The New York Times reports today that support is waning in the House for a Democratic sponsored resolution condemning the mass killing of Armenians by Ottoman Turks between 1915 and 1917. While many of us agree that the systematic slaughter of hundreds of thousands of people based on race or ethnicity is to be frowned upon, this bill has been the source of some controversy. The Turkish government tends to be overly touchy about being labeled the perpetrator of a genocide, and has repeatedly stated that relations between the US and Turkey could be severely damaged by the passage of this condemnation. President Bush has lobbied strongly against the bill and called on House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to prevent it from reaching a floor vote.

Now like most Democrats, I hate America and care only about Third World orphans, sodomy, self-righteous condemnation of military aggression, and welfare fraud––in that order. As such, non-binding condemnations of historical military brutalities are the third most important issue on my mind right now, behind only the plight of the children in Darfur, and hot and heavy butt-fucking. I support the passage of this bill as a way to right a historical wrong––a sort of legislative version of “Quantum Leap”––however, I agree with many in the House who say that it is ill-timed. It is sure to enflame the passions of a normally staunch ally in the War on Terror, but more importantly, it distracts attention from largely symbolic non-binding resolutions of much greater import.

The Revolt in the Vendee is a little remembered event during the French Revolution, one that is to be forgotten at our own peril. In 1793, the largely Roman Catholic people of the Vendee, an isolated coastal region of France, rebelled against the Republic established by the Revolution. After an initially feeble response by the army of the Republic, a final “pacification” was launched in 1794, which by 1796 had left an estimated 117,000 to 500,000 (out of a total population of 800,000) dead. After crushing the Royal and Catholic Army of the Vendee, the Republic proceeded to engage in mass slaughter of civilians, scorched earth destruction of crops and forests, the razing of villages, and more than likely the type of sodomy that gives the normally noble activity a bad name. Many historians consider this campaign the first modern genocide. We must not let the government of France off the hook for such a heinous crime, and the House of Representatives must not be dissuaded from their duty to give the humble people of the Vendee justice.

With France’s new, more dynamic president Nicolas Sarkozy in office there is a real chance to thaw the normally chilly relations our two countries experienced after the launch of the Iraq war. Many will argue that because of this opportunity now is not the time for this condemnation of the genocide in the Vendee. It is important for the US to maintain strong relations with our allies in Western Europe, but we cannot shirk our responsibility as the standard bearer of justice and humanity throughout the world. We must go on record as being opposed to the wholesale slaughter of hundreds of thousands of innocents, regardless of our ties to the guilty parties or the more than two centuries that have passed. Call or write your congressmen and urge them to support a largely symbolic non-binding resolution condemning the slaughter in the Vendee now.

Sphere: Related Content

This entry was posted on Wednesday, October 17th, 2007 at 10:40 am and is filed under The Malcontent. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

Related Posts

• The Malcontent: Crazy for Hire - May 1st, 08
• The Malcontent: Rebranding Reality TV - March 19th, 08
• The Malcontent: The Audacity of Hope and the Persistence of Fear - March 5th, 08
• The Malcontent: Peter Keough - Abortions for Everyone - January 24th, 08
• The Malcontent Presents: The Year in Movies as I Imagine It Might Have Happened - December 28th, 07