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Special

Never again - at the U.N.

by Marinka Peschmann, Special to Canada Free Press

January 25, 2005

at a special United Nations session, held on Monday, in New York, to commemorative the 60th anniversary of the Liberation of the Nazi Concentration Camps, Canada's Minister of Foreign affairs, Pierre Pettigrew, told the assembly, "It happened, in my mind, because the greatest evil is indifference."

Over 6 million Jews were systematically murdered during the Holocaust. Millions perished during World War II.

‘Never again!’ is how Pettigrew ended his eloquent speech, parroting the theme, started by U.N. Secretary-General Kofi annan. Earlier annan declared that, "Such an evil must never be allowed to happen again," and urged the world body that, "We must be on the watch for any revival of anti-Semitism, and ready to act against the new forms of it that are appearing today."

The United Nations was ‘born out of the ashes of the Holocaust.’ But has the United Nations learned from World War II’s history?

Doubtful if you consult people living in Rwanda, Bosnia, Cambodia, and Iraq who have suffered unimaginable horror, and bloodshed, since the day the Nazi's were destroyed, and as Pettigrew acknowledged, the ‘list of those damned by indifference goes on.’

"For, truth be told, we should not be here. In a perfect world, we would not be marking the murder of six million people," Pettigrew said, "But this is not a perfect world."

In Rwanda, 800,000 died, while indifference, and evil triumphed. During the Bosnian war, more than 7,000 people were killed, and over 250,000 were expelled from their homes, while indifference, and evil triumphed.  U.S. and Coalition forces have thus far uncovered over 256 mass graves, in Iraq, that were filled, while indifference, and evil triumphed.  Currently, the Sudanese, where over 1.6 million people have been displaced, and over 70,000 killed, hope for lasting peace, and an end to the merciless killings that plague Darfur, while indifference, and evil triumphed.

Prophetically quoting Reverend Niemöller, a German pastor, who eventually turned against the Nazi's, and was imprisoned at Dachau, Pettigrew articulated, "First they came for the Communists, and I didn't speak up, because I wasn't a Communist. Then they came for the Jews, and I didn't speak up, because I wasn't a Jew. Then they came for the Catholics, and I didn't speak up, because I was a Protestant. Then they came for me, and by that time there was no one left to speak up for me."

The first U.N. special session to commemorate the Liberation of the Nazi Concentration Camps was supported by approximately 150 countries out of 191 members invited by Kofi annan to participate. ‘Membership in the United Nations is open to all peace loving states.’ The United States initiated the session. 

Marinka Peschmann is a freelance writer whose first book collaboration, the best-selling The Kid Stays In The Picture; was made into a documentary. She's contributed to several books and stories ranging from showbiz and celebrities to true crime and politics.



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