I've been following the "genocide" debate with, I must admit, lukewarm
interest.
But before some of you out there reach for their keyboards to accuse me of
crass insensitivity, or worse, just a few words.
I checked my New Shorter Oxford English Dictionary, 1993 edition, for the
definition of "Genocide".
"Genocide : M20. The (attempted) deliberate and systematic extermination of
an ethnic or national group."
As I understand it, if civilians get killed in a war (and more and more
are, now that modern warfare aims for Zero casulaties - military
casualties, that is...) that is not genocide. It only becomes genocide when
the whole ethnic or national group is systematically aimed to be
exterminated, disposed of to the last. There is nore than a subtle
difference between being killed and being "genocided". The media and other
groups seem to encourage the semantic confusion and use "genocide" every
time people get killed. Thus, all wars have now become "genocidal", which
is of course false.
I would like the list's opinion on what 20th-Century wars or actions were,
in fact, "genocidal" (sticking to the definition, of course).
The first one, in my opinion, could have been the Young Turks' action
againt the Ottoman Empire's Armenian population, and their massacre, forced
conversions, rape and deportations to the semi-arid regions to the South of
the Taurus between 1915 and 1918. They were no doubt the first ethnic group
of the century to be exterminated for being what they were and not for
their opinions, as all Armenians, including loyal subjects and civil
servants of the Ottoman Empire were singled out and killed, or whole towns
emptied.
Perhaps there were other genocides before that date.
There were certainly numerous ones after 1918, and many wars today seem to
fit the definition. Could the imposed starvation of the Iraki people by
the US and UK blocade be termed "genocidal"? Were the Indoneans
"genociding" the East Timorese ? Is there a genocide going on in Southern
Sudan ? Can the war against the Chipas be called "genocidal" ? Is the
globalization of the economy "genociding" very fragile ethnic groups in the
Amazon, in Africa or elsewhere ?
But is there not, also, a confusion between "national group" and "group
belonging to a Nation", i.e. belonging to a modern state ? As all modern
states claim to be nations, if a war is launched against a State, is it a
war against a nation, and thus against a national group, and thus
"genocidal"?
Sorry for not minding my own business.
Best regards from a very rainy France
Michael Davie
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Michael F. DAVIE [log in to unmask]
Professeur, Directeur de la formation doctorale
"Espaces, Societes et Villes dans le Monde Arabe"
UMR 6592 URBAMA (Urbanisation dans le Monde Arabe)
Universite Francois-Rabelais
23 rue de la Loire, B.P. 7521, 37075 Tours Cedex 2 (France)
Tel : (+33) 02 47 36 84 67 Fax : (+33) 02 47 36 84 71
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