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  • Group's Stance On Armenian Genocide Questio

    GROUP'S STANCE ON ARMENIAN GENOCIDE QUESTIONED
    lydia mulvany

    Marshfield Mariner
    July 8 2008
    MA

    Marshfield - With help from the Anti-Defamation League, the Marshfield
    community recently met on the Town Green to observe a vigil against
    hate crime, alarmed and disgusted by the alleged beating and stabbing
    of an African-American teenager by group of white people.

    But Sharistan Melkonian, chairwoman of the Armenian National Committee
    of Massachusetts, has called Marshfield's resurrection of its No Place
    for Hate committee "irresponsible." NPFH is a registered trademark
    of the ADL, which the ANC calls a questionable ally.

    The ANC has been working with towns to find alternatives to No Place
    For Hate since last July because of the ADL's stance on the Armenian
    Genocide. During World War I, the Turkish government killed more than
    1 million through massacres and forced marches, but today denies that
    a genocide took place.

    "(The ADL) has gone to great length to actively oppose Congressional
    affirmation of the Armenian Genocide, and they have refused to
    unambiguously acknowledge it," Melkonian said. "When you couple the
    two together, it leaves concern as to whether or not they are an
    appropriate partner for this kind of work. They're engaging in what
    they have identified as the ultimate form of hate speech: genocide
    denial."

    As part of statement he made Aug. 21, 2007, ADL National Director
    Abraham H. Foxman said, "We have never negated but have always
    described the painful events of 1915 to 1918 perpetrated by the Ottoman
    Empire against the Armenians as massacres and atrocities. ... If
    the word genocide had existed then, they would have called it
    genocide. ... Having said that, we continue to firmly believe that
    a Congressional resolution on such matters is a counterproductive
    diversion and will not foster reconciliation between Turks and
    Armenians and may put at risk the Turkish Jewish community and the
    important multilateral relationship between Turkey, Israel and the
    United States."

    Marshfield Town Administrator Rocco Longo said that although he
    doesn't take what the Armenians say lightly, the town has to look
    at local needs and take a closer look at the issue -- a complex,
    international issue whose effects in Marshfield don't translate easily.

    "Clearly there was a genocide against the Armenians, but it's such
    a heavy-duty issue," he said. "We're still going to fight hate in
    Marshfield, and the ADL has been very supportive of our fight against
    hate. We've got a lot more to learn, but it doesn't mean locally that
    we're going to give up."

    Jen Smith, the associate regional director for the Anti-Defamation
    League, said the ADL does use the word genocide.

    "It was certainly never denied, the historic suffering of the Armenian
    people, and we now do use the term genocide to describe that tragic
    period of history," she said.

    Smith, who was named Person of the Week at the selectmen's June 30
    meeting, said that NPFH's track record of providing support, strategies
    and resources to unite is solid, and that the organization has been
    serving communities in Massachusetts for nearly 10 years.

    "There's really no other program out there that's quite like it,
    and I'm proud to be a part of it, because you see what's possible
    when you all come together. We're proud of what the communities have
    been able to do," Smith said.

    Smith said that the network of support, which Marshfield has now
    joined, is one of the most valuable aspects of the program.

    "I see scores of local communities who are committed to this work,
    and have found that this program is the best way for them to be able
    to get a network of support to do this work," Smith said. "In the
    South Shore alone, which Marshfield is a welcomed member of, there
    are 13 communities who implement this program and support one another,
    so you don't have to reinvent the wheel every time."

    Marshfield's NPFH program was reinvigorated with help from
    Duxbury. Hingham, Randolph and Plymouth, Smith said.

    However, Melkonian argued that it's harder for No Place For Hate to do
    human rights work because it is tainted by the national ADL's actions.

    "In Lexington, a woman who was a victim of a hate crime stood up at a
    board of selectmen meeting, during a discussion of whether to maintain
    No Place for Hate," Melkonian said. "The woman said the No Place for
    Hate committee was very helpful and helped her understand, personally
    respond to and come away from that crime in a positive way. She said
    it would have been difficult to get through it without them. But had
    she been an Armenian-American, she would not have been able to go
    to them. It was very powerful for me to hear that from someone who
    benefited from the good that No Place for Hate can do. But there are
    genocide survivors or descendants of survivors that would go to them,
    and now cannot."

    Lexington no longer has a No Place For Hate committee, along with 12
    other towns in the state that have withdrawn. Some of those towns
    have merely dropped the NPFH name, and continue the work in their
    own human rights committees or diversity task forces.

    Scituate selectmen voted last year to send a letter of disappointment
    to the ADL regarding its statements about the Armenian Genocide,
    but never got around to it. Scituate Selectman John Danehey, whose
    wife is Armenian, wanted to terminate the town's No Place For Hate
    committee, but it had already been inactive.

    "No matter what, the issue of hate needs to be addressed, whether
    through the ADL or not," Danehey said. "But the Armenian Genocide
    also needs to be addressed."

    While praising the work done by NPFH, the Massachusetts Municipal
    Association, previously an official sponsor of NPFH, severed ties with
    the program in April because of its affiliation with the national
    ADL. It now recommends the National League of Cities Inclusive
    Communities program, which can be accessed via nlc.org.

    "Many towns have moved beyond NPFH because it's just not possible,"
    Melkonian said. "We know they have done good work and there are good,
    committed people behind those programs. Unfortunately they're now
    tainted with this hypocrisy and leaves them unable to do their job
    in the manner they would like to do it."

    David Boyajian, a freelance journalist and activist, has been asking
    towns simply to change the name of their former NPFH programs. He
    said his campaign has been "very well received."

    "There are other human rights programs," he said. "It's not as if
    we're against anti-bias programs. It's just that if you're an anti-bias
    program, you can't engage in genocide denial and discriminate against
    Armenians. It contradicts NPFH's entire mission."
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