Thoughts on the Holodomor
The last Saturday in November marks the remembrance of the Holdomor. The word Holodomor means ‘Death by Hunger’. It was one of the worst atrocities of the Soviet era. An estimated 6 million Ukrainian ‘Kulaks’ were starved to death or put into camps whilst crops grew in the fields they once carefully tended.
The Soviet dictator Stalin disliked the independent Ukranians and their small farms. They would not willingly form part of his collective plan. In 1932-33 they had grown enough food for themselves but not enough to share with the State. Issued with quotas, the Ukranians had their crops forcibly removed with threats and acts of violence and murder. They were left to starve, in their desperation they ate twigs, weeds and pets; some took to cannibalism. The Kremlin is still unwilling to accept this as a genocide.
I mark this on social media and every year I am shocked to find that the event is not more widely known. The discussion this year brought up other, lesser known massacres, Armenia, the killing fields of Cambodia, Rwanda………, whilst the Holocaust is widely taught in schools, these events remain in the backwater of wider awareness.
For me, the unifying feature of all of these massacres is ‘otherism’. A powerful figure or authority scapegoats one group of people, they are dehumanised and portrayed as lesser beings.
The subsequent slaughter of these individuals is either ignored, allowed to carry on through fear, or, sometimes supported by the favoured group.
This trap of othering seems alarmingly easy to fall into, all x are x is common parlance, Gammons, SJW’s, Brexiteers, Remoaners, Uygurs, Lefties, Football fans, ……..and now we have ‘un-vaxxed’. The demonisation of large groups of people should worry us, sweeping generalisations are at least fallacious and and at worst, very dangerous.
Personally I am going to be on my guard against this, people are individuals, because one person votes a certain way, supports a specific cause, is from a particular ethnic or religious background does not make them part of a homogenous group.
I want to bridge gaps in our understanding of each other, be kind and strive to find out what unites us. At a guess, I think we all wish to be free from tyranny.
The Holodomor and the dangers of othering.
I am glad there are many of us that feel the same way
https://maajidnawaz.substack.com/p/hide-the-vaccine-free-under-your