Thursday, April 10, 2008
The Perfidity of Words
Ethnic cleansing has such a nice ring to it. It sounds like you're tidying up the neighborhood or region by getting rid of the undesirables. Why don't people call it what it truly is, ethnic genocide or murder? It seems anytime an oppressed people are given their freedom, the first freedom they choose to exercise is their freedom to kill each other over some slight difference, be it tribal, religious, or some other minor ethnic difference all for the sake of power, land or some other resource.
Labels: Making us comfortable with the uncomfortable
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I think the term "ethic cleansing" began in the 1990s in the fragmenting Yugoslav mini empire - especially in Bosnia and Kosova.
For political reasons the Europeans did not wish to use "genocide" as that seemed to be an established shorthand term for left/Jewish/Palestinian concerns.
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For political reasons the Europeans did not wish to use "genocide" as that seemed to be an established shorthand term for left/Jewish/Palestinian concerns.
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