ananian:
During the 1890s to 1920s, Turkey massacred 50-75% of the Armenian population for spreading ideas about civil rights. This spurred the first international human rights movement and the creation of the American Red Cross to embark on its first mission to aid Armenian survivors of massacres in 1896. In 1915, The NYTimes wrote 145 articles on the Armenian Genocide. Theodore Roosevelt called it “the greatest crime of WWI” and advocated US intervention to save the Armenians.
Although the public’s disapproval of these atrocities increased, the punishments for these crimes grew weaker. In 1921, the Turkish trials were abandoned while war crime prisoners were traded and freed. The US needed Turkey as an ally because it was the core to our oil policy in the Middle East. In regard to America’s sudden withdrawal from saving the Armenians, Mississippi Senator Pat Harrison said, “Show this administration an oil well and it will show you a foreign policy”. The historian Terrence Des Pres reverberated, “What does it mean when a client-state like Turkey can persuade a super power like the United States to abandon its earlier stance toward the genocide of 1915?” Still, even in 2010, resolutions to acknowledge this genocide have been tabled. Baroness Caroline Cox of British Parliament responded, “If nations are allowed to commit genocide with impunity… there is a real danger that other brutal regimes will be encouraged to attempt genocides. Unless we speak today of the Armenian genocide… we shall leave this century of unprecedented genocides with this blot on our consciences.” The Armenian Genocide is looked at as an archetype for the genocides that ensued. While ordering his military commanders of the invasion of Poland before WWII, Adolph Hitler remarked with indifference stating, “Who, after all, speaks today of the annihilation of the Armenians?”
As you read this, thousands of Libyans are being massacred for attempting to overthrow their dictator in the hope for democracy that has been spreading across the Middle East. The oppressive government has disconnected the people’s internet and thrown out the media in attempts to permanently silence the movement for change. Through courageous acts of protestors, social media has exposed the atrocities in Libya. A twitter activist @changeinLibya in Tripoli published, “LIBYANS ARE BEING MASSACRED RIGHT NOW. LISTEN TO THE NEWS. HELP US PLEASE HELP US. TRIPOLI HAS 1000S OF DEATHS FOR GODS SAKE WORLD WAKE UP”. Nobel Peace Prize recipient Barack Obama finally acknowledged the violence Wednesday night, while major news outlets allow Justin Bieber’s haircut and Carmelo Anthony’s trade overshadow the selfish complaints of increasing oil prices as a result of the protests.
Friends, Gamecock family, and fellow human beings, we cannot let the Libyan voices be silenced and forgotten like the Armenians. History does not have to continue to repeat itself. We can’t save every life, but we can spread awareness. Look beyond the triviality of your problems and help our generation change the world for the better.
THIS IS WHO I REALLY AM (come break me down)
