The most notable difference between humans and other animals is that we have words. As the Gospel rightly said, in the beginning there was the word. At the beginning of everything, in distant prehistory, they were used to identify plants and animals. And then, supposedly, for inventions, such as spears to kill mammoths or knives to dismember them later.
Over time, words spread to the description of abstractions, such as feelings, insults, or promises. This paved the way for us in politics, to seek out followers in one tribe and enemies in others. The bad news is that it made us more beasts than other animals, more prone to attacking members of our own species. Our ancestors learned to use spears and knives for criminal purposes.
A newly created word is the one that defines the most serious crime of all, genocide. It comes from the Greek genos (race or tribe) and from the Latin caedo (cut, kill). It was coined in 1943 by a Polish Jewish lawyer named Raphael Lemkin to describe what had hitherto been a "nameless crime", the Nazi Holocaust. If Lemkin were still alive, he might regret it, as much as his invention has been abused.
In 1948, the UN defined genocide as an act committed "with the intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnic, racial, or religious group." It could have added a "social class" as well, such as the bourgeoisie or the peasantry, but the Soviet Union vetoed it. In any case, it is always about the extermination - or attempted extermination - of a clearly defined group, typically on a massive scale, without distinguishing between one individual or another. Names and surnames are irrelevant. The mere fact of belonging to the group in question dehumanizes you, which identifies you, in the eyes of the aggressor, as a legitimate prey. Genocide is calculated and systematic. It is evil at its best. The word is so explosive that when it is used by a politician it is automatically news.
That is why it must be treated with respect. It is not treated with respect. As a Nazi or a fascist, he is often used as a fool, which serves to minimize the horror he means and magnify the tribal hatred. Joe Biden was the latest to add his name to the long list of people who have used him irresponsibly.
Last month, the president of the United States said that Vladimir Putin was "a dictator who commits genocide." That's not true. The war of the Russian president in Ukraine is many things, all bad. It is unnecessary, unjustifiable, absurd and cruel. It is a gratuitous crime against humanity. I would call Putin a serial killer, someone with a mental disorder who kills to kill. Also, since he plays all the keys, he is a fascist. But his personal war is not yet an attempt to exterminate the Ukrainians from the face of the earth.
In the last century and a half, there have been four cases of genocide accepted as such by the vast majority of historians. The one of the Nazis; that of the Turks against the Armenians (up to one million killed for being Armenians; that of the Tutsis for the Hutu regime in Rwanda (another million, just for being Tutsis), and that of Cambodia for the Maoist regime of Pol He is believed to have been the victim of another genocide in Soviet hands in 1932 and 1933. He is known as the Holodomor, the death by starvation deliberately caused by Stalin. , between three and five million people.If this is not genocide, it looks a lot like it.
What does not look like a genocide but has been called so would be, for example, the case of those who disappeared in Argentina during the military dictatorship from 1976 to 1982. It comes to mind because this week I saw a documentary on what refers to General Jorge Videla and his minions as “genocides”. The impetus is given to giving the perpetrators of the "dirty war" the strongest qualifier. But that was not genocide. No casualties were reported. They were not selected because they were of Jewish, Polish, or Italian descent, or because they were members of the middle or working class. The kidnappers knew everyone's name.
The two sides of the Spanish Civil War have also been accused of genocide; the United States for Iraq; Israel and Iran; Cuba and Nicaragua; the word has been used to describe slavery in the Americas or apartheid in South Africa. Mandela once told me that apartheid had been a "moral genocide", an attempt to exterminate the dignity of an entire people because of the biological accident of skin color. But he had the sense, the sense of proportion, and the good taste to recognize that there was no resemblance to the physical extermination of six million Jews.
The most offensive thing in the memory of the real victims of genocide is the frequency with which the word is trivialized, so we can thank especially the opportunity that social media has given us to give more voice than ever to the human imbecility. Obama is a genocide, they shout; Bill Gates is; the president of Mexico, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, the Brazilian Jair Bolsonaro, the former Argentine president Mauricio Macri. And so, progressively more ridiculous accusations, to Pablo Iglesias, accused by Vox of being a genocide, and Santiago Abascal accused by Podemos of being so. Like creatures: "You're an idiot!" "No, you!" Es va tocar fons, o així ho esperem, quan vam llegir als mitjans no fa gaire que independentistes catalans havien acusat l’“ Estat espanyol” de genocidi, per l’amor de Déu...
Those who use the word most enthusiastically lately are the Russian media. President Zelensky of Ukraine is a genocide, NATO is a genocide, everyone who goes against Putin is a genocide. With these people there is no remedy. They live in a world upside down; as words mean what they want, they lose all value. The abuse of words is brainwashing, and that is democracy. So, bottom line is that we're really looking forward to it. And not just for political reasons: it irritates a lot that people misuse words.
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