Looting of Polish artwork at the Zachęta building by German forces during the Occupation of Poland, 1944

Cultural genocide or culturicide is a concept which was proposed by lawyer Raphael Lemkin in 1944 as a component of genocide.[1] Though the precise definition of cultural genocide remains contested, the Armenian Genocide Museum defines it as "acts and measures undertaken to destroy nations' or ethnic groups' culture through spiritual, national, and cultural destruction".[2]

Some ethnologists, such as Robert Jaulin, use the term ethnocide as a substitute for cultural genocide,[3] although this usage has been criticized as risking the confusion between ethnicity and culture.[4] Juxtaposed next to ethnocide, cultural genocide was considered in the 2007 United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples; however, it was removed in the final document and simply replaced with "genocide".

Definition

Among many other potential reasons, cultural genocide may be committed for religious motives (e.g., iconoclasm); as part of a campaign of ethnic cleansing to remove the evidence of a people from a specific locale or history; as part of an effort to implement a Year Zero, in which the past and its associated culture is deleted and history is "reset".

Binding international law

Cultural property

See also: Banner of Peace and Blue Shield International

Cultural genocide involves the eradication and destruction of cultural artifacts, such as books, artworks, and structures.[5]

Intangible cultural heritage

Cultural genocide may also involve forced assimilation, as well as the suppression of a language or cultural activities that do not conform to the destroyer's notion of what is appropriate.[7]

History

Etymology

The notion of 'cultural genocide' was acknowledged as early as 1944, when lawyer Raphael Lemkin distinguished a cultural component of genocide. The term itself did not emerge until later.[8] In 1989, Robert Badinter, a French criminal lawyer known for his stance against the death penalty, used the term "cultural genocide" on a television show to describe what he said was the disappearance of Tibetan culture in the presence of the 14th Dalai Lama.[9] The Dalai Lama would later use the term in 1993[10] and he would use it again in 2008.[11]

Proposed inclusion in the UN's DRIP

See also: United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples

Those who drafted the 1948 Genocide Convention initially considered using of the term, but later dropped it from inclusion.[12][13][14]

Article 7 of a 1994 draft of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (DRIP) uses the phrase "cultural genocide" but does not define what it means.[15] The complete article in the draft read as follows:

Indigenous peoples have the collective and individual right not to be subjected to ethnocide and cultural genocide, including prevention of and redress for:
(a) Any action which has the aim or effect of depriving them of their integrity as distinct peoples, or of their cultural values or ethnic identities;
(b) Any action which has the aim or effect of dispossessing them of their lands, territories or resources;
(c) Any form of population transfer which has the aim or effect of violating or undermining any of their rights;
(d) Any form of assimilation or integration by other cultures or ways of life imposed on them by legislative, administrative or other measures;
(e) Any form of propaganda directed against them.

This wording only ever appeared in a draft. The DRIP—which was adopted by the United Nations General Assembly during its 62nd session at UN Headquarters in New York City on 13 September 2007—only makes reference to genocide once, when it mentions "genocide, or any other act of violence" in Article 7. Though the concept of "ethnocide" and "cultural genocide" was removed in the version adopted by the General Assembly, the sub-points from the draft noted above were retained (with slightly expanded wording) in Article 8 that speaks to "the right not to be subject to forced assimilation."[16]

List of cultural genocides

The term has been used to describe the destruction of cultural heritage in connection with various events which mostly occurred during the 20th century:

Europe

When at the mid-19th century, primary school is made compulsory all across the State, it is also made clear that only French will be taught, and the teachers will severely punish any pupil speaking in patois. The aim of the French educational system will consequently not be to dignify the pupils' natural humanity, developing their culture and teaching them to write their language, but rather to humiliate them and morally degrade them for the simple fact of being what tradition and their nature made them. The self-proclaimed country of the "human rights" will then ignore one of man's most fundamental rights, the right to be himself and speak the language of his nation. And with that attitude France, the "grande France" that calls itself the champion of liberty, will pass the 20th century, indifferent to the timid protest movements of the various linguistic communities it submitted and the literary prestige they may have given birth to.

[...]

France, that under Franco's reign was seen here [in Catalonia] as the safe haven of freedom, has the miserable honour of being the [only] State of Europe—and probably the world – that succeeded best in the diabolical task of destroying its own ethnic and linguistic patrimony and moreover, of destroying human family bonds: many parents and children, or grandparents and grandchildren, have different languages, and the latter feel ashamed of the first because they speak a despicable patois, and no element of the grandparents' culture has been transmitted to the younger generation, as if they were born out of a completely new world. This is the French State that has just entered the 21st century, a country where stone monuments and natural landscapes are preserved and respected, but where many centuries of popular creation expressed in different tongues are on the brink of extinction. The "gloire" and the "grandeur" built on a genocide. No liberty, no equality, no fraternity: just cultural extermination, this is the real motto of the French Republic.

Asia

Oceania

North America

See also: Cultural genocide in the United States and Trail of Tears

See also

References

  1. ^ Bilsky, Leora; Klagsbrun, Rachel (23 July 2018). "The Return of Cultural Genocide?". European Journal of International Law. 29 (2): 373–396. doi:10.1093/ejil/chy025. ISSN 0938-5428. Retrieved 2 May 2020.
  2. ^ a b "Genocide Museum | The Armenian genocide Museum-institute". www.genocide-museum.am. Retrieved 10 October 2019.
  3. ^ Robert Jaulin (1970). La paix blanche : introduction à l'ethnocide (in French). Éditions du Seuil.
  4. ^ Gerard Delanty; Krishan Kumar (29 June 2006). The SAGE Handbook of Nations and Nationalism. SAGE. p. 326. ISBN 978-1-4129-0101-7. Retrieved 28 February 2013. The term 'ethnocide' has in the past been used as a replacement for cultural genocide (Palmer 1992; Smith 1991:30-3), with the obvious risk of confusing ethnicity and culture.
  5. ^ "Cultural Genocide, Stolen Lives: The Indigenous Peoples of Canada and the Indian Residential Schools". Facing History and Ourselves. 16 October 2019. Retrieved 3 December 2019.
  6. ^ "Treaties, States parties, and Commentaries – By topic". ihl-databases.icrc.org. Retrieved 13 June 2018.
  7. ^ "Cultural Genocide, Stolen Lives: The Indigenous Peoples of Canada and the Indian Residential Schools". Facing History and Ourselves. 16 October 2019. Retrieved 3 December 2019.
  8. ^ Raphael Lemkin, Acts Constituting a General (Transnational) Danger Considered as Offences Against the Law of Nations (J. Fussell trans., 2000) (1933); Raphael Lemkin, Axis Rule in Occupied Europe, p. 91 (1944).
  9. ^ Institut National de l'Audiovisuel (21 April 1989). Les droits de l'homme [Human rights]. Apostrophes (Videotape) (in French). Ina.fr. Retrieved 2 May 2015.
  10. ^ "10th March Statements Archive". Retrieved 4 January 2015.
  11. ^ "'Eighty killed' in Tibetan unrest". BBC News. 16 March 2008.
  12. ^ Hirad Abtahi; Philippa Webb (2008). The Genocide Convention. BRILL. p. 731. ISBN 978-90-04-17399-6. Retrieved 22 February 2013.
  13. ^ Lawrence Davidson (8 March 2012). Cultural Genocide. Rutgers University Press. ISBN 978-0-8135-5344-3. Retrieved 22 February 2013.
  14. ^ See Prosecutor v. Krstic, Case No. IT-98-33-T (Int'l Crim. Trib. Yugo. Trial Chamber 2001), at para. 576.
  15. ^ Draft United Nations declaration on the rights of indigenous peoples drafted by The Sub-Commission on Prevention of Discrimination and Protection of Minorities Recalling resolutions 1985/22 of 29 August 1985, 1991/30 of 29 August 1991, 1992/33 of 27 August 1992, 1993/46 of 26 August 1993, presented to the Commission on Human Rights and the Economic and Social Council at 36th meeting 26 August 1994 and adopted without a vote.
