• Flying Squid@lemmy.world
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    1 month ago

    Not teaching it in school isn’t the same as denying it. No country teaches every language spoken at home in schools.

    I suppose if the U.S. invaded Mexico and Mexico banned the U.S. cultural enclaves that had arisen there from celebrating July 4th, that would also be genocide?

    Seems like genocide is not all that horrific in your view.

    • jordanlund@lemmy.worldM
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      1 month ago

      Article II of the genocide convention has 5 definitions, any one of the five is enough for it to be called a genocide:

      https://iccforum.com/genocide-convention

      (a) Killing members of the group;

      (b) Causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group;

      © Deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part;

      (d) Imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group;

      (e) Forcibly transferring children of the group to another group.

      Attempting to eliminate a culture by restricting it’s beliefs, teachings, or language would fall under ©. This is precisely what was done in the US and Canada with “Indian Schools” for example, and partially is what is being done to the Uyghurs in China, although they are also being subjected to (a), (b), (d) and (e) as well.

      • Flying Squid@lemmy.world
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        1 month ago

        Indian Schools were boarding schools that forced kids to use English. That is not the same.

        I gave two scenarios here: Public schools not teaching Russian in Ukraine and a hypothetical scenario where the very real American enclaves in Mexico were prevented from celebrating U.S. independence day if Mexico were invaded and asked if those were genocide. Neither of them fit that list and yet I have been told the former is genocide and, despite three responses, the latter has yet to be even responded to.

        So I will ask both again, rephrasing one of them:

        1. There are lots of Chinese-Americans in the U.S. If no U.S. public school taught Mandarin, would that be genocide?

        2. There are American cultural enclaves in Mexico. If the U.S. invaded Mexico and Mexico told those cultural enclaves they couldn’t celebrate the 4th of July, would that be genocide?

        I would really appreciate an answer. Because if the answer to both questions, especially the first one, is ‘yes,’ the genocide is, as I said, not all that horrific.