Social networking the good and the bad?

So I signed up to recieve google alerts for all things genocide. They come everyday and I feel overwhelmed about the amount of information, but I can't quite get myself to erase the ones I have not read. So today I have been catching up and I stumbled on this article.

At one of the meetings, I think we had talked about the power of twitter and what was going on in Iran. It was pretty revolutionary (definetly cool) but in all honesty most people could not have told you where Iran was on a map. (Bill Mahher said that previous to twitter, most people might have concluded that iRan was a new app. for iphones!)

so, as we hurry to celebrate this small victory, lets consider the side effects. Anyway, read the article for yourself and share your thoughts.

6/25 Genocide

Thursday June 25th, 7pm Kaldi's Cafe

Questions to think about as you read these articles

1. Do you think that international actors have failed the victims of genocide?

2. What are the technical downfalls for defining genocide?

3. Does peacekeeping work? What about mandates and funding?

4. What do you think of the Responsibility to Protect idea? Is it overwhelmingly idealist?

5. What roles can activist play? What other actors should be involved that are not included?

Further reading: Ellie Wiesel, Samantha Powers, John Prendergast and Don Cheadle, Phillip Gourevitch, NY Times articles by Nicholas Kristof

What is genocide? (Everyone read this one)

Please see post below- Genocide 101

Geographic locations of genocide past/hot zones

1 Armenia genocide

http://www.asbarez.com/2009/05/29/from-san-diego-to-sacramento-one-man%E2%80%99s-genocide-commemoration/

2 Sri Lanka

http://www.tamilsydney.com/content/view/2231/37/

3. Areas of concern

http://www.genocideintervention.net/educate/crisis/overview

Video (short)

1. Srevrenica Genocide (Bosnia) by Ron Haviv

http://srebrenica-genocide.blogspot.com/2009/05/video-ron-haviv-eyewitness-testimony.html

2. Don Cheadle http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=urKOYd3cfdU&NR=1

3.Morenohttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6yWScO08vl8&feature=channel_page

4.Stand video: 100 Days http://www.youtube.com/user/StandAntiGenocide

Peacekeeping

1.Peacekeeping 101

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peacekeeping

2.United Nations Peacekeeping History

http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/peace/laureates/1988/un-history.html

3. Darfur peacekeeping mandates

http://www.reuters.com/article/worldNews/idUSL142491420080801?feedType=RSS&feedName=worldNews

Movements/activism/educational articles

1. Darfur Experts Debate Conflict: Alex De Waal vs John Prendergast (Everyone read this one)

http://www.newsweek.com/id/69004

2. A list of legislation that has been passed (I worked on Genocide Accountability Act and Sudan Accountability and Divestment Act 2007)

http://www.darfurscores.org/darfur-legislation

3. Genocide Intervention Network-The Responsability to Protect (R2P)

http://p2p.genocideintervention.net/educate/r2p

4. China's genocide Olympics

http://www.savedarfur.org/newsroom/clips/chinas_genocide_olympics/

5. Militarism, Ethnicity, and Sexual Violence in the Rwandan Genocide (read the Bea Gallimore part, it starts on page 9)

http://docs.google.com/gview?a=v&pid=gmail&attid=0.1&thid=121f67d07affed47&mt=application%2Fpdf

Refugee

1 Department of Homeland Security Report 2008 (sort of technical but interesting)

http://www.dhs.gov/xlibrary/assets/statistics/publications/ois_rfa_fr_2008.pdf

Infrastructure

1.Rwanda's rebuilding efforts

http://allafrica.com/stories/200906020560.html

Trauma

1. Doctors group find rape common against Darfur women...

http://blog.taragana.com/n/doctors-group-finds-rape-common-against-darfur-women-urges-international-warrants-67990/

Genocide 101

Genocide 101

Genocide is from the Greek - Genos (family, tribe, race) and the Latin –Caedes (massacre; pronounced kay-dees), was originally coined by Raphael Lemkin, a Polish Jewish legal scholar, in 1943. In 1948, the United Nation’s Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide defined genocide as “Any of the following acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group, as such:
Killing members of the group;
Causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group;
Deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its
physical destruction in whole or in part;
Imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group;
...Forcibly transferring children of the group to another group.
There exists, however, a large debate on how to properly define the word “genocide” and moreover, what events constitute genocide or are otherwise crimes against humanity or war crimes. (students know basic genocide)

The 8 stages of genocide
Classification
Symbolization
Dehumanization
Organization
Polarization
Identification
Extermination
Denial

Past genocides and USA Prez
a. Wilson-Armenia
the Ottoman government intentionally destroyed over 1 million Armenians from 1915 - 1923.

b. Rosevelt Holocaust


c. Carter- Cambodia
Khmer rouge instituted a new authoritarian regime.All opposition to the regime was exterminated in a genocidal campaign. Between 1975 and 1979, over 2 million Cambodians were targeted for destruction.

d. Clinton-Rwanda

e. Bush/Obama-Darfur
Current hot spots/areas of concern
the extent to which mass atrocities are occurring
the extent to which civilians are being targeted
In our assessment of how civilians have been targeted by mass atrocities, we relied on the following indicators:
1.levels of mortality, drawing from a number of different sources
2.levels of forced displacement, largely relying on Internal Displacement Monitoring Center numbers
3.the frequency and intensity of human rights violations committed against civilians, as reported by expert and relief organizations, as well as the media