|
Archive for April, 2007
Simon Maghakyan on 17 Apr 2007
Nobel Prize winner Thomas Eliot has called April “the cruelest month.”
I live three miles away from Columbine, the High School in the United States were a massacre of a dozen took place on April 20, 2007.
I am Armenian, whose extended family was destroyed in the WWI genocide that started in April of 1915.
I am a board director of the Colorado Coalition for Genocide Awareness and Action that tomorrow will applaud a Holocaust commemoration resolution at the Colorado State Capitol tomorrow and will be present at the singing ceremony of the Sudan divestment bill – to help stop the genocide in Darfur – coming Thursday.
I am a friend of Tutsi survivors, whose families were killed in April of 1994 in the Rwandan genocide,
I am preparing a group presentation for tomorrow on comfort women based on the account of Maria Rosa Henson, a 15-year old child during WWII who was captured by the Japanese army in April of 1943 to become a sex slave (there were 200,000 women and children like her),
I fear April. I fear it a lot. On Saturday I told some friends I hope Turkish military units don’t attack Northern Iraq and start butchering Kurds. It’s April, after all. The month when Hitler was born, the month that has so much injustice to remember and commemorate. And the month of, “never again.”
It was also several hours ago, in April, that over 30 students were massacred in Virginia Tech university. It is still April.
But is it April that makes humans inhuman or humans that make April inhuman? Is April more powerful than all of us? Are guns more powerful in America than Americans to regulate its use and easily prevent massacres like the Michigan Tech? Are we, humans, free? Are we free of ourselves, from our history of demonizing April?
Can we start with gun control in April and continue by stopping denial of historical injustices, like the sexual slavery of WWII women by the Japanese army? Why are YouTube videos about WWII “comfort women” being removed in April, such as a photo presentation at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9yc18Wx-txE.
So many questions and no answers. I am just tired. Tired of our cover-up of April. Tired of making April the cruelest month of the year. Tired of making ourselves fear April.
Simon Maghakyan on 13 Apr 2007
Editorial
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/13/opinion/13fri2.html?_r=1&oref=slogin
Turkey and the U.N.’s Cover-Up
Published: April 13, 2007
More than 90 years ago, when Turkey was still part of the Ottoman Empire, Turkish nationalists launched an extermination campaign there that killed 1.5 million Armenians. It was the 20th century’s first genocide. The world noticed, but did nothing, setting an example that surely emboldened such later practitioners as Hitler, the Hutu leaders of Rwanda in 1994 and today’s Sudanese president, Omar Hassan al-Bashir.
Turkey has long tried to deny the Armenian genocide. Even in the modern-day Turkish republic, which was not a party to the killings, using the word genocide in reference to these events is prosecuted as a serious crime. Which makes it all the more disgraceful that United Nations officials are bowing to Turkey’s demands and blocking this week’s scheduled opening of an exhibit at U.N. headquarters commemorating the 13th anniversary of the Rwandan genocide because it mentions the mass murder of the Armenians.
Ankara was offended by a sentence that explained how genocide came to be recognized as a crime under international law: “Following World War I, during which one million Armenians were murdered in Turkey, Polish lawyer Raphael Lemkin urged the League of Nations to recognize crimes of barbarity as international crimes.” The exhibit’s organizer, a British-based antigenocide group, was willing to omit the words “in Turkey.” But that was not enough for the U.N.’s craven new leadership, and the exhibit has been indefinitely postponed.
It’s odd that Turkey’s leaders have not figured out by now that every time they try to censor discussion of the Armenian genocide, they only bring wider attention to the subject and link today’s democratic Turkey with the now distant crime. As for Secretary General Ban Ki-moon and his inexperienced new leadership team, they have once again shown how much they have to learn if they are to honorably and effectively serve the United Nations, which is supposed to be the embodiment of international law and a leading voice against genocide.
Simon Maghakyan on 13 Apr 2007
A simple legislation can save lives
As unholy campaign of parliamentary elections has started in Armenia, all voters get is either a bribe or promise for justice. If they don’t get the first, the second one is absolutely guaranteed. A promise for justice has sort of become a fundamental right in Armenia. 
I remember a professor at my University in Denver complaining last semester about Stephan Demirchyan – a popular opposition politician in Armenia – who kept saying “Justice!” when the professor asked him about his presidential campaign platform during an interview. After the professor asked Demirchyan that he wanted to know about his plans, the popular politician – who came to stage after his famous father was assassinated in 1999 – repeated again, “Justice!”
