WHY GENOCIDE HAPPENED?

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About 30 fellows of Salzburg Global Seminar met in Chateau Klingental, France, 12-14 June 2009, to discuss "Preventing Genocide and Mass Violence : What can be learned from history?



We talked a lot about Holocaust, Rwanda, Bosnia, Cambodia, Sudan, East Timor, Afghanistan and many more, which showed how cruel human being could be. It was scary to think that even until today mass violence still happen. Is it a primitive nature of human being?
We watched the BBC documentary series "The Death of Yugoslavia" presented by its Executive Producer, Norma Percy. One of the participant is a Bosnian young generation. He was about 10 years old when he saw this documentary and he said in the discussion that the soundtrack of this documentary reminded him of his country and his youth. It was so touching to have someone close by that has been through the real situation.

Denisse Afonso, told her true story about life in camp for four years during Khmer Rouge regime in Cambodia. Her husband dissapeared and her daughter died of starvation. Her son and herself survived with a lot of pain in their heart and thet migrated to France. She has written a book about her experience, "To the End of Hell." Many of us couldn't help of crying listening to her story.

Gregory Stanton, the leading genocide expert, provided stricking facts about genocide and mass violence practices in the world. He talked from his heart, from his own experiences in the field and I could feel how inhuman all these stories were. Even after about 30 years working career, that afternoon during his presentation he still hold his tears and had to take off his glasses.



To be able to learn from history we have to pack it in such a way that younger generation understand the essence of it. Memorial park, statue, signs, historical interpretations, museums, memorial centres, school kits, you name it, there are a lot of ways. The challenge is how to convey a message without bias and achieve understanding as it is. From the discussion about Dachau Concentration Camp Memorial Site in Germany, it is not easy at all to do this.

One factor that made this meeting interesting was the participants. We had people from various background including Jews and Moslems. Some African friends were involved in advocacy works in their country like Sudan. It is always fascinating to see differences in backgrounds. One participant brought a tiny duck named Betty whom was found on a street in Geneva, Switzerland. Betty was very sick and couldn't be left alone so she joined also the meeting fulltime. Betty stayed in a box, had her food and water nearby, sometimes she walked around the meeting room and went outside during coffee breaks.



Most participants felt heavy about the theme although it was interesting and important. Luckily we had gorgeous weather and a stunning accomodation in Chateau Klingenthal, belong to the Goethe Foundation. It was a very good weekend after all.




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