One of the things I realized in these conversations about "intent" to commit genocide (Dolus specialis) is that far too many people believe simplistic fictional stories (books, TV, movies) where the bad-guys regularly recognize that they are the bad-guys.
In the complexity of the real-world, those engaging in or endorsing the most horrific of acts (genocide, crimes against humanity, etc) often think of themselves in some way as heroes.
If intent requires that the perpetrating institutions knew that what was being done was wrong, these most horrific of crimes could never be recognized as existing.
Hi Russell! Have you seen/read Ezra Klein's recent piece on genocide? I think him and his guest got well into it, if not to a resolution/conclusion. But I at least felt it was a good discussion bringing up some important historical points worth further exploration on.
I hadn’t realized that the fixation that Western worldviews have on the interests of individuals vs the interests of groups was part of the discussion around Genocide vs "Crimes Against Humanity". I was aware that during the debates around the so-called “Universal Declaration of Human Rights” there was a rejection collective rights of peoples, making that declaration narrowly Western rather than universal. It had been my limited understanding that the conceptualization of Genocide was the first recognition of collective rights, with UNDRIP (voted against by CANZUS) being a more recent recognition.
It puts some of the strong opposition to the concept of genocide into the general rejection of accepting worldviews outside of Western worldviews.
I have to admit that I cringe every time I hear the modern nation-state of Israel described as a (or “The”) Jewish state rather than a Zionist state. I guess I see the conflation between Judaism and Zionism to be extremely dangerous. As someone with Canadian citizenship I recognize that the Dominion of Canada has always been a Zionist state, from its imposition on this continent in 1867 up to recent statements from the current Prime Minister falsely claiming that the Oct 7 attack was “the deadliest attack on the Jewish people since the Holocaust.” While I recognize that other people don’t see it that way – especially within WEOG (Western Europe and Other Group – UN), I see the Zionist project (a primarily Christian project) to be based on the same ideologies as the reservation system used by Canada and the USA – only at a much larger scale.
I enjoyed the discussion about the ephemeral state of jurisprudence around these concepts at the ICC/ICJ, and what I consider to be the multi-generational project to move International law beyond the ideological silos of Western worldviews. While these laws are intended to be global in nature, Western worldviews have been allowed to dominate for most of the history of these institutions thus far.
One of the things I realized in these conversations about "intent" to commit genocide (Dolus specialis) is that far too many people believe simplistic fictional stories (books, TV, movies) where the bad-guys regularly recognize that they are the bad-guys.
In the complexity of the real-world, those engaging in or endorsing the most horrific of acts (genocide, crimes against humanity, etc) often think of themselves in some way as heroes.
If intent requires that the perpetrating institutions knew that what was being done was wrong, these most horrific of crimes could never be recognized as existing.
Hi Russell! Have you seen/read Ezra Klein's recent piece on genocide? I think him and his guest got well into it, if not to a resolution/conclusion. But I at least felt it was a good discussion bringing up some important historical points worth further exploration on.
https://youtu.be/RrhBypHFYPY?si=jJGb44biWiAivB1J
Thank you so much for the recommendation. I have now watched the video, and put “East West Street” by Philippe Sands into my book inbox.
https://www.penguinrandomhouse.ca/books/227917/east-west-street-by-philippe-sands/9780525433729
A few quick thoughts I had while watching the video:
https://youtu.be/RrhBypHFYPY?si=8qsqI3IbmfkhjrWM
I hadn’t realized that the fixation that Western worldviews have on the interests of individuals vs the interests of groups was part of the discussion around Genocide vs "Crimes Against Humanity". I was aware that during the debates around the so-called “Universal Declaration of Human Rights” there was a rejection collective rights of peoples, making that declaration narrowly Western rather than universal. It had been my limited understanding that the conceptualization of Genocide was the first recognition of collective rights, with UNDRIP (voted against by CANZUS) being a more recent recognition.
It puts some of the strong opposition to the concept of genocide into the general rejection of accepting worldviews outside of Western worldviews.
I have to admit that I cringe every time I hear the modern nation-state of Israel described as a (or “The”) Jewish state rather than a Zionist state. I guess I see the conflation between Judaism and Zionism to be extremely dangerous. As someone with Canadian citizenship I recognize that the Dominion of Canada has always been a Zionist state, from its imposition on this continent in 1867 up to recent statements from the current Prime Minister falsely claiming that the Oct 7 attack was “the deadliest attack on the Jewish people since the Holocaust.” While I recognize that other people don’t see it that way – especially within WEOG (Western Europe and Other Group – UN), I see the Zionist project (a primarily Christian project) to be based on the same ideologies as the reservation system used by Canada and the USA – only at a much larger scale.
I enjoyed the discussion about the ephemeral state of jurisprudence around these concepts at the ICC/ICJ, and what I consider to be the multi-generational project to move International law beyond the ideological silos of Western worldviews. While these laws are intended to be global in nature, Western worldviews have been allowed to dominate for most of the history of these institutions thus far.
Thanks.