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Books > Social sciences > Warfare & defence > Other warfare & defence issues > War crimes > Genocide
In 1609, the entire Muslim population of Spain was given three days
to leave Spanish territory or else be killed. In a brutal and
traumatic exodus, entire families were forced to abandon the homes
and villages where they had lived for generations. In just five
years, Muslim Spain had effectively ceased to exist: an estimated
300,000 Muslims had been removed from Spanish territory making it
what was then the largest act of ethnic cleansing in European
history.Blood and Faith is a riveting chronicle of this virtually
unknown episode, set against the vivid historical backdrop of
Muslim Spain. It offers a remarkable window onto a little-known
period in modern Europe-a rich and complex tale of competing faiths
and beliefs, of cultural oppression and resistance against
overwhelming odds.
Michael Barnett, who worked at the U.S. Mission to the United
Nations from 1993 to 1994, covered Rwanda for much of the genocide.
Based on his first-hand expeiences, archival work, and interviews
with many key participants, he reconstructs the history of the UN's
involvement in Rwanda. Barnett's new Afterword to this edition
includes his reaction to documents released on the twentieth
anniversary of the genocide. He reflects on what the passage of
time has told us about what provoked the genocide, its course, and
the implications of the ghastly events of 1994 and the grossly
inadequate international reactions to them.
This book offers a novel and productive explanation of why
'ordinary' people can be moved to engage in destructive mass
violence (or terrorism and the abuse of rights), often in large
numbers and in unexpected ways. Its argument is that narratives of
insecurity (powerful horror stories people tell and believe about
their world and others) can easily make extreme acts appear
acceptable, even necessary and heroic. As in action or horror
movies, the script dictates how the 'hero' acts. The book provides
theoretical justifications for this analysis, building on earlier
studies but going beyond them in what amount to a breakthrough in
mapping the context of mass violence. It backs its argument with a
large number of case studies covering four continents, written by
prominent scholars from the relevant countries or with deep
knowledge of them. A substantial introduction by the UN's Special
Advisor on the Prevention of Genocide demonstrates the policy
relevance of this path-breaking work.
Selected as a Book of the Year in 2017 in the Scottish Herald 'The
beauty of the prose is in contrast with the horror anticipated by
this superbly subtle narrative' Kapka Kassabova In 1971, on a
routine outing through the Cambodian countryside, the young French
ethnologist Fran-ois Bizot is captured by the Khmer Rouge. Accused
of being an agent of 'American imperialism', he is chained and
imprisoned. His captor, Douch - later responsible for tens of
thousands of deaths - interrogates him at length; after three
months of torturous deliberation, during which his every word was
weighed and his life hung in the balance, he was released. Four
years later, the Khmer Rouge entered Phnom Penh. Fran-ois Bizot
became the official intermediary between the ruthless conqueror and
the terrified refugees behind the gate of the French embassy: a
ringside seat to one of history's most appalling genocides. Written
thirty years later, Fran-ois Bizot's memoir of his horrific
experiences in the 'killing fields' of Cambodia is, in the words of
John le Carr-, a 'contemporary classic'.
In this book I will look at the 'ethnic cleansing' of the Muslims
by the Serbs in Bosnia-Herzegovina between 1992 and late 1995. This
is not to say atrocities were not committed by or against any other
parties during the war. But as has been clearly proven the majority
was committed by Serbs minority against the Muslims and this was in
accordance with an overall policy of the Serbs in pursuit of a
Greater Serbia. Thereafter, I will look at the response of the
'international community' towards the conflict and tragedy. This
paper will show that the international community throughout the
conflict accepted aggression.
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