Current Events

WEEK 1 - Democratic Republic of Congo

Visit the DRC Ripples of Genocide Website. Click on the journal link

ACTIVITY 1 - Listen to Angelina's and John's journals and answer the questions below.

• What kind of information do you get from Angelina's account? John's? How are they similar? How are they different?
  
  
• Why are these two accounts different?
  
  
• What is the effect on the viewer of these differing accounts?
  
  
• Which perspective did you find more moving, persuasive, convincing, sympathetic, or boring? Why?
  
  
• What are the positive and negative aspects of using first-hand accounts to learn about the situation in the DOR, or any situation for that matter?

ACTIVITY 2 - Photography Analysis Activity

Participate in the photography analysis activity. Make sure to complete your photography analysis handout and keep it in your binder.

1. After you complete your photography analysis worksheet you will share your photograph and observations with the rest of the class.

2. Explore the Ripples of Genocide Web site. In the course of doing so find the photographs you interpreted at http://www.ushmm.org/museum/exhibit/online/congojournal/journal/behind_the_lens.php

3. Find out as much information about the picture and the context in which it was taken as possible.

4. Once you have completed this task, meet again in your groups with the original photographs.

5. Based on your new knowledge, how have your interpretations and inferences about the photographs changed?

6. Has your understanding about what was happening changed?

7. Thinking about the two types of sources used in the Web site—first-hand accounts and photographs - analyze the differing effect of hearing a first-hand account and seeing it through a photograph. Was one source more persuasive or believable than the other?

8. Write new captions for the photographs reflecting the new knowledge that you have learned.

ACTIVITY 3 - Discussion Questions
Explore the Ripples of Genocide site and use the following links to answer the questions below.

Glossary
Overview
Maps

• John asserts that if there had been no genocide in Rwanda, there would have been no subsequent war in the Congo� How did the Rwandan genocide and subsequent refugee problem contribute to the violence and war in Congo?
  
  
• What factors have contributed to ongoing instability, resulting in massive suffering and death of civilians in the DRC? Cite examples from Angelina and John's narratives to support your answers.
  
  
• Ultimately, who is responsible for protecting the civilians in the DRC and guaranteeing their human rights?
  
  
• Does the United States have an obligation to help solve or improve the situation? If so, how and why?
  
  
• If someone stopped you on the street today after school and asked you about what was happening in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, how would you explain it to them?

ACTIVITY 4 - News Watch Journal

After the Holocaust, many Americans claimed that they had heard nothing about the discrimination and murder of Europe�s Jews by Nazi Germany. Historians, however, have shown that news about the Holocaust was printed in many American newspapers while the events were taking place. The stories were not always on the front page�although sometimes they were�but information about these atrocities was in the papers. Is this true today regarding the Democratic Republic of the Congo? Is there information available?

Create a News Watch Journal:

• At the end of a week, we will review the journals together as a class. What additional information did you learn about the DRC and the events happening there?
  
  
• Raising awareness through the local news media is one step toward helping people who are suffering in the DRC. What are some other actions you can take?
  

Hotel Rwanda tells how the manager of a hotel protected more than 1200 people from the killers' machetes. Like Schindler's List, this movie paints an inspiring portrait of an ordinary man's evolving moral conviction and how, using his wits and charm, he held maniacal killers at bay. It is an excellent lesson in courage and describes the difficult position of peacekeeping forces when they are not supported by the U.N. and the international community

WEEK 2 Assignments

TASK 1

Before we watch the movie we are going to do some research on the Armenian Genocide. Click on the link and login using the first initial of your first name and your last name.

The password it hsra.

Complete the assignments provided.

TASK 2

When you have completed all 15 assignments we will be watching the following movie.

"The Armenian Genocide" documentary is is the complete story of the first Genocide of the 20th century - when over a million Armenians died at the hands of the Ottoman Turks during World War I.

This unprecedented and powerful one-hour documentary, scheduled to air April 17 at 10pm on PBS, (check local listings for possible changes) was written, directed and produced by Emmy Award-winning producer Andrew Goldberg of Two Cats Productions, in association with Oregon Public Broadcasting.

Featuring interviews with the leading experts in the field such as Pulitzer Prize-winning author Samantha Power and New York Times best-selling author, Peter Balakian, this film features never-before-seen historical footage of the events and key players of one of the greatest untold stories of the 20th century.

"The Armenian Genocide" is narrated by Julianna Margulies and includes historical narrations by Ed Harris, Natalie Portman, Laura Linney and Orlando Bloom, among others. "What the word 'Genocide' connotes is a systematic campaign of destruction. If you simply call the horrors of 1915 'crimes against humanity' or 'atrocities,' it doesn't fully convey just how methodical this campaign of slaughter and deportation really was, and I think that's why historians look at the record and they really can come to no other conclusion but that this word, Genocide, applies to this methodical campaign of destruction," says Samantha Power.

Filmed in the US, France, Germany, Belgium, Turkey and Syria, the program features discussions with Kurdish and Turkish citizens in modern-day Turkey who speak openly about the stories told to them by their parents and grandparents. To this day, Turkey denies the Genocide occurred and maintains this position steadfastly. The film includes testimony by former Turkish diplomat Gunduz Aktan to US lawmakers in the year 2000, where he explains the official Turkish position on the issue. "The Turkish people firmly believe that what happened to the Armenian people was not Genocide," Aktan says. "

As Turkey seeks to join the European Union, 90 years later, this film can give people a much better understanding of why this issue is such an important and current part of the international conversation about Turkey's role in the world today," said Goldberg.

ACTIVITY 1 – HOW MUCH DO YOU KNOW?

OVERVIEW: The current conflict in Darfur and Chad is one of horrific proportