Running Class Definition of Genocide
as of 2/2/07
Jewish "problem"
Racial conception of the nation
territory
ethnicity
Jewish people
disconnected from nation
animalistic
Judaism not a religion (race)
not as worthy
Fear
potential source of dissent
international power
Origins
creation of a nation
rallying point
scapegoat
militancy of the government
Summary of official definition
After much acrimonious debate, the UN passed a version of a genocide prevention act that everyone could agree with. The main aspects of the act were to define genocide and delineate who should be held accountable for genocide.
In brief, genocide is the intent to destroy in whole or in part a group with the following characteristics
Those who can be held responsbile are government agencies and private individuals, and those who help make genocide possible
It is noteworthy that the word "genocide" is so recently added to the English language. While there have been numerous debates surrounding its official definition, the word has only been in existence a relatively short time. Lemkin's original attempt to define the concept of genocide as "barbarity" and "vandalism" failed; later he coined the term genocide, meaning the the killing of a race or tribe. This definition has been altered over time, as can be seen by the official UN definition, and will likely continue to change.
There was debate within the United States regarding the term genocide as well as the genocide convention. Many government officials felt that the term genocide would make the United States a target and in turn cause more damage than good. The debate lasted over 40 years. The United States signed the the Genocide Convention in 1948, but it was not ratified until 1988.
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Lemkin had died fighting for the cause and Proxmire spent twenty-two years in the Senate where he gave three thousand, two hundred and eleven speeches on the matter. Yet it still took Reagan's shameful visit to the Bitburg, a cemetry where 49 Nazis were burried, for the US to ratify a watered-down version of the Genocide Convention.
Harff's definition of genocide and politicide
Genocide
- communal characteristics
- ethnicity, religion, nationality
Politicide
- Political opposition
- Hierarchical position
Commonalities within regions
- Africa - decolonization - politicide
- Islamic nations - hegemonic suppression - politicide
- Latin America - Cold War crack-down on leftists - politicide
Specter of Genocide Chapter #2
Four ideological characteristics of modern genocide
- dispersing national groups by force
- destroying langauges
- racial purity
- Religion
- banning practices of specific religions
- limiting variety of religions
- abolishing religion as a whole
- Expansion
- purify a territory that had mythically belonged to that race
- not just expansion for expansion's sake
- Cultivation
- emphasizing one group
- specific characteristics
- not individuals; rather, archetypes
- poor, farmers, non-intellectual, rural
- racially pure
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