{"id":5334,"date":"2011-04-29T19:47:26","date_gmt":"2011-04-29T19:47:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.aaeurop.com\/?p=5334"},"modified":"2011-04-29T19:56:40","modified_gmt":"2011-04-29T19:56:40","slug":"human-cosmos-genocide-human-rightsby-khatchatur-i-pilikian","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.aaeurop.com\/?p=5334","title":{"rendered":"HUMAN COSMOS, GENOCIDE, HUMAN RIGHTS:By Khatchatur I. Pilikian"},"content":{"rendered":"

Perusing through the published and unpublished writings of the linguist and jurist Raphael Lemkin, Professor John Decker of Georgetown University has unearthed Lemkinian gems of insights. Lemkin, who first coined the word Genocide<\/em>, had also deployed the term Cosmos <\/em>to explain that the philosophy of Genocide Convention of 1948 was based on the \u0569\u00a7\u0549\u0082-\u056a\u0093formula of the human cosmos\u0569\u00a7\u0549\u0082-\u0539\u009d.<\/em> Characteristically, Lemkin was very explicit. He said: \u0569\u00a7\u0549\u0082-\u056a\u0093The cosmos consists of four basic groups: national, racial, religious and ethnic\u0569\u00a7\u0549\u0082-\u0539\u009d.<\/em> Then he argued that the Convention was there to protect those basic four groups of the human cosmos, \u0569\u00a7\u0549\u0082-\u056a\u0093not only\u0569\u00a7\u0549\u0082-\u0539\u009d<\/em>, Lemkin insisted, \u0569\u00a7\u0549\u0082-\u056a\u0093by reasons of human compassion but also to prevent draining the spiritual resources of mankind\u0569\u00a7\u0549\u0082-\u0539\u009d.<\/em><\/p>\n

(Decker, J.<\/em> Raphael Lemkin\u0569\u00a7\u0549\u0082-\u0549\u0084\u00a7s History of Genocide and Colonialism, <\/em>p11. <\/em>Paper for US Holocaust Memorial Museum. Washington DC, 26 February 2004)<\/em><\/p>\n

\u0569\u0082\u0539\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

\u0569\u0082\u0539\u00a0<\/em>If we care to remember that Cosmos <\/em>is the antonym of Chaos<\/em>, the latter\u0569\u00a7\u0549\u0082-\u0549\u0084\u00a7s synonyms being disorder, confusion <\/em>and tumult<\/em>, it would not be then so outlandish to wonder whether the tumultuous world we are living in is not already out of touch with the lofty commitments of the 1948 Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide.\u0569\u0082\u0539\u00a0\u0569\u0082\u0539\u00a0\u0569\u0082\u0539\u00a0\u0569\u0082\u0539\u00a0\u0569\u0082\u0539\u00a0\u0569\u0082\u0539\u00a0\u0569\u0082\u0539\u00a0\u0569\u0082\u0539\u00a0\u0569\u0082\u0539\u00a0\u0569\u0082\u0539\u00a0\u0569\u0082\u0539\u00a0\u0569\u0082\u0539\u00a0\u0569\u0082\u0539\u00a0\u0569\u0082\u0539\u00a0\u0569\u0082\u0539\u00a0\u0569\u0082\u0539\u00a0\u0569\u0082\u0539\u00a0\u0569\u0082\u0539\u00a0\u0569\u0082\u0539\u00a0\u0569\u0082\u0539\u00a0\u0569\u0082\u0539\u00a0\u0569\u0082\u0539\u00a0\u0569\u0082\u0539\u00a0\u0569\u0082\u0539\u00a0\u0569\u0082\u0539\u00a0\u0569\u0082\u0539\u00a0<\/p>\n

