One of the questions that I keep getting is whether or not I attended the ceremony at Auschwitz. In effect, no I didn’t, for several reasons. First of all, the question of the week was ‘how are you getting there?’ because no one knew how to do it given that major roads were closed to the ceremony because of the high profile delegation. Once I actually figured out how to get there, there was no guarantee that I would be able to make it back. This, in combination with the foot of snow and freezing temperatures proved a deterrent, not to mention the fact that because I was not part of an official delegation, I would be by myself in the middle of nowhere and probably wouldn’t be able to see anything. With this aside, I gave this commemoration a great deal of thought.

Each year, we become further and further away from Holocaust history and this anniversary has been called ‘the last major anniversary with survivors.’ The sad truth is, they’re probably right. Yet, every year, we carefully repackage this atrocity in history with claims of ‘never again’ and ‘the world must know’ or ‘remember.’ The focus on this past should be crucial to our actions in the present and as important to our future. One of the biggest questions asked has been ‘what have we learned?’ My feelings on this change from day to day depending on the state of the world, but I began focusing on the international presence at the Auschwitz commemoration and what that body has been doing. But, at the same time, what have we as individuals and nations been doing for each other?

While the trauma of the tsunami in Asia seems to waning, the abject destruction of cultures and nations has been immeasurable. Internally displaced persons are struggling against disease and water contamination, with some knowing they are never to return to their homes as they knew them. Some areas have been hit so hard by the tsunami that the lands are uninhabitable. At the same time, indigenous tribes in the Andaman Islands are struggling with losing their way of life, for many of these reasons. There is fear amongst many that this will force indigenous peoples as well as civilians in hard hit areas to abandon their homes to emigrate and forge a new way of life inland. With the focus on relief, the international community has stepped in to provide equipment as well as aid, but still, what can we do about the destruction of the sense of place that binds us to our homes?

At the same time, Africa has been dealing with disasters on all sides. Besides the continuing problems of HIV/AIDS, the continent has been dealt some serious blows in the last few months. New mass graves have been discovered in Uganda from Idi Amin genocide in the 1970s, creating more tension in an already unstable area. Violence in Rwanda and Uganda by militants continues, unchecked (for the most part) by the international community. Just like at the conference in Berlin, no one seems to be taking notice, letting it simply happen without an afterthought. Why do we seem to only care when it comes to commemorations? Why aren’t we concerned now?

In the same region, Burundi is facing a disastrous famine. Droughts coupled with disease cassava plants (drought resistant plants) have put the nation in a potentially impossible situation. Many people are forced to leave Burundi, leaving their homes and families, to find work in other countries to bring their meager wages home. The situation in the Congo has done anything put improve, mass graves are unearthed, and fresh violence covers the pages of the news every day. The situation in Darfur explains itself. Ceasefires have been ignored and while there was hope that the end of the civil war between North and South Sudan would end this conflict, Darfur residents are still being attacked, murdered, raped, or displaced. Aid worker journals have given us a stark picture of all of this, from nurses to journalists, there are people working against what’s happening, but they can only treat the symptoms, it’s beyond their power to do much more. The World Bank says it needs a 60% increase in its budget for it to be able combat poverty; the BBC reports that Africa is so far behind on its poverty goals that it will be 100 years before they can alleviate the situation in Africa. While aid organizations are doing what they can to provide relief for various peoples, some are not being helped. The Bushmen in Botswana are under extreme persecution from their government. This nomadic tribe has been pushed off their old hunting grounds and when they return to hunt for food for their families, they are arrested and tortured, released only under extortionist bail. There’s no one to speak for them.

Back in Poland, the commemoration of the liberation of Auschwitz. Vladimir Putin is given a medal of honor for his work organizing the ceremony, while his government is persecuting the Muslim Chechens. While we look back to the importance of this event, the war crimes trials of Bosnians involve in the 1990s genocide goes on, and renewed violence erupts in Kosovo. I ask the same question, ‘what are we doing with what we’ve learned?’

There seems to be quite a bit of negativity from most people if asked if they think the lessons of the Holocaust have been learned (BBC poll), and I must often agree with them. Yet, at the same time, there really is so much good happening as well. Tsunami efforts in the form of national donations and individual contributions have been amazing. Various performance artists have organized benefit concerts with contributions to be sent to the disaster relief. On our way back from Berlin, EasyJet airlines collected pocket change for the same cause. People know and people seem to care.

I was amazed to open the BBC news website and see that there has been a call by several powerful nations for the cancellation of Third World debt, which would be incredibly important to poverty goals as well as health, food, and other issues. This also, I might add, coincides (in some sense) with Immanuel Wallerstein’s prediction of the fall of capitalism in the next 50-150 years.

I’m currently on a mailing list for the Feng Shui Diary (link to Imperial Feng Shui website below). In the Feng Shui Predictions for 2005 entry, it is quoted as saying, “This is the decade if not the year that hunger ends.” I was curious about the cancellation of Third World debt as a step toward this so I emailed the author and asked, “I saw this and after reading I was thinking about your prediction for the end of world hunger. How do you think this fits in (if at all)?” He replied:

‘It does but there's a leapfrog still needed. I thought Sharon Stone raising all that money for Tanzania was a glimpse of what will shift the dead weight. Unreasonable female energy that can harness anger without heroism or threat.

Otherwise all I see so far is a shuffling of existing positions.

I believe world hunger can be over if the break in the clouds that comes in April is exploited. Sometimes even when the ball is on the penalty spot someone has to kick it. I think it will be a woman or women. Whatever happens will probably not per se at least demand attention but will be visible enough that we can all see that it has happened.’

Sharon Stone stood up at a conference and in 5 minutes had raised a considerable sum of money for mosquito netting for malaria prevention. There seems to be hope after all, if we use our opportunities correctly and ourselves responsibly.

So, as I thought about the disaster and negligence, I had to balance it with the fact that there are people out there who care. But what if we all just cared a little bit more and listened to each other? The commemoration at Auschwitz meant more than to tick another anniversary off a wall calendar. I think that it has demonstrated the danger of empty remembrance of being lost so deeply in the past and those who suffered in the past that we have lost sight, in some ways, of those suffering now, when we can help, in whatever small way. The gestures of peace and goodwill, from China connecting flights to Taiwan after 55 years of no-fly status to the little dialogues going on between groups, to food being distributed, vaccinations being given, or educational initiatives. Maybe the commemoration was about making us better global citizens, more responsible for each other.
I think it’s important to remember. Not just in the sense of the commemoration, but to remember that we can always do something however small, we can give money of course, but we can also give of ourselves, a far more important and rewarding experience.

Links:

Imperial Feng Shui
http://www.imperialfengshui.info/

Burundi food shortage
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/4185401.stm

World Bank calls for Africa aid
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/4195187.stm

Africa to miss key poverty goals
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/4180595.stm

Actress Stone raises fast million
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/4218565.stm

Aiding Darfur: A Nurse’s Story
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/4007353.stm

Ugandan mass graves
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/4215629.stm

Quotes:

“Despite everything I really think that people are good at heart.” –Anne Frank

“This is my universe and I am responsible for it. None of us is stuck with anything.” –Richard Ashworth