mass violence

We speak with historian Dirk Moses about the origins of the 1948 UN Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide: the lawyer behind it (Raphael Lemkin), its influence on the public understanding of genocide, how it has been used, and how political the process of accountability has become. 

For further reading: The Problems of Genocide, by Dirk Moses and the Genocide Convention.

This episode is supported by Indiana University's Presidential Arts and Humanities Program, the Tobias Center, the African Studies Program, the Center for the Study of the Middle East, and the Huh Jum Ok Human Rights Foundation.

Sound editing by James Dorton and Emily Leisz Carr, mixing by Seth Olansky, music "Souffle Nocturne" by Ben Cohen.

Production by Shilla Kim and Clémence Pinaud.

We need a modicum of vitality to simply be alive in this time. And we're in an enduringly tender place. The mental health crisis that is invoked all around, especially as we look to the young, is one manifestation of the gravity of the post-2020 world. How to name and honor this more openly? How to hold that together with the ways we've been given to learn and to grow? Who are we called to be moving forward? Dr. Vivek Murthy is a brilliant, wise, and kind companion in these questions. He's a renowned physician and research scientist in his second tenure as U.S. Surgeon General. And for years, he's been naming and investigating loneliness as a public health matter, including his own experience of that very human condition. 

It is beyond rare to be in the presence of a person holding high governmental office who speaks about love with ease and dignity — and about the agency to be healers that is available to us all. There is so much here to walk away with, and into. This conversation quieted and touched a room full of raucous podcasters at the 2023 On Air Fest in Brooklyn.

There are many resources for mental health support. If you're in the U.S., find some of them here.

Vivek Murthy is the 21st Surgeon General of the United States. He also served in this role from 2014 to 2017. He hosts the podcast House Calls with Dr. Vivek Murthy. And he’s the author of Together: The Healing Power of Human Connection in a Sometimes Lonely World.

Find the transcript for this show at onbeing.org.

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Sign up for The Pause to receive our seasonal Saturday morning newsletter and advance invitations and news on all things On Being.

And: if you can, please take a minute to rate On Being in this podcast app — you'll be bending the arc of algorithms towards this adventure of conversation and living.

We need a modicum of vitality to simply be alive in this time. And we're in an enduringly tender place. The mental health crisis that is invoked all around, especially as we look to the young, is one manifestation of the gravity of the post-2020 world. How to name and honor this more openly? How to hold that together with the ways we've been given to learn and to grow? Who are we called to be moving forward? Dr. Vivek Murthy is a brilliant, wise, and kind companion in these questions. He's a renowned physician and research scientist in his second tenure as U.S. Surgeon General. And for years, he's been naming and investigating loneliness as a public health matter, including his own experience of that very human condition. 

It is beyond rare to be in the presence of a person holding high governmental office who speaks about love with ease and dignity — and about the agency to be healers that is available to us all. There is so much here to walk away with, and into. This conversation quieted and touched a room full of raucous podcasters at the 2023 On Air Fest in Brooklyn.

There are many resources for mental health support. If you're in the U.S., find some of them here.

Vivek Murthy is the 21st Surgeon General of the United States. He also served in this role from 2014 to 2017. He hosts the podcast House Calls with Dr. Vivek Murthy. And he’s the author of Together: The Healing Power of Human Connection in a Sometimes Lonely World.

This unedited audio includes audience Q & A at the 2023 On Air Fest. Find a shorter, produced version in the On Being episode "Vivek Murthy — To Be a Healer." The transcript for that show is at onbeing.org.

___________

Sign up for The Pause to receive our seasonal Saturday morning newsletter and advance invitations and news on all things On Being.

And: if you can, please take a minute to rate On Being in this podcast app — you'll be bending the arc of algorithms towards this adventure of conversation and living.

We all want life to get back to normal as soon as possible after we’ve experienced any sort of disaster. But what is recovery? And how will we know when we’ve found it?

Family and domestic violence increase in communities affected by disasters. Why is this, and what can we do about it? If you or someone you know is experiencing family or domestic violence, you can go to your GP or 1800RESPECT for advice and guidance. That is https://www.1800respect.org.au/

A disaster that has some form of court case or legal proceeding attached to it comes with some particular challenges. There are things that we can do to help prepare ourselves for the additional strains that being involved in a legal proceeding after a disaster might bring. This episode does not give legal advice. Depending on the sort event and legal proceedings, there are different types of procedural support available to you, such as the Victims of Crime teams or police liaison services.