An essential natural law of the physical cosmos, the world, reminds us incessantly, and many of us might recall from our secondary school physics<\/em> lessons, that \u0569\u00a7\u0549\u0082-\u056d\u009cfor every action there is an equal and opposite reaction\u0569\u00a7\u0549\u0082-\u0549\u0084\u00a7<\/em>\u0569\u00a7\u0549\u0082-\u0549\u0080\u009dprime dialectics of the physical nature. The December 9th<\/sup> Genocide Convention of 1948, which was immediately followed by the December 10th<\/sup> Universal Declaration of Human Rights, were both powerful opposite reactions to the horrific man\u0569\u00a7\u0549\u0082-\u0549\u0084\u00a7s inhumanity to man of the decades preceding 1948. Most importantly, both the Convention and the Declaration were to function as solemn undertakings of the international community to prevent genocides from ever happening again.\u0569\u0082\u0539\u00a0\u0569\u0082\u0539\u00a0\u0569\u0082\u0539\u00a0\u0569\u0082\u0539\u00a0\u0569\u0082\u0539\u00a0\u0569\u0082\u0539\u00a0\u0569\u0082\u0539\u00a0\u0569\u0082\u0539\u00a0\u0569\u0082\u0539\u00a0\u0569\u0082\u0539\u00a0\u0569\u0082\u0539\u00a0\u0569\u0082\u0539\u00a0\u0569\u0082\u0539\u00a0\u0569\u0082\u0539\u00a0\u0569\u0082\u0539\u00a0<\/p>\n

Significantly, International Law experts highlighted also the retroactive applicability of the Convention. Eventually the Convention on the Non-Applicability of Statutory Limitations to War Crimes and Crimes Against Humanity was adopted by the United Nations General Assembly, on November 26, 1968.<\/p>\n

All the above-mentioned international undertakings sadly proved practically impotent to prevent the appalling and frequent reoccurrence of genocide all through the 20th<\/sup> century, which, alas, has even spilled over into the 21st<\/sup> century.<\/p>\n

Let us ponder for a moment. Could it be that another basic group is missing from the \u0569\u00a7\u0549\u0082-\u056d\u009chuman cosmos\u0569\u00a7\u0549\u0082-\u0549\u0084\u00a7 mentioned by the venerable master jurist and linguist? With all due respect and honour to all concerned, I firmly believe that Lemkin\u0569\u00a7\u0549\u0082-\u0549\u0084\u00a7s \u0569\u00a7\u0549\u0082-\u056d\u009cformula\u0569\u00a7\u0549\u0082-\u0549\u0084\u00a7, hence Article II of the Genocide Convention, needs an urgent amendment. Meaning, that the \u0569\u00a7\u0549\u0082-\u056d\u009chuman cosmos\u0569\u00a7\u0549\u0082-\u0549\u0084\u00a7 should now be reflected to consist of five basic groups: national, racial, religious, ethnic and political. The simple and obvious reason is that most atrocious acts of violence, including genocide, have been meticulously planned and executed to eliminate \u0569\u00a7\u0549\u0082-\u056d\u009cpolitical groups\u0569\u00a7\u0549\u0082-\u0549\u0084\u00a7 in opposition to, but mostly not tolerated by, the ruling powers of the day. Paradoxically, Lemkin himself had included \u0569\u00a7\u0549\u0082-\u056a\u0093the genocide of political groups as a recurrent feature\u0569\u00a7\u0549\u0082-\u0539\u009d<\/em> in his unpublished essay \u0569\u00a7\u0549\u0082-\u056a\u0093Nature of Genocide\u0569\u00a7\u0549\u0082-\u0539\u009d.<\/em> (Decker, J. op. cit. p 9)<\/p>\n

\u0569\u0082\u0539\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

But, alas, Lemkin seems not to have pursued this crucial matter further. <\/em><\/p>\n

Lo and behold and affirming yet again the universal law of nature, the tenacity of the human cosmos burst upon the human consciousness and formulated a new Universal Declaration, ushering a new dawn of hope for the oppressed peoples of the whole world.<\/p>\n

It was the July 4th<\/sup> Universal Declaration of the Rights of Peoples of 1976, adopted in Algiers, which proclaimed its conviction, \u0569\u00a7\u0549\u0082-\u056a\u0093that the effective respect for human rights necessarily implies respect for the rights of peoples\u0569\u00a7\u0549\u0082-\u0539\u009d.<\/em> Hence, \u0569\u00a7\u0549\u0082-\u056a\u0093Every people has the right; to existence; to the respect of national and cultural identity; to speak its own language and preserve and develop its own culture\u0569\u00a7\u0549\u0082-\u0539\u009d<\/em> and most pertinently, that \u0569\u00a7\u0549\u0082-\u056a\u0093None shall be subjected, because of his national or cultural identity, to massacre, torture, persecution, deportation, expulsion or living conditions such as may compromise the identity or integrity of the people to which he belongs\u0569\u00a7\u0549\u0082-\u0539\u009d. <\/em><\/p>\n

