Tweet
Winnipeg Sun (Manitoba), Canada
May 6, 2011 Friday
FINAL EDITION
Human rights museum a mess
by PETER WORTHINGTON
Winnipeg's $310 million Canadian Museum of Human Rights (CMHR) is once
again in the centre of a controversy over whose human rights should
get the most attention.
A full page in the National Post in the form of a letter signed by 105
prominent Canadians urges two Ukrainian organizations "to stay out of
the debate about the Canadian Museum of Human Rights" (CMHR).
The Ukrainian Canadian Civil Liberties Association (UCCLA) and
Ukrainian Canadian Congress (UCC), representing some 1.2 million
Canadians of Ukrainian origin, are miffed the CMHR plans to have a
Holocaust gallery, while lumping the Ukrainian Holodomor in another
gallery with other historical genocides.
The Holodomor (death by starvation), imposed by Stalin in 1932-33 to
bring Ukraine to heel, resulted in some four million deaths (some
estimates are seven million) that scar the psyche of all Ukrainians.
The UCCLA and UCC feel all genocides should be confined to one portion
of the museum, but if the Jewish Holocaust gets special treatment, so
should the Holodomor. A Nanos Research poll indicates 60% of Canadians
favour all genocides commemorated in one gallery.
There's been considerable debate about the CMHR since it was proposed
by the late Izzy Asper, founder of Canwest and the former owner of the
National Post.
Stephen Harper's government pledged $100 million towards the museum;
the province of Manitoba $40 million; the city of Winnipeg $20
million; private donations $125 million. That leaves about $25 million
still to raise. Annual costs (paid by the feds) are estimated at $22
million.
It's ironic a human rights museum would cause such controversy. The
"letter" published in the Post is bitter and nasty towards Ukrainians.
It says the UCC "has, at times, inflated the number of (famine)
victims to seven or even 10 million; the implication is obvious: Seven
or 10 million is more than six million; the Holodomor deserves more
attention than the Holocaust."
That is somewhat unfair, if not paranoid.
The letter also recalls the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalities
(OUN) and Ukrainian Insurgent Army (APA) cooperated with the Nazis, as
well as opposing Soviet Communism, and indulged in mass murders of
civilians. Not all Ukrainians, but some.
Holocaust victims were largely innocent of everything except being
Jewish, and the signatories of the letter and CMHR feel their fate
stands as a unique lesson to all. Victims of Stalin starving Ukraine
into submission are no less innocent than Holocaust victims.
Unless the issue of how to commemorate genocides can be resolved, it's
hard to see the CMHR being anything but a divisive symbol of
controversy.
And not only the Holodomor. There is the Armenian genocide, the
Cambodian genocide by the Khmer Rouge, Rwanda and Darfur as genocidal
victims. When passions are involved, compromise does not come easily.
If it were up to me, I'd be inclined to commemorate all genocides in
one gallery, with perhaps special attention to the Holocaust -- which
was planned and perpetrated by evil people, and was not by impulse or
hot blood. The same applies to the Holodomor -- which may have given
Hitler the idea of a "final solution."
But I'm neither Jewish nor Ukrainian, so the issue seems clearer.
From: A. Papazian
May 6, 2011 Friday
FINAL EDITION
Human rights museum a mess
by PETER WORTHINGTON
Winnipeg's $310 million Canadian Museum of Human Rights (CMHR) is once
again in the centre of a controversy over whose human rights should
get the most attention.
A full page in the National Post in the form of a letter signed by 105
prominent Canadians urges two Ukrainian organizations "to stay out of
the debate about the Canadian Museum of Human Rights" (CMHR).
The Ukrainian Canadian Civil Liberties Association (UCCLA) and
Ukrainian Canadian Congress (UCC), representing some 1.2 million
Canadians of Ukrainian origin, are miffed the CMHR plans to have a
Holocaust gallery, while lumping the Ukrainian Holodomor in another
gallery with other historical genocides.
The Holodomor (death by starvation), imposed by Stalin in 1932-33 to
bring Ukraine to heel, resulted in some four million deaths (some
estimates are seven million) that scar the psyche of all Ukrainians.
The UCCLA and UCC feel all genocides should be confined to one portion
of the museum, but if the Jewish Holocaust gets special treatment, so
should the Holodomor. A Nanos Research poll indicates 60% of Canadians
favour all genocides commemorated in one gallery.
There's been considerable debate about the CMHR since it was proposed
by the late Izzy Asper, founder of Canwest and the former owner of the
National Post.
Stephen Harper's government pledged $100 million towards the museum;
the province of Manitoba $40 million; the city of Winnipeg $20
million; private donations $125 million. That leaves about $25 million
still to raise. Annual costs (paid by the feds) are estimated at $22
million.
It's ironic a human rights museum would cause such controversy. The
"letter" published in the Post is bitter and nasty towards Ukrainians.
It says the UCC "has, at times, inflated the number of (famine)
victims to seven or even 10 million; the implication is obvious: Seven
or 10 million is more than six million; the Holodomor deserves more
attention than the Holocaust."
That is somewhat unfair, if not paranoid.
The letter also recalls the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalities
(OUN) and Ukrainian Insurgent Army (APA) cooperated with the Nazis, as
well as opposing Soviet Communism, and indulged in mass murders of
civilians. Not all Ukrainians, but some.
Holocaust victims were largely innocent of everything except being
Jewish, and the signatories of the letter and CMHR feel their fate
stands as a unique lesson to all. Victims of Stalin starving Ukraine
into submission are no less innocent than Holocaust victims.
Unless the issue of how to commemorate genocides can be resolved, it's
hard to see the CMHR being anything but a divisive symbol of
controversy.
And not only the Holodomor. There is the Armenian genocide, the
Cambodian genocide by the Khmer Rouge, Rwanda and Darfur as genocidal
victims. When passions are involved, compromise does not come easily.
If it were up to me, I'd be inclined to commemorate all genocides in
one gallery, with perhaps special attention to the Holocaust -- which
was planned and perpetrated by evil people, and was not by impulse or
hot blood. The same applies to the Holodomor -- which may have given
Hitler the idea of a "final solution."
But I'm neither Jewish nor Ukrainian, so the issue seems clearer.
From: A. Papazian