Human Rights Reflection

Human rights has always been an interesting subject to me. I am glad I got to take this class and learn more in depth information on the United Nations, NGO's and other organizations. I am also so thankful that we got to meet Gilbert Michlin and hear his story of his struggle through the Holocaust. It was such an honor to get to listen to him tell his story, as well as take us to his childhood home. Learning about Human Rights has always been important to me and now I have a greater understanding of how the world works in regards to human rights.

Genocide Review

The third and final film I watched was "Genocide", a documentary on the Holocaust. Most American students have studied the horrors of the Holocaust from multiple perspectives by the time they are in college. Films, lecturs, readings such as Anne Frank's Diary, have all situated the Holocaust firmly in our minds as the quintessential human rights violation and the premier example of genocide. This human rights course was no different. Several times over the course of the semester, we have discussed the importance of the Holocaust in the modern day understanding of human rights. Indeed, it was only after the end of WWII in 1945 that a conception of univeral human rights came into existence. The Nuremburg Trials can be seen as the prototype of international justice as the world was forced to innovate in order to deal with destruction on an unparalleled scale.

    The film "Genocide" is an example of a well made documentary on human rights abuses. It chronicles every brutal action undertaken by the Nazi regime and focuses not only on the Jewish experience, but on all those who suffered during that time. The horrifying human rights violations that occured against any "different" group, Jews, gypsies, homosexuals, Slavs and politial opponents are enumerated and elaborated upon. The effect is harrowing but necessary. The documentary rehumanizes those groups that were stripped of their dignity during the Holocaust, and depicts the fact that differences between people are minimal, our similarities are far greater.
   
     The documentary also reflects on the failure of other nations to successfully step up and end the Holocaust, or help sufficiently when they could. The film was very well rounded and depicted the Holocaust from multiple angles. It was extraordinarily educational and informative, and is one of the better documentaries on the Holocaust that I have seen. Though many of the facts were simply repetition, it is perhaps "Genocide"'s refusal to allow modern audiences to become complacent that is most valuable. Most people today know what occurred during the Holocaust, and it is the duty of films such as "Genocide" to remind us of them and force us to feel horror each time. One cannot become desensitized to such tragedy.

    "Genocide" reminds the audience that again, like the Armenian genocide, events such as this are not simply flukes. They have occurred too many times to hope for the best. Instead what is necessary is concentrated action against such hatred. By showing the historic underpinnings of the Holocaust and depicting the lives of the victims before and after, one can see that genocide is always a threat. One must be proactive about preventing genocide, and that perhaps, is the most important message of the film. It is not simply a documentary made for its own sake. It hopes that through depiction, storytelling and reminder, people will be able to see the warning signs before it is too late.

Fog of War Review

    The first time I saw this film was in an AP US History course, where the focus of study was a more complete understanding of America's political atmosphere during the Cold War. The film paints a fascinating picture of the life of Robert McNamara, the Secretary of Defense under the Kennedy and Johnson administrations and the face of the Vietnam War. The film edits together film clips of press conferences and new reports of the 1960s along with interviews with the then 85 year old McNamara.  Photos of the Cuban Missile Crisis, the war in Vietnam, WWII bombings and air attacks are all featured in the film. It was split into sections as "Lessons" such as "Rationality will not save us" and "Get the data." Each of these sections depicts a lesson learned by McNamara during his time as Secretary of Defense.

    This is a particularly important film to discuss in relation to human rights because it calls into question the actions of a 'superpower,' the United States, and presents the events in a way that places doubt on the US as the sole arbiter of universal moral standards. It is often easy for Americans to denounce human rights abuses as they feel that they only occur in Third World Countries. However, "The Fog of War" clearly depicts that the United States can and has been a perpetrater of human rights abuses.

     McNamara discusses his involvment in WWII, the Cuban Missile Crisis and particularly his decisions in the Vietnam War.  My second viewing of this film was interesting because this time I did not focus on the political or historical aspects of his actions, but rather on their place in an international legal framework of human rights. Until the release of the documentary, it was well known that McNamara was rather reticent about speaking of his time as Secretary of Defense. However, he holds little back as he discusses both the external events and his internal struggle to make decisions for the good of the nation. One begins to see him as a person, an individual forced to make decisions, rather than as a representative of the institution of the state. His political moves, based in a Realist understanding of the world, were made from a position of feeling forced to exert power and support America's national interests. That national interest in the time of the Cold War was the ending of the spread of Communism, and McNamara was tasked with achieving this goal at any cost.

    Another reason this film is interesting from a human rights perspective is to understand the differences in the oppressor and oppressed's point of view. While the Vietnamese, rightly, saw the war as a symbol of imperialism and human rights violations in the form of bloody conflict and unconscionable bombings, the United States saw it as the means to an end. The war was the lesser of two evils, the second evil being Communism. Thus one can see how easily a nation can be swayed to commit human rights abuses under the conviction of righteousness, and it is very difficult to shake this point of view. This documentary is valuable to show Americans that there can be no moral high ground based off of one's country, as all have equally participated in violating the rights of many people.