Few would argue that Demirchyan is not, how shall I say this, very bright, yet he is not the only “justice” politician in Armenia.
Economic theorists suggest that there is no supply without demand, so there must be demand for justice in Armenia. So there is no question that ordinary Armenians want justice – especially economic and social. There has been much discussion about the first issue and I am not sure I have enough knowledge yet to give suggestions for economic improvement (it seems it is easier to attack globalization and neoliberalism for world poverty and I can do a good job in that – but I don’t think it would be fair and productive in this post).
Nevertheless, it seems social justice may have better chances for certain improvement – one reason is that it has so many issues involved. Human trafficking, for example, is a social problem in Armenia caused by economic depression and, from the first look, it seems there is no solution/or even reduction without solving economic problems first. But economy is not the only problem for creating conditions for human trafficking. There is domestic human trafficking in the United States, for example, where runaway and homeless youth are often victims of sexual slavery.
This is true for Colorado, the state I currently reside in. Colorado is also both a destination and a transit for human trafficking, because it has the largest airport in the United States and two nationwide highways crossing each other. One way Colorado has tried to fight human trafficking is to punish with life imprisonment or death penalty for trafficking in children (it is the only state as of now to give capital punishment for this crime). The law is in effect just for several months, but I think tough laws and regulations are important.
Coming back to Armenian elections and social justice. I think civil society groups should drop the maximalist call for justice – because all they will get is a promise for “justice” – and initiate and request specific legislation promises (it seems this could be done through lobbying, but not in Armenia).
For example, an act to make t-announcements on flights between Armenia and direct trafficking destinations – such as Dubai/UAE – can be a possible legislation initiated by civil groups in a campaign – if there is any – to fight/stop human trafficking. (A campaign for severe punishment for traffickers could be of help, too.)
In November of 2006 I wrote of new direct flights between Yerevan (Armenia) and Sharja (United Arab Emirates) that will apparently make it easier for traffickers to “import” women and children from Armenia directly to UAE – the largest market of Armenian sex slaves – and enhance Armenia’s role as a transit country for human trafficking. On November 3, 2006, I sent an e-mail to Air Arabia – the operator of the flight – asking
Are you aware that most “travelers” to UAE from Armenia are women and children tricked and sold to sexual slavery (human trafficking)?
If yes, what steps are you taking to make sure you do not transfer trafficking victims?
I received a fast response from an Air Arabia representative arguing that not all passengers will be trafficking victims and that they can’t do anything about it:
Dear Mr.Simon, Thank you for writing to us. With reference to the same, Air Arabia going to start services to Yerevan from 16/11/2006.Further, as an airline, it is not possible to monitor the passengers who are entering to UAE and their intention. Once the whole travel documents are clear, we can not stop the passengers from their desired flight. Also there is a lot of genuine passengers are traveling in between these sectors. Thank you for your interest in Air Arabia With kind regards Princy Kurien
Air Arabia
So I thought a few days for a way to help Air Arabia to fight human trafficking. I wrote in my second letter:
Dear Princy,
I understand that Air Arabia has limited abilities of monitoring trafficking victims getting on the board; it must be done by the overall airport security.
I think we can all fight human trafficking by small actions. Will Air Arabia be willing to pass out brochures (or show a clip) in Armenian, Russian and English to all passengers in Yerevan onboard before the flight takes off to Sharja? The brochure will tell the passengers the brief present of human trafficking and will ask them to let an attendant know (anytime during the flight) that they have been tricked into trafficking. In this case, they will be returned to the security unit of the Yerevan airport.
I can have a non-profit organization to print those brochures for you. So you will not be spending a penny on this good cause.
Thanks,
Simon
The e-mail was never answered, and I was not too hopeful in an airline company to be interested in fighting human trafficking – a large portion of their passengers and, therefore, revenue.
So I sent e-mail to some of the few female parliamentarians in Armenia suggesting airplane announcement legislation with the hope that they might show more solidarity to slave women. I never got response from them.
Unfortunately, at this time I don’t live in Armenia and cannot lobby much for “t-announcements” on flights between Armenia and Dubai. But I think specific legislation requests and, thus, promises may be a better way for promoting justice, at least for several issues, in Armenia. And why not start with human trafficking?
