Never Again. . . Again. by Paul K. Chisholm
Never again. We've heard these words used recently in reference to the anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz. Every time I hear them I can't help but cringe. The simple reason being it has happened again … several times; most notably in Cambodia and Rwanda.
Unique for the degree of industrialization and documentation the Jewish Holocaust is among many things a thoroughly disillusioning historical event. One of the lessons learned from this genocide and those that have followed is universal moral principles against mass murder won't be enough to prevent future genocides.
World War II was not fought and would never have been fought on the issue of extermination of the Jews regardless of the moral repugnance of that act. The world then as today is not ready to take the necessary steps to prevent such atrocities.
Make no mistake preventing such things from happening is no easy task. Complicated by a lack of political consensus on what action to take, lack of military capability to intervene, callous indifference and perhaps most important a lack of strategic interest in the region and people affected most genocides gather attention when it's too late.
The world sat back while Pol Pot's regime enacted the Killing Fields. Despite warnings from western observers on the ground in Rwanda genocide proceeded there like clockwork.
More recently we're seeing debate on the meaning on the term. The United Nations has recently cleared the Darfur region of "genocide". Should we now breathe easier at the systematic rape, mutilation and murder that are taking place in the region? Should what little world attention has been paid to the region now be relaxed?
This begs the question - are genocides the only atrocities worthy of intervention and condemnation? If a conflict doesn't qualify as genocide does that justify inaction?
Indeed our value of human life seems to have changed little since World War II. As the crisis in Sudan unfolds various interested parties have debated whether or not genocide is taking place. This, after 70,000 people had been killed, a million forced into refugee camps and the United Nations having designated Darfur the worst humanitarian crisis in the world.
Atrocity and brutality whether genocide or not beg a response from all civilized people. They challenge the legitimacy of the United Nations, the morality of those with the power to intervene, basic notions of human rights and also fundamental issues of national sovereignty and the right of nations to murder their own.
In order to effectively deal with these issues foreign policy must be re-thought. Humanitarian reasons have not provided incentive to act in the past and are not sufficient to spur action today. Simply put, moral repugnance at genocidal activity won't motivate people to stop it.
As you read this let's try not to forget that other bedeviled geographic region where although upwards of four million people and counting have died since the late 1990s the term genocide has not been applied and world attention has been short in coming. If such atrocity is ever commemorated in the future we'll no doubt hear the words Never Again. . . Again.
-- Paul K. Chisholm, March 2005
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