Stop repeating history: All Genocides Need Our Attention

By Kathryn Taleporos

Edited by Alex Newcomb

May 6, 2022

24,000 people were killed in Myanmar, over a million detained in China, and almost 3,000 were killed in Ukraine. Every one of these instances constitutes a war crime, but only one country has been accused of it by the international community. If these genocides are happening around the world, for so many years, why is the world’s attention solely on Russia and Ukraine?

On February 1, 2021, democracy collapsed in the country of Myanmar after a military coup. The destructive and genocidal military continued their rampage against the Rohingya Muslim, a minority group in the predominatly Buddhist country. The burning of entire villages, systematic and gang rape of women, and brutal killings have led to a massive refugee crisis.

But most people have never even heard of the country Myanmar, or the current crisis in China, where concentration camps are housing Uighur Muslims. In these concentration camps the people there are brainwashed and taught ideas that go against their religion; the forced sterilization of women has led to a drastic decrease in the births of Uighur Muslims. It is clear the ultimate goal of the Chinese government is elimination of this specific group.

Right now though, the world’s attention is focused on Russia’s war crimes in Ukraine. While these crimes are atrocious and the world should be paying attention, we cannot just focus on this one tragedy. We are allowing history to repeat itself by continuing our ignorance.

People always think back to genocides such as the Holocaust, and the Armenian genocide and pose the question “how did we let this happen?’ But we are letting it happen by forgetting the events of history. According to a study by the Anti-Defamation League, 2/3 of the world’s population either does not know or does not believe that the Holocaust happened. Additionally the Turkish government is activley disputing the facts of the Armenian genocide, calling it a “misunderstanding”.

This ignorance has real consequences; it shows the world that as a society we will allow countries to get away with genocide, and perpeuates a culture of hatred in our society. Conspiracy theories such as QAnon have led to a dramatic rise in anti-semitic crimes in the United States and around the world. The hatred that is growing in our own community sends a message to other countries that violence against others is okay.

The only actions that the United States has taken is declaring the events in Myanmar a genocide, and accusing Russia of war crimes. Our country still refuses to take any actual action in supporting the victims of genocide, probably because we have no economic or political advantage in helping these countries. Our basic human decency should be enough reason to help others. It is our humanity that should inspire us, and the lessons that we have learned from the past that should encourage us to take action.

The saying “History repeats itself” is true, and we are the reason. We need to all educate ourselves on the issues around the world. In doing so, it forces leaders to start paying attention to the issue, instead of ignoring it.