Oregon Daily Emerald, OR
May 9 2005
Activist recalls losses to genocide
Feminist writer Margaret Randall discussed the effects of the Cold
War on other countries and the impact of hatred and violence on
societies
Emily Smith
News Reporter
May 09, 2005
Author, activist, feminist and poet Margaret Randall spoke Friday
evening about genocide, failed activism efforts and continuous social
inequalities in Central America over the past century.
Her lecture, “We Don’t Mean You … Well Yes We Do,” took place in
the EMU Ballroom and was part of a three-day symposium about Central
America during the Cold War. It honored the late Bishop Oscar Romero
and Ben Linder, an activist from Portland who was killed in
Nicaragua, said Cultural Forum Contemporary Lecture Coordinator
Alicia Parter.
“Margaret Randall has lived incredible experiences in Latin America,
Mexico, Cuba and Nicaragua,” University Spanish instructor Bryan
Moore said. He added that she lived in these places during unique
historical moments, which enables her to “provide reflection and
insight.” He said she has published works of some of the greatest
Latin American authors and has written about 80 books.
“Fifty years ago the modern Cold War manifested itself in Central
America with the CIA overthrow of the democratically elected
government in Guatemala, which led to nothing less than decades-long
genocide and murder,” Moore said during his introduction.
After Randall took the stage she spoke about the social
responsibility people should feel for those less fortunate.
“If one of us is made invisible, or ignored, or abused, or enslaved,
no one is free,” she said. The title of her speech reflects a famous
quote uttered by a Lutheran minister after he narrowly escaped death
at a concentration camp. She shared the quote with her audience:
“First they came for the communists and I didn’t speak up because I
wasn’t a communist. Then they came for the Jews and I didn’t speak up
because I wasn’t a Jew. Then they came for the Catholics and I didn’t
speak up because I was a Protestant. Then they came for me, and by
that time, there was no one left to speak up.”
Randall then listed numerous genocides throughout history, including
the 1915-16 Armenian genocide that killed 1.5 million people, the
Nazi Holocaust that ended with more than six million dead and the
genocide in Cambodia led by the Khmer Rouge that resulted in two
million deaths. She also mentioned the Iraqi attack on the Kurds in
1987-88 and criticized the U.S. government for continuing to sell
wheat and rice and send aid to the country until 1991, when the
United States’ interests changed.
Randall said the United States “labeled Saddam a terrorist, invaded
his country, toppled his government and made him a prisoner, leaving
chaos and death where there had been a secular government amidst a
fundamentalist regime, a society with excellent public education and
health, and a position of women that was progressive for the Middle
East.” She added that there is solid evidence the CIA has been
directly involved in torture sessions from Central America to the
Middle East.
Randall said it is her belief that all groups of people must be
included in the struggle for a just society, and if they are not, it
paves the way for the marginalization that makes genocide possible.
“Muslims, whose history is ripe with oppression and marginalization,
are today engaged in some of the worst acts of violence against
others,” Randall said. “Genocide is happening now in Sudan.”
Randall also claims that domestic violence against women and children
by someone more powerful is directly related to the “invasion or
occupation of a small country by someone more powerful.”
She said three things can be learned from the failures of 20th
century revolutionists: Everyone counts, social inequities are
reflected in the home, community and world, and future activists must
find ways to ensure that power is distributed among all people and
exercised fairly.
“When (democracy) becomes nothing more than majority rule and that
majority turns out to be a powerful minority, then an analysis of
representation may be overdue,” Randall said. With hatred of “the
other” becoming a virtue in the United States, Randall said people
should “hold onto and teach values of true honesty, thoughtfulness,
intellectual curiosity, fairness, inclusion, respect and solidarity.”