority. Dehumanization began from the very start of the protest against Assad. But it wasn't the rebels who were comparing their opposition to cockroaches. Instead it was Assad who was laying the ground work for genocide. And it was Assad who began working his way through the steps of genocide as if reading them from a book. Yet in Syria today the UN and US can be seen as only helping the Shia die in a little more comfortable ways than Assad would wish. They do not seem willing to stop the bleeding. 

Children are massacred in waves of violence not seen in the region since Saddam's campaign to annihilate the Kurds. Yet the UN did nothing more than ask Angelina Jolie to come and visit the refugee camps... across the border in safety. Aid has been slow (it wasn't till recently that America secured 1.5 billion in aid... with vast restrictions on its use of course) and at times has been left rotting on docks in neighboring countries so as to never arrive. The only thing that the UN seems competent to deliver has been the dirty white tents that help cameras capture the appearance of UN aid. Most aid has arrived through private organizations that have stretched themselves to the limit so as to save at least some of the refugees who have fled. 

Those left in Syria have been subjected to mortars, artillery, jet and helicopter attacks, and scud missiles that may be used to deliver chemical weapons. The dead are buried wherever a spare patch of ground can be found. Water, food, and electricity are subject to Assad's desire to either starve a region out or reward a region for their loyalty. All of these are seemingly random since Assad has begun to see rebels behind every rock and around every corner. 

So why does the West not act to help end the genocide in Syria? 

(Humanitarian Aid Remains Behind Blockades While Rohingya Starve To Death)

In Burma the Buddhist regime has been praised almost religiously by the West as the governments of Europe and America prepare to race in and claim as much of the economy as they can before China gets it all. In doing business with the Myanmar government the governments of the West are funding genocide. For decades now, of and on, the Burmese have been attempting to slaughter the Rohingya minority and all other Muslim groups. Under the Junta regime the Rohingya were not only dehumanized but often massacred. This latest burst of genocidal slaughter was just an extension of the decades of systematic slaughter the Junta perpetrated. 

As the violence spread the Rohingya were rounded up into camps where the Burmese military was seen attacking the Rohingya who attempted to flee. When it wasn't the military killing Rohingya it was the Rakhine mobs that the police let through from time to time to keep the Rohingya terrorized. In effect the Myanmar government was establishing concentration camps like those the Serbs established for the Bosnian Muslims. Yet the West refused to call these "refugee" camps what they truly were. Instead we now find ourselves in a place where Rohingya are banned from leaving the camps and aid is blockaded from entering the camps. 

Food and water have been restricted while the Burmese Muslims are starved to death. Babies, some seen on previous post, are left forever harmed by this cruelty... if they survive at all. Yet the West fails to go beyond their business prospects in Myanmar. 

Once again I have to ask, if the Rohingya were not Muslims would the West care anymore?

Many "humanitarians" in the media and Western culture have spent years upon years trying to get governments to help the victims in Darfur and the Congo. The obvious difference in this post is that the victims in this case are predominately Christians. And the attackers are predominately Muslims. This is not to say that genocide in these two cases should not be protested or should not be stopped. But it is painfully clear that those speaking out for the victims share a fairly obvious link to the victims themselves. Their faith.

With this we should all take a look at the reasons for why we get involved. And more importantly we should take a real hard look at the reasons why we tend not to get involved. Both are the sources for our inaction when faced with genocide. And both have effects that last for generations. By not taking action to help those in need we show our true selves... our greatest weaknesses... and most of all our prejudices.

Will Obama Visit Rohingya Ghettos?

Or Will Barack Skip The Death Camps?
(Part of The Darkness Visible series)

As the date of Barack Obama's visit to Myanmar draws near the lives of thousands of Rohingya continue to hang in the balance. In ghettos, imprisoned in concentration camps, and if lucky... in refugee camps; the Rohingya are struggling to survive this latest round of ethnic cleansing. They have little to no access to food in all three camps. They have hardly any access to clean water. And medical aid is limited due to the Myanmar government's intentional denial of relief workers and aid to the Rohingya.

