Season 1
Irene and Elisa discuss genocide prevention in Iraq with Iraqi human rights activist, Ranin Taher. In particular they discuss ISIS's persecution of Iraqi Christians within the wider framework of ISIS's violence against religious and national minorities in Nineveh and Sinjar, making the case that ISIS committed genocide against Christians. Also discussed is the current political situation in Iraq, including the violent state response to national protests by the country's youth.
Dr. Marina Mchitarian Lazaridou, Armenian-Greek artist and human rights advocate, joins us for a discussion of the importance of cultural heritage, the impact of its destruction, and the role played by cultural preservation in peacebuidling. Along the way we also discuss the power of memory, of stories, of symbols, and of peace work. We also briefly discuss news updates, including: - UN human rights chief Michelle Bachelet's statement that Israel may have committed war crimes during its recent bombing of Gaza; - French Prime Minister Emmanuel Macron's visit to Rwanda and acknowledgement of French responsibility for the Rwandan genocide; - The launch of a Rohingya Cultural Memory Centre (RCMC) by the UN migration office and the Rohingya community in Bangladesh. Dr. Mchitarian Lazaridou's work can be found at the following sites: www.genocide-survivor9.webnode.com, www.photographsspeak.webnode.com, www.greeksofarmenia-com.webnode.com, https://frommushtoartsakh.webnode.com/
When ISIS overtook the Shengal region of northern Iraq in August 2014, it massacred Ezidi men, older women, and older boys and kidnapped women, girls, and young boys. Since then, the Ezidi community has worked tirelessly to locate and rescue the captive women and children and welcome them back into the community. The painful legal and communal question of how to define the belonging of children born of genocidal rape has lingered, causing great hardship to the mothers and children involved as well as to their families and communities. IIn this episode, Irene and Elisa discuss this issue with Dr. Amy Beam, author of The Last Yezidi Genocide, and Farhad Shamo Roto, a Ezidi human rights advocate and survivor of the 2014 genocide. He is also president of Voice of Ezidis, which can be found here.
Irene and Elisa are back to discuss the Iraq Project's May 8 Statement on Israeli violence in Jerusalem, in which we protest the genocidal violence directed at Palestinians and Palestinian life. We talk about how we make the decision to use the term genocidal and genocide, and what it means to identify genocidal patterns in conflict. We also discuss our ongoing work in Iraq, sharing stories from our work there in 2016 and 2017.
The team is back for another in-depth conversation with Maung Zarni about the Myanmar military (the Tatmadaw) and how it became so powerful; the reasons popular support for the Tatmadaw evaporated after the February coup; the emergence of a revitalized and inclusive civil society in Myanmar; and what you can do right now to support this civil society (see below for more on that!). Irene and Elisa also bring you up-to-date on the news, including: A Guardian investigation that links illegal EU policies towards refugees to at least 2000 refugee deaths; Continuing cultural genocide by Azerbaijan against Armenian heritage sites, including the destruction of the Ghazanchetsots Cathedral in the city of Shushi in Nagorno-Karabakh; New reports predicting 500,000 to 1 million deaths in India from Covid-19 by July 2021; US President Biden's decision to suspend patents for Covid vaccines in order to respond to the growing pandemic crisis in India and elsewhere; and Renewed Israeli attempts to erase Palestinian life from Jerusalem. To take action to support civil society in Myanmar: Sign a petition to Chevron: https://actionnetwork.org/petitions/demand-chevron-stop-bankrolling-the-myanmar-military?clear_id=true&source=email-stop-chevron-bankrolling-the-myanmar-military-coup-day-9 Sign a petition to President Biden: https://actionnetwork.org/petitions/myanmar-military-coup-tell-president-biden-to-impose-sanctions US residents: Tell your Senators to support the Rohingya Genocide Determination Act of 2021 (S. 1142): https://actionnetwork.org/letters/tell-your-senators-co-sponsor-the-rohingya-genocide-determination-act-of-2021-s1142 Join the Coalition Against Chevron in Myanmar: https://www.facebook.com/groups/263548775494329
Join us in an interview with Assyrian-Armenian scholar and human rights advocate Dr. Anahit Khosroeva to discuss US President Joe Biden's April 24, 2021 recognition of the Armenian Genocide. We discuss the history of Armenian Genocide recognition in the United States, the implications of Biden's decision, the importance of recognition to reconciliaton, and the relevance of this recognition to Armenia's future, to the conflict in Nagorno-Karabakh, and to the wider Christian world in the Middle East, with particular focus on the Assyrian populations. We also bring out listeners up-to-date on recent news in genocide and its prevention, including: UK House of Commons recognition of the ongoing genocide in China against the Uyghur people; The struggle to identify and bury the victims of the Anfal genocide in northern Iraq; Recent attacks by Turkish forces against the PKK in northern Iraq; Threat of famine in the Tigray region in northern Ethiopia; Recent testimony by Armenian POWS and survivors of torture during detention in Azerbaijan; and Why Israel refuses to recognize the Armenian Genocide.
