Passionate nationalism and very strong leaders can lead to excesses of ultra nationalism when one group of people commits crimes against other groups. When Japanese soldiers invaded the city of Nanjing, for example they murdered an estimated 300 000 women, children and men on orders from the ranks of the Japanese military. In closing days of the world war two, american scientists developed an atomic bomb. The US dropped two of these atomic bombs on Japanese cities. By the end of 1945, up to 140 000 Japanese people had died. Later on in the years radiation from the atomic bomb made people sick, and thousands more died. The cause for the thousands of deaths was leukemia and other forms of cancer. Naming the Crimes
- War crimes: Killing, torture or inhuman treatment; causing suffering. Directing attacks against civilian population or those who are part in a peacekeeping mission and humanitarian.
- Genocide: Killing of members of a racial, ethnic, national or religious group; causing harm to members of the group. Inflicting on the group conditions, calculated to bring about its physical harm.
- Crimes against humanity: refers to systematic or widespread attacks against a civilian population.Torture, extermination, murder, enslavement, imprisonment, and the crime of apartheid.
Ultra nationalism and Crimes against Humanity
Ultra nationalism can lead to treating people as if they are less than human and racism. A racist who treats a specific group of people with contempt may have taken the first step toward treating members of the entire group inhumanely. Ultra nationalists may start by segregating the people they despise, forcing them to live in ghettos, and denying their rights as citizens. They may even be the blame for when things go wrong in the country, their culture is often destroyed, they were deported from their homeland or even murdered sometimes. A Turkish journalist was killed because he told the story of Armenian genocide. Racists are usually afraid of the truth. Genocide, and crimes against humanity are state sponsored acts of murder. The murders believe that doing this promotes their national interest. Though there are laws that exclude ethnic groups, condemn them to death may be a state policy. But the crimes are carried out by individuals and the victims are individuals.
How has Ultra nationalism caused Crimes against Humanity?
Ultra nationalist sentiments and beliefs caused people to commit crimes against humanity, war crimes and also genocide. Some nation states approved these crimes and also encouraged and promoted them. In results of that, some ethnic nations have basically nearly disappeared.
Genocide in Turkey in 1915
Turkey was still a part of the Ottoman Empire. Islam was the official religion, but it did include many Armenians. Most Armenians maintained their national identity, culture and language and were Christians. The choice of maintaining and affirming their identity came in high prices, they would often suffer discrimination. In late 1800s, some Armenians started to fight for self-determination. But they lost, lots of Armenians were killed by the Turks in the after math. In 1914 young Turks an ultra nationalist political party that controlled the Ottoman Turkish Government issued orders calling for the massacre of Armenians.- Kill off in an appropriate manner all Armenians in the army. The military was left to do this.
- Carry away the families of all who succeed in escaping and cut them off from all connection with their native place.
- Exterminate all males under 50, teachers and priests and leave the girls and children to be Islamized.
State Sponsored Crimes
April 24, 1915 all soldiers started their mission, the killing of the Armenians. Armenian people were arrested, murdered, and even deported. Out of 2 million Armenians, about 100 000 survived while walking over the mountains with no food or water. France and Britain had said they would hold the Ottoman Government responsible, but nothing was done since most of the leaders had fled to Germany by the trials in 1919.
Recognizing the Armenian Genocide
T
his massacre has now been labelled genocide by many people; Canada was one of the first countries to support this. The government of turkey does acknowledge the deaths in 1915 & 1916 but it says that they were not planned. A British journalist named Robert Fisk says that the genocide of the Armenians, goes along with the plan that Adolf Hitler had made during the genocide of the Jewish people.
Famine in Ukraine – 1932 – 1933
Ukraine had been ruled by Russia for nearly 150 years, in 1918 they tried to declare independence and failed. Ukraine is known for its wheat fields and is often called the “breadbasket.” Joseph Stalin, once in power, said that all farming land belonged to the state and all the farmers had to work on collective farms. Many people disagreed with this and they did things like burnt their crops and killed their livestock. In 1932 Stalin sent all the wheat crops to Russia to get the money he needed to create the soviet army. He then sealed all the
borders in Ukraine, nothing could get in and nothing could get out. By 1933, all the wheat and grain had been seized and about 7 million Ukrainians had been killed or had starved to death. Everything was censored by the government, in fact he was being praised in some places, while innocent citizens were starving to death.
Recognizing the Ukrainian Genocide
The Stalin government denied that the people were starved, even after Stalin’s death. In November 2006, the Ukrainian parliament declared the famine plague genocide. Russia did not accept this. In 2003, the Senate in Canada called for the federal government to recognize the famine as a genocide, and in 2007, Manitoba declared it a genocide.
WHAT ARE SOME CONTEMPORARY CONSEQUENECES OF ULTRANATIONALISM?
Bringing Criminals to Justice
After the League of Nations failed to prevent World War 2, leaders were determined to find an international agreement that would preserve peace. They believed that peace was a part of every nation’s national interest. In 1945 there was no place where they could try war criminals, so the allies set up the international military tribunals. Ever since then the UN has been criticized for taking too long to respond.
The International Criminal Court
In 1948, they began a task that took them 50 years. The establishment of the International Criminal Court. There were to main problems.
1. How it would operate without infringing sovereignty
2. Agreement on all the laws the court would be responsible for
In 2002, the International Criminal Court stature was signed by 60 countries, in 2008 there were an additional 45 countries signed on. The international Criminal Court runs independently of the UN and it only gets involved if the people being tried are not treated fairly.
Crimes against humanity in the former Yugoslavia
in 1918-1919 was when various nations in the known area known as the Balkans were merged into a single country called Yugoslavia. These peoples did at one point have many conflicts but as they both coexisted they tried their best to stay peaceful. The ultra nationalism is a huge aspect in affecting crimes in humanity. In the late 20th century, Yugoslavia was a very tightly controlled communist state. When the soviet union started to collapse in the late 80's nationalist and ultra nationalists became more important in their process of committing crimes against humanity.
Although in 1991 Slovenia and Croatia declared independence and Macedonia and Bosnia followed their choices in 1992.
Serbian ultra nationalists and the siege of Sarajevo
The Serbs formed an ethnic nation that everyone else should be expelled from Serbian territory. They called it ethnic cleansing which was a code word designed to make whats happening seem more socially acceptable. If a person for example one of the Serbs was to be to much of an ultra nationalist a lot would be changed and affected by how the crimes would be committed. Serbs were looked up to and non Serbs were very harassed. The non serbs were not allowed to meet in public places, move to another town without permission , or travel by car.
Sarajevo, the capital of Bosnia had once been a city that was interconnected and joined and worked together. But in 1992 the united nations security council warned Serbian forces to stop attacking Sarajevo or they would face military action. Even though UN peacekeepers were sent to the country and tried to deliver humanitarian relief and establish safe areas where people were protected, the killing still continued. The UN forces had been ordered to remain neutral so they could continue to get food to the besieged city. By 1996 the death toll in the city had risen to more then 11 000. After the UN security council established the international criminal tribunal the milosevic was put on trial for genocide he died before the end of his trial.
Crimes against Humanity in Rwanda
The country of rwanda was home to two ethnic groups involving the tutsi's and hutu's. Although hutu's had most the population majority the tutsi'd held most political power because they were favored by the belgians who had controlled the country when it was a colony. After Rwanda gained independence in 1962, cause decades of more pointless conflict. Eventually thought, the majority of the hutu's gained control of the country but the struggle between the two groups continued. The campaigned against each other hoping it would scare off one another because neither of the Rwandan citizens could neither write or read properly. In 1993 the UN sent a small force of 2600 soldiers under the command of candaian general Dalliare to keep the peace in Rwanda. But later on an airplane carrying president juvenal habyarimana was shot down. The genocide in rwanda raised fundamental questions about the role of the UN and how far it should go to prevent genocide. This genocide also helped generate support for a permanent international criminal court.
Crimes against humanity in the former Yugoslavia
in 1918-1919 was when various nations in the known area known as the Balkans were merged into a single country called Yugoslavia. These peoples did at one point have many conflicts but as they both coexisted they tried their best to stay peaceful. The ultra nationalism is a huge aspect in affecting crimes in humanity. In the late 20th century, Yugoslavia was a very tightly controlled communist state. When the soviet union started to collapse in the late 80's nationalist and ultra nationalists became more important in their process of committing crimes against humanity.
Serbian ultra nationalists and the siege of Sarajevo
The Serbs formed an ethnic nation that everyone else should be expelled from Serbian territory. They called it ethnic cleansing which was a code word designed to make whats happening seem more socially acceptable. If a person for example one of the Serbs was to be to much of an ultra nationalist a lot would be changed and affected by how the crimes would be committed. Serbs were looked up to and non Serbs were very harassed. The non serbs were not allowed to meet in public places, move to another town without permission , or travel by car.
Sarajevo, the capital of Bosnia had once been a city that was interconnected and joined and worked together. But in 1992 the united nations security council warned Serbian forces to stop attacking Sarajevo or they would face military action. Even though UN peacekeepers were sent to the country and tried to deliver humanitarian relief and establish safe areas where people were protected, the killing still continued. The UN forces had been ordered to remain neutral so they could continue to get food to the besieged city. By 1996 the death toll in the city had risen to more then 11 000. After the UN security council established the international criminal tribunal the milosevic was put on trial for genocide he died before the end of his trial.
Crimes against Humanity in Rwanda
The country of rwanda was home to two ethnic groups involving the tutsi's and hutu's. Although hutu's had most the population majority the tutsi'd held most political power because they were favored by the belgians who had controlled the country when it was a colony. After Rwanda gained independence in 1962, cause decades of more pointless conflict. Eventually thought, the majority of the hutu's gained control of the country but the struggle between the two groups continued. The campaigned against each other hoping it would scare off one another because neither of the Rwandan citizens could neither write or read properly. In 1993 the UN sent a small force of 2600 soldiers under the command of candaian general Dalliare to keep the peace in Rwanda. But later on an airplane carrying president juvenal habyarimana was shot down. The genocide in rwanda raised fundamental questions about the role of the UN and how far it should go to prevent genocide. This genocide also helped generate support for a permanent international criminal court.
Acting for good in the face of evil
Oscar Schindler
Oscar was a buissness person who hoped to benefit when the nazi's invaded Poland. He became a member of the nazi party and a nazi spy, and he ran enamel and munition factories. he employed more than 1200 Jews as slave laborers in his Krakow factory. Schindler did everything he could to protect his workers from being sent to Auschwitz death camps. He was very caring and generous. he spent his own fortune, made up lies and did everything else he could to save the jews. for his efforts the nazi's arressted him a countless amount of time whil e he even rescued 100 people who had already sent to the camps. By the end of the war oscar was very poor but managed to save many lives.
Feng Shan Ho
When germany took over austria in 1938 the nazzi's extended their vicous anti-Semitic policies to that countries jewish population. Many jews wanted to escape but they were not allowed to leave austria unless they had boat tickets or enerty visas to other countries. But the chinese consul in vienna, Feng shan ho issued visa's to shinghai to jews who asked for them. As a result of feng doing this he lost his job in vienna but he still helped 18000 jews escape before losing his job.
