“What connects two thousand years of genocide? Too much power in too few hands”—
The word ‘genocide’ (geno Greek word for race or tribe and cide, Latin word for killing) was coined by Raphael Lemkin, a Polish holocaust survivor. It was introduced for the first time as a legal concept during the Nuremburg Trials in 1945-46. By no means does it imply that it was also the first time in history of humans that such systematic killings took place with the objective of eliminating specific communities for whatever reasons. Its meaning according to the Cambridge dictionary is: “the (now international) crime of intentionally destroying part or all of a national, ethnic, racial or religious group, by killing people or by other methods.” Despite Lemkin’s resolve or mission to compel nations to prevent genocide from occurring in the future, there have been consistent repetitions all around the world as of today.
There are innumerable instances dating from before common era (BCE) when mass murders of certain groups had been carried out in the name of religion, ethnic cleansing or on some other pretext. During the Third Punic War, Romans had besieged the city of Carthage for three years (149-146 BCE) and once they managed to get through, they spent a complete week killing its inhabitants which Ben Kieman describes as the first genocide. Around 88 BCE, King Mithridates VI of Pontus ordered the killings of all Romans and other Latin speaking population, causing the death of about 100,000. Meanwhile, in the Indian Subcontinent in 262 BCE, Asoka had spilled the blood of over 100,000 in the battle of Kalinga. According to ancient Chinese texts, in the fourth century CE, General Ran Min ordered the extermination of the Wu Hu tribes, especially the Jie tribe.
In the medieval period, followers of the Manichaeian were targeted by the Abbasids as were the descendants of Prophet Hazrat Muhammad (PBUH), who had to take refuge in different regions of the world. Simultaneously, a group of ancestral Puebloans in the American south-west were killed around 800 CE. Kashmiri Shias also became victims of sectarian violence over a span of 500 years at the hands of Mirza Haider Dughlat, followed by the Moghuls, the Afghans, the Sikhs and the Dogras, due to which only a small Shia community has managed to survive.
Social scientists and psychologists, in fact everyone on this earth is perplexed at humans’ inhumanity to humans, yet we see barbarous acts being committed at home, in work places, in neighborhoods, among relatives, between enemies, on the streets and across countries.
The Albigensian Crusade (1209-1229 CE) spread over twenty long years at the behest of Pope Innocent III was meant to exterminate Catharism in southern France. Again, during the same period Mongol inroads under Genghis Khan was mercilessly wiping off nations including some of the Mongol tribes as well. It has been estimated that almost 11% of the world population was eradicated with death toll of millions, out of which 35 million were killed in China. The Turko-Mongol emperor Tamerlane killed all the Christians that he could get hold of and all the residents of then Christian city of Tikrit. He also targeted Shi’ite Muslims, Jews and Heathens.
In Africa, genocide of Guanches by the Spanish crown between 1402 and 1496 took place followed by similar episodes of Herero and Namagua (1904-1908), Rwanda (1994) and Darfur (21st century), happening even today. Americas, Australia and New Zealand too have engaged in the crime of eradicating indigenous populations of the countries they overpowered. Thus, every inch of the world has witnessed some form of human biases leading to brutalities that know no bounds and all of which cannot be covered in this brief op-ed, but the question that comes to one’s mind is that if violence breeds violence, then why do humans indulge in violence?
Social scientists and psychologists, in fact everyone on this earth is perplexed at humans’ inhumanity to humans, yet we see barbarous acts being committed at home, in work places, in neighborhoods, among relatives, between enemies, on the streets and across countries. There is a long list of reasons given by experts as to why aggressiveness within the human nature results in brutality but the solution is found in probably just a single term—self-control.
According to a study Gottfredson and Hirschi (1990) proposed that low self-control is the single most important factor in understanding and predicting criminality. “By and large, criminal acts provide immediate gratification of desires, supply few long-term benefits, and require little to no planning, all of which suggest an impulsive nature not subject to self-control.”
The present conflicts around the world offer clear evidence of the loss of self-control on massive scales, causing immense bloodshed, invoking hatred, antagonism, insanity and blatant violations of all internationally conventions and treaties.
The million dollar question is: how to teach and learn self-control? It is believed that lions are primarily not man-eaters but become so when they are rendered physically weak, and man being a slow animal is an easy prey. One can derive the idea that strength or good health is one way of exercising self-control, but in real life many strong and healthy human beings are the ones who have defied all norms of humanity and indulged in the most heinous crimes anyone can imagine.
Another factor that is commonly taken up is that barbarians are usually non-believers, or do not follow God’s religions, but then innumerable battles have been fought and humans massacred in the name of religion or in spreading the word of God. Indeed, a most ironic situation as we all like to believe that the religion we are following teaches us love, kindness and humanity. This could imply that even religion has failed to teach us self-control or most probably the interpretations that we are made to understand are quite faulty and against the very principles we hold dear. The present conflicts around the world offer clear evidence of the loss of self-control on massive scales, causing immense bloodshed, invoking hatred, antagonism, insanity and blatant violations of all internationally conventions and treaties. Whatever may be the reasons, this kind of inhumanity is neither justified nor can it lead to long term peaceful settlements.
The only way forward that appears plausible is self-regulation, but for this we need to collectively raise our levels of consciousness to an extent where we are able to perceive that no one can force us to abide by laws of humanity unless we consciously intend to do so. Unless we heed the voice of conscience within, no power can teach us lofty principles of magnanimity and self-control we love to preach but hate to practice. Those who wield power are the ones accountable for crimes conducted against humanity in whatever parts of this world as their policies are responsible for provoking and manifesting inhumanity among human beings.