In the 1990's the United States remained silent as a similar situation played out in Bosnia. The White House under another Democrat president sat silent on the sidelines as Serbian forces rounded up Muslims and sent them off to European death camps. The President said nothing as Bosnia's Muslims were denied food and water as their cities were laid siege to. The media in the United States tried to cover up the level of the atrocities within Bosnia so that their doll in the White House would not have to dirty his hands to stop the killing.

Today we watch as the United States remains silent as the Myanmar does the same thing. The White House under a so called "humanitarian" Democrat says nothing as Burmese police and military round up Rohingya for death camps. The President says nothing as Myanmar's Muslims are denied food and water as their homes are torched and their villages wiped off the map. The media remains loyal to the president as they willingly leave out news of the atrocities and word their reports so as to avoid the word genocide.... a word they know could force Obama's hand.

In Bosnia the United States betrayed our commitment to uphold the basic human rights that we claim to believe in so dearly. Some have speculated that Clinton simply did not want to commit troops to a foreign war because of political posturing. There is also the likely possibility that Clinton did not want to directly face off with the fourth largest standing army in Europe. This would have ultimately led to the deaths of several American soldiers. This would have lost credibility withing Washington for the Clinton administration. But more importantly, for Clinton, this would have made a Democrat president be seen as "war mongering" in an area of the world few Americans even cared about.

Today in Myanmar we are betraying those same principles. And it is more than likely that many of the same reasons Clinton had in Bosnia can be carried over and applied to the Obama administration. It is likely that Obama does not want to be seen as a "war hawk" and fighting a fight not our own.

But there is the problem with the hypocrisy of the Obama administration. Here is a president who was willing to fight the rebels' fight in Libya. Here is a president who claims that the political civil war in Libya was a "genocide" (note Obama did nothing to stop the rebels in Libya from killing black Africans on the basis of their race). And on the flip-side here is a president who has done absolutely nothing to stop the actual genocide in Syria (Assad targets his victims on the basis of the differing religious sects within Islam). This is the president who did absolutely nothing to stop the genocide withing Bahrain (where the minority sect of Islam call their opposition "cockroaches" as they target their victims). This is the president that has watched the Uzbeks were targeted in a spat of ethnic cleansing in 2010. And this is the president who has refused to uphold his promise to recognize the Armenian genocide.

So even in his actions abroad, in which Obama has committed acts of war for political gain, the president appears weak when approaching the issue of human rights. When Obama lent troops to help track down the Lord's Resistance Army in the Congo he gave explicit limitations on the ability of the United States Troops to cross borders in pursuit. This meant that the LRA, a guerrilla army that readily crosses borders to evade capture, could simply dodge our troops without fear of being caught by the technologically advanced American troops. When the political gain was capitalized upon back home... Obama pulled the troops and abandoned the Congo.

In the Sudan Obama has used the excuse of "national sovereignty" to keep his cult of personality untainted by the genocide in Darfur and the Blue Nile. Not once has a member of Obama's administration visited the refugee camps in the genocide stricken Sudan. Instead Obama decided to lift sanctions on South Sudan as they too commit war crimes and employ child soldiers to continue the war with Sudan.

So will Obama be visiting the Rohingya ghettos? Will our president bother to ask about the concentration camps?

It is hard to imagine that Obama's interest in Myanmar has little more to do with anything but the economic boost he wants to gain from patting Thein Sein on the back. This is the only motive Obama has in releasing the might of American economic muscle loose on Burma. And in doing this the Obama White House will be funding this era's Nazi regime. Our tax dollars, our commerce, our food and exports... all will be readily available to a government that is currently using these to keep up it's wholesale slaughter of the Rohingya people.

Join Alder's Ledge and many more like us in telling President Barack Obama that no amount of economic gain is worth this. Tell Obama that we will not stand silently by as his White House help fund genocide.

You can do this by engaging the President's twitter account. After all, this is the first President to make his staff readily accessible 24 hours a day (if you take him at his word). Or you write you representative in Congress and tell them the same thing. This will help put pressure on both Congress and the White House. This will help get the Rohingya peoples' voice heard... all you have to do is exercise your rights to help gain theirs'.

Is Syria The New Bosnia

And Why Is Obama The New Clinton?


 The world has been watching as "The Nero of Damascus" plummets Syria into the abyss of Hell itself. The inferno has been glowing hot red for some time now and yet we do nothing. Helpless innocent people have been screaming,the gnashing and moaning growing with every passing day, and yet we do nothing. Blood has been pouring out in amounts beyond measure and still we do nothing. But why?

During the Bosnian Genocide the world waited for the "tragedy" to burn itself out. Clinton's administration in the White House used its same method it would use with Rwanda... Clinton ordered that nobody use the word "Genocide". And this allowed the United States to set idle on the sidelines with the rest of the world. The only difference between Syria and Bosnia?

That is where things become foggy.

Syria appears to the world to be burning on the basis of politics. Race, religion, and creed don't play the important role of "cause" and have little to do with the "effect" of the butcher's response. In Syria we are watching as the social and political reforms that Muslims throughout the Middle East demanded back during the "Arab Spring" are being put to the sword. We are watching Bashar Assad's regime attempt to crush the people they were expected to govern (peacefully).

Bosnia was a clear attempt on the Serbians' side to kill off the Muslims and gain "lebensraum". The goal of Serbia was to "eliminate in part or in whole" a given ethnicity and religious group. By simply being affiliated with the Muslim Bosnians you became the target during Serbia's aggression.

In the Balkans the United States knew that the attacks were not "civil war". We watched as Serbia established concentration camps and "killing fields". Yet we did nothing to stop it. Instead we decided it was our duty to disarm the Bosnians and to restrict any access they might have to them. In a way, the United States helped the Serbs to commit genocide in our "good intentions".

With Syria we have a good idea what is going on within its blacked out borders. Heavy weapons continue to be moved into civilian areas as the brutal regime continues to slaughter all "opposition". Assad seems to be attempting to bleed the will of his people and subvert any future plans or perceived threats to his absolute control. The West sets idle on the sidelines just as we did in Rwanda and Bosnia. We do not dare tiptoe into the minefield. We don't shutdown the airspace over Syria. We don't bomb its military's fuel supplies or truck depots. We simply pay lip service to the dieing as we watch comfortably in our lazy-boys.

So what are the similarities here?

The United States and the United Nations are remaining silent. We are doing nothing. Instead we here in the United States have another President who has ordered his administration to avoid the use of the words "Genocide" or "Crimes against Humanity". Barack Obama knows the weight these words carry in law and morality. That is why the news in the West avoids any real descriptions or accounts of the crimes being committed in Syria. They definitely do not want you to see video like this one...



The man being tortured to death in this video is saying "There is no G-d but G-d (Allah)". In doing this he is attempting to clear his name and show that he is a devout and faithful Muslim. His tormenters are replying "No, you say... There is no G-d but Assad". Thus showing the world just how Bashar views himself.

No one should ever have to see this, suffer this, or turn their backs when they witness this. Yet like in Bosnia, when we watched the Serbs slaughter Muslims, we as a nation and a world community are turning our eyes away. May G-d forgive us. - A few more first hand accounts from just the last two days.


Syria - Assad Army Mortars Pound Al Qosour in Homs, putting buildings on fire on April 26, 2012



Chaos in the streets of Douma as the Depraved Diabolical Dictator Bashar Assad orders his Army to lay waste to the city, bombing houses and cars and wounding and killing scores of local residents while arresting and dragging off hundreds of suspected pro Democracy activists. - April 25, 2012



Contains Graphic Images - Documentary Evidence of Crimes Against Humanity Committed by Syria Dictator Bashar Assad and his Alawite and Shiite Army as they Perpetrate Ethnic Cleansing and Genocide against the Sunni Majority Civilian population of Syria - This video was filmed in the city of Khan Sheikhoun on April 25, 2012 after these women were massacred, along with a number of others, by the Assad Alawite and Shiite Loyalist forces.



 Syria - Explosions and Gunfire rock Douma as Dictator Assad attacks this town and as he makes a fool out of the idiots at the United Nations who actually believed he would ever honor any ceasefire pledge. Assad is a Con Artist Serial Killer in a Fancy Suit with a Trophy Wife and a disarming Gay Lisp who has slaughtered tens of thousands of innocent Syrian civilians in the most horrible ways imaginable.





 Sources Used (note not all sources are listed)

Arab News (arabnews.com)
http://arabnews.com/opinion/columns/article618649.ece

Voice of America (voanews.com)
 http://www.voanews.com/english/news/UNs-Ban-Syria-Violating-Pledge-to-Pull-Weapons-From-Civilian-Areas-149156005.html
http://www.voanews.com/policy/editorials/More-UN-Observers-For-Syria-149152575.html

Souria2011archives Channel on Youtube
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5rOAilbWwGM&skipcontrinter=1

The Miami Herald (miamiherald.com)
http://www.miamiherald.com/2012/04/27/2771261/un-chief-gravely-alarmed-at-syria.html

AFP
http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5gv4vpPqEXZ6zqZVVeBB9X0jPVFAg?docId=CNG.e6f3d96e0d9b89e72c30357dadcfcfed.3b1

The Daily Mail (dailymail.co.uk)
 http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2136208/Video-shows-young-boy-shot-street-Assads-men.html

Two Monsters Arrested

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Two Genocide Masterminds.
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Ratko Mladic is finally behind bars on multiple charges of "crimes against humanity". Serbia seems to have finally decided to arrest the monster Mladic for his participation in the Bosnian Genocide. But this is nearly 16 years after the acts of genocide were committed. This is after Ratko has been allowed to roam the Serbian countryside for nearly 16 years a free man.
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Meanwhile in the Democratic Republic of the Congo a Hutu militia leader has been arrested on charges of "crimes against humanity". This savage beast was the "mastermind" of the genocide, or is at least charged to be so. Yet it has taken nearly 17 years to hunt this monster down. However today Bernard Munyagishari is behind bars and ready to be sent off to trial.
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Now we will have to wait to see what the penalty will be for these two savages. As for Alder's Ledge we hope they will both be sentenced to death and put to death in short order. Let them bleed as their victims did and let justice finally be served.
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Screamers

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Some days my soul cries out with such anger, such passion, that it can not be silenced... it can not find satisfaction. It needs to know that the world has seen its sins cast upon a banner raised for all to see. It needs to know that all others have been made to bear witness to the perverted crimes of their fellow man. It needs to scream.
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I urge all of you to see this film. I urge all of you to be Screamers.

Serbian Mass Murder Finally Arrested

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Miodrag Momic Finally to Face His Sins
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Wanted since the end of the Bosnian War, "Guy Monier" has finally been arrested by French police. He was wanted for participation in the mass murder of 8,000 or more Bosnian Muslims. It has taken nearly twenty years for the paramilitary dog to be dragged to jail.
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Momic will soon be extradited to Serbia where he will most likely only receive 20 years in prison for his participation in the deaths of thousands. His confession or conviction will mean little to the Serbs seeing as how four of his counterparts received the same measly sentence. This is how Serbian courts reward "Scorpion" mercenaries.
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The crime he is being convicted with falls under the title of "Crimes Against Humanity"... or Genocide.
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The reason...
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During July of 1995 the Scorpions, and possibly the Greek Volunteer Guard, seized the UN protected "safe zone" of Srebrenica, a Bosnian city. They then went on to round up all the Muslims they could find within the city. The Hell they unleashed became rather reminiscent of the Nazi SS in action. Their victims were given no chance to flee or fight.
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Many of the witnesses told UN forces just how the "fighting" was being done. The "civil war" was being fought by armed Serbs and defenseless Muslim Bosnians. The Bosnians in this case were often being impaled or clubbed to death so as to save ammunition. Others were tortured and then killed. None were given an opportunity to flee.
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At the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia the presiding judge, Theodor Meron stated...
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"By seeking to eliminate a part of the Bosnian Muslims, the Bosnian Serb forces committed genocide. They targeted for extinction the 40,000 Bosnian Muslims living in Srebrenica, a group which was emblematic of the Bosnian Muslims in general. They stripped all the male Muslim prisoners, military and civilian, elderly and young, of their personal belongings and identification, and deliberately and methodically killed them solely on the basis of their identity."
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The Scorpions also participated in the mass rapes of Muslim women and children so as to deprive the population of any form of dignity. They slaughtered pregnant women and infants in an attempt to destroy the next generation of Bosnian Muslims. Young women and girls were often used as "sex slaves" and treated as property by Serbs. And yet Miodrag Momic decided to hide from his sins by fleeing to France... an option he openly denied his victims.
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If it were up to me he would be publicly executed in the worst way possible. Perhaps he should be drawn and quartered or just simply hung. But most likely he will be able to walk out of prison a free man at the age of 67... something his 8,000 or more victims never got a chance to do... be free.
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Instead they were bombarded by artillery and harassed by snipers the entire time the UN forces "protected" them. Then they were overrun and rounded up like animals. Those who were not killed in the days that followed would be shipped off to concentration camps where guards would take their time torturing them to death. The women would be sold or destroyed by the rapist and perverts on the Serbian side of the war.
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May Momic's soul rot in Hell.
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Source Document for this Post.
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Voice of America
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http://www.voanews.com/english/news/europe/Serb-War-Crimes-Suspect-Arrested-in-France-115036519.html
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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

"Screamers"

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"I promise I'll never be Tutsi again"
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1994. The world watched as the Hutu nationalist in Rwanda took to the streets with guns held high and and machetes strapped to their sides. Militias had been training for years before the violence erupted once again that April. Soon they would run out of ammunition... even running out of hand grenades. The machete would be the judge, jury, and executioner for 100 long bloody days.
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The quote above is directly from the lips of a young boy whose mother happened to be Hutu. She was promised that she and her children would be safe if they left her Tutsi husband. Instead the butchers fell upon her children like savage wolves ravening their prey. Those words were the last he would ever speak on God's green earth. He, like many before him, knew the killings had nothing to do with ration or reason... he was killed simply because of who and what he was. Tutsi.
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In Bosnia the world witnessed the death of thousands of Muslims. Perhaps that is why we allowed the Christian Serbs to put them in concentration camps? Whatever the case, we watched as they Serbs set up "cat houses" in which they raped young Muslim girls. The money they spent on their savage rapes funded the deaths of the girls' fathers, brothers, and mothers. Even with this we remained silent.
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From 1991 to 1995 we watched as the Serbs literally raped Bosnia. And again President Clinton waited till the blood and dust had mixed into mud before he gave his apology. He was even so bold as to utter that damned hollow phrase "NEVER AGAIN".
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For what has seemed like an eternity we as a species have watched as the oppressed and tormented beat upon the barbwire and shout for our help. With slit wrist they have have come before us and begged for our mercy and yet we have sent them back into the mouths of Hell's hounds to be devoured.
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With all the evidence the world had to offer we watched as the Armenians were marched into the wastelands only to be slaughtered. Under unmarked graves their bones were left to rot only later to have Hitler himself proclaim, "Who alive today remembers the Armenians?"
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Well I do.
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Today we watch as the European continent (and its outlying island nations) are steadily marching toward the sins of their fathers. Complacent to murder, they have strapped back on the jackboots and began to beat the same bloody drums as before. This time, as before, they march to the "sound of progress". They will, less their path be altered, once again have an entire race put to the flames of Hell for nothing less than "progress".
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The Roma have long been targets of discrimination due to the European view that they are "outsiders" or "un-civilized". The popular view of the Roma is that they are not nor never will be true citizens of the nation in which they live. Despite the common perception that the European Union was set up to allow the free flow of money, products, and people the Roma remain "outsiders".
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In Italy they are forced to register and live in camps the Italians have purposely set up in areas where the Roma will be harassed daily. Their children are forced to go to schools that are set up like prisons (with barbwire and guard towers). Some Italians have even forced the Roma to have their finger prints taken, their family histories documented, their religion publicly proclaimed, the languages they are capable of speaking or writing recorded, and their pictures documented and posted for public access.
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So even if you overlook the French "raffles" (which the French used to rid themselves of Jews in World War Two) you cannot overlook their issuing of ghettos for the Roma. Ghettos that are more reminiscent of Hitler's treatment of Polish Jews than anything we have seen since Bosnia.
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The march is on. The familiar tones of far right fascism is wringing from across the pond. The sound of hard rubber soles is echoing in nearly every capitol city in Europe.
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According to groups such as Human Rights First (www.humanrightsfirst.org) violent crimes committed against and specifically targeting Roma in Europe have been sharply increasing since at least 2007. The ethnocentric fear that fueled Hitler's crimes are showing their teeth with ever increasing tenacity.
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What is more disturbing is that, as Human Rights First puts it, "The bias-motivated violence against Roma often occurs in a hostile environment, as political leaders speak openly of desire to expel Roma from their communities." And this is exactly what is happening in France under Nicolas Sarkozy and his fellow brown shirts.
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It leaves me to wonder just how long it will be before all of Europe adopts Italy's "Security Pact" program. It is clear that France, Germany, and Sweden have adopted this policy in their own ways, but how long till more liberally whitewashed nations like England take to these deportation policies? And now that Germany has chosen to evict its Roma to Kosovo (a country that is not a European Union nation) will France choose a country from which the Roma may not return?
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In 2008 the Italian government declared a "state of emergency" so as to stop the immigration of Roma from Bulgaria and Romania. This was the first time since World War Two that a European nation used immigration as a reason to declare a state wide "state of emergency". It however had little to do with the Roma that were coming into the Axis state as much as it did with those already citizens of Italy.
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Under the broad banner of "emergency" it is surprising just how much citizens are willing to give up in the name of "safety". It is under this same guise that Saddam Hussein began his gassing of the Kurds. And it is under this same sheepskin cloak that almost every loss of freedom has been suffered. Nazism, Fascism, Communism... they all came from the mere perception of a "state of emergency".
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Italy has been using this "state of emergency" to evict long standing communities of Roma so as to destabilize the Roma population in whole. They want to keep the Roma moving so that they cannot integrate any more than they already have. This is a direct personification of the xenophobia that has stripped the Roma of their freedoms... the same freedoms that are "guarantied to all European citizens" by the European Union.
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"Resolution 1740 (2010)