This new perspective of the collective dimension of the Peoples\u0569\u00a7\u0549\u0082-\u0549\u0084\u00a7 Rights had its unconditional support from the Permanent Peoples\u0569\u00a7\u0549\u0082-\u0549\u0084\u00a7 Tribunal, in April 16, 1984. The Preamble of the Verdict of the Tribunal declared: \u0569\u00a7\u0549\u0082-\u056a\u0093The most fundamental of all assaults on the right of peoples is the crime of genocide. Nothing is graver in a criminal sense than a deliberate state policy of systematic extermination of a people based on their particular ethnic identity. This centrality of genocide to the works of the Permanent Peoples’ Tribunal is embodied in its basic framework of law set forth in the Universal Declaration of the Rights of Peoples.\u0569\u00a7\u0549\u0082-\u0539\u009d<\/em><\/p>\n

The Tribunal further noted: \u0569\u00a7\u0549\u0082-\u056a\u0093Genocide is the worst conceivable crime of state. Often, the state responsible is protected from accountability by other states and by the international framework of the organizations, including the United Nations, composed exclusively of states. [\u0569\u00a7\u0549\u0082-\u0539\u00bb] The Permanent Peoples’ Tribunal was brought into existence partly to overcome the moral and political failures of states as instruments of justice. The Tribunal also acts because it is deeply concerned with the prevalence of genocide and genocidal attitudes in our world.\u0569\u00a7\u0549\u0082-\u0539\u009d \u0569\u0082\u0539\u00a0\u0569\u0082\u0539\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

The basic question remains: what kind of a world are we living in?<\/p>\n

There must be something deeply wrong and certainly inhuman in our world today where more than half of its scientists waste their humanity and deform ours in totally destructive enterprises, designed not only to kill but also extinguish life on earth. No wonder UNESCO has been warning the world, for decades now, that the greatest shame of the current civilisation is the fact that thousands of children die of hunger every single day. Let us compare this loss with what happened to the world before the Genocide Convention and Universal Declaration of Human Rights.<\/p>\n

During WW2 that lasted ca.1418 days or so, it is estimated that 14 thousand human beings were killed every single day of those 1418 warring nights and days– not to mention the numerous \u0569\u00a7\u0549\u0082-\u056d\u009ccollateral damages\u0569\u00a7\u0549\u0082-\u0549\u0084\u00a7 (the beloved pair of words of the warmongers)\u0569\u00a7\u0549\u0082-\u0539\u00bb<\/p>\n

Today a staggering 44,000 hungry children are dying each day of the year, as if a Hiroshima bomb is unleashed every single day just to kill children. I would like to pose the following: that the Goebbels of this world, \u0569\u00a7\u0549\u0082-\u056a\u0093releasing the safety-catch of their pistols<\/em>\u0569\u00a7\u0549\u0082-\u0539\u009d\u0569\u00a7\u0549\u0082-\u0549\u0080\u009din modern parlance, cluster, white phosphorus or depleted uranium bombs & co, Ltd –should also be seen responsible for the modern Massacres of the Innocents.<\/p>\n

Can there be any doubt that this child cleansing,<\/strong> <\/strong>plus the incessant poisoning of nature\u0569\u00a7\u0549\u0082-\u0549\u0084\u00a7s atmosphere <\/strong>and depletion of nature\u0569\u00a7\u0549\u0082-\u0549\u0084\u00a7s life sustenance<\/strong> are also the Unmentioned Genocides<\/strong>, ongoing and an authentic one at that, which surely are the outcome of our own socio-economic and industrial military system, now coined with cynical panache as Globalisation,<\/em><\/strong> <\/em>whereby <\/em>tens of thousands of nuclear warheads, each averaging at least 20 times the destructive power of a Hiroshima bomb, are already in deployment all around the world. Human civilisation is thus deformed by \u0569\u00a7\u0549\u0082-\u056d\u009cgranting\u0569\u00a7\u0549\u0082-\u0549\u0084\u00a7 each member of the human family no less than five tons of explosives for \u0569\u00a7\u0549\u0082-\u056d\u009cbenign Hara-kiri\u0569\u00a7\u0549\u0082-\u0549\u0084\u00a7 it seems\u0569\u00a7\u0549\u0082-\u0539\u00bb<\/p>\n

