Blabbermouth.net, NY
Sept 23 2005
SYSTEM OF A DOWN To Rally In Front of House Speaker DENNIS HASTERT’s
Office – Sep. 24, 2005
SYSTEM OF A DOWN, one of rock’s most daring and innovative bands,
have just announced that they – along with their fans, the Armenian
National Committee of America, Axis of Justice and the Armenian Youth
Federation – will visit the Batavia office of Rep. Dennis Hastert on
Tuesday, September 27 at noon to ask Speaker Hastert to “do the right
thing” and keep his commitment to hold a vote on the pending Armenian
genocide legislation. If passed, the legislation will officially
recognize Turkey’s destruction of 1.5 million Armenians between 1915
and 1923. The band have invited their fans to join with them in this
effort by attending the rally and have set up a system by which fans
can directly email Speaker Hastert on the issue.
SYSTEM OF A DOWN’s four band members – Serj Tankian, Daron Malakian,
Shavo Odadjian and John Dolmayan – are of Armenian descent and have
made awareness of the genocide, and genocide around the world, a
central message of the band. All have lost family members to the
Armenian genocide.
On September 15, the House International Relations Committee
overwhelmingly approved legislation recognizing the Armenian
genocide, despite objections from both Turkey and the Bush
administration. Despite his previous public support for the measure
in 2000, Speaker Hastert has twice prevented the Armenian Genocide
legislation from coming to a full vote in the House. Today the fate
of this human rights issue rests in the Speaker’s hands. He has two
choices: either allow a vote on the Armenian genocide resolution,
giving the 435 members of the U.S. House a chance to cast their
ballots on this human rights measure or, delay, defer, and ultimately
defeat the Armenian genocide resolution by refusing to bring the
measure to a vote of the full U.S. House. The rally is in support of
a fair and full vote in the House of Representatives, ending U.S.
denial of this crime and opening the doors to justice – to the
restoration, reparation, and restitution owed to the victims of
genocide.
“Dennis, do the right thing,” stated Serj Tankian. `I just visited my
97-year-old grandfather, my only link to the far past, and promised
him that I would go and try to talk to Dennis Hastert, Speaker of the
House, and make sure that he takes this opportunity to bring up the
Armenian genocide resolution to the floor of the House of
Representatives. This is a personal issue to me and SYSTEM.”
The SYSTEM OF A DOWN/ANCA rally will take place at the offices of
Rep. Dennis Hastert – 27 North River Street, Batavia, Illinois (about
an hour from downtown Chicago). The rally is scheduled for 12
noon-2:00 p.m. on Tuesday, September 27. The Armenian community,
activists, and the band’s fans from across the greater Chicago area
are expected to attend the rally.