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Sunday, March 1, 2020

Video Release of Holocaust and Genocides 2020

Video Release of Holocaust and Genocides. 
The 15th Annual Reflections on Holocaust and Genocides were held on 1/26/2020 at the Arlington Central Library in Virginia, a suburb of Washington DC. The purpose of this event was education, information, and activism. We hope to learn and acknowledge our failings and make a personal commitment to say, “Never Again.”

 Tikkun Olam is our sacred duty; in the broader context, it means restoring the harmony between humans and what surrounds them, life, and environment. We hope the attendees walked out of the program with a genuine feeling of empathy with those who have endured the Holocaust, genocide, ethnic cleansing, massacres, rapes, lynching, harassment, injustice, and other atrocities. We are all in this together to create a better world.
Holocaust and Genocides is a Muslim initiative to assure fellow humans who have endured the Holocaust, Genocide, ethnic cleansing, massacres, rapes, injustice, and other atrocities that we are all in this together to create a better world. Tikkun Olam indeed is our sacred duty.
 We hope you share this video with your friends and groups, the more of us learn about the signs of genocides and what we can do to prevent them – in effect saying “Never Again.” Over the last 14 years, we have covered many genocides, massacres, ethnic cleansing, religious persecution, lynching, rapes, harassment, and other acts that do not respect the dignity of fellow humans.
 One of the most important lessons we need to learn is to get rid of the selfishness in us, meaning our misery is more important than other’s pain. We are all in this together. No single community is more privileged than the other.
We thank Dr. Frank Islam for being the primary sponsor of the event, and Dr. Rani Khan, Dr. Arif Mehmood, and Dr. Maqsood Chaudhry for sponsoring the event. Nausheen and Ehsan Baig for providing refreshments and volunteering. We also thank Charles Stevenson and Dr. Zafar Iqbal for volunteering. We thank our master of ceremony, speakers, and attendees, for, without them, the program would not have happened.
 Dr. Rani Khan and Dr. Mike Ghouse chaired the event15th Annual Reflections on Holocaust and Genocides
5:30 PM - 8:30 PM Sunday, January 26, 2020
Arlington Central Library, 1015 N. Quincy Street
Arlington, VA 22201

Speakers & Topics
Robert F. Teitel – Enduring Holocaust
Dr. Gregory Stanton – Ten Signs of Genocides
Gary Sampliner, Ibrahim Anli, and Walter Ruby – Announcements
Dr. Wakar Uddin - Rohingya Genocide in Making
Omer Kanat - Uyghur Genocide in Making
Muneer Baig - Indian Government choking freedom in Kashmir
Dr. TO Shanavas – Update on India’s violation of freedoms
Dr. Mike Ghouse – What can you do?
Dr. Rani Khan - Peace Pledge
Rabia Baig – MC
Ten Stages of Genocide, Dr. Gregory H. Stanton, President, Genocide Watch

Genocide is a predictable process. It develops in Ten Stages that are not linear, but which allow us to logically understand the warning signs of genocide.  They are Classification (us vs. them); Symbolization (identity cards); Discrimination (laws or customs denying rights); Dehumanization (calling groups “aliens,” “terrorists”, “vermin” “insects”); Organization (hate groups, armies, militias, death squads); Polarization (exclusionary propaganda); Preparation (planning); Persecution (arrests, torture, ghettos, deportation); Extermination (killing, starvation, mass rape); and Denial (lies, legalisms, blaming victims, euphemisms.)

Ibrahim Anil, Rumi Forum

The event was a powerful reminder of the bitter fact that genocides: that humanity suffered in the past, those actually taking place and those, unfortunately, are likely to come, stand as a litmus test of what human progress lacks. History does not record another era with a similar level of wealth and technological advances like our times. Yet humanity seems to have failed to make equally impressive progress in containing the inherent arrogance it harbors against the other. A conflict is a form of behavior. If it is learned, it can also be unlearned. It is this gap that such efforts like CFP try to address.

Kashmir: A Paradise on Earth. Muneer Baig

Kashmir has many names that reflect its beauty, hospitality, and secular nature. One such name is the Valley of Saints (Pira Waer), a name earned as a result of religious diversity and tolerance.

People engaging in violence have root causes, but governments engaging in violence do not have root causes but an objective to achieve end results, in the case of Kashmir it was to wipe our Kashmiri Muslims. Governor, Jagmohan Sharma (Demolition Man) of BJP, unleashed a draconian force armed with the Special Powers Act to “Kill at Will” without accountability. Almost 3 decades later the soil of Kashmir continues to soak in the blood of innocent Kashmiri men, women, and children. The cries of women echo the Himalayas asking for help and justice against perpetrators. Three decades later families of those massacred in Gawkadal, HandwaraHawalSopore, etc. are still waiting for justice.


 Charles Stevenson
 "A vivid, eye- and heart-opening examen into some of the major genocides of our times, this program is an appeal to knowledge, compassion, responsibility, and action brought to us personally by some who have themselves experienced genocide, personally."
Walter Ruby
I was honored to participate in the15th Annual Reflections on Holocaust and Genocides at Arlington Central Library on January 26 sponsored by my dear friend Dr. Mike Ghouse and his Center for Pluralism. I spoke about the life and times of Holocaust survivor Michael Edelstein whose memoirs I wrote together with my brother Dan Ruby entitled "Live Another Day: How I Survived the Holocaust and Realized the American Dream." (see website www.liveanotherdaybook.com). Speakers at the Holocaust Remembrance Day event included including Dr. Wakar Uddin, President, Rohingya Association, Mike Ghouse, President of Center for Pluralism, Ibrahim Anli, and Gary Sampliner, Executive Directors of JAMAAT, an expert on genocide Dr. Gregory Stanton, Omer Kanat, president of the Uyghur Association and Holocaust survivor Robert Teitel. We heard horrifying reports on brutal repression, violence, and dehumanization being instituted against the Uyghurs in China, the Rohingya in Burma and the Kashmiris and other Muslims in India with chilling parallels to the Holocaust. Kudos to Mike Ghouse for organizing this an important event on Holocaust Remembrance Day and reminding all of us that if “Never Again” is to have any meaning or relevance, we must stand together and fight back against murder, violence, and genocide, no matter who is the victim.


We appreciate the following Organizations for their support.

Foundation for Ethnic Understanding
American Sikhi Educational and Empowerment Network 
Jews, Muslims and Allies Acting Together (JAMAAT)
Response USA for Relief and Development (RUSARD)
Church of Scientology National Affairs Office 
Jews for Jewish Muslim Understanding

Thank you

Mike Ghousewww.CenterforPluralism.com
www.HolocaustandGenocides.com
Washington, DC
Off: (202) 290-3560
Cell: (214) 325-1916
Mike@CenterforPluralism.com

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