Simon Maghakyan on 12 Apr 2007
If until today state-sponsored destruction of Armenian material heritage in Azerbaijan has been the norm and the exception for Azerbaijan’s self-praised image of “tolerance” for minorities – such as Jews, Russians, and Catholics – the tolerant ambition of the mostly Muslim Republic is under threat as a fire intervened with the construction of a Catholic church in the capital city of Baku.
Via Nazarian, Azerbaijani media report:
Fire occurred in the Catholic Church “Saint Maryam” under construction in Baku today. Baku Catholic Church’s head Yan Chapla exclusively told APA that the explosive material thrown inside the church through the window caused the fire.
If until today anti-Christian (and anti anything) bigotry in Azerbaijan has been blamed on the conflict with the Armenians, the attack against the Catholic church seems a new development of Islamic circles in Azerbaijan that Azeri authorities have usually been in denial of.
This also challenges the uncontested notion that the cultural genocide against Armenian monuments in Azerbaijan, directed by or with the awareness of Azeri authorities, solely deals with ethnic conflict and is not anti-Christian.
Simon Maghakyan on 09 Apr 2007
I rearly open e-mails that have “FW:FW:FW [forwarded at least three times)” in the subject, but this one was from non other than the president of my community college that I graduated in 2006.
(The president is a good friend; he travelled with me across America last year to help me receive my All-USA Academic Team award.)
As I opened the e-mail, I realized he had forwarded the message to several people, including me (thanks God it was not a network broadcast to all current and former students, as I thought was the case in the first place. If it were the case, he could get sued for forwarding a spam.).
The e-mail? One of the old, and also one of the most convincing, urban legends of all times: Microsoft and AOL will give you $245.00 for every person you forward the e-mail to.
Read carefully…THIS TOOK TWO PAGES OF THE TUESDAY USA TODAY – IT IS FOR REALTo all of my friends, I do not usually forward messages,
But this is from my friend Pearlas Sandborn and she really is
an attorney.
If she says that this will work – It will work. After all,What have
you got to lose?
SORRY EVERYBODY.. JUST HAD TO TAKE THE CHANCE!!! I’m an
attorney, And I know the law. This thing is for real. Rest assured
AOL and &nbs p; Intel will follow through with their promises for
fear of facing a multimillion-dollar class action suit similar to the one
filed by PepsiCo against General Electric not too long ago.
Dear Friends: Please do not take this for a junk letter.
Bill Gates sharing his fortune. If you ignore this, You will repent
later.
Microsoft and AOL are now the largest Internet companies
and in an effort to make sure that Internet Explorer remains the
most widely used program, Microsoft and AOL are running an e-mail
beta test.
When you forward this e-mail to friends, Microsoft can and will
track it (If you are a Microsoft Windows user) For a two weeks
time period.
For every person that you forward this e-mail to, Microsoft will pay
you $245.00 For every person that you sent it to that forwards it on,
Microsoft will pay you $243.00 and for every third person that receives
it, You will be paid $241.00. Within two weeks, Microsoft will contact
you for your address and then send you a check.
Regards. Charles S Bailey General Manager Field Operations
1-800-842-2332 Ext. 1085 or 904-1085 or RNX 292-1085
Thought this was a scam myself, But two weeks after receiving this
e-mail and forwarding it on. Microsoft contacted me for my address and
within days, I received a check for $24, 800.00. You need to respond
before the beta testing is over. If anyone can affoard this, Bill gates is the
man.
It’s all marketing expense to him. Please forward this to as many
people as possible. You are bound to get at least $10, 000.00
We’re not going to help them out with their e-mail beta test without
getting a little something for our time. My brother’s girlfriend got in
on this a few months ago. When I went to visit him for the Baylor/UT
game, she showed me her check. It was for the sum of $4,324.44 and
was stamped “Paid In Full”.
If the body of the e-mail is tempting, consider the smart subject of the letter too: “FW: Fwd: Fw: PLEEEEEEASE REEEEEAD! IT WAS ON GOOD MORNING AMERICA TODAY SHOW].”
Yet the first sentence of the letter already gives a hint for an urban legend: this took two pages of the Tuesday USA TODAY. Well, if it were the case, there would have been a link to USATODAY.com, especially that it is from Tuesday (last Tuesday).
This urban legend dates back to 1997, and the exact wording of the e-mail is at least three years old. I found the info through http://www.snopes.com/inboxer/nothing/microsoft-aol.asp, which is the website for urban legend directories.
