What is genocide?

PJS150-03Dr. Laura GrahamTufts University

“A crime that has no name”

'Geno' = tribe/race 'cide' = killing

“By genocide, we mean the [intentional] destruction of a nation or of an ethnic group”(79).

“Genocide is directed against the national group as an entity, and the actions involved are directed against individuals, not in their individual capacity, but as members of the national group”(79).

Two Phases

Genocide has two phases:

• “destruction of the national pattern of the oppressed group” (79)

• “the imposition of the national pattern of the oppressor”(79).

Techniques of Genocide

• Political: cessation of self-government; replaced by administration of oppressor.

• Social: attacks the intelligentsia.• Cultural: bans native language, culture, freedom of

expression.• Economic: shift resources from the occupied to the occupier.• Biological: decrease birth rate of occupied.• Physical: food rationing; mass killing.• Religious: disrupt national/religious influence.• Moral: weaken the spiritual resistance of oppressed.

Cultural Genocide

Lemkin advocated for the inclusion of "cultural genocide" in the UNCG:

"If the culture of a group is violently undermined, the group itself disintegrates and its members must either become absorbed into other cultures which is a wasteful and painful process or succumb to personal disorganization and physical destruction [...][Therefore] the destruction of cultural symbols is genocide." (Lemkin)

Why did “cultural genocide” not make it into the UN Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of Genocide?

Academic definitions

Genocide is..."sustained, purposeful action by a perpetrator to physically destroy a collectivity directly or indirectly, through interdiction of the biological and social reproduction of group members, sustained regardless of the surrender or lack of threat offered by the victim" (Helen Fein, 1993, p.24).

Genocide occurs when..."a government or some group acts to eliminate a whole group of people, whether by directly killing them or by creating conditions that lead to their death or inability to reproduce" (Ervin Staub, 2011, p.100).

UN Genocide Convention Article 2

Genocide means any of the following acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group, as such:

(a) Killing members of the group;(b) Causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group;(c) Deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life

calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part; (d) Imposing measures intended to prevent births within the

group; (e) Forcibly transferring children of the group to another group.

UN Genocide Convention Article 3

Article III: The following acts shall be punishable:(a) Genocide;(b) Conspiracy to commit genocide;(c) Direct and public incitement to commit

genocide;(d) Attempt to commit genocide;(e) Complicity in genocide.

Mass Murder

Mass murder is..."the killing (or in other ways destroying) members of a group without the intention to eliminate the whole group, or killing large numbers of people [...] without the focus necessarily on group membership" (Staub, 1989, p.8; 2012, p.35).

Genocide vs. Democide

Key components of genocide: • Intent and Purposeful Action against an

Indelible Group.• No restriction on number killed.Democide is "any intentional government murder of unarmed and helpless people for whatever reason" (Rummel, 2002).• Applies to non-indelible groups.

Discussion Questions

• Does UNGC adequately define genocide? What are some strengths and deficiencies?

• Why do you think cultural genocide was excluded from the final UNGC?

• How do academic definitions of genocide compare to the UNGC definition?

• What is the benefit of having a formally recognized term “genocide” for the prevention and punishment of mass murder and other acts equating to the destruction of an indelible group?

References

• Lemkin, R. (1944) Axis Rule in Occupied Europe Chapter 9 “Genocide”.

• UN Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of Genocide.

• Moses, D. (2010) Oxford Handbook of Genocide Studies Chapter 1 “Raphael Lemkin, Culture, and the Concept of Genocide”.

Group Activity

• Discuss with your classmates the potential genocide case studies that could be used for oral presentations.

• Form groups of 2-3 and begin discussing/researching your case study.

• Compile an indicative bibliography for your case study with 3-5 references and email to laura.graham@tufts.edu

• Be prepared by the end of activity to identify your case study and your group members.

Homework

• Begin working on essay 1 (due Fri 2/13)

• Read Oxford Handbook Chapters 4 & 6 (available in Tisch library reserves).

• Read Bloxham article on Trunk.

• Begin reading Arendt’s Eichmann in Jerusalem (available in Tisch library reserves).