Forgiveness and Exclusivity of Suffering

PRESS RELEASE

Fordham Psychology Associaiton
113 W 60th Street
New York, NY 10024
201 941-2266
E-mail: [email protected]

Round table on Forgiveness
10 AM – 12 noon
and
The Exclusivity of Suffering:
Psychological and Spiritual Perspectives of Genocide

Panel discussion
On
Saturday, May 15, 2004
113 W 60th Street (Corner of 9th Avenue) 12th Floor Faculty Dining Room
1pm – 4 pm

This panel promises to be a breakthrough on “The Exclusivity of Suffering.”
Our distinguished panelists, made up of acclaimed authors, academicians and
mental health professionals, will explore various histories, and the apparent
desire to create unique histories of suffering, its causes, and the impact it has
on victims, descendants and the greater communities in which we live.
During the last 50 years, the Holocaust has stood out as a reminding beacon
to remind us of the greatest crimes against humanity: Genocide. But it has
also over-shadowed, and often preempted, discussions and recognition of
co-victims of Nazi atrocities and all other genocides. The Genocide of the Armenians is
finally gaining recognition, but historian and advocates exclude mention of
the Genocide of the Pontic and other Asia Minor Greeks and Assyrians, the
co-victims of the same Genocide.
African Americans and Native Americans have had some of the longest histories
of both genocide and slavery, yet they have been, until recently, the least
heard. A manufactured hierarchy of suffering has been established that has left
those on the progressively lower rungs of this fabricated ladder struggling
for recognition of their own histories.
By accurately recording and acknowledging the history of each Genocide, we
have a greater chance of recognizing the signs and symptoms of an imminent
threat to human life. By being relieved of the struggle to be heard, scholars and
activists may actually have the energy and focus to fulfill the promise of “
Never again.”
Panelists:
Thea Halo, Author Not Even My Name: A true story of Genocide and survival, Ms
Halo will speak on the “The Pontic and Asia Minor Greeks and Assyrians: the
co-victims of the ‘Armenian Genocide.’”
Dr. Henry Huttenbach, Editor-in-Chief, Journal of Genocide Research, and
Professor of Russian and East European History, City College of New York City,
and will speak on: “When Genocide affirmation includes genocide denial.”
John L. Bolling, MD, adult and child psychiatrist, and author of The Heart of
Soul: An Afrocentric approach to Psychospiritual wholeness. Dr. Bolling will
speak on the first genocides of the 20th Century in Africa, and Black Slavery
as a form of genocide.
Dr. Anie Kalayjian, Author of Disaster & Mass Trauma, Adj. Prof. of
Psychology at Fordham University, Vice Chair of the UN DPI/NGO Executive Committee,
President, Armenian American Society for Studies on Stress & Genocide.
Marian Weisberg, Psychotherapist, Interviewer-Shoah Project. Video Survivor
Testimony.
Special guest: Ms. Zvart Joulhaian, Professional classical flutist

For information: Ms. Halo [email protected] or Dr. Kalayjian
[email protected]

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress