american-holocaust

ON RACISM AND GENOCIDE 279The definition of genocide, though also a subject of debate for many years,will take much less time to discuss. That is because most of the controversyover the term-such as whether victims of mass murder whose onlycommon denominator is political belief are truly victims of genocide-isnot relevant to the subject of this book. All that is relevant is whether theSpanish and Anglo-American destruction of the culturally and ethnicallyand racially defined peoples of the Americas constituted genocide.The term "genocide" was coined by Raphael Lemkin in his book AxisRule in Occupied Europe, published in 1944. Frank Chalk and Kurt Jonassohnsummarize Lemkin's pioneering thinking:Under Lemkin's definition, genocide was the coordinated and planned annihilationof a national, religious, or racial group by a variety of actions aimedat undermining the foundations essential to the survival of the group as agroup. Lemkin conceived of genocide as "a composite of different acts ofpersecution or destruction." His definition included attacks on political andsocial institutions, culture, language, national feelings, religion, and the economicexistence of the group. Even nonlethal acts that undermined the liberty,dignity, and personal security of members of a group constituted genocideif they contributed to weakening the viability of the group. Under Lemkin'sdefinition, acts of ethnocide-a term coined by the French after the war tocover the destruction of a culture without the killing of its bearers-alsoqualified as genocide. 29Two years after the publication of Lemkin's book-and thanks to his constantlobbying efforts-the United Nations General Assembly passed thefollowing resolution:Genocide is the denial of the right of existence to entire human groups, ashomicide is the denial of the right to live of individual human beings; suchdenial of the right of existence shocks the conscience of mankind, results ingreat losses to humanity in the form of cultural and other contributions representedby these groups, and is contrary to moral law and to the spirit andaims of the United Nations. Many instances of such crimes of genocide haveoccurred, when racial, religious, political and other groups have been destroyed,entirely or in part. The punishment of the crime of genocide is amatter of international concern. The General Assembly Therefore, Affirmsthat genocide is a crime under international law which the civilized worldcondemns, and for the commission of which principals and accompliceswhetherprivate individuals, public officials or statesmen, and whether thecrime is committed on religious, racial, political or any other grounds-arepunishable.Finally, in 1948, the Genocide Convention of the United Nations wasadopted unanimously and without abstentions: