Global Racism Acts

Introduction

Romeo’s Juliet, in uttering her famous line, “that which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet,” –  Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, 1594.

declared an eternal truth-about both good and evil. With such things as a rose, we can forever recall the beauty of its fragrance. And when one calls genocide ‘ethnic cleansing’, it is still the same-a blight on humanity, even by “any other name.”

Codewords

The two words differ somewhat in definition.

• Genocide is “deliberate and systematic destruction of a racial, political, or cultural group.”
• Ethnic Cleansing means “elimination of an unwanted group from a society, as by genocide or forced migration.”
• Used in the Balkans in the early 1990s, it seemed less objectionable than “genocide”.

A difference in semantics, but not reality.

History

• Nine acts of genocide were recognized by the United Nations during the Twentieth Century.
• Yet, because of its broader definition, “at least ten additional examples of ethnic cleansing were not recognized by the U.N.”

Pogroms Against Jews 

• Pogrom means “an attack”. (Russian: gromet – “to wreak havoc or demolish violently.”)
• Massive violent attacks against Jews dating from the Crusades, as well as massacres of Jews in England in the 12th century. Jews were massacred throughout central Europe because of hysteria over the Black Plague (1348); survivors fled to Poland. Jews were also massacred during the Khmelnytsky Uprising of Ukrainian Cossacks in 1648-1654.

Irish Potato Famine 

• The Irish Potato Famine (1846-49): Potato “blight” explained the crop failure, but the “famine” had other causes:
• Economic, political, social, historical and religious. Great Britain’s actions against the famished Irish, demanding their remaining crops, even after the potato crop failed, could be seen as ethnic cleansing. The after effects of The Irish Potato Famine continued until 1851.

Though much is unrecorded, estimates are that up to one million people died of hunger and disease from 1846 to 1849. Two million refugees emigrated to Great Britain, the United States, Canada and Australia.

Armenian Genocide During World War I  

World War I was seen as the covering for a systematic act of Turkish genocide, committed against its Armenian minority by a young nationalistic Pan-Turkic government. The plan was simple and its goal clear: hundreds of Armenian leaders were murdered in Istanbul after being summoned. The now leaderless Armenian people were to follow. 

Across the Ottoman Empire (with the exception of Constantinople, presumably due to a large foreign presence), the same events transpired from village to village, from province to province. The remarkable thing about the following events is the virtually complete cooperation of the Armenians. For a number of reasons they did not know what was planned for them and went along with “their” government’s plan to “relocate them for their own good.”

First, the Armenians were asked to turn in hunting weapons for the war effort. Com-munities were often given quotas and would have to buy additional weapons from Turks to meet their quota. Later, the government would claim these weapons were proof that Armenians were about to rebel. The able-bodied men were then “drafted” to help in the wartime effort. These men were either immediately killed or were worked to death. Now the villages and towns, with only women, children, and elderly left were systematically emptied.

The remaining residents would be told to gather for a temporary relocation. The Armenians again obediently followed instructions and were “escorted” by Turkish Gendarmes in death marches.

On the 50th anniversary of the genocide, the scattered survivors and their children around the world began commemorating the genocide on April 24th, the day which marked the start of the full-scale massacres in 1915. Many Armenian Genocide Monuments have been built around the world since. The Turkish government has in the past few decades been denying that a genocide ever occurred.

But unless crimes like this are faced up to and compensated for, they will be committed again and again by people who do not fear prosecution or justice. Read what Hitler said before beginning the Jewish Holocaust.

Quote by Adolf Hitler:

While persuading his associates that a Jewish holocaust would be tolerated by the west, Adolf Hitler stated, “Who, after all, speaks today of the annihilation of the Armenians?”

The Balkans

Yugoslavia (literally, Land of the South Slays) was a nation born out of the ashes of World War I. In the south lay the region of Kosovo, a fairly new addition to Serbia, containing a largely Muslim population which spoke Albanian.

Until World War II, this land of many nationalities held together fairly well. This conflict primarily pitted the Croats, who allied themselves with Axis Powers (Germany and Italy) against Serbs.

Following the Communist Yugoslav leader Tito’s death, the system he held together slowly began to unravel.

By 1991, the Serbian politician Slobodan Milosevic gained power in Yugoslavia through inciting Serb nationalism. Soon after, Slovenia and Croatia declared independence from what they saw as a nation dominated by Serbs. In 1992, Bosnia also broke away from Yugoslavia, precipitating yet another war.

In southern Yugoslavia, the region called Macedonia broke away peacefully to form an independent nation.

More than two hundred thousand civilians have been killed in Bosnia and Croatia since the beginning of the war. Tens of thousands of women were raped, while their sons and husbands were beaten and tortured in concentration camps like Omarska and Manjaca.

In southern Yugoslavia, the region called Macedonia broke away peacefully to form an independent nation.

More than two hundred thousand civilians have been killed in Bosnia and Croatia since the beginning of the war. Tens of thousands of women were raped, while their sons and husbands were beaten and tortured in concentration camps like Omarska and Manjaca.

This number increased with the expulsion of Serbs from Croatia and with the ferocious atrocities committed by Serbs against the Albanian majority in Kosovo, prior to and even during NATO air strikes.

This number increased with the expulsion of Serbs from Croatia and with the ferocious atrocities committed by Serbs against the Albanian majority in Kosovo, prior to and even during NATO air strikes.

Ethnic Cleansing in the Balkans

Srebrenica captives held by Serb soldiers in view of UN protection force soldiers. Nearly all were murdered a few hours later. The majority of male captives, 15 to 60 years of age shown in photos, have either never been seen again or have been indicated only by forensic identification of remains from mass graves. As of May 1, 2005, ten years after the war ended, a total number of persons, for whom no additional information was ever received, was 14,444.