Deborah Lipstadt, of History on Trial, posted an entry to clean up the reports going around that the U.K. has dropped Holocaust Education from their curriculum. I don’t believe I implied that in my recent post, but just to clarify my statements along with Lipstadt’s post, it’s the teachers who are avoiding the topic, it’s not an educationally mandated curriculum shift.
Tragic Hero?
As a librarian, I collect books without prejudice. It’s practically a part of our code of ethics. After all, how can you discuss and research Holocaust deniers (and the like) if you don’t have the original text? Not to mention, there are any number of subtopics on any given subject that eventually wind up shifting to the forefront of scholarly research. Who’s to say that academics won’t turn their attention to the Congo in the coming months? Or to Timor?
Nonetheless, I was a little disturbed by a recent book entitled Ratko Mladic: Tragic Hero. I agree that every story has any number of sides and, academically speaking, you have to examine them all before you make a decision. Yet, I have to admit I nearly choked on my coffee when I read the title of this book. Even if you’re going to argue that Mladic wasn’t responsible for the Srebrenica massacre, it’s hard to understand how you could formulate an argument for him being a “tragic hero.”
As a librarian, it’s certainly going to find its way into my purchase queue. But Yelesiyevich (the author) would have to pull off a phenomenally Herculean feat in order to convince me that Mladic was heroic.
RIP Kurt
“I have wanted to give Iraq a lesson in democracy—because we’re experienced with it, you know. And, in democracy, after a hundred years, you have to let your slaves go. And, after a hundred and fifty years, you have to let your women vote. And, at the beginning of democracy, is that quite a bit of genocide and ethnic cleansing is quite okay. And that’s what’s going on now.”
— Kurt Vonnegut
Run for Darfur
If you live in the Richmond (VA) area, you may be interested in participating in the Run for Darfur (to benefit Save Darfur).
Richmond’s Run for Darfur is a 5k race on Memorial Day, May 28th, 2007. There will also be a 1k children’s race at 9am. The Jewish Community Center will open its facilities to the public and there will be a movie screening and other indoor activities. This event is being planned by Michael Wilson and Peyton Thompson, both juniors in college who have a great interest in bringing an end to the genocide in Darfur. They are working alongside the Richmond Roadrunner Association. All the proceeds from this run will go directly to Save Darfur. Please register online at www.runriderace.com. We look forward to seeing you on race day!
You can find more information and sign up to participate at Save Darfur.
Chad and Sudan clash
It’s been reported for months that the Janjaweed continue to hound and pursue the civilian population of Darfur, but yesterday the Sudanese forces were abruptly confronted by angered Chadian forces. With Libya supplying arms and material to militias in Sudan (for cross-border attacks into Chad) and Sudan supplying arms to rebels inside Chad (particularly the Chad National Concord), it’s not surprising that tensions have continued to grow in the wake of the crisis in Darfur.
Chad’s government accused Sudan’s government-backed Janjaweed militia of involvement in those attacks, but that could not be confirmed.
Chad and Sudan blame each other for supporting rebels in their respective countries. Both have refused the deployment of a UN-mandated force to patrol their border.
“Sudan has not abandoned its sinister project of destabilising Chad,” the government said Monday, calling on the population “to rally more than ever behind the defence and security forces to preserve their democratic gains, and guarantee sovereignty and territorial integrity.”
The government statement added that N’Djamena “expects the international community to condemn unequivocally this aggression against Chad from inside Sudan and take appropriate measures to force the Sudanese government to abandon its expansionist and destabilising aims in Chad.”
Both of the countries are currently apologizing for the clash, even while they continue to blame each other for fueling internal violence in their respective nations.