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CAMPUS: MCGILL REMEMBERS SURVIVORS OF GENOCIDE
Cara Wilson
McGill Tribune
http://media.www.mcgilltribune.com/media/storage/ paper234/news/2008/11/18/News/Campus.Mcgill.Rememb ers.Survivors.Of.Genocide-3549031.shtml
Nov 18 2008
Canada
Remembrance Day event commemorates Holocaust, Rwanda victims
Students, professors, and community members convened in Chancellor
Day Hall on Remembrance Day last week to commemorate the victims of
genocide. "Generations of Genocide" was presented by Students Helping
Others Understand Tolerance, Hillel Montreal, Students Taking Action
Now: Darfur, and the Jewish Law Students' Association in collaboration
with the McGill Centre for Human Rights and Legal Pluralism.
"Tonight, we will ponder some of the most daunting topics in human
history, and discuss the lessons humanity should have learned decades
ago," said Eloge Butera, a survivor of the Rwandan genocide and current
McGill law student. "If we take this moment to tell the stories of our
past it is not to illicit your pity, but to strengthen your resolve
to fight genocide."
Also on the panel were third generation Armenian genocide survivor
Liz Balian, Holocaust survivor Paul Herczeg, and Founder and President
of Canadian Friends of Sudan Justin Laku. Irwin Cotler, a McGill law
professor, gave a keynote address following the panel discussion.
Balian recounted her grandfather's story from arguably the first
20th century genocide. Speaking with strong conviction, she touched
on the importance of community.
"I have inherited the need to stand up for my heritage and my ideals,"
Balian said. "We have a moral obligation to ensure a future free
from genocide".
Her closing statement, that "education is the best memorial for victims
of genocide," was particularly pertinent in the university setting.
"I had to survive. I thought, someone has to tell this story," said
Herczeg, a Hungarian survivor of the Holocaust. Although Herczeg lost
family and friends during his struggles in the Dachau and Auschwitz
concentration camps, his story did provide some hope for humanity.
"After being caught hiding in the woods, the punishment for which was
death, a German soldier saved my life by switching me from the task of
manual labour-which would have meant my death­-to the potato peeling
brigade, where I remained until our camp was liberated," Herczeg said.
Perhaps the most moving speaker of the night, Butera told his story
of survival as a 10-year-old boy in Rwanda.
"Genocide," Butera said, "is a vivid symbol of the violence and human
potential for brutality."
During the Rwandan genocide, the equivalent of the student population
of McGill was killed every day.
"I witnessed everyday so many souls of my loved ones disappear­,"
Butera said. "Although the numbers are quantified by history, to me
they are the stories that were and the stories that never were but
should have been."
All of the speakers demonstrated immense strength to stand up and
share their stories. A common thread amongst them was a need to share
their narratives.
"These are not just their stories, this is our story," said McGill
law Professor Rene Provost. "Genocide is in us. ... The people who
carry out genocides are normal people and the next genocide is out
there on the horizon."
Laku spoke of the genocide happening right now in the Darfur region
of Sudan.
"We are gathered here to remember the silence of the world," Laku said.
He detailed the horrific conditions of rape and violence committed
by the Janjaweed in western Sudan.
"The refugee camps are the same as the work camps of the Holocaust,"
said Laku, who has visited numerous camps in the Darfur region. "I
commit myself to be a voice of the voiceless, to defend and protect
humanity. Darfur is Rwanda in slow motion."
Laku urged listeners to take a stand against what is currently
happening in Darfur, saying that "your silence never helps the victims,
but helps the oppressors."
Cotler was the last speaker of the night. Taking a scholarly approach,
he wove the stories of the night into five lessons to be learned:
the duty to remember, the danger of state-sanctioned incitement to
genocide, the dangers of silence, the consequences of inaction,
and the complicity of the elite. He called the event "a powerful
convergence of remembrance and reminder."
Cotler later quoted the Talmud and the Qu'ran: "If you save a single
person, it is as if you have saved an entire universe."
