Thursday, October 28, 2010

Germany: Museum Exhibit and Foreign Ministry

Two very interesting reports came out of Germany over the last week or two. The first of which is the new exhibit at the German Historical Museum in Berlin about Hitler. The report has been in numerous places, this link being from Time.com, while someone else gave me an article from the New York Times, and I think I first read about it on msnbc.com. The exhibit, which is only running until February, much to my chagrin because there is no possible way for me to go over by then, examines the conditions that enabled Hitler, rather than Hitler himself. As noted in the Time article, the exhibit looks at the German people and their desire for a savior to rescue them from the desperate economic conditions and the politically unstable environment that was the Weimar Republic at the time.These forces combined to convince people that Hitler was the right leader for the country and the only person who could pull them out of their doldrums.

The second interesting finding reported on was how the German Foreign Ministry, once thought to be resistant to the Nazi regime, was indeed working in collaboration with the regime. The article discusses how the Foreign Ministry was never fully investigated until 2005, when the process was put in place to look into what roll the institution played in the Holocaust. The findings show cooperation with the Nazi genocide throughout, with evidence that some 573 of the ministry's 700 top officials had ties to the Nazi party. The article closes out by stating that Germany may make the final report, over 800 pages, required reading by all incoming German diplomats. One has to wonder what other secrets have not yet been discovered throughout Germany's government institutions as relates to the Holocaust and the plans to overtake all of Europe 6+ decades ago.

Thursday, October 21, 2010

Global Post: France and Roma

I stumbled upon the below video that's about 3 weeks old on GlobalPost.com. The reporter gets into the Roma 'deportations' from France and covers much of the same ground the articles written by other reporters have covered. The difference here is the coverage straight from Roma living quarters, where one can see the absolute squalor that these people face everyday.

Sunday, October 17, 2010

South Sudan Recent Photos

A representative from the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum recently took a trip to Sudan to look into South Sudan and its January 2011 referendum for independence from the north. As noted in the caption under the first photo, the 2005 Comprehensive Peace Agreement that ended the two decade long civil war between the north and south stipulates that the vote on independence be held. The pictures here were taken in the last month or so.
All eyes will be on Sudan in early January to see how the vote turns out and most importantly, to see to what extent violence will break out leading up to and following the referendum.

Thursday, October 14, 2010

The DRC and human rights violations

The Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights recently published their findings from the work they've been doing in the DRC. After the discovery of mass graves found in 2005, a formal effort was put forth to determine to what extent atrocities were committed. In this case, the study covers 1993-2003, with their findings found here.

The Office also published recommendations to the Congolese government to pursue several mechanisms that make up the transitional justice framework, an exciting field that empowers societies to find peace and reconciliation in relation to a legacy of abuses and human rights violations. The recommendations can be read in this document and suggests that the DRC pursue prosecutions, truth-telling, reparations for victims and institutional reforms.

The Office also reported on neighboring countries and estimates that some eight national armies and twenty-one irregular armed groups took part in conflict during the 10 year period of study. Much of this was triggered by the influx of 1.2 million Hutu refugees from Rwanda following the 1994 genocide. Widespread attacks against Hutu occurred, with what looks like genocidal intent. The report goes on to say that countries such as Rwanda should be held responsible for human rights violations committed by their army.

Each country named has provided a written rebuttal, with Rwanda stating that the findings are "unacceptable", and claiming that the Office is "rewriting history". It's a 30 page document and worth a read. It was also read elsewhere on the internet that Kagame threatened to pull Rwandan troops out of Sudan if the report was released. I cannot find that source through googling, but its clear from the rebuttal that Kagame's government is not ready to assume any responsibility for what happened in the DRC in the mid 1990s.