Action: Genocide Prevention Month

April is Genocide Prevention Month. April 7 marked the 15th anniversary of the Rwandan genocide, where nearly one million people were slaughtered in three months. Other genocides have begun in April, too--the Holocaust, the Armenian genocide, the Srebrenica massacre in Bosnia. Genocide Prevention Month was established in the United States to be a period of remembrance, and also a period of activism directed toward fighting the forms of genocide that are happening today.

(By the way, if you're interested in the nitty-gritty definition of genocide, click here.)

Over the next couple of weeks, I'll be putting up several posts with suggestions on how you can commemorate Genocide Prevention Month, and turn it into an opportunity for activism. This post, though, is going to focus on what I view as the heart of everything: Education. The first thing I want you to do this month is to read a book and watch a movie. Learn more about genocides that have occurred; feel it.

1) Read a book. The Genocide Prevention Project and the American Booksellers' Association have created a list of "Books of Conscience" that will give you insight into past and current conflicts and genocides. I'm going to post the list in its entirety here, but please be aware I haven't read most of these books.

ABOUT GENOCIDE

A Problem From Hell: America and the Age of Genocide by Samantha Power

The Sunflower: On the Possibilities and Limits of Forgiveness by Simon Wiesenthal

ARMENIA

The Bastard of Istanbul by Elif Shafak

Forgotten Fire by Adam Bagdasarian

A Shameful Act: The Armenian Genocide and the Question of Turkish Responsibility by Taner Akcam

BOSNIA

The Cellist of Sarajevo by Steven Galloway

The Hemingway Book Club of Kosovo by Paula Huntley

Zlata's Diary: A Child's Life in Wartime Sarajevo by Zlata Filipovic

CAMBODIA

Children of the River by Linda Crew

First They Killed My Father: A Daughter of Cambodia Remembers by Loung Ung

DARFUR

Darfur: A Short History of a Long War by Julie Flint and Alex de Waal

Darfur Diaries: Stories of Survival by Jen Marlowe, Aisha Bain, and Adam Shapiro

The Devil Came on Horseback: Bearing Witness to the Genocide in Darfur by Brian Steidle, Gretchen Steidle Wallace

A Long Day's Dying: Critical Moments in the Darfur Genocide by Eric Reeves

Not on Our Watch: The Mission to End Genocide in Darfur and Beyond by Don Cheadle, John Prendergast

The Translator: A Memoir by Daoud Hari

THE HOLOCAUST

The Diary of a Young Girl: Anne Frank by Anne Frank, Susan Massotty (translator)

The Drowned and the Saved by Primo Levi

Maus I: A Survivor's Tale by Art Spiegelman

Night by Elie Wiesel, Marion Wiesel (translator)

Number the Stars by Lois Lowry

Survival in Auschwitz by Primo Levi

RWANDA

Africa's World War: Congo, the Rwandan Genocide, and the Making of a Continental Catastrophe by Gerard Prunier

Deogratias: A Tale of Rwanda by J.P. Stassen, Alexis Siegel (translator)

Say You're One of Them by Uwem Akpan

Shake Hands With the Devil: The Failure of Humanity in Rwanda by Romeo Dallaire

A Sunday at the Pool in Kigali: A Novel by Gil Courtemanche

We Wish to Inform You That Tomorrow We Will be Killed With Our Families
Stories From Rwanda by Phillip Gourevitch


ALSO OF NOTE

What Is the What: The Autobiography of Valentino Achak Deng by Dave Eggers

Let me recommend a couple of others that aren't on this list: When Broken Glass Floats: Growing Up Under the Khmer Rouge by Chanrithy Him, and Left to Tell: Discovering God Amidst the Rwandan Holocaust by Immaculee Ilibagiza.

This is why I love to read: I believe that reading breaks down the barriers between groups and peoples. It gives us the chance to see from behind someone else's eyes, to get inside their skin. It humanizes everyone, including the reader. And I like to believe that this process--of humanization and the destruction of superficial barriers--is a crucial part of creating a world where genocide is unthinkable. So do a little something to get more human: read a book of conscience this month.

2) Watch a film. A good film does the same thing as a good book; it puts you into another place and time and makes you capable of feeling what someone else feels. I'm going to list some that I can vouch for personally, and others that I haven't seen but have heard recommended. Some of these films are feature/fiction films, and some are documentaries. Some are about the genocides listed above, and others just share similar themes.

FILMS I HAVE SEEN:
Schindler's List
Hotel Rwanda
War Photographer
Pray the Devil Back to Hell
Rabbit Proof Fence
Life is Beautiful

FILMS I HAVEN'T SEEN (but have heard recommended):
The Devil Came on Horseback
The Killing Fields
Sometimes in April
Darfur Now
Blessed is the Match
My Neighbor My Killer
Ghosts of Rwanda
The Diary of Anne Frank
Shake Hands With the Devil: The Journey of Romeo Dallaire

Feel free to list other recommendations of books and movies in the comments section! And if you'd like to write a book review or film review for this blog, just let me know!