Holocaust and Genocides: 2014

Tuesday, December 2, 2014

Holocaust and Genocides commemoration – VIII Annual event in Dallas and Washington DC.

The purpose of this event is education, information and activism. We hope to learn and acknowledge our failings and make a personal commitment to do our individual share of saying “Never Again”.

We hope you will walk out of the event with a genuine feeling of being a contributor towards building a cohesive world where no human has to live in apprehension or fear of the other.

The Holocaust event has been commemorated by the Jewish community since 1953 for the loss of 6 million Jews during the Holocaust, known as Yom HaShoah in Synagogues around the world. The general public learns it by visiting the Holocaust Museums and educational institutions.

We at America Together Foundation are committed to spread the knowledge of Holocaust and Genocides through interfaith and public events.

On September 11, 2005, the Unity Day USA was established to bring people of different faiths, races and ethnicities to rededicate their pledge for the safety and security of fellow Americans, as their positive contribution towards building a cohesive America. FBI Chief, State Senators, Mayors, Police and Fire Chiefs and 650 people attended the event. One unfortunate thing happened during the event that led us to Holocaust and Genocides commemoration; – the fire alarm went off causing panic, and the Mayor of Frisco called his Fire Department, and it was a false Alarm, the Mayor, FBI and the Police Chiefs assured the public that we are safe… almost everyone joined us back.

However the “apprehension” I saw on the faces of my Jewish friends was difficult to bear, they came to this Muslim's event as his guests and were in tension. I wanted to do something about it and it is here at Huffington Post - http://www.huffingtonpost.com/mike-ghouse/holocaust-and-the-muslim-_b_4629509.html

Thank God for paving the way. In less than two months, on November 1, 2005, the United Nations passed a resolution designating January 27^th of the year as the Holocaust commemorative day - http://www.un.org/en/holocaustremembrance/docs/res607.shtml

We took it upon ourselves to commemorate, we experienced the good, bad and ugliness of organizing this event - nothing deterred us from doing it and thank God for helping us out. On January 26, 2006, we commemorated the first interfaith Holocaust commemoration – extending the education of Holocaust to people of different faiths. Hon. Roslie and William Schiff, the Holocaust survivors delivered the key note, while people from many faiths participated in sharing scriptures from their holy books. http://www.foundationforpluralism.com/Images_HolocaustDay/HMD2006_ProgramReport.asp

Our format has been simple and consists of four parts: interfaith prayers, the Holocaust, Genocide (one or two each time), a Massacre, action items for individuals and the pledge of peace. Silently we acknowledge all suffering, but physically we are limited to a Genocide and a Massacre at one time.

I believe, when we acknowledge each other’s grief and participate in each other’s commemoration, we connect with the humanness within ourselves and seed the relationship of understanding and caring for each other.

There is a shameless cruelty in us, either we shy away or refuse to acknowledge the sufferings of others, worrying that it will devalue our own or somehow it amounts to infidelity to our own suffering, and every community and nation has suffered through this.

The purpose of this event is education; we hope to learn and acknowledge our failings and make a personal commitment to do our individual share of saying “Never Again”.

Our mission is to create awareness of the inhumanity within each one of us and hope to find the solutions.

TWO LOCATIONS | DALLAS, TX | WASHINGTON, DC

Dallas Event: Holocaust and Genocides

Theme: Sparks of Hatred and how to extinguish them

Date: Sunday, January 25, 2015

Time: 3:00 – 6:00 PM

Venue: TBA

Site: www.HolocaustandGenocides.com

Email: HolocaustandGenocides@gmail.com

Washington Event: Tuesday, January 27, 2015

Time : 2-5 PM
Venue: TBA

The goal ought to be respecting the otherness of others and accepting the God given uniqueness of each one of us, anything short of that will leave unattended-sparks ready to flare up at short notice with the whiff of oxygen.

We sincerely hope the attendees will walk out with the following understanding:

Other people’s suffering is as legitimate as mine;
It is easy to see ourselves as Victims, but we must also see the perpetrator in us;
When we strip the politics out of a conflict, we see hope;
We can value others suffering without lessening our own;
The overriding desire to highlight our own blinds us from other’s suffering.
A sense of responsibility for creating a better world is awakened.

A initiative of American Muslims, organized by the Foundation for Pluralism, World Muslim Congress and America Together Foundation.