The situation of Roma in Europe and relevant activities of the Council of Europe

1. The Roma constitute the largest minority in Europe and are present in virtually all Council of Europe member states. All member states – without exception – have the moral and legal duty to make concrete and sustained efforts to improve the situation of Roma and to ensure the full respect of their fundamental rights."
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Yet "without exception" the Italians have made "concrete and sustained efforts" to destabilize the Romani population in an attempt to destroy or remove the said population from Italy.
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"2. The Parliamentary Assembly is shocked by recent outrages against Roma in several Council of Europe member states, reflecting an increasing trend in Europe towards anti-Gypsyism of the worst kind." -Parliamentary Assembly of the European Union, Resolution 1740
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And yet still, with all their "shock" by "recent outrages against Roma" the European Union has failed to stop or even sway the steady march toward Nazi style policies in "several Council of Europe member states". In fact, recently the European Union has dropped its grievances and charges against France. Instead they took a step back and allowed Germany to step up its "anti-Gypsyism" by deporting Roma to Kosovo.
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We know not where this current genocide is heading but we do know that, like most others, it is going to escalate. It is also apparent to those aware of its existence that far to few others are watching. And to those of us screaming on the sidelines... we know this sense of desperation far to well.
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To those who want to write this current genocide off as "typical melodrama" from some "typical tree hugging hippie"... well its obvious you don't know me.
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Here is the legal definition of genocide.
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Article II: In the present Convention, genocide means any of the following acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group, as such:

(a) Killing members of the group;
(b) Causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group;
(c) Deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part;
(d) Imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group;
(e) Forcibly transferring children of the group to another group.
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We here at Alder's Ledge will continue to fight in any way we can. If nothing else, we will continue to scream till our throats bleed or our voices fail us.
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You can continue to follow us on Facebook by searching "Alder's Ledge" and clicking on the group page.
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Source Documents
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http://www.preventgenocide.org/law/convention/text.htm#II
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http://assembly.coe.int/Mainf.asp?link=/Documents/AdoptedText/ta10/ERES1740.htm
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http://www.humanrightsfirst.org/media/disc/2009/alert/430/index.htm