ChronicleHerald.ca, Canada
May 6 2007

Bullying expert tackles genocide

By PETER MCKENNA
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According to Barbara Coloroso’s new book, Extraordinary Evil,
genocide and mass murder have accounted for the cruel deaths of an
estimated 60 million people in the 20th century alone. In her view,
there is nothing ordinary or natural about genocide; in fact, it
rises to the level of extraordinary evil and unconscionable horror.

As an accomplished parenting expert, lecturer and best-selling
author, Coloroso sets the scene for the reader by noting that the
Genocide Memorial Museum in Kigali, Rwanda contains a list of various
genocides and their human toll ("the mathematics of genocide," if you
will) – along with a hastily scribbled reference to Darfur, Sudan of
200,000 (and still counting).

But it was not so much the gruesome death tallies that really shocked
her consciousness during her visit to the museum. "It was the
individual pictures and stories surrounding it that made real the
horror behind the statistics," she writes poignantly.

Her overarching goals for the book are clear: to examine the causes
and consequences of genocide (using the examples of Armenia, Rwanda
and the Holocaust); to come to terms with what makes ordinary people
capable of murderously butchering innocent children; to delve into
those individuals who strive mightily to come to the defence of
genocide victims; and, lastly, to put forth a means of (or set of
conditions for) eradicating such evil from the face of the earth.

In defining this concept of genocide, Coloroso rightly credits the
instrumental efforts of lawyer, Raphael Lemkin, who worked tirelessly
to have the 1948 UN Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of
the Crime of Genocide adopted. Genocide has heretofore been defined
as "acts committed with intention to destroy in whole or in part, a
national, ethnical, racial or religious group . . ."

Her examination of the three genocide cases lead her to conclude that
they not only share connecting threads and striking parallels but
that each genocide appeared to have set the stage for the next one.
One of those threads is the typical masking of genocide under the
cover of war, civil strife and ethnic hatred – which conveniently
provides the international community with a ready-made excuse for not
intervening in these human catastrophes.

But as Coloroso herself explains: "Viewing genocide as a dispute to
be resolved, a rift to be healed, or even as an armed conflict is to
dishonour those who were gassed, hacked with machetes, burned and
butchered by ordinary people systematically and methodically
committing acts of extraordinary evil."

More controversially, she argues that genocide can be reduced to
something akin to schoolyard bullying in its most extreme form. And
she adds that the calling cards of those who engage in acts of
genocide – a deep-seated hatred, a vicious contempt for others, and a
proclivity to devalue other human beings – can be equated to what she
characterizes as physical, verbal and relational bullying.

While she acknowledges that there are resisters and defenders of
those being persecuted and exterminated and that their stories must
be told, she is convinced that there is no such thing as an innocent
bystander when it comes to genocide. In her words: "They are the
supporting cast who aid and abet the bullies through acts of
commission and omission."

Using the novel idea of a "Bully Circle" to shed some light on the
various roles of individuals, governments, organizations and
communities in the commission of genocide, Coloroso stresses the
value of placing each on the circle and listening to their cathartic
stories.

Accordingly, there is a sprinkling of gruesome and heart-rending
accounts from eyewitness testimony involving the crimes perpetrated
in Poland, Armenia and Rwanda.

And as if the world needed to be reminded once again, she emphasizes
that "the genocide in Darfur is not just beginning its rehearsals, it
is nearing its closing act."

In her concluding chapter, Coloroso highlights the need for
communities to be restored and for any notions of us and them and I
and it to be banished from peoples’ minds. And genocide victims, she
goes on to write, must find a way to gradually let go of the
internalized poison of hate and revenge if they are to heal
themselves.

As for the seemingly intractable issue of preventing genocide from
happening in the future, she offers suggestions on studying the
actions of those who perpetrated and resisted these crimes. Coloroso
is also interested in learning valuable insights from the conditions
under which people are transformed from ordinary citizens to those
who are capable of committing extraordinary evil.

Additionally, there is a need to create conditions in communities
(and the entire community of nation-states) "that will strengthen
inhibitions against such violence and nurture those bonds that
connect us, one to another." Forestalling genocide, argues Coloroso,
will require locating a balance between our individual uniqueness and
common human bonds; or what she describes as creating communities of
caring.

While Extraordinary Evil is an engaging, and sometimes moving, read,
it is not without its shortcomings.

One glaring weakness is the lack of solid political analysis and
in-depth explanation. Coloroso, for instance, points out that the
clarion call of "Never Again" has been reduced to little more than a
hollow public relations slogan. Fair enough.

But she doesn’t explain how and why this came to be. Nor does she
tell us why ordinary citizens – let alone state governments – are not
emotionally seized by the human tragedy of genocide.

Lastly, she argues that bullies are only a short walk to becoming
mindless genocidaires. Bully-boys may very well have a proclivity
toward perpetrating acts of genocide but it’s hard to fathom a direct
and verifiable correlation between the two. Surely any one of us –
who are not bullies and who have never been targeted by one – is
capable of partaking in mass slaughter.

But Coloroso hits the mark when she argues that we all need to stand
up to acts of genocide and mass murder if we want them to ever end.

"When individuals, families, communities, and nations stand up to it,
leaders will no longer find support for the complicity that enables
it," she writes.

Alas, the decimated people of Darfur, she reminds us repeatedly, are
still waiting.

Peter McKenna is a political science professor at UPEI in
Charlottetown.

Extraordinary Evil: A Brief History
of Genocide
by Barbara Coloroso
(Viking Canada, 240 pages, $30)

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From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress