Cultural genocide
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Cultural genocide is a term used to describe the deliberate destruction of the cultural heritage of a people or nation for political or military reasons.
United Nations
Article 7 of the "United Nations draft declaration on the rights of indigenous peoples" (26 August 1994) defines "Cultural genocide" (emphasis added)[Draft United Nations declaration on the rights of indigenous peoples] drafted by The Sub-Commission on Prevention of Discrimination and Protection of Minorities Recalling resolutions 1985/22 of 29 August 1985, 1991/30 of 29 August 1991, 1992/33 of 27 August 1992, 1993/46 of 26 August 1993, presented to the Commission on Human Rights and the Economic and Social Council at 36th meeting 26 August 1994 and adopted without a vote.:
- Indigenous peoples have the collective and individual right not to be subjected to ethnocide and cultural genocide, including prevention of and redress for:
- :(a) Any action which has the aim or effect of depriving them of their integrity as distinct peoples, or of their cultural values or ethnic identities;
- :(b) Any action which has the aim or effect of dispossessing them of their lands, territories or resources;
- :(c) Any form of population transfer which has the aim or effect of violating or undermining any of their rights;
- :(d) Any form of assimilation or integration by other cultures or ways of life imposed on them by legislative, administrative or other measures;
- :(e) Any form of propaganda directed against them.
Examples
The Government of Tibet in Exile and its supporters use the term to describe the activities of the People's Republic of China in Tibet which it claims is destroying ancient Tibetan culture and religion. The activities which the Government in Exile accuses the Chinese government of performing include closing Tibetan Buddhist temples and encouraging outside immigration into Tibet.
Supporters of the People's Republic of China argue that while wishing to stop secessionist activity in Tibet it does not actively desire to see Tibetan culture eradicated. They also claim that it is improper to use such a highly charged word as genocide to describe any cultural change, especially since Chinese policies in Tibet have allegedly been far less assimilationist than the policies of many nations which are making the criticism.
Other examples of alleged cultural genocide also include: the dissolution of the monasteries in medieval England, the flooding of the ancient city of Hasankeyf by the construction of the Ilısu Dam, destruction of Armenian churches and the destruction of Greek/Byzantine monuments in Turkey; the burning of national archives in Sarajevo; Indian Removal in the United States (and similar polices carried out by Australia, Canada and New Zealand aimed at relocating and assimilating indigenous peoples); the deliberate destruction of the Irish Public Records Office and its thousand years of records by the Irish Republican Army in 1922; the destruction of Armenian stone crosses, cemeteries, and katchkars by Azerbaijan in the region of Nakhichevan; and the destruction of Cambodian monuments and records by the Khmer Rouge (some of which might be described as being closer to cultural suicide). Self-proclaimed critics (German Neo-Nazis) of the Allied bombing of Dresden also describe the destruction of the militarily insignificant but architecturally priceless city by carpet bombing as cultural genocide.
Many people now claim this practice is being inflicted on western countries due to mass immigration.
See also
- Endangered language
- Language policy
- Linguicide
- Ethnocide
- Stolen Generation of Australia
- Residential schools in Canada
- Native Schools in New Zealand
- Ilısu Dam Campaign
- Southeastern Anatolia Project
- Welsh Not
- Prayer Book Rebellion
External links
- [Rethinking Cultural Genocide Under International Law]
- [Raphael Lemkin]
- [Tibetan cultural genocide]
- [Cultural genocide of Armenian monuments continues]
- [Aboriginal cultural genocide]
- [Spiritual and cultural genocide of the Native Americans]
- [Breton TV boss condemns the French government’s cultural genocide of the Breton people]
- [Cornish cultural genocide/Cornish paradox]
- [Bloodless Genocide of the Pitcairn People in Norfolk Island]
- [Cornish cultural genocide]
Notes
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