23 February 2009
In the January 22nd issue of “The Canadian Jewish News” there was an interesting article by Josh Scheinert entitled, ‘Jews must continue to work to ensure ‘Never Again.’’ The thrust of the article is that whereas the Jews suffered the terrible fate of genocide, they aren’t doing enough to prevent it in Darfur. Though you could easily say that it’s not just the Jews, it’s hardly the point. According to Scheinert, the term ‘genocide’ was coined by Raphael Lemkin, a Polish, Jewish lawyer, who escaped to America to avoid being a victim of the holocaust. He created the word by combining ‘geno’, the Greek word for race, and ‘cide’, the Latin word for killing. Lemkin became an anti-genocide crusader, whose efforts led to the 1948 Genocide Convention that made the act of genocide illegal everywhere.
This is clear proof that international agreements mean nothing to the capitalist class when they don’t suit their purposes. One might think the blatant violation of pacts such as Versailles, Munich, and the Molotov-Ribbentrop agreement would enlighten people in this respect, but obviously not. Since 1948, genocide has continued unabated, as the terrible events at Sharpeville, Cambodia, Srebenca, Uganda, Bosnia, May Lai, Rwanda, and Darfur testify.
In 1945 the whole world was horrified when the full extent of the holocaust was revealed. Many people of all religious and political beliefs said, ‘The Jews must have a homeland to go to so this won’t happen again.’ In 1948, a Jewish state was created and now some Jews are leaving because they say it’s too dangerous a place for a Jew to live. The possibility exists that in the event of an Arab victory, the entire Jewish population of Israel would again face the threat of genocide. People like Lemkin can fight against it all they want, but to work and hope for capitalism free of genocide is the same as working and hoping for capitalism free of poverty, unemployment, or pollution. It won’t happen because they are ill-born conditions created by the predatory profit system. Genocide, whether ordered by a government or by psychotic ‘leaders’, will always be endemic to the have and have not economic instability and mentality of capitalism. The only answer is to abolish it and establish a society where all stand equal in relation to the tools of production, decisions are made by the people in the interests of the people, and love of humanity reigns supreme.