Join the Anti-Genocide Coffee Break team f0r an interview with Burmese scholar-activist Maung Zarni, who discusses the relationship between scholarship, activism, and truth-telling; his childhood in Burma; his formative influences, especially his mother and father; his decision to pursue activism against the autocratic Myanmar state; and the seismic shift that has occurred in Myanmar since the February 2021 military coup. We also discuss recent news, including: Leaked cables that show neglect of migrants in the Mediterranean by Italian and Libyan officials, which led to the deaths of over 100 people in one specific instance; State violence against residents of favelas in Brazil; A new Rwandan government report on France's role in the Rwandan genocide; Threats by Azerbaijan to invade Armenian territory; and Struggles of Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh during Ramadan.
Co-hosts Elisa von Joeden-Forgey and Irene Massimino welcome guest co-host Luciana Minassian, Argentine lawyer and Assistant Professor at the University of Buenos Aires Law School, to discuss the Second Artskah War and Azerbaijan's new Military Trophy Park, which includes displays of helmets of killed Armenian soldiers and racist wax figures depicting Armenian soldiers in various positions, including poses that suggest they are in the process of dying or already dead. Luciana shared her experiences visiting Artsakh in December 2016 and discusses the question of indigeneity, self-determiniation, war crimes, crimes against humanity, genocide, the mistreatment of Armenian POWs, and the power and varieties of activism. At the end of the podcast they ask whether Azerbaijan may have gone one step too far with the Military Trophy Park, even for its most blind and willing supporters. The hosts also discuss Amnesty International's recent report on Boko Haram and crimes against women and girls in Nigeria, the upcoming House of Commons vote in the UK about the Uyghur genocide, and the doctored photos of Tuol Sleng/S21 victims from the Cambodian genocide. As always, you can find all the articles and news discussed on our podcast at our website - iraqproject.org - and can subscribe to our podcast on Patreon. All subscription proceeds go to supporting the Iraq Project for Genocide Prevention.
In this episode we speak with Dr. Amy Beam, expert on the Yezidi genocide and author of the book, The Last Yezidi Genocide (available at Amazon.com). Dr. Beam has spent many years working closely with the Yezidi people since ISIS's 2014 invasion of the Shengal territory in Northern Iraq, which led to a genocide against the Yezidi people that is still ongoing. Dr. Beam speaks with us about the regional politics that created and empowered ISIS, the controversy surrounding the pullout of the Kurdish military (the peshmerga) from Shengal just hours before ISIS's arrival, what regional and world powers may have known about ISIS's planned invasion of Shengal before it occurred, why ISIS may have been allowed to invade by internal and external decision-makers, and how ISIS instrumentalized gender roles to commit genocide. She brings us up-to-date on the plans for a tribunal to try ISIS militants for atrocity crimes in Iraq, including the crime of genocide, and offers listeners many ways in which they can be involved in helping the Yezidi people in their ongoing struggle for security and justice. Dr. Beam can be reached at: amybeam@yahoo.com. She accepts donations for her humanitarian work among the Yezidi through Paypal using her email address. She is offering a free copy of her book to anyone who donates $50 or more. CORRECTIONS: Dr. Beam's list of countries attending the meeting in Amman, Jordan in May 2014 should not have included Kuwait but instead Qatar. Kuwait was not represented at the meeting. Also, Mosul is east of Shingal, not west.
n this episode we discuss Turkish foreign policy, the position of Armenia in the global order, the war in Nagorno-Karabakh (Artsakh), the Grey Wolves terrorist organization, anti-Armenianism, and the way forward for the Middle East. The hosts dedicate this podcast to Yeghia Tashjian's father, Sarkis Tashjian. Among other things, our interview covers: - Yeghia's early life in Lebanon and introduction to politics; - Turkish-Azerbaijan military collaboration and Turkey's involvement in the Second Artsakh War; - How Armenia's foreign policy miscalculated of European support; - Armenia's domestic politics and the up-coming 'snap elections'; - Armenia, Turkey and Azerbaijan's relationships with China, Russia, Iran, and south Asia. - The role of human rights in foreign policy; - The need for Armenia to invest in cultural diplomacy to counteract Turkish and Azerbaijani propaganda; - The fight against racism; - How to counteract growing Anti-Armenianism worldwide, especially though collaboration with other non-dominant groups in the Middle East; - The Indigenous People of Asia Minor conference; - Turkey's rightward shift under Erdogan and the violence of the Grey Wolves terrorists; - Demographic engineering in Turkish-controlled northern Syria; - The growing use of mercenaries by Turkey all over the world, including the Sadat mercenary company; - Armenian Genocide recognition, genocide denial, and the proliferation of genocide in the future. - Yeghia's work with the Paris-based NGO Women in War.