  16. ^ "United Nations Declaration on Rights of Indigenous Peoples" (PDF). United Nations. 13 September 2007. p. 10. Retrieved 9 June 2015.
  17. ^ a b The Complexity of the Kazakh Famine: Food Problems and Faulty Perceptions Stephen G. Wheatcroft
  18. ^ William Schabas, Genocide in international law: the crimes of crimes, Cambridge University Press, 2000, ISBN 0-521-78790-4, Google Print, p.179
  19. ^ a b CGS 1st Workshop: "Cultural Genocide" and the Japanese Occupation of Korea (archive) "During Germany's occupation of Poland (1939–1945) and Japan's occupation of Korea (1910–1945), the prohibition of use of the native tongue, the renaming of people and places, the removal of indigenous people from institutions of higher education, the destruction of cultural facilities, the denial of freedom of religious faith, and the changing of cultural education all took place. The instances of German cultural genocide, which Lemkin took as his basis, cannot be ignored when conducting comparative research.""One of the most striking features of Japan's occupation of Korea is the absence of an awareness of Korea as a "colony", and the absence of an awareness of Koreans as a "separate ethnicity". As a result, it is difficult to prove whether or not the leaders of Japan aimed for the eradication of the Korean race."
  20. ^ "Burned library symbolizes multiethnic Sarajevo". Deutsche Welle. 25 August 2012.
  21. ^ J̌овић, Саво Б. (2007). Етничко чишћење и културни геноцид на Косову и Метохији: Сведочанства о страдању Српске православне цркве и српског народа од 1945. до 2005. год (in Serbian). Информативно-издавачка установа Српске православне цркве. ISBN 978-86-7758-016-2.
  22. ^ "Appeal from the extraordinary session of the Expanded Convocation of the Holy Synod of Serbian Orthodox Church".
  23. ^ ERP KiM Info (26 April 2004). "Dopunjeni i ispravljeni spisak uništenih i oštećenih pravoslavnih crkava i manastira na Kosovu u toku martovskog nasilja". B92 Specijal. B92.
  24. ^ "Denying Ethnic Identity". Human Rights Watch. 1 May 1994. Retrieved 10 May 2021.
  25. ^ "Greece's invisible minority – the Macedonian Slavs". BBC News. 24 February 2019. Retrieved 10 May 2021.
  26. ^ Alexis Alexandris, "The Identity Issue of The Minorities in Greece And Turkey", in Hirschon, Renée (ed.), Crossing the Aegean: An Appraisal of the 1923 Compulsory Population Exchange Between Greece and Turkey, Berghahn Books, 2003, p. 120
  27. ^ Λιμπιτσιούνη, Ανθή Γ. Το πλέγμα των ελληνοτουρκικών σχέσεων και η ελληνική μειονότητα στην Τουρκία, οι Έλληνες της Κωνσταντινούπολης της Ίμβρου και της Τενέδου. Αριστοτέλειο Πανεπιστήμιο Θεσσαλονίκης. pp. 98–99.
  28. ^ Eade, John; Katic, Mario (28 June 2014). Ashgate Studies in Pilgrimage. Ashgate Pub Co. p. 38. ISBN 978-1472415929.
  29. ^ Benet, Josep (1978). Catalunya sota el règim franquista (1. reedició ed.). Barcelona: Blume. ISBN 847031064X. OCLC 4777662.
  30. ^ Hargreaves, John E. (2000). Freedom for Catalonia? : Catalan nationalism, Spanish identity, and the Barcelona Olympic Games. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 9780521586153. OCLC 51028883.
  31. ^ Benet, Josep (1979). Cataluña bajo el régimen franquista (1. ed.). Barcelona: Blume. ISBN 84-7031-144-1. OCLC 7188603.
  32. ^ a b c Bowen, Efa (19 July 2020). ""Cofiwch Dryweryn": A Welsh History of Oppression". Cherwell. Retrieved 4 April 2023.
  33. ^ Henley Davis, Richard (6 June 2014). "The Ghettoisation of the Welsh". The Economic Voice. Retrieved 4 April 2023.
  34. ^ Williams, Colin (15 November 2022). "Second homes are hollowing out Welsh communities – and pushing our language into decline". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 4 April 2023.
  35. ^ "Education, the decline of Welsh and why communities matter more than classrooms". Nation.Cymru. 19 February 2020. Retrieved 4 April 2023.
  36. ^ "Cultural genocide: The Broken Harp, Identity and Language in Modern Ireland, by Tomás Mac Síomóin". The Irish Times.
  37. ^ "The Guardian view on... cultural genocide". openDemocracy.
  38. ^ Jeggit (20 February 2018). "Bad Language: Gaelic and Britain's Cultural Genocide".
  39. ^ Murray, Christopher (6 June 2019). Twentieth-Century Irish Drama: Mirror Up to Nation. Syracuse University Press. ISBN 9780815606437 – via Google Books.
  40. ^ Carey, Hilary M. (1 July 1996). Believing in Australia: A cultural history of religions. Allen & Unwin. ISBN 9781742696577 – via Google Books.
  41. ^ Totten, Samuel; Bartrop, Paul Robert; Jacobs, Steven L. (6 June 2019). Dictionary of Genocide. ABC-CLIO. ISBN 9780313346422 – via Google Books.
  42. ^ Corbera, Jaume (23 September 2001). "Le patois des vieux". Diari de Balears. Retrieved 14 December 2021.
  43. ^ Ghanea-Hercock, Nazila (1997). "Review of secondary literature in English on recent persecutions of Bahá'ís in Iran". Baháʼí Studies Review. Association for Baha'i Studies English-Speaking Europe. 7. Retrieved 3 March 2013.
  44. ^ Nader Saiedi (1 May 2008). Gate of the Heart: Understanding the Writings of the Báb. Wilfrid Laurier Univ. Press. p. 377. ISBN 978-1-55458-035-4. Retrieved 3 March 2013.
  45. ^ Frelick, Bill (Fall 1987). "Iranian Baha'is and Genocide Early Warning". Social Science Record. 24 (2): 35–37. Retrieved 3 March 2013.
  46. ^ History Today, November 2007, "Sacred Stones Silenced in Azerbaijan"
  47. ^ Switzerland-Armenia Parliamentary Group, "The Destruction of Jugha", Bern, 2006.
  48. ^ Womack, Catherine (7 November 2019). "Historic Armenian monuments were obliterated. Some call it 'cultural genocide'". LA Times.
  49. ^ MacFarquhar, Roderick; Schoenhals, Michael (2006). Mao's Last Revolution. Harvard University Press. ISBN 978-0-674-02332-1.
  50. ^ "Cultural Genocide Funds ISIS Art-for-Weapons Trade". Charged Affairs. 7 March 2017.
  51. ^ Cronin-Furman, Kate (19 September 2018). "China Has Chosen Cultural Genocide in Xinjiang—For Now". Foreign Policy. Retrieved 20 September 2018.
  52. ^ Kuo, Lily (7 May 2019). "Revealed: new evidence of China's mission to raze the mosques of Xinjiang". The Guardian. Retrieved 7 May 2019.
  53. ^ Passang, Author Tsering (2 October 2021). "China committing "cultural genocide" in Tibet, a 15-year old British Tibetan student told the Resist CCP Day Rally in London". Global Alliance for Tibet & Persecuted Minorities. Retrieved 25 August 2023. ((cite web)): |first= has generic name (help)
  54. ^ Wilkie, Meredith (April 1997). "Bringing them Home: report of the national inquiry into the separation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children from their families – Chapter 13". Australian Human Rights Commission. Retrieved 29 April 2021. The Australian practice of Indigenous child removal involved both systematic racial discrimination and genocide as defined by international law
  55. ^ Jorge Barrera (25 April 2007). "'Genocide' target of fed coverup: MP". Toronto Sun. Archived from the original on 3 May 2015.
  56. ^ "Canada's Forced Schooling of Aboriginal Children Was 'Cultural Genocide,' Report Finds". The New York Times. 2 June 2015. Retrieved 2 June 2015.
  57. ^ Fine, Sean (28 May 2015). "Chief Justice says Canada attempted 'cultural genocide' on aboriginals". The Globe and Mail. Retrieved 30 December 2018.

Further reading