CANADA HOLOCAUST: MORE THAN 200,000 ORPHAN CHILDREN FALSELY LABELLED MENTALLY ILL WERE SUBMITTED TO EXPERIMENTS AS LOBOTOMIES IN PSYCHIATRIC HOSPITALS OF THE PROVINCE OF QUEBEC
The scope of the International Holocaust Remembrance Day should be expanded
"No one is free until everyone is free"
By Benay Blend: In a discussion entitled "No one is free until everyone is free" (1971), Fannie Lou Hamer stated before the National Women's Political Caucus (1) that black and white women had to work together to achieve freedom for all. She also spoke of problems that still have relevance today, such as malnutrition in the state of Mississippi and the drug pandemic that consumes the nation's youth. "Now we have to get some changes in this country," she told the group. "And we are not only changes for the black man and only changes for the black woman, but the changes that we have to achieve in this country are going to be for the liberation of all the people, because no one is free until everyone is free. . It's something that should have been done a long time ago, "she explained," because a white mother is no different from a black mother. " As a clarification, she added that "the only thing is that the former have not had so many problems."
On International Holocaust Remembrance Day 2021 Hamer's words remain important because they speak of the need to free all those who continue to be subjected, in prisons, crushed by the occupation and in all other circumstances in which people they are not free to live a full and satisfying life.
On January 27, community organizer Selinda Guerrero shared her opinion on this Day: “I think about some of the powerful messages that we have learned about the dangers of political rhetoric”, dangers that can come from the current fascists that today constitute a worldwide threat.
But Guerrero also spoke of "the people who remain on the sidelines in situations of injustice", the Germans who looked elsewhere when the Nazis came to power, but also those who continue to turn a blind eye to the injustices that occur around them. more recently.
“As we commit ourselves to this Day of Remembrance,” concludes Guerrero, “we must also remember that it not only reflects past situations but also situations that many people continue to experience today. I think of AFRICOM, the impact on our African relatives and the dangers of the US military.
" Holocaust Day should be extended to remember members of the pan-African community who also died during the Holocaust in Germany. As the NewsOne website writing notes, there was no organized program to murder black people as there was for other groups, but an unknown number of black people in Germany and in the German-occupied territories suffered sterilization, imprisonment and also death. Additionally, the NewsOne newsroom continues, Black POWs were illegally incarcerated by German Nazis, who disregarded the rules of war when it came to wounded and captured Black soldiers. For example, black soldiers from the American, French and British armies died in concentration camps or from strenuous work on war-related construction projects. Others were killed immediately by the SS or the Gestapo, thus avoiding imprisonment.
In Guerrero's view, the atrocities committed during the Holocaust continue today. He mentions the case of the United States Africa Command (Africom), which was supposedly created to spearhead the fight against terrorism on the African continent, but, as Tunde Osazua explains, quite the contrary, these operations have actually led to increased activity. terrorist. Osazua affirms that this process encourages "African countries to count on the US military to support a fight against the increasing terrorist threats." Ultimately, Guerrero concludes, "The United States creates in African [countries] buyers a 'desire' for AFRICOM.
" It is relevant that Samidoun, the Network of Solidarity with Palestinian Prisoners, has joined other organizations to participate in the International Day of Action on AFRICOM of the Black Alliance for Peace (BAP, Black Alliance for Peace). AFRICOM, a tool of US military and political domination, aims to ensure that the African continent is under US control, in the same way that US aid enables Israel to maintain the occupation of Palestine.
Also on the border of the United States continues the misery. Just as the Jewish people sought, often without success, refuge in other countries before and during World War II, people from countries like Honduras and Guatemala seek asylum in the United States. Ironically, it has been US foreign policy that has caused instability and violence in the very countries whose citizens are now fleeing to the United States for their lives.
Finally, it is important not only to broaden the scope of Holocaust Remembrance Day to include all those who have been victims of state violence, but it is also essential to recognize all the ironies associated with crying over a group of people. people while their memory is used to commit atrocities against another.
For example, Antifa protesters commemorated Holocaust Remembrance Day 2021 by organizing a candlelight vigil in front of an ICE facility (2) in Portland, Oregon. The agents of the Federal Protection Service used pepper bullets against the activists and at least one person was arrested and charged with "attempted assault on a public security officer, disorderly conduct and riots." Antifa, a broad movement that is sometimes misunderstood, is a coalition of groups and individuals who oppose fascism and other elements of the far right'
Palestinian children arrested by Israel forces
In Europe the European Union (EU) this year partnered with B’nai B’rith, an organization that Ali Abunimah condemns for “applauding Israeli war crimes, including shooting unarmed civilians in the Gaza Strip”. Among its participants is Katharina von Schnurbein, first coordinator of the European Commission for the fight against anti-Semitism, who explained that the Holocaust "was caused by those who were there, and they kept silent and remained silent in the face of injustice." Abunimah concludes that it is ironic that "these officials are not only willing to remain silent, but also willing to offer their prestige to an organization that applauds injustice while discrediting and dehumanizing victims and those who speak the truth"
Yvonne Ridley, for her part, writes that “there is an indelible link between the Holocaust and the current situation of the Palestinian people. Denying this fact reveals a deep-seated error in Zionist ideology. " She goes on to point out that she "does not try to minimize the suffering of the Jewish people or to draw parallels between the genocide of European Jews carried out by the Nazis and what has happened to the Palestinian people since 1948. It is simply undeniable that the Nakba is part of the history of Israel ”.
Ridley asserts that “we cannot carefully select injustice to suit our story. The Holocaust happened and we must never forget it, but the Nakba also happened, and we must never forget it ”. If the meaning of Holocaust Remembrance Day is that the lessons we learned from history should never be repeated, never again does it mean more to all people, without ignoring the suffering of one group in order to privilege another.
January 27th also marks the 11th anniversary of Howard Zinn's death. As a popular historian, Zinn reminded us not to shy away from making the experiences of invisible people visible, regardless of the consequences for the writer. Throughout his life he often paid the consequences for going against the tide, but he never stopped fighting for social justice.
Zinn believed that it is impossible to remain neutral on a moving train, that is, that it is unacceptable to remain silent in the face of injustice. That means being in solidarity with the liberation struggles of the world, regardless of the personal cost it may have.
Selinda Guerrero explains that “you and I have the responsibility today not only to recognize it, but to take action in all those situations that still exist in this story of fascism and imperialist hatred. Make a commitment today to organize and lift up the most affected people to resist and be in solidarity with all those who still suffer from genocidal and oppressive systems! ”.
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