Armenian Genocide Review

     My perception and understanding of this film will differ a bit from others, I am sure, as I am Armenian and had family affected by the tragedies of 1915. Before seeing this film, I was well informed on the topic, as it has always been told to me as "our story." I have written several research papers on the genocide, analyzing from different perspectives, and The Armenian Genocide, while dry, is extraordinarily informative. It was not a particularly exciting film, which is unfortunate because the while the genocide is horrifying, the circumstances around it are interesting, but were not necessarily prevented as such. I believe that documentaries which aim to inform the world on such serious topics should be more accessible, but the film seemed to be focused on displaying all of the facts it had obtained without necessarily creating a compelling storyline. However, I did appreciate their use of gruesome photographs that could properly depict the horrors of the genocide.

      The interview section at the end of the film was particularly interesting. It sacrificed action for fact, and while it may not be interesting to someone looking for superficial information, it is a very in depth look at the less discussed aspects of the genocide. I appreciated that they addressed the issue of current Turkish repression of information. The man they interviewed discussed his struggles to have information disclosed and the Turkish government's continued efforts to hide the facts of 1915. This is a topic that is not often discussed, and it is important to understand how current governments participate in the continued traumatization of a people by denying their suffering. This is seen in many current conflicts, and is, in my opinion, a reflection of the institutional causes of cycles of violence and oppression in human rights.

   This film was very intellectual in its presentation of the material, and I hope in doing so, did not allow the viewer to relegate it to the past. This, however, was most likely avoided by their exploration of modern day research on the Armenian genocide. I found the film to be very interesting, if at times a bit long winded.

   The Armenian Genocide is central to the understanding of human rights as we know them today. Perpetrated before there was an understanding of universal human rights, this genocide could be considered the "blueprint" of genocides. In fact, Raphael Lemkin, a lawyer who spent much of his life devoted to the study of genocide, coined the term "genocide" when analyzing the events of 1915. An often quoted phrase from Hitler, whose widescale genocide termed the Holocaust became the catalyst for a global human rights movement, states something to the effect of "Who now remembers the Armenians?" in an effort to support his Final Solution. What this film shows is continuity and that human rights violations such as genocide due not happen in a vacuum. They are not simply flukes in the system, but are part of the fabric of the system itself, and denial and diplomatic concession only furthers their suffering and leads to the opportunity for others to suffer in the same way. The Armenian Genocide should be viewed as a cautionary tale, one which seeks to use its own tragedy to prevent the same in the future.

Film Review: Genocide

One of the most graphic documentaries on the genocide of the Holocaust that graphically walked the viewer through a story line of victims. 


Genocide: the deliberate and systematic destruction, in whole or in part, of an ethnic, racial, religious, or national group

The graphic nature of  genocide has been seen from the African American, Armenian, and Jewish culture. There are other areas that still encourage such harsh treatments, but the documentary mainly focuses on the harsh living conditions, gas chambers, and seperation of families during the time of the Holocaust.

Armenian Genocide

Many historical events are shunned from record books, and the Armenian genocide is one that many people try to erase some say it was one of the first known genocides. To this day many people try not to acknowledge that it happened.

"The starting date of the genocide is conventionally held to be April 24, 1915, the day that Ottoman authorities arrested some 250 Armenian intellectuals and community leaders in Constantinople. Thereafter, the Ottoman military uprooted Armenians from their homes and forced them to march for hundreds of miles, depriving them of food and water, to the desert of what is now Syria. Massacres were indiscriminate of age or gender, with rape and other sexual abuse commonplace. The majority of Armenian diaspora communities were founded as a result of the Armenian genocide."

The documentary takes the history of the genocide back in a time where such words were not even used to describe the event. The Turks still stand by the term being used in a very extreme manner.

Reflection on Human Rights

This semester has been an interesting one for me. I have not taken a Human Rights classes before, and have not discuss the topic very much prior. I did not know that there were so many factors and aspects or that the topic was so broad. The different levels that we learn came as something new to me. I did enjoy this class and feel that it has broadened my view on the world. So many things are going on in the world that deals with human rights, in the fight for them and in the violating of them as well. It is hard to believe all that is happening in the world, and how easy my life is or how different it is to somewhere else in the world. I hope that my better understanding of human rights and the different works of organization that deal with them help me try to push for a better world in the future.

Before this class I knew of different NGOs but did not know that they were called NGOs and what their detailed purpose were. I have a better understanding of the United Nations and its works, how it does conventions to protect human rights, and how different countries are involved. I better learned about the history of the Holocaust and how it pushes human rights forward. Meeting Gilbert was a great experience that helps me better understand and see what happen to him during his life and how his life has changed. This is a good life lesson for me that I took away from meeting Gilbert. This class has been a good experience and I have learned a lot, which will help me in my future. I am glad for this class and for all that it has taught me, and I would not want to give any of this knowledge up but learn more and spread it to others.