A massive event affects each of us in different of ways, but we do know that people who have experienced previous trauma are more likely to be affected because a disaster can trigger memories. So when a whole community has already experienced trauma, the impacts can be particularly tough for a whole group of people. For example, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities who are already navigating intergenerational trauma will carry that experience through a disaster event. Or former refugee communities are already contending with a difficult past will have unique challenges in this new environment. If you're in those communities, or supporting people in those communities, what can you do to make it easier? One key is respecting and honouring the resilience they have already displayed.

Disasters that are caused by deliberate acts of violence like terrorism or arson can feel different to those that are caused by big weather events or freak accidents. People who experience disasters that involve violence may be at greater risk of negative impacts, and may also have to deal with drawn out legal processes. There are things that you can do to help yourself and the people you love after these events.

While we understandably think of the people who have been directly physically impacted by a disaster, the impacts of disasters are far reaching. Disasters really do affect more people than you might first think. It’s important that we move beyond comparing tangible impacts and towards thinking about how to care for everyone.

What do you say to someone who is struggling? We can often avoid people who have been through something tough like a disaster or a death in the family, because we’re scared of saying the wrong thing. But there are ways to approach these conversations that will make them easier.

When you’ve been through a disaster already, it’s common to feel stressed that something else can happen. We go through the tips to prepare, and then move on with life. Preparation for a future disaster goes beyond packing a first aid kit. It’s about acceptance, communication and community as well as the practical things you may think of.

When the landscape is drastically impacted by a fire, flood or a cyclone, we can all feel a loss. Perhaps you've walked through a silent landscape after a fire, or seen massive trees laying in the middle of a field, after being carried kilometers by a raging, flooded river. We all feel that sense of loss and mourning. As people, we are all connected to the natural environment. And for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians, people who work and live on the land, and wildlife carers, that loss can be heightened.

While disasters are hard, it’s also really common to have positive change alongside the rough bits. It has a name – Post Traumatic Growth. But while we can admit things are tough, we can really struggle with accepting the good bits. It’s okay to be okay and it’s okay to not be okay. There is no right or wrong.

Making a place, and a time, to remember the moment of a disaster can be fraught but there are some things you can do to make the process easier.

One of the biggest choices people face after a disaster is whether or not to move somewhere new. When your home or community are drastically impacted by a disaster, how do you decide whether to stay where you are or to make a fresh start? There’s no right or wrong answer, but there are things you can do to help make the choice.

What can you do to make the insurance process easier? Working out how to claim for insurance is actually pretty tricky at the best of times, but after a big event like a fire or flood, it can be even harder.

Whether the kids in your life are toddlers or teenagers, there are some key tips for how to help them through the aftermath of a disaster. There are also things you can do to help yourself as a parent or carer.

Is what you’re feeling normal? We all react to a disaster differently, and how we react will change depending on what else is happening in our lives. But is there anything you can expect to experience out of a disaster? 

You’ve been through a disaster, what next? 

The Resistance Network is the history of an underground network of humanitarians, missionaries, and diplomats in Ottoman Syria who helped save the lives of thousands during the Armenian Genocide. The book challenges depictions of Armenians as passive victims of violence and subjects of humanitarianism, demonstrating the key role they played in organizing a humanitarian resistance against the destruction of their people. Piecing together hundreds of accounts, official documents, and missionary records, Mouradian presents a social history of genocide and resistance in wartime Aleppo and a network of transit and concentration camps stretching from Bab to Ras ul-Ain and Der Zor. He ultimately argues that, despite the violent and systematic mechanisms of control and destruction in the cities, concentration camps, and massacre sites in this region, the genocide of the Armenians did not progress unhindered—unarmed resistance proved an important factor in saving countless lives.

Khatchig Mouradian is a lecturer in Middle Eastern, South Asian, and African studies at Columbia University, and the editor of the peer-reviewed journal The Armenian Review. In 2020, Dr. Mouradian was awarded a Humanities War & Peace Initiative Grant from Columbia University.

The Resistance Network: The Armenian Genocide and Humanitarianism in Ottoman Syria, 1915-1918 is available at msupress.org and other fine booksellers. Khatchig is on Twitter @khatcho and he’s also available on Facebook and Instagram. You can connect with the press on Facebook and @msupress on Twitter, where you can also find me @kurtmilb.

The MSU Press podcast is a joint production of MSU Press and the College of Arts & Letters at Michigan State University. Thanks to the team at MSU Press for helping to produce this podcast. Our theme music is “Coffee” by Cambo. 

Michigan State University occupies the ancestral, traditional, and contemporary Lands of the Anishinaabeg – Three Fires Confederacy of Ojibwe, Odawa and Potawatomi people. The University resides on Land ceded in the 1819 Treaty of Saginaw.