Simon Maghakyan on 08 Apr 2007
The unholy campaign of parliamentarian elections has started on holy Easter in Armenia, writes OneWorld.am. It is said that the holy father of all Armenians – the catholicos – will be “blessing” one of the unholy political parties headed by an infamous oligarch.
Cartoon via echannel
So what happened to “Give unto Ceasar what is Ceasar’s, give unto God what is God’s”? Oh, I guess the Armenian pope can use the 1,706-year-old license of being the head of the first Christian nation and lose the line – if there has been any in the last five years – of mafia and church.
If you want to stress out and find the response of an ordinary Armenian, though, and if you read Armenian – check this short story out about Armenian elections.
Simon Maghakyan on 08 Apr 2007
If you think you have the best arguments to convince the U.S. Department of State that, for example, the war in Iraq is wrong or the Armenian genocide should be recognized by America, you may me correct. But policy is policy, and not even the best argument can bring any change in the Bush administration.
Click at this Hairenik video to see Rep. Schiff vs. Secretary Rice.
Simon Maghakyan on 05 Apr 2007
The South Carolina State Museum no longer needs tour guides, cell phones are in charge now. The Daily Gamecock reports that cell phones are replacing old tape players to tell the visitors about the Museum exhibits.
The museum launched an up-to-date and cheap method of “digital tourism” in March when it set up a telephone number visitors can call to get information about the latest exhibits.
Visitors can call the number anytime from anywhere; it’s not limited to the museum itself.
Currently, the cell phone “tour” is only available for one exhibit, the “Edmund Yaghjian: A Retrospective” collection. LINK
Simon Maghakyan on 02 Apr 2007
Although most Armenians don’t give gifts on Easter, here is a tip what to do if you are Armenian and want to give a gift for this year’s Zatik, or Easter in English. If you have nobody to give a gift too, Blogian is, as always, here to help.
I wrote last year about praying Armenian toys. After I ended getting one, I was convinced that this would be a wonderful religous gift. Although we were confused about our praying toy when we saw it the first time, now my Mom loves our hippo that cites a short cute prayer in western Armenian. It prays for parents with such a cute articulation that will give you chills. You can order it (and actually listen to the prayer) at http://hyemedznank.com/pages/animals.asp for $20.00. There are other gifts on that website too, but I think hippo is far the best.
Simon Maghakyan on 01 Apr 2007
Last Friday, March 23, 2007, when I was very sick after having returned from snowy Montreal, I decided to go to POW WOW in Denver with my Mom.
POW WOW is a Native American festival where hundreds of nations across America gather to dance, sing and get to know each other.
First time in my life I saw real America – the real beauty of America with her tortured children who were celebrating survival, their survival.
Glenn Morris, indigenous politics professor at the University of Colorado at Denver, told our class this past Thursday that when he was taken to a Native American reservation in Costa Rica in 1986, he felt embarrassed that he had been told in all his academic life (plus a law degree from Harvard) that there were no Native Americans in Costa Rica. His new friends in Costa Rica started to laugh when Prof. Morris made his confession. The Native Costa Ricans told him not to worry – they, too, thought there were no Indians left in America.
And perhaps most people in the world have no idea about festivals like POW WOW. Neither do most people who live in Colorado. Most of the audience were Native Americans themselves, who had traveled to see their brothers and sisters dance and sing. Where was white America? I guess in AMCs or other movie theaters to watch “300” in order to reaffirm their hatred for the Iranians, or the savage Persians.
But in POW WOW, I did not care about white America. I was in real America; I was with the real landlords of my apartment who were there to show me the beauty of survival; who were there to tell me that no matter what and no matter when, genocide survival is inevitable and will be celebrated one day.
My romanticized amazement for Native America was shared by the person I had went with – my Mom. She wanted to be photographed with every Native American she saw. For me it meant taking photographs every minute of my presence in POW WOW at the Denver Coliseum.
Surprisingly, she now wants me to post her photographs at Blogian. And since it is April 1 today, why not?
Well, I can’t post the rest of the 270 photographs; the internet is too slow…
But I have to post this one! This photo is from yesterday. My Mom had mask on her face and she reminded me of POW WOW. So I asked her where the Navajo souvenir arrow we bought at the festival was. When she brought it, I took this photo.
« Previous Page
|
|