Ultranationalism and Crimes Against Humanity

“Now I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds” -J. Robert Oppenheimer American Atomic Bomb Project After Hiroshima,1945

 Genocide  Crimes against humanity  War crimes  Holocaust  Ethnic cleansing

Images of Crimes Against Humanity

 What do you feel when you look at the photograph of the destruction of Hiroshima?  Invade Japan or drop the atomic bombs? Were these the only alternatives available to American leaders? Was there another way World War II could have been ended quickly?  Was dropping the atomic bombs an appropriate response to Japanese ultranationalism?  Was dropping the atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki an act of ultranationalism?

 Genocide refers to the killing of members of a national, ethnic, racial, or religious group; causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group; and deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction.  Crimes against humanity refers to widespread or systematic attacks against a civilian population — murder, extermination, enslavement, deportation, imprisonment, torture, rape or sexual slavery, enforced disappearance of persons, and the crime of apartheid.  War crimes refers to wilful killing, torture, or inhuman treatment; wilfully causing great suffering; and intentionally directing attacks against the civilian population or against those who are involved in a humanitarian or peacekeeping mission.

 December of 1937, the Japanese Imperial Army marched into China's capital city of Nanking and proceeded to murder 300,000 out of 600,000 civilians and soldiers in the city.

 After just four days of fighting, Japanese troops smashed into the city on December 13, 1937, with orders issued to "kill all captives.“  The elimination of the Chinese POWs  conducted bayonet practice on live prisoners  decapitated them  mowed down by machine-gun fire  soaked with gasoline and burned alive.

 Old women over the age of 70 as well as little girls under the age of 8 were dragged off to be sexually abused.  More than 20,000 females (with some estimates as high as 80,000) were gang-raped by Japanese soldiers, then killed  Pregnant women were not spared.  The Comfort Women system was introduced which forced young Chinese women to become slave- prostitutes, existing solely for the sexual pleasure of Japanese soldiers.

 Throughout the city of Nanking, random acts of murder occurred.  Citywide burnings, stabbings, drownings, strangulations, rapes, thefts, and massive property destruction - continued for about six weeks, from mid-December 1937 through the beginning of February 1938.

 20 Americans and Europeans remaining in the city, composed of missionaries, doctors and businessmen, took it upon themselves to establish an International Safety Zone.  Using Red Cross flags, they brazenly declared a 2.5 square-mile area in the middle of the city off limits to the Japanese.

The Rwandan Genocide Begins

 Passionate and extreme senses of nation, leadership can lead to one group committing crimes against another  Identification of conflict between the “national interest” and a group of people Nationalism ultranationalism racism violence crimes against humanity

 Segregation  Bigotry and racism  Promotion of fear and hatred  Blamed for ills of society  Erosion of culture and rights  Forced migration/Refugees  Dehumanization

 Ultranationalist states  State sponsored acts of murder  These acts are linked to the national interest of the state  Believed that the acts promote the national interest  Mass propaganda and targeting of groups in society  Peer Pressure can play a huge role here

 Ottoman Empire  Many nations lived within the Empire  Armenians were Christian and maintained their culture within the dominant Islamic culture  WWI and Nationalism  Ottoman Empire sides with the Axis powers  Strengthening of Turkish nationalism  Many Armenians sided with Russia, branded as traitors

 1914, Young Turks, ultranationalist political party  “Ten Commandments” ▪ Exterminate all males under 50, girls and children to be Islamized ▪ Forced migration ▪ Kill all Armenians associated with Army

 State-Sponsored Crime  Forced deportation  Murder and Starvation  Aftermath  Difficulty in having states recognize the genocide  Turkish gov’t denies genocide  Evidence that the Armenian Genocide may have influenced the Holocaust  Fewer than 100,000 of the 2 million Armenians in Ottoman Empire survived

 watch?v=hEVqGLtjAAk watch?v=hEVqGLtjAAk  Is it important to recognize instances of genocide? Why or why not?

 In 1945, the UN was in its infancy and had no permanent court to try war criminals. Therefore international military tribunals such as the Nuremberg Trials were established.  In 1948, the UN established a committee to create an international criminal court.  The statute creating the ICC was signed by 60 countries in 2002  The ICC is sponsored by, but operates independently of, the UN.

 What should be our response to crimes against humanity?  In what ways are we responsible for inhumanity?  Is the response of the UN adequate to address crimes against humanity?  Why do you think nations rejected being a part if the ICC?