Armenian National Committee of Massachusetts
47 Nichols Avenue
Watertown MA 02472
617-926-1918
anc.ma@anca.org
March 5, 2009
Contact: 617-347-2833
ANC Alerts Hampshire College to its association with Genocide denier
Decries Anti-Defamation League’s invitation to ensure campus tolerance
Watertown, MA – The Armenian National Committee of Massachusetts has alerted
Hampshire College President Ralph Hexter that the school’s relationship with
the Anti-Defamation League would associate Hampshire with genocide denial.
The invitation to the ADL to visit the campus `to ensure that all students
feel welcome and safe’ follows reports, disputed by college officials, that
Hampshire College had divested in companies that profit from Israel’s
occupation of Palestine.
`The Anti-Defamation League is an organization that actively engages
in genocide denial, which is the highest form of hate speech and the
final stage of genocide,’ wrote the ANC MA. `Hampshire College’s
inclusion of the ADL in campus discussions on tolerance is an affront
to all those fighting for genocide prevention and human rights.’
The ANC MA pointed out that as recently as last month ADL National director
Abraham Foxman told The New York Times that the `ADL will continue to oppose
a Congressional resolution on the Armenian Genocide because `there’s too
much at stake in the [Israeli-Turkish] relationship.”
`It is highly hypocritical for the ADL to present itself as an organization
that secures the rights of all people while it actively perpetrates the
worst form of hatred against Armenians,’ the ANC MA declared. `The
Anti-Defamation League is most assuredly not the group upon which Hampshire
College should call to ensure an atmosphere of respect and safety for
allmembers of its community.’
`Hampshire College, widely known for its progressive values and mandate,
must not sanction the ADL’s unethical actions by allowing it to define the
terms of tolerance. By partnering with the ADL, Hampshire College will
become indelibly associated with genocide denial,’ the letter concluded.
Background
The Anti Defamation League (ADL) has for many years refused to acknowledge
as genocide the systematic massacre of 1.5 million Armenians between 1915
and 1923 and has actively engaged in efforts to oppose Congressional
affirmation of the Armenian Genocide.
Only after intense pressure that started in Watertown, Massachusetts during
the summer of 2007 did the national ADL issue its `Statement on the Armenian
Genocide,’ which implies that the Armenian Genocide was an unintentional
`consequence’ of World War I conditions.
Additionally, the ADL remains on the record opposing Armenian Genocide
legislation, arguing that short term geopolitical considerations related to
Turkish-Israeli relations should take precedence over the moral imperative
of condemning genocide whenever and wherever it occurs.
The controversy erupted on July 6, 2007, when the Watertown Tab published a
letter that spotlighted ADL national director Abe Foxman’s statements
opposing Congressional Armenian Genocide legislation. The letter asked the
local "No Place For Hate" chapter to disassociate itself from the ADL. NPFH
is a national trademark of the national ADL.
The situation intensified in an explosive August 1 front page Boston
Globearticle in which the Armenian National Committee condemned
Foxman’s genocide denial and stated that the ANC would "call for the
Watertown ‘No Place for Hate’ program to sever its ties with the ADL
unless the ADL denounces Foxman’s position and acknowledges the
genocide."
Watertown became the first town to end its relationship with the No Place
for Hate program by a unanimous vote of the Town Council; this set the stage
for numerous other public meetings in communities throughout Massachusetts,
where the issue was brought to the attention of human rights commissions and
town and city councils.
Twelve other Massachusetts municipalities – Belmont, Newton, Arlington,
Northampton, Bedford, Lexington, Westwood, Medford, Needham, Newburyport,
Somerville, and Peabody – followed Watertown’s lead and withdrew from NPFH.
Additionally, the Massachusetts Municipal Association ended its
co-sponsorship of the program, declaring, `The Board believes that
unequivocal recognition of the Armenian Genocide is both a matter of basic
justice to its victims as well as essential to efforts to prevent future
genocides . . . it is imperative to speak with absolute clarity on
genocide.’
For complete information about the ADL controversy surrounding the Armenian
Genocide visit
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Text of March 4 ANC of Massachusetts Letter to Hampshire College
March 4, 2009
Ralph Hexter, President
Hampshire College
893 West Street
Amherst MA 01002
Dear Mr. Hexter,
We are appalled to note that Hampshire College has invited officials from
the Anti-Defamation League `to visit the campus, in order to work together
to ensure that all students feel welcome and safe on campus,’ according to
the `Statement from Anti-Defamation League’ posted on your website.
The Anti-Defamation League is an organization that actively engages in
genocide denial, which is the highest form of hate speech and the final
stage of genocide. Hampshire College’s inclusion of the ADL in campus
discussions on tolerance is an affront to all those fighting for genocide
prevention and human rights.
The ADL does not possess the moral authority to lecture anyone on tolerance,
having abandoned its mission `to secure justice and fair treatment to all’
by lobbying for the Turkish government against recognition of the Armenian
Genocide.
