I would like the people in this forum to take a minute and think about the shit Humans did in just a century and I want your opinion about these terrible mistakes, and your ideas to avoid new ones in the future.
The term 'Genocide' was coined by a jurist named Raphael Lemkin in 1944 by combining the Greek word 'genos' (race) with the Latin word 'cide' (killing). Genocide as defined by the United Nations in 1948 means any of the following acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnic, racial or religious group, including:
-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.
These are a few examples of what Humans did in the last century:
Armenians in Turkey 1915-1918: 1.500.000 Deaths
The first genocide of the 20th Century occurred when two million Armenians living in Turkey were eliminated from their historic homeland through forced deportations and massacres.
Stalin's Forced Famine 1932-1933: 7.000.000 Deaths
Joseph Stalin, leader of the Soviet Union, set in motion events designed to cause a famine in the Ukraine to destroy the people there seeking independence from his rule. As a result, an estimated 7,000,000 persons perished in this farming area, known as the breadbasket of Europe, with the people deprived of the food they had grown with their own hands.
Rape of Nanking 1937-1938: 300.000 Deaths
In December of 1937, the Japanese Imperial Army marched into China's capital city of Nanking and proceeded to murder 300,000 out of 600,000 civilians and soldiers in the city. The six weeks of carnage would become known as the Rape of Nanking and represented the single worst atrocity during the World War II era in either the European or Pacific theaters of war.
Nazi Holocaust 1938-1945: 6.000.000 Deaths
It began with a simple boycott of Jewish shops and ended in the gas chambers at Auschwitz as Adolf Hitler and his Nazi followers attempted to exterminate the entire Jewish population of Europe.
Mao's Great Leap Forward 1958-1962 (Was this a Genocide?): 40.000.000 Deaths
The Great Leap Forward is now widely seen, both within China and outside, as a major economic disaster, being more of a Great Leap Backward that would affect China in the years to come. As inflated statistics reached planning authorities, orders were given to divert human resources into industry rather than agriculture. According to various sources, the death toll due to famine was most likely 20 to 40 million.
Pol Pot in Cambodia 1975-1979: 2.000.000 Deaths
An attempt by Khmer Rouge leader Pol Pot to form a Communist peasant farming society resulted in the deaths of 25 percent of the country's population from starvation, overwork and executions.
Rwanda 1994: 800.000 Deaths
Beginning on April 6, 1994, and for the next hundred days, up to 800,000 Tutsis were killed by Hutu militia using clubs and machetes, with as many as 10,000 killed each day.
Bosnia-Herzegovina 1992-1995: 200.000 Deaths
In the Republic of Bosnia-Herzegovina, conflict between the three main ethnic groups, the Serbs, Croats, and Muslims, resulted in genocide committed by the Serbs against the Muslims in Bosnia.
Darfur Conflict 2003-?: 450.000 Deaths
The Darfur conflict is an ongoing armed conflict in the Darfur region of western Sudan, mainly between the Janjaweed, a militia group recruited from the tribes of the Abbala (camel-herding Arabs), and the non-Baggara people (mostly land-tilling tribes) of the region.
The term 'Genocide' was coined by a jurist named Raphael Lemkin in 1944 by combining the Greek word 'genos' (race) with the Latin word 'cide' (killing). Genocide as defined by the United Nations in 1948 means any of the following acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnic, racial or religious group, including:
-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.
These are a few examples of what Humans did in the last century:
Armenians in Turkey 1915-1918: 1.500.000 Deaths
The first genocide of the 20th Century occurred when two million Armenians living in Turkey were eliminated from their historic homeland through forced deportations and massacres.
Stalin's Forced Famine 1932-1933: 7.000.000 Deaths
Joseph Stalin, leader of the Soviet Union, set in motion events designed to cause a famine in the Ukraine to destroy the people there seeking independence from his rule. As a result, an estimated 7,000,000 persons perished in this farming area, known as the breadbasket of Europe, with the people deprived of the food they had grown with their own hands.
Rape of Nanking 1937-1938: 300.000 Deaths
In December of 1937, the Japanese Imperial Army marched into China's capital city of Nanking and proceeded to murder 300,000 out of 600,000 civilians and soldiers in the city. The six weeks of carnage would become known as the Rape of Nanking and represented the single worst atrocity during the World War II era in either the European or Pacific theaters of war.
Nazi Holocaust 1938-1945: 6.000.000 Deaths
It began with a simple boycott of Jewish shops and ended in the gas chambers at Auschwitz as Adolf Hitler and his Nazi followers attempted to exterminate the entire Jewish population of Europe.
Mao's Great Leap Forward 1958-1962 (Was this a Genocide?): 40.000.000 Deaths
The Great Leap Forward is now widely seen, both within China and outside, as a major economic disaster, being more of a Great Leap Backward that would affect China in the years to come. As inflated statistics reached planning authorities, orders were given to divert human resources into industry rather than agriculture. According to various sources, the death toll due to famine was most likely 20 to 40 million.
Pol Pot in Cambodia 1975-1979: 2.000.000 Deaths
An attempt by Khmer Rouge leader Pol Pot to form a Communist peasant farming society resulted in the deaths of 25 percent of the country's population from starvation, overwork and executions.
Rwanda 1994: 800.000 Deaths
Beginning on April 6, 1994, and for the next hundred days, up to 800,000 Tutsis were killed by Hutu militia using clubs and machetes, with as many as 10,000 killed each day.
Bosnia-Herzegovina 1992-1995: 200.000 Deaths
In the Republic of Bosnia-Herzegovina, conflict between the three main ethnic groups, the Serbs, Croats, and Muslims, resulted in genocide committed by the Serbs against the Muslims in Bosnia.
Darfur Conflict 2003-?: 450.000 Deaths
The Darfur conflict is an ongoing armed conflict in the Darfur region of western Sudan, mainly between the Janjaweed, a militia group recruited from the tribes of the Abbala (camel-herding Arabs), and the non-Baggara people (mostly land-tilling tribes) of the region.
Last edited by sergeriver (2006-11-22 08:11:10)