Meanwhile billions pour into the pockets of the warmongers of modern metropolises. These warlords of Mammon would eventually thrive in an \u0569\u00a7\u0549\u0082-\u056d\u009cInorganic Paradise\u0569\u00a7\u0549\u0082-\u0549\u0084\u00a7\u0569\u00a7\u0549\u0082-\u0549\u0080\u009da \u0569\u00a7\u0549\u0082-\u056d\u009cparadise\u0569\u00a7\u0549\u0082-\u0549\u0084\u00a7 void of universal human rights and sustained by legalised torture; glorification of violence geared towards maximising profit at any cost; xenophobic state terror protected with religious fervour.\u0569\u0082\u0539\u00a0 And, topping as if the macabre orgy, genocide has been already tested, for decades now, to become the \u0569\u00a7\u0549\u0082-\u056d\u009ccollateral damage\u0569\u00a7\u0549\u0082-\u0549\u0084\u00a7 of its inorganically modernised and sweat-shopped \u0569\u00a7\u0549\u0082-\u056d\u009cglobal village\u0569\u00a7\u0549\u0082-\u0549\u0084\u00a7 of hunger and debt.<\/p>\n

Unless, of course, humanity at large will \u0569\u00a7\u0549\u0082-\u056d\u009crage against the dying\u0569\u00a7\u0549\u0082-\u0549\u0084\u00a7 of its dreams and refuse to become cannon fodder for Mammon and Terror, guarding thus its deeds of tolerance and justice, fair share and good care, compassion and conscience\u0569\u00a7\u0549\u0082-\u0549\u0080\u009dthe true wealth of the world, hence the health of nations.<\/p>\n

Once upon a time the Nazi ruler, Hitler, boasted: \u0569\u00a7\u0549\u0082-\u056a\u0093How fortunate it is for rulers that men don\u0569\u00a7\u0549\u0082-\u0549\u0084\u00a7t think for themselves\u0569\u00a7\u0549\u0082-\u0539\u009d<\/em>. Thus he ordered his own non-thinking men, on August 22, 1939, to annihilate the Poles, \u0569\u00a7\u0549\u0082-\u056a\u0093men, women and children\u0569\u00a7\u0549\u0082-\u0539\u009d, he advised his butchers and warned them not to fail full compliance, granting them as their Fuhrer his nazi assurances twisted in an ironic argument: \u0569\u00a7\u0549\u0082-\u056a\u0093who after all speaks today of the annihilation of the Armenians\u0569\u00a7\u0549\u0082-\u0539\u009d. <\/em><\/p>\n

Its blatantly obvious, I think, that Hitler himself was thinking like the Young Turk\u0569\u00a7\u0549\u0082-\u0549\u0084\u00a7s Interior Minister Talaat Pasha, who telegraphed his order to the Governor of Aleppo, on September 15, 1915, saying: \u0569\u00a7\u0549\u0082-\u0539\u009d…the Government has decided to exterminate entirely all the Armenians living in Turkey [\u0569\u00a7\u0549\u0082-\u0539\u00bb] Without pity for women, children and invalids [\u0569\u00a7\u0549\u0082-\u0539\u00bb] without heeding any scruples of conscience, their existence must be terminated.\u0569\u00a7\u0549\u0082-\u0539\u009d <\/em><\/p>\n

The state terror inflicted upon the ancient peoples of Anatolia by a colonial usurper power first as an Empire\u0569\u00a7\u0549\u0082-\u0549\u0080\u009dOttoman– then as a Republic of Turkey, gave rise to the struggle of the ancient peoples of Anatolia, specially Armenians, Kurds, Assyrians and Greeks and others who share their millennial history, \u0569\u00a7\u0549\u0082-\u056a\u0093to prevent draining the spiritual resources of mankind\u0569\u00a7\u0549\u0082-\u0539\u009d, <\/em>as Lemkin was keen to stress.<\/p>\n

The Permanent Peoples\u0569\u00a7\u0549\u0082-\u0549\u0084\u00a7 Tribunal had also declared unequivocally:\u0569\u0082\u0539\u00a0 \u0569\u00a7\u0549\u0082-\u056a\u0093As members of the Tribunal we believe that the uncovering and objective documentation of allegations of genocide contributes to the process of acknowledgement. To uncover and expose the genocidal reality makes it somewhat harder for those with motives of cover up to maintain their position. By validating the grievances of the victims, the Tribunal contributes to the dignity of their suffering and lends support to their continuing struggle. Indeed, acknowledging genocide itself is a fundamental means of struggling against genocide [and] an affirmation of the right of a people under international law to a safeguarded existence.\u0569\u00a7\u0549\u0082-\u0539\u009d<\/em><\/p>\n

For many decades, generations of intellectuals of the left referred to fascist \u0569\u00a7\u0549\u0082-\u056d\u009cDuce\u0569\u00a7\u0549\u0082-\u0549\u0084\u00a7 Mussolini\u0569\u00a7\u0549\u0082-\u0549\u0084\u00a7s most valued prisoner, the communist Antonio Gramsci\u0569\u00a7\u0549\u0082-\u0549\u0084\u00a7s acclaimed phrase: \u0569\u00a7\u0549\u0082-\u056a\u0093the pessimism of the intellect and the optimism of the will\u0569\u00a7\u0549\u0082-\u0539\u009d,<\/em> (now thought to originate in Romain Rolland) as an indicator to understand success or failure of a struggle. The struggles of the ancient peoples of Anatolia, in the Middle East, in Africa, in Latin America and in many parts of the world at large, are a lucid reminder to us all that it is high time to refute the above \u0569\u00a7\u0549\u0082-\u056d\u009cleftist dictum.\u0569\u00a7\u0549\u0082-\u0549\u0084\u00a7 The truth does indeed sets us free to observe that neither peoples liberation and survival struggles, nor their endeavours for moral and material lawfully justified retributions, could ever be realised and accomplished without the proactive resilience attained from the optimism of the intellect in harmony with the optimism of the will.<\/p>\n

————————————————————————————————————————————<\/strong><\/p>\n

Khatchatur I. Pilikian<\/strong>. Sometime university professor of music (USA), Pilikian is a performing musician, painter and writer. \u0569\u0082\u0539\u00a0He has studied art and music at the Fine Art and Music Academies in Rome and Siena. \u0569\u00a7\u0549\u0082-\u056a\u0093Leonardo da Vinci on voice, music and stage design\u0569\u00a7\u0549\u0082-\u0539\u009d was the title of his research as a Fulbright scholar at I.U. School of Music. In 1976, he designed and directed, at Wayne State University, the public radio WDET-FM series HARC-The Heritage of Armenian Culture<\/strong>. <\/em>In 1984, he published Refuting Terrorism – Seven Epistles From Diaspora<\/em><\/strong> (in English and Armenian). He has contributed the entry Music and Turner<\/em><\/strong> in the Oxford University Press encyclopaedic publication titled THE TURNER COMPANION<\/em><\/strong>. The Spokesman for the Bertrand Russell Peace Foundation published his paper for the 2005 European Network for Peace and Human Rights Conference, The Spectre of Genocide as Collateral Damage is Haunting the World<\/em>.<\/strong> His most recent book is UNESCO Laureates: Nazim Hikmet & Aram Khatchaturian<\/em> <\/strong>(Garod Books of the Gomidas Institute).<\/p>\n

<\/a>\"\"<\/a><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Perusing through the published and unpublished writings of the linguist and jurist Raphael Lemkin, Professor John Decker of Georgetown University has unearthed Lemkinian gems of insights. Lemkin, who first coined the word Genocide, had also […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5337,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_kadence_starter_templates_imported_post":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[10,1,12],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.aaeurop.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5334"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.aaeurop.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.aaeurop.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.aaeurop.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.aaeurop.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5334"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.aaeurop.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5334\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5338,"href":"https:\/\/www.aaeurop.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5334\/revisions\/5338"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.aaeurop.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/5337"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.aaeurop.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5334"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.aaeurop.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5334"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.aaeurop.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5334"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}