By choosing to prioritize narrow geopolitical interests – Israel’s
military/strategic alliance with Turkey – over universal human rights, the
ADL simply has no credibility in the area of human and civil rights.
On February 5, 2009, ADL National Director Abraham Foxman told The New York
Times that the ADL will continue to oppose a Congressional resolution on the
Armenian Genocide because `there’s too much at stake in the
[Israeli-Turkish] relationship.’
And according to the February 4, 2009, issue of The Forward, `The strong
Jewish opposition to Congressional recognition of the Armenian genocide has
been waning, but some Jewish groups, led by the Anti-Defamation League, are
actively opposing any move in Congress. `Right now we have no intention of
changing our position from last year,’ said Jess Hordes, who heads the ADL’s
Washington office.’
This ADL support for the denialist Turkish government is abhorrent,
particularly for an organization that vigorously combats Holocaust
denial. Israel Charny, executive director of the Institute on the
Holocaust and Genocide in Jerusalem, explains the destructiveness of
genocide denial: `Denials of known events of genocide must be treated as
acts of bitter and malevolent psychological aggression, certainly against
the victims, but really against all of human society, for such denials
literally celebrate genocidal violence and in the process suggestively
calls for renewed massacres – of the same people or of others. Such
denials also madden, insult and humiliate the survivors, the relatives of
the dead, and the entire people of the victims.’
It is highly hypocritical for the ADL to present itself as an organization
that secures the rights of all people while it actively perpetrates the
worst form of hatred against Armenians. The Anti-Defamation League is most
assuredly not the group upon which Hampshire College should call to ensure
an atmosphere of respect and safety for all members of its community.
Perhaps you are unaware that the ADL refuses to unequivocally acknowledge as
genocide the massacres by the Turkish government of 1.5 million Armenians
between 1915 and 1923 and that it actively engages in genocide denial by
lobbying for Turkey to prevent passage of a United States Congressional
resolution affirming the Armenian Genocide.
Additionally, the ADL has repeatedly endorsed Turkey’s call for an
investigation of the genocide, a standard tactic employed by genocide
deniers to raise doubts about settled history; the International Association
of Genocide Scholars (IAGS) has condemned this proposal by writing that it
`would only serve the interests of Turkish genocide deniers . . . there is
no more `other side’ to the truth about the Armenian genocide than there is
about the Holocaust.’
Due to the ADL’s unethical position on the Armenian Genocide, thirteen
Massachusetts communities, including Northampton, withdrew from the ADL’s No
Place for Hate program in 2007 and 2008.
In its September 28, 2007 letter to Abraham Foxman informing the ADL of its
unanimous decision to withdraw from NPFH, the Northampton Human Rights
Commission wrote, `We cannot in conscience continue a relationship with an
organization that claims to stand for full accountability for genocide, yet
stops short of endorsing a Congressional resolution acknowledging the
Armenian Genocide. We cannot endorse selective recognition of hate by an
organization that claims leadership in creating a world where there is no
place for hate . . . Acknowledging the truth about the Armenian genocide not
only has an impact on survivors and their families, it also has an impact on
our ability to address other acts of hate.’
On April 8, 2008, the Massachusetts Municipal Association ended its
sponsorship of NPFH, declaring, `The Board believes that unequivocal
recognition of the Armenian Genocide is both a matter of basic justice to
its victims as well as essential to efforts to prevent future genocides . .
. The inconsistency between the National ADL’s position on the Armenian
Genocide and the human rights principles underlying NPFH is a matter of
great concern to MMA Board members and the municipalities they represent …
it is imperative to speak with absolute clarity on genocide.’
Human rights advocates, both here and abroad, have condemned the ADL’s
position on the Armenian Genocide; the media is replete with articles
denouncing its stance (please see attachments). In January, Eric Alterman
wrote in The Nation: `Foxman’s moral compass has gotten so twisted, he has
the ADL working to undermine Congressional resolutions condemning genocide –
specifically, that committed by Turks against the Armenians . . . In light
of the desire of so many anti-Semites to treat the Holocaust in a similar
fashion, Foxman’s position strikes this Jew at least as one too many ironies
to be tolerated.’
Genocide denial is not merely reprehensible, it is dangerous. According to
the IAGS, `The single best predictor of future genocide is denial of a past
genocide coupled with impunity for its perpetrators.’
Over twenty-five Armenian political, cultural, religious, athletic, youth,
media, and social welfare organizations in Massachusetts have united to
combat the ADL’s denial of the Armenian Genocide. For additional
information on this movement, please see noplacefordenial.com.
Hampshire College, widely known for its progressive values and mandate, must
not sanction the ADL’s unethical actions by allowing it to define the terms
of tolerance. By partnering with the ADL, Hampshire College will become
indelibly associated with genocide denial.
Sincerely,
Sharistan Melkonian
Chairperson
Enclosures
A History of Lobbying Against Recognition of the Armenian Genocide
Statements by Human Rights Organizations
Statemens by Jewish Americans
Open Letter to the Massachusetts Municipal Association
Rattling the Cage: Jews of power, Jews of Truth