Genocide

Genocide is a word that is bothering me these days. The mere fact that we have such a word in our vocabulary is absurd to me. But we have it and unfortunately we need it. It describes a phenomenon that is painfully real, also in our time.

The book I'm reading at the moment is Shaking Hands With the Devil by Lt. Gen. Romeo Dallaire (right) who was the commander of the UN peace keeping force in Rwanda during the genocide there in '94. It lasted for one hundred days.

You know how many people were slaughtered every minute during those hundred days, on average? 5,5. Human beings, a minute. And that is based on conservative figures.

I'd recommend the book, but if it's too time consuming watch the film Shooting Dogs in stead. It's like a punch in the gut, but still highly recommendable.

I wanted to write about the question of the alleged Turkish genocide on the Armenians and its very real consequences for people today, but that will have to wait for my next post. The pub is calling, Sunday night is soccer night..