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Rosenfield symposium addresses genocide
by Kwon Yang
Under the warm glow of the South Lounge lights, Ezra Mendelsohn kicked off the most recent Rosenfield symposium Tuesday evening. Soft-spoken and barely audible without a microphone, his demeanor contrasted strongly with the disturbing nature of his topic.
This week the Rosenfield Program held a weeklong symposium on the subject of genocide. Prominent speakers on the subject such as Mendelsohn, a professor from the Hebrew University, and Chivy Sok, a survivor of the Khmer Rouge genocide, gave various perspectives on genocide prevention. The highlight of the event was a convocation Thursday morning from Pulitzer Prize winner and The New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof. It was a concentrated effort to bring more attention to a problem that organizers felt has been often ignored.
Mendelsohn's presentation focused on placing genocide in a historical context, beginning with the situation of the Jews before the Holocaust. He offered an account of the "divided community" in Europe and how the "sense of vulnerability was the unifying force after the Holocaust."
On Wednesday afternoon, Gregory Stanton, the president of Genocide Watch, spoke on the eight stages of genocide and ways to prevent genocide in each of the stages. Speaking after his presentation, he further explained the causes of genocide.
"[Genocide] is a policy to increase [political leader's] power," he said. "They used it as a political tool to stay in power or increase their power."
According to Stanton, the issue of genocide is particularly urgent. Right now his organization is closely monitoring the situation in Darfur. According to reports by the World Food Program, the United Nations and the Coalition for International Justice, 3.5 million people are now hungry, 2.5 million have been displaced due to violence and 400,000 people have died in Darfur. The U.N. has declined to label it a genocide, citing the lack of genocidal intent by the Sudanese government.
"No government has the right to commit mass murder against its own people," Stanton said. "Human rights are not given by the government."
Later that day, in her presentation about the Khmer Rouge Killing Fields, Sok gave a human face to genocide with an account of her experience in Cambodia.
"I spent about four years on the Khmer Rouge killing field in a child labor camp," she said. "Being stripped of family or any concept of love was probably the most horrifying experience of my life. From the time you woke up to the time you went to sleep we worked digging ditches, planting and harvesting rice."
In Cambodia it is estimated that 20-30 percent of the population were killed after the Khmer Rouge took over. Sok told how one of her colleagues witnessed her uncle hung up on a tree and his belly slashed in front of her.
Sok made an effort to relay the scope of the genocide by mentioning a high school in Tuol Sleng that was converted into a torture center for 20,000 people. Only a dozen had been known to survive. Over 20,000 mass graves have been found all over the country, some containing as many as 7,000 people.
After her speech, Sok urged students to become involved in the fight against genocide and for human rights all over the world.
"Become educated about the issue," she told students. "Be a major force to get genocide on the radar screen of the policy makers because right now we are not giving it as much attention as we should."
Anna McNulty '06 said that she had already heard conversations about genocide since the beginning of the week. "That fact that it got people interested in Darfur" is amazing, she said.
The symposium closed Thursday with a presentation from the Executive Director of Prevent Genocide International, Jim Fussell, about how ordinary individuals can and have taken action against genocides and other atrocities.
"With so much of this talk of genocide," said Ben Klooster '08, "it was interesting to hear what's being done to stop it."
Rosenfield program director Wayne Moyer, Political Science, said Thursday that he felt the program was a success.
"I've been impressed with the quality of the speakers," he said. "This was probably the best-attended [symposium] we've had in several years."
-additional reporting by David Montgomery
Sidebar: Rosenfield Speakers
Tuesday
4:15 p.m.: Ezra Mendelsohn spoke about the experience of European Jews between World War I and II.
8 p.m.: John R. Heath Professor Konstanty Gebert discussed the disconnect between the collective memory of Poles and Jews
Wednesday
4:15 p.m.: Genocide Watch founder Gregory Stanton outlined the "eight stages of genocide"
8 p.m.: Chivy Sok, a survivor of the Khmer Rouge "killing fields" in Cambodia, described her personal experience as a young child
Thursday
11 a.m.: New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof described his observations of genocide in Darfur, Sudan.
8 p.m.: Jim Fussell, executive director of Prevent Genocide International, talked about standing up to genocide.
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