LOWELL, Mass.—As millions of Armenians throughout the world gathered to commemorate the 97th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide, a significant turnout at UMass Lowell also got its fill of genocide education on April 24.
Students and staff members of this state university turned out for a panel discussion on genocide, featuring scholars and survivors who discussed the Armenian genocide, the Holocaust, as well as the genocides in Cambodia and Bosnia.
The symposium was arranged by the Armenian Genocide Education Committee of Merrimack Valley through the auspices of Facing History and Ourselves. It was facilitated by Sociology Professor Levon Chorbajian, a historian and community activist, in conjunction with the Peace and Conflict Studies Program at the institution.
Special consideration was paid to colleagues Dr. Paula Rayman and Seth Izen for their efforts in accelerating the curriculum in so short a time.
The moderator was Gregory Aftandilian, an associate of the Middle East Center at the university, who traveled here from Washington, D.C. Aftandilian serves as a consultant and visiting lecturer at UMass and was humbled by the opportunity to moderate such a distinguished panel featuring genocide survivors.
“It is especially moving for me because I am the grandson of Armenian Genocide survivors,” said Aftandilian. “Hearing these stories of survival is a compelling experience for me.”
Aftandilian praised the efforts of the MV Genocide Education Committee for its mission of visiting area schools and offering genocide education in the form of classroom presentations and panel discussion such as these.
“Through education, we can achieve recognition and prevention,” he added.
Armenian Weekly Editor Khatchig Mouradian took the opportunity to show some visuals of the Der Zor plains where skeletal remains of martyrs are still in plain view. Some 200,000 were murdered there during the death marches of 1915.
“Children who play in these areas are scratching the surface and finding bones,” he revealed. “They know these bones belong to Armenians.”
Mouradian took the opportunity to analyze President Obama’s remarks on April 24, bringing to light the fact that the president continues to skirt the genocide issue.
“Was it out of fear toward upsetting the Turkish government?” he pondered. “In Turkey today, many intellectuals are coming to terms with their past by holding observances. A minority is starting to challenge the state’s denial process.”
Mouradian pointed to the empty chairs in gathering halls that once belonged to survivors and asked that they be filled by activists in their memory.
“We can do them justice by engaging in action,” he noted. “It’s imperative for all of us to stand up against injustice.”
Other panelists included James Vanderpol, an 87-year-old Holocaust survivor who lived in the Netherlands during Hitler’s invasion; Sayon Soeun, a child soldier during the Cambodian uprising who was kidnapped by the Khmer Rouge at the age of five; and Jasmina Cesic, the first Bosnian refugee to America after escaping the massacre.
Students offered a cache of questions following the presentations, on reconciliation and forgiveness from perpetrators; risks taken to save genocide victims; resentment toward UN forces for remaining passive in the face of adversity; and why the United States failed to intervene as peaceful nations were being decimated.
Tom Vartabedian
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At U Mass Lowell it was nice of Prof. Levon Chorbajian to bring different ethnic groups together to talk of their difficulties they went through in Cambodia, Bosnia, Armenia, and the Jewish Genocides. We must not forget the sufferings of all people that went thru Genocides.