16th Annual Reflections on Holocaust and the Genocides

Since 2006 

DRAFT PRESS RELEASE TO BE UPDATED

16^th Annual Reflections on Holocaust and Genocides
Sunday, January 24, 2021 – 12-2:00 PM EST

Restoring harmony in the world is our sacred duty. We invite everyone from Atheists to Zoroastrians to attend this event and feel a part of humanity.  

RSVP  https://www.eventbrite.com/e/holocaust-and-genocides-reflections-tickets-136387989147 - A zoom link will be sent upon RSVP.

Zoom link: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/81216038101?pwd=SC9BYVlVYTM5SlY5SDM0OHhUSWVBZz09

Meeting ID 812 1603 8101- Passcode 997405

Washington, DC, United States, January 11, 2021. The Center for Pluralism is organizing its 16^th Annual Reflections on the Holocaust and Genocides and you are invited to be a part of the event via zoom link. 

The purpose of this event is education, information, and activism. We hope to learn and acknowledge our failings and make a personal commitment to say, "Never Again."

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

At the Center for Pluralism, we are committed to spreading knowledge of the Holocaust and Genocide through interfaith and public events, including the Annual reflections since 2006.

Please note that in the last 15 years, we have covered many genocides, massacres, and grim ethnic cleansing events, and we intend to cover all in the coming years.  

In this program, we do not debate, but express the plight of the people and offer solutions to create a cohesive environment for every human to function with relative comfort. For instance, in political pluralism, China blocks Taiwan- instead of both speaking their concerns in a public forum.

We have received calls to block the speakers or topics, or refusal to join because others are speaking. It is a headache for the organizers who sincerely want to present the issues as they are. It is a free nation and we should express freely whatever is happening. "If we can learn to respect the otherness of others, conflicts fade and solutions emerge." Mike Ghouse

This year we will be addressing the following events; 
A few speakers are to be confirmed.

1. Holocaust Reflections: Kate English 
2. Forced Cremation in Sri Lanka: Soraya Deen
3. The Plight of Kashmiri Pundits: Dr. Pundit Sharma   
4. Kashmir under Siege: Dr. Nyla Ali Khan  
5. Uyghur’s update: Rushan Abbas
6. Rohingya Update: Dr. Wakar Uddin
7. India’s egregious violations of Human Rights Dr. Gregory Stanton

Keynote address by MaryAnn Thompson-Frenk
 
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 amounts to infidelity to our pain and every community and nation has suffered through this.

To all those who have endured the Holocaust, Genocides, Massacres, Ethnic Cleansing, Land Mines, Hunger, Rape, Torture, Occupation, Expulsion, and inhuman brutality, we must say, you are not alone. The least we can do in the process of healing is to acknowledge everyone's pain in one voice.

The Annual Reflections on Holocaust and Genocides is a Muslim initiative to assure fellow humans who have endured Holocaust, Genocide, ethnic cleansing, massacres, rapes, injustice, and other atrocities that we are all in this together to create a better world. Tikkun Olam is, indeed, our sacred duty.

Dr. Mike Ghouse,  

Center for Pluralism
www.CenterforPluralism.com
www.HolocaustandGenocides.com 
SpeakerMikeGhouse@gmail.com 
Office – (202) 290-3560
Cell - (214) 325-1916

Video Release of Holocaust and Genocides 2020

Video Release of Holocaust and Genocides. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tFLsSfYbPJc&feature=youtu.be 

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, Handwara, Hawal, Sopore, 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.

Interfaith Council of Metropolitan Washington

Muslim Public Affairs Council (MPAC)

Pozez Jewish Community Center of Northern Virginia

Foundation for Ethnic Understanding

American Sikhi Educational and Empowerment Network 

Jews, Muslims and Allies Acting Together (JAMAAT)

Response USA for Relief and Development (RUSARD)

Islamic Society of Washington Area (ISWA)

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) 325-1916Mike@CenterforPluralism.com

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•  http://centerforpluralism.com/purposeful-event-in-washington-dc-reflections-on-the-holocaust-and-genocides/

• https://www.einpresswire.com/article/506869723/holocaust-and-genocides-commemoration-in-washington-dc
• https://www.fox34.com/story/41548532/holocaust-and-genocides-commemoration-in-washington-dc
• https://www.einnews.com/pr_news/506236060/a-genocide-is-in-making-in-india-on-mike-pompeo-s-watch
•  http://www.albiladdailyeng.com/holocaust-genocides-commemoration-washington-dc/
• http://holocaustandgenocides.blogspot.com/2019/12/15th-annual-holocaust-and-genocides.html