--Boundary_(ID_HQ7DG1SuZgjK4lsgBn wanA)--
Cara Wilson
McGill Tribune
http://media.www.mcgilltribune.com/media/storage/ paper234/news/2008/11/18/News/Campus.Mcgill.Rememb ers.Survivors.Of.Genocide-3549031.shtml
Nov 18 2008
Canada
Remembrance Day event commemorates Holocaust, Rwanda victims
Students, professors, and community members convened in Chancellor
Day Hall on Remembrance Day last week to commemorate the victims of
genocide. "Generations of Genocide" was presented by Students Helping
Others Understand Tolerance, Hillel Montreal, Students Taking Action
Now: Darfur, and the Jewish Law Students' Association in collaboration
with the McGill Centre for Human Rights and Legal Pluralism.
"Tonight, we will ponder some of the most daunting topics in human
history, and discuss the lessons humanity should have learned decades
ago," said Eloge Butera, a survivor of the Rwandan genocide and current
McGill law student. "If we take this moment to tell the stories of our
past it is not to illicit your pity, but to strengthen your resolve
to fight genocide."
Also on the panel were third generation Armenian genocide survivor
Liz Balian, Holocaust survivor Paul Herczeg, and Founder and President
of Canadian Friends of Sudan Justin Laku. Irwin Cotler, a McGill law
professor, gave a keynote address following the panel discussion.
Balian recounted her grandfather's story from arguably the first
20th century genocide. Speaking with strong conviction, she touched
on the importance of community.
"I have inherited the need to stand up for my heritage and my ideals,"
Balian said. "We have a moral obligation to ensure a future free
from genocide".
Her closing statement, that "education is the best memorial for victims
of genocide," was particularly pertinent in the university setting.
"I had to survive. I thought, someone has to tell this story," said
Herczeg, a Hungarian survivor of the Holocaust. Although Herczeg lost
family and friends during his struggles in the Dachau and Auschwitz
concentration camps, his story did provide some hope for humanity.
"After being caught hiding in the woods, the punishment for which was
death, a German soldier saved my life by switching me from the task of
manual labour-which would have meant my death­-to the potato peeling
brigade, where I remained until our camp was liberated," Herczeg said.
Perhaps the most moving speaker of the night, Butera told his story
of survival as a 10-year-old boy in Rwanda.
"Genocide," Butera said, "is a vivid symbol of the violence and human
potential for brutality."
During the Rwandan genocide, the equivalent of the student population
of McGill was killed every day.
"I witnessed everyday so many souls of my loved ones disappear­,"
Butera said. "Although the numbers are quantified by history, to me
they are the stories that were and the stories that never were but
should have been."
All of the speakers demonstrated immense strength to stand up and
share their stories. A common thread amongst them was a need to share
their narratives.
"These are not just their stories, this is our story," said McGill
law Professor Rene Provost. "Genocide is in us. ... The people who
carry out genocides are normal people and the next genocide is out
there on the horizon."
Laku spoke of the genocide happening right now in the Darfur region
of Sudan.
"We are gathered here to remember the silence of the world," Laku said.
He detailed the horrific conditions of rape and violence committed
by the Janjaweed in western Sudan.
"The refugee camps are the same as the work camps of the Holocaust,"
said Laku, who has visited numerous camps in the Darfur region. "I
commit myself to be a voice of the voiceless, to defend and protect
humanity. Darfur is Rwanda in slow motion."
Laku urged listeners to take a stand against what is currently
happening in Darfur, saying that "your silence never helps the victims,
but helps the oppressors."
Cotler was the last speaker of the night. Taking a scholarly approach,
he wove the stories of the night into five lessons to be learned:
the duty to remember, the danger of state-sanctioned incitement to
genocide, the dangers of silence, the consequences of inaction,
and the complicity of the elite. He called the event "a powerful
convergence of remembrance and reminder."
Cotler later quoted the Talmud and the Qu'ran: "If you save a single
person, it is as if you have saved an entire universe."
--Boundary_(ID_HQ7DG1SuZgjK4lsgBn wanA)--