We are looking for participating organizations, sponsors and volunteers. Please text or call me at the number below.

Dallas Contact: OS Modgil ( 214) 934-3438

Washington DC Contact: Marryam Chaudhry

Mike Ghouse, Event Chair
(214) 325-1916

Friday, October 31, 2014

30th Anniversary of Sikh Genocide, a survivor writes his story

Survivor of Sikh Genocides writes on 30^th Anniversary.
Published at:

Dallas, Texas, October 31, 2014. It’s been 30 years since the Sikh Massacre took place in New Delhi; justice is still not served to the victims and their families. The fanatics among Hindus went on a rampage of killing 3000 Sikhs within a week, just because they were Sikhs and nothing but that. The Moderate Hindus, Muslims, Christians and others have condemned the acts of the fanatics.

As we have been learning about the mind set of criminals regardless of what religious garb they don, invariably they deny – some even say, why bring it up, there is no problem now. They are lying to themselves, the sparks of hatred are potent, and can catch the fire any time.

There is a criminal lurking in each one of us, we need to find him and destroy him before he eats us out from within. If we justify the rapes, murders, killing, massacres or genocides by believing "they asked for it" "they ignited it" or worse "they deserved it", then we have a serious problem and need to find a release.

What is needed is to face the problem squarely, acknowledging the wrong doing, and apologizing to the victims and finding mukti, the Jain Dharma offers a great phrase – Michami Dukadam, that is clean each other’s slates and start afresh.

Injustice is the mother of Adharma – i.e., everything that is wrong in the society stems from injustice, and Martin Luther King said, injustice to one is injustice to all at the end.

I hope one day, India will focus on cleaning up its dirty stains – there are many unfinished items on our plate that prick the nation from time to time. The hatred against the other is part of that mess.

Prime Minister Modi believes that when there is prosperity, most of the nagging things will go away, I hope they do. But I believe until we sit down face to face and acknowledge the evil in each one of us, and commit to go forward dumping the old baggage, we will be limping along. We need to reboot our souls, hearts and minds.

The following write up is from a Sikh Survivor of the 1984 Sikh Massacre. It is a shame that many a families are still waiting for the whereabouts of their loved ones missing for over 30 years. The Indian Government has a responsibility to take this up, to bring relief to the victims of these massacres. I do hope Mr. Modi, as the Prime Minister of the nation, who claims to be a Hindu, acts like a Hindu and restores Dharma – the righteousness and justice to fellow beings.

Pritpal Singh has spoken at our Holocaust and Genocides events and I am pleased to share his story with you, please feel free to share wherever you like.

The Foundation for Pluralism and the World Muslim Congress is commemorating Holocaust and Genocides for the last seven years, as a step towards reconciling with each other and learning about each others pain and suffering of each of us humans on this planet.

Wayne Slater of Dallas Morning News wrote, “Ghouse says he hopes attendees will walk out better appreciating the sufferings of others and seeing “the perpetrator in us” as a way of building trust across social and religious lines.

“I called on my friends with the idea of commemorating the event, and thus began this journey,” said Ghouse. “Education is the purpose; we have to learn, acknowledge and reflect upon the terrible things that we humans have inflicted upon each other, and we have to understand that our safety hinges on the safety of all others around us.”

“There is a shameless cruelty in us, either we shy away or refuse to acknowledge the sufferings of others, worrying that it will devalue our own or somehow it amounts to infidelity to our own cause,” he said. “We should be ashamed of ourselves in justifying the massacres by falsely propagating the myth that the victims deserved it, or asked for it.” It shows an absence of intelligence.

Our event is comprised of 3 segments; Holocaust is the anchor event every year, then Genocides and a Massacre. We have been able to address many Genocides around the Globe, as well as the Massacre of Bangladeshis in 1971, Sikhs in New Delhi in 1984 and Muslims in Gujarat in 2002.

The criminals are still at large and need to be punished to restore peace of mind to the victims and their families. That is the least a head of the state can do for his countrymen and it is good for the psyche of the people.

Mike Ghouse

www.MikeGhouse.net

1984: My Struggle & Inspiration

According to famous Czech writer Milan Kundera, "the first step in liquidating a people is to erase its memory. Destroy its books, its culture, its history. Then have somebody write new books, manufacture a new culture, invent a new history. Before long that nation will begin to forget what it is and what it was... The struggle of man against power is the struggle of memory against forgetting." We are here today to continue that struggle. Never had the citizens of independent India experienced state sponsored genocide against its own people.

After the assassination of PM Indira Gandhi, for three days the well-organized mob with explicit instructions from the federal government went to loot, destroy, rape, eliminate every identifiable Sikh on India. Iron rods, crow bars, kerosene, and firearms were provided to mobs. Voter lists, ration lists, and school registration lists were used to identify & track Sikhs, Gurdwaras, and Sikh businesses.

Slogans like "blood for blood" were shown repeatedly on state controlled TV. Rumors were circulated about the violence against Hindus in Punjab to incite hatred against Sikhs in India. Sikh soldiers were disarmed and confined to barracks while army was deliberately kept outside Delhi until 11/4. All this occurred in the presence of police who ignored the violence or at times aided in it. The police officers who deviated from this order were neutralized and records were manipulated to destroy paper trail and to protect criminals from prosecution. For the Sikh victims, the police refused to record FIR (First Information Reports) or falsified them.

According to NY times, there was complete censorship of the press. The relief measures were inadequate. VM Tarkunde, retired justice of the Indian Supreme Court, stated "Two lessons can be drawn from the experience of Delhi riots. One is about the extent of criminalization of our politics and the other about the utter unreliability of our police force in critical situation." According to government report the number of Sikhs killed in Delhi was 2733; HS Phoolka, Delhi high court lawyer, estimates 4000; Affidavits have been filed for 5015; Madhu Kishwar, editor of Manushi, estimates 10,000. These estimates are just in Delhi while the killings occurred throughout India.

Rajiv Gandhi justified the Sikh murders, rapes, loot & arson by saying, "When a great tree falls, earth trembles." The result of the violence against an easily identifiable minority was winning 414/533 seats in the parliament for Congress Party of India. Even the opposition party, Sangh Parivar, stated the Sikhs invited the attacks.

There have been 11 commissions & inquiries but no high level politician or law enforcement official has been convicted despite eye witness accounts and abundant of evidence. On the other hand, the perpetrators were awarded cabinet positions, governorships, and party chief positions. The lack of accountability against the organizers of the Genocide paved the way to the violence against Muslims in Gujarat in 2002.

Pogroms will continue to occur in India unless the State acknowledges and records these violations in a transparent & honest manner, toward cleansing itself of the people and the institutions that perpetrate these crimes and addressing the survivors' rights to knowledge, justice, and reparation.

I, as a survivor of the Sikh Genocide of 1984, wait for a day when the citizens of India will demand and display the very ideals of unity, justice, and healing as the citizens of America illustrated after the Wisconsin massacre in 2012. So, my dear brothers & sisters, we cannot forget the killings of innocent people no matter where they occur. Instead, we ought to remember, revive, and respond like our fathers & mothers did. They sought Inspiration from within and channeled their energy toward discovering their role in pursuit of Justice.

Pritpal Singh

Tuesday, October 28, 2014

Fascism

Sunday, March 16, 2014

Massacre At My Lai: 46 Years Ago

By Mickey Z

16 March, 2014
Mickey Z Blog
http://www.countercurrents.org/mickeyz160314.htm

“We weren’t there to kill human beings, really. We were there to kill ideology.” (Lt. William Calley)

Officially termed an “incident” (as opposed to a “massacre”), the events of March 16, 1968 at My Lai – a hamlet in South Vietnam – are widely portrayed and accepted to this day as an aberration. While the record of U.S. war crimes in Southeast Asia is far too sordid and lengthy to detail here, it’s painfully clear this was not the case.

Not even close…

In fact, on the very same day that Lt. William Calley entered into infamy, another company entered My Khe, a sister sub-hamlet of My Lai. That visit has been described as such:

“In this ‘other massacre,’ members of this separate company piled up a body count of perhaps a hundred peasants – My Khe was smaller than My Lai – ’flattened the village’ by dynamite and fire, and then threw handfuls of straw on corpses. The next morning, this company moved on down the Batangan Peninsula by the South China Sea, burning every hamlet they came to, killing water buffalo, pigs, chickens, ducks, and destroying crops. As one of the My Khe veterans said later, ‘what we were doing was being done all over.’ Said another: ‘We were out there having a good time. It was sort of like being in a shooting gallery.’”

Colonel Oran Henderson, charged with covering-up the My Lai killings, put it succinctly in 1971: “Every unit of brigade size has its My Lai hidden someplace.”

Of the 26 U.S. soldiers brought up on charges related to My Lai, only Calley was convicted. However, his life sentence was later reduced to three and a half years under house arrest.

Never forget, comrades: This is what we’re up against.

But let’s also never forget the actions that day of a man named Hugh Thompson.

hugh_thompson_jr.__2

Hugh Clowers Thompson, Jr. wanted to fly choppers so badly that after a four-year stint in the Navy, he left his wife and two sons behind to re-up into the Army and train as a helicopter pilot. Thompson arrived in Vietnam on Dec. 27, 1967 and quickly earned a reputation as “an exceptional pilot who took danger in his stride.”

In their book, Four Hours at My Lai, Michael Bilton and Kevin Sim also describe Hugh Thompson as a “very moral man. He was absolutely strict about opening fire only on clearly defined targets.”

On the morning of Mar. 16, 1968, Thompson’s sense of virtue would be put to the test.

Flying in his H-23 observation chopper, the 25-year-old Thompson used green smoke to mark wounded people on the ground in and around My Lai. Upon returning a short while later after refueling, he found that the wounded he saw earlier were now dead.

Thompson’s gunner, Lawrence Colburn, averted his gaze from the gruesome sight.

After bringing the chopper down to a standstill hover, Thompson and his crew came upon a young woman they had previously marked with smoke. As they watched, a U.S. soldier, wearing captain’s bars, “prodded her with his foot, and then killed her.”

What Thompson didn’t know was that by that point, Lt. Calley’s Charlie Company had already slaughtered more than 560 Vietnamese. Most of the victims were women, children, infants, and elderly people. Many of the women had been gang-raped and mutilated. All Thompson knew for sure was that the U.S. troops he saw pursuing civilians had to be stopped.

Bravely landing his helicopter between the charging GIs and the fleeing villagers, Thompson ordered Colburn to turn his machine gun on the American soldiers if they tried to shoot the unarmed men, women, and children. Thompson then stepped out of the chopper into the combat zone and coaxed the frightened civilians from the bunker they were hiding in.

With tears streaming down his face, he evacuated them to safety on his H-23.

Never forget, comrades: This is how we can choose to be.

#shifthappens

Order Occupy this Book: Mickey Z. on Activism here.

***

Mickey Z. is the author of 11 books, most recently the novel Darker Shade of Green. Until the laws are changed or the power runs out, he can be found on a couple of obscure websites called Facebook and Twitter. Anyone wishing to support his activist efforts can do so by making a donation here

©WorldNewsTrust.com

Wednesday, January 29, 2014

7th Annual Holocaust and Genocides program outline

We hope to put the report together with complete script and pictures to the following outlines, a video will be out as well.

7th Annual Holocaust and Genocides
Program Outline 4:00 to 6:00 PM-
Master of Ceremonies: Mike Ghouse

1. Welcome by Mary Ann Thompson-Frenk (3:00-Minutes)

2. Video - National Anthem (2:50) (http://americatogetherfoundation.com/national-anthem/ )

3. Video - Pledge of Allegiance (2:51) (http://americatogetherfoundation.com/pledge/ )

4. Pluralism Greetings & Prayer (4:00) – Mike Ghouse

5. Acknowledgements by Coke Buchanan (6:00 )
a. Wayne Slater of Dallas Morning News, Huffington post, Oped News
b. Joshua Frenk and Mary Ann-Thomspson-Frenk, Coke Buchanan, Philip Collins,
c. Memnosyne Institute, Foundation for Pluralism, World Muslim congress, America Together Foundation and Unity of Dallas.

6. Purpose of this program 6:00 – Mike Ghouse

7. Holocaust - 18:00
            a. Christiana Amanpour 00:00- 09:23
            http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GIw7uI_gVyM&feature=youtu.be
            b. Mike’s Story of Holocaust ( 9:00)

8. American Indian Genocide 30:00
Steve Melendez 20:00
Ricardo Cervantes 10:00

9. Gujarat Massacre 15:00
Arundhati Roy 5:55 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TCb15I5-ujs
Sajee Gopal 10:00

10. Summary
Gurvinder Singh (5:00)

11. Key Note Speaker: Signs & Prevention
Mary Ann Thompson-Frenk

12. Peace Pledge 5:00 by Mike Ghouse

13. Native American Mourning Song

14. Fellowship.

Why Only Mike Ghouse? by Shah Alam Siddiqui

January, 29,2014

Why Only Mike Ghouse???

By Shah A Siddiqui

It was my second year to attend the seminar on Holocaust & Genocides. Every year has been organized by the Foundation for Pluralism and American Together Foundation. This year the focus was on Native American Indian genocide in the American history.The venue was as usual the Unity Church of Dallas's beautiful auditorium. Before I elaborate the manifesto of this very well organized annual program under the superb management of Mike Ghouse, I will praise for the punctuality of his all events, whether it is a small get together or big event , starts on time and ends on time without waiting for the people to accumulate and fill the hall. This gesture of his punctuality shows the discipline in his life.

I was very much impressed when I had attended last year's event on Sikh massacre and I was participating as a speaker on the genocide of Urdu speaking Pakistanis in Bangladesh in 1971 by the Mukti Bahini forces. This event was widely attended by the Indian Sikh and Hindu community besides of local dignitaries from the American offices. In my column in Urdu Times I had criticized the missing numbers of Pakistanis where, only 3 or 4 were present at the event to support the Sikh community on their memorial program of Sikh genocide in 1984 in all over India.

I will quote here the saying of John F Kennedy "Geography has made us neighbors.History has made us friends. Economics has made us partners and necessity has made us allies". Those whom God has so joined together, let no man put asunder" what a beautiful quote is that, and if we all start thinking in this way the world can be a wonderful place to live with harmony. Mike Ghouse in his program, always spreads the word that "speak up for others and stand up for others" Unfortunately, as a human being our mental capacity is went below average for the others. We should come out of the shell of self centered policies and be useful person of the community.

Come to the point of the symposium on American-Indian genocide in the 17th century, which is a Stigma on the forehead of powerful civilized country of the world. The lobby was nicely displayed with the posters and pictures on the topic of Native American genocide. It was very good exposition of the history and frankly speaking, it was my first ever chance to attend a symposium on the extermination or genocide of Native Americans. I have had a little knowledge of Native Americans that this tribe were brutally killed and exterminated by the conquerer. Christopher Columbus was also one of those who ordered to kill Native Indians during his governorship and. I read about the brutality that Columbus once punished a man found guilty of stealing corn by having his ears and nose cut off and then selling him into slavery. There are many ore stories about him.

In the expo lobby, I met with one spiritual Mexican man whose nickname was "Gorilla" who told the story of being named "Gorilla" which was interesting, but his real name is Ricardo Cervantes and he showed us a black shiny round stone plate about an inch thick and a spiritual torch burner. Later he displayed in the auditorium the lighter and the stone with the noble history of his ancestors related to stones and prayed or those who left this world for the betterment of the human being.

Mike Ghouse also introduced me with a prominent historian, lecturer of Full Blood American Indian, Citizen of Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma, Peggy Larney, who gave us a brief information on the Native American holocaust.

At the symposium there were a couple of very impressive speakers like Civic Leader and Native American Representative Steve Melendez, who briefly took us back to the history of the Native American Genocide in which more than 100 millions were brutally vanished from the earth.

There were many speakers like Coke Buchanan, Alan Keith, Michael Losurdo, Constance and I heard one speaker Gurvinder Singh of Sikh massacre in 1984 and also one Indian-American Civil right activist Sajee Gopal on Gujrat killings of Muslims in 2002 they both delivered very impressive and touch speech on the subject. Very young keynote speaker Mary Ann Thompson-Frank, who is also a Civil Right activist delivered her speech with charismatic style and gripped the audience to listen to her findings and experience to visit Rwanda. She shared a very useful information to the audience.

A short documentary prepared by CNN and presented by International correspondent Christian Amanpour on Jewish genocide was also displayed for the audience. In the documentary the Auschwitz concentration camp in Poland was focused which dragged me to my visit of this camp in 1986 when I was posted on a diplomatic assignment there. The Jewish Holocaust has a horrible heart wrenching stories and in the concentration camp one can see and feel the pain and pesky scenes even after more than seven decades. I have written my memoir about this visit.

I had a very little knowledge about the genocide of native Americans, but in this symposium and its exhibition gave me a vast picture of this barbaric ethnic cleansing of a tribe where hundred of thousand of pregnant women killed with their babies in the womb and the invaders used different killing methods like infesting with deadly epidemics of diseases in women and children. New born babies were also not spared and got killed by the occupying soldiers. I read different slogans printed in the flyer regarding the genocide. One interesting slogan of British soldiers was " The only good Indian is a dead Indian". In fact, this slogan reminds me when the British soldiers use to put signs in different public places in Indian subcontinent before partition that" Admission of dogs and Indians are prohibited" etc.

This wonderful symposium and exhibition was full of knowledgeable materials and information. I can say it was an educational symposium or convention on the native American Indians and I congratulate Mike Ghouse for doing this wonderful job on his own.

I will again criticize our Indian and Pakistani community for not attending and supporting the cause of Native Americans on their genocide. I know this is history now, but to remember the history keeps you energized to face the consequences.Thanks a million to God that we are now living in a civilized country and we did not go through the atrocities the people from the other communities have gone trough and we are reading their stories.

I would like to come to the title of this article " Why only Mike Ghouse???" most of my readers can understand the concept of this article but most of the readers will just ignore knowingly. First, I would like to say something about Mike Ghouse that whatever he is doing is a noble work. In the beginning when he started his 'Pluralism' mission to bring the different faiths at one platform, it was a rubbish and provocative act for other believers,in my opinion and I was very against of his all these activities being propagated his 'Pluralism' "faith" among the communities of different faith and cultures. I moved from Chicago in 2001 to this beautiful city Dallas and since then I have been listening Mike Ghause 's radio program and different papers and literally I use to hate him because of his illogical theories on pluralism and I thought this guy must be an '' atheist" or he hates Pakistanis or Muslims. In the beginning, in 2001 when I moved to Dallas from Chicago

I started listening his radio program and most of the times I use to call on his radio show and complain for not being fair with Pakistanis and Muslims and after listening and reading his articles about 'pluralism' I deadly gone against Mike Ghouse and thought that this guy is against Muslim ideology. By the time passes away, I use to read his emails and couple of times I saw him on the Fox TV show with 'Sean Hanity show' in favor of the Muslim cause defending Muslims in the 9/11 scenario and after that I saw him on different occasions on Fox Tv and read his articles in 'Huffington Post' newspapers and in groups of community emails, gradually, I changed my opinion about Mike Ghouse. I extended my full support for the cause that Mike Ghouse is carrying alone on his shoulder for the humanity. He is serving the community in all walk of life, regardless of religions and ethnic backgrounds. He is trying to bring an impossible dream into reality and that is harmony, brotherhood and sincerity within the different communities.

He stands up for Ahmadis, Bahais, Buddhist, Christians, Sikhs, Hindu, Jains, Ismailis and of course for Muslims as well. He attends all kinds of worship as a gesture to show his and community's cooperation with them.

The teaching of Islam is very broad who clearly speaks about brotherhood and harmony to the others and the other religions also support the same gesture, none of the religion teaches hatred or violence among different believers. This is a hard work which Mike Ghouse is doing alone under his own flag of 'Pluralism' .

Is his all activities are going against of humanity? Or it is in the right direction of humanity. If he is doing something positive for the community, for the different believers, then why we should not support him and extend our cooperation to him for the betterment of the human cause. Together we can stand strong and it is my believe that one day our dream will come true when all the believers of different faiths will live in peace and prosperity. We should join hands to hand with Mike Ghouse to make this planet a beautiful place to live.

Symposium cum exhibition on Holocaust and Genocide by Saeed Qureshi

Upright Opinion

January 27, 2014

Symposium cum exhibition on Holocaust and Genocide

By Saeed Qureshi

Let me first of all warmly compliment Mike Ghouse and his companions for holding the Seventh Exhibition cum Symposium on a crucial phenomenon that we all know as holocaust. This august event took place on January 26 in the spacious hall of the Unity Church of Dallas.

Holocaust is a dreadful and ghastly dimension of human civilization that has been happening since the dawn of civilization and perhaps even earlier than that. Let me quote one important episode from the known history preserved in Bible and also in the holy Quran. When Prophet Moses liberated the Jewish nation from centuries old stranglehold of the Pharaohs who were the mighty emperors of their own time, they marched into the Sinai desert and settled there for 40 years. Thereafter they perpetrated the first distinctly documented genocide of the peaceful population in the land of Canaan. They killed the inhabitants including the infants indiscriminately and with savagery that is beyond description.

The Jewish nation itself suffered terrible genocides at least four times in history: one at the hands of Babylon Empire, second under the Roman Empire, third in Spain and fourth in Nazi Germany. The Muslims too faced the similar appalling genocides. Apart from other cities of Muslim rule, the Mongols, laid waste the capital of the Islamic caliphate Baghdad in 1258 and killed 1.6 million Muslims. This mass annihilation of Baghdad is recorded as the most heinous genocide carried out during the Middle Ages.

Besides the Muslims suffered terrible genocides in Jerusalem, Alexandria and Spain at the hands of the victor Christian crusaders. In Spain where they ruled for seven centuries, they were entirely massacred and expelled along with the Jews. Those left somehow were finally deported in 1609. In history the Muslims, the Christians and Jews have been alternating in killing each other adopting a parched earth drive and ethnic cleansing policies. England passed through a spell of genocides at the hands of Romans and Vikings in early times.

Holocaust and genocide can be treated as synonyms carrying the diabolic connotation that implies the wholesale massacres and extermination of a race of segment of human beings. During the last two centuries several grisly genocides have taken place.

The British colonial armies in their frantic onslaught to expand the abominable colonialism marched on the vast continent of America. Those who arrived first were called pilgrimages. Their beastly annihilations of the local population have no parallel in history. They kept on wiping off the local population called native Indians with such a diabolic obsession that continued till it culminated into a civil war between the federalists and the co federalist.

The native inhabitants called red or native Indians and now American Indians were easy prey to their superior weaponry and fighting tactics. The natives fought back with primitive arrows, batons and swords against the merciless pogroms of the invaders who were more like bounty hunters. The natives’ mainstay of living, cattle and buffaloes were totally wiped off. They were infested with deadly epidemics of diseases like small pox to die if left alive from the pointblank shooting of the well armed and disciplined killers. Even children sucking their mothers’ breasts were not spared. The slogan of the British generals was that “only good Indian is dead Indian”. Approximately 100 million native Indians perished in this the most macabre genocides in the human history after Mongols’ curse.

The exhibition of the Indian genocide displayed extremely heart wrenching and harrowing scenes making the onlookers wonder how human beings could be as callous and barbaric as to slaughter a helpless, primitive and defense segment of human race.

The exhibits and graphics showed huge piles of dead bodies with killer soldiers standing aside with devilish smiles on their faces after performing this hideous job. The copies of the scrolls, orders and parchments issued by the British commanders were also displayed. In those documents reflects the hate and obsession to kill the local population without any compunction. The exhibition continued from 3p.m.to 7 p.m. when the whole program came to close.

I was thrilled and rather entranced by the presentations and speeches’ during the two hours session conducted in the main hall of the church. The speakers’ spoke about the Native Americans holocaust, the 2002 Gujarat massacre and the 1984 massacre of Sikhs in India. The Jewish holocaust at the hands of the Nazis in Germany was portrayed in video clips, prepared by Christiana Amanpour, the celebrated CNN anchor. Mike Ghouse, the principal organizer of this phenomenal yearly event told his side of the story about the genocide.

The keynote speaker and host of this memorable evening Mary Ann Thompson-Frank expressed her empirical impressions about the Rwandan genocide in which 800,000 humans were killed. Mary is immensely knowledgeable, highly articulate with flair of oration. She was eloquent, vocal and gave an excellent account and grasp of the subject and kept the audience riveted to her discourse. I was personally greatly impressed by fluency and candor in dishing out her thoughts and observations. This highly fruitful and greatly enlightening session included a peace pledge by Mike Ghouse followed by a poignantly sad and moving Native American Mourning Song.

This distinctive and remarkable seminar would add another feather in the cap of Mike Ghouse and his associates in highlighting and rekindling an issue for the civilized nations to reflect and ponder how to foster love and harmony among the people of this planet mother earth. It should serve as a grim reminder and resounding lesson for the human race that never again any genocide or holocaust be allowed to happen.

Such seminars and symposiums emit the divine and cardinal message that the age of barbarians and beast is over and we should all live in harmony and peace and work in unison for the collective good of the entire human race. Those who voluminously collaborated and sponsored in this effort among others were ‘Muslims Together’, ‘American Indian Genocide Museum’, Mnemosyne institute and Foundation for Pluralism. A sumptuous dinner was served at the end to all, the speakers and the spectators alike.

Monday, January 27, 2014

7th Annual Holocaust and Genocides, Program outline