LESSONS FROM OUR BLOODY PAST
by Raffy Boudjikanian, [email protected]
West Island Chronicle
le-205107-Lessons-from-our-bloody-past.html
April 23 2008
Montreal, Canada
Over 230,000 refugees in Kosovo by the end of the 90s, over six million
deaths during the Holocaust in the Second World War, between 800,000
and one million in Rwanda in 1994, 1.3 to 1.4 million in North Korea as
of 1948, 1.5 million in Anatolian Turkey during the Armenian Genocide
started in 1915.
The piles of nameless victims of genocide and other crimes against
humanity in the 20th century can be despairing and discouraging
to think of, but Grade 10 students at Macdonald High School turned
a negative into a positive last Thursday, mounting a mini-genocide
museum for their leadership class after watching Shake Hands with the
Devil, a film version of Canadian General Roméo Dallaire’s memoirs
from his time with the United Nations during the Rwandan Genocide.
"Not enough people at our school know about (genocide)," said Nicole
Haulse, 15. She and her colleague Naomi Sarah Desjalais, 15, focused
on a little-known genocide for their display: the over 23 million
deaths committed by Joseph Stalin’s regime from 1932 to 1939 through
starvation tactics.
Both girls said they were shocked by the silence about this massive
crime against humanity, both at the time and several years later. "A
world-renowned reporter visited the Soviet Union and said: ‘all talk
of famine now is ridiculous,’" said Desjalais, referring to Pulitzer
Prize-winning Walter Duranty, who was duped by Soviet officials.
Natasha Gaudet, 15, focused on another lesser-known genocide for
her display, the deaths of about 1.4 million Koreans at the hands of
despotic general Kim Il-Sung, father of North Korea’s current general
Kim Jong-Il."Usually the people killed were either South Korean or
North Korean," said Gaudet. She said she had never even heard of
Il-Sung before she undertook her project.
Leadership class teacher Sean Jarvis said the idea to show Shake Hands
with the Devil came to him after spending the semester looking at
examples of leadership success. He decided it was important to show an
example of "leadership failure" to his class, and the lack of support
Dallaire received to avert the Rwandan Genocide in 1994 seemed to fit
the bill. The genocide awareness day project was born of that showing.
Jarvis said it is important for educators to include not only whatever
projects are already placed in the curriculum, but also expand it
by speaking of other subjects. "We are holding on to some of the
projects," he said.
The mini-museum was mounted for a single day at the Ste. Anne de
Bellevue high school, mostly consisting of large cardboard displays
with pictures and text of each genocide. Desjalais and Haulse’s display
on Stalin’s genocide was covered in scratchy red splashes of paint,
evoking the blood spilled in those days.
Proceeds from donations accepted during the day by other students
at the school visiting the museum will be donated to the Montreal
Institute for Genocide Studies (M.I.G.S.), a Concordia University-based
genocide history department. "That’s great news," said Prof. Frank
Chalk, outgoing head of M.I.G.S. Chalk said he has seen older classes
in Montreal-area high schools gradually begin to address genocide and
crimes against humanity in their courses lately. "The Toronto District
School Board is actually putting together a genocide curriculum,"
he said, suggesting local high schools would benefit from a similar
mandatory course.
Haulse, Gaudet, and Desjalais all agreed the genocide awareness project
was worth repeating in other classes. All three said they would be
more aware of crimes against humanity in the future and take action
if they could.
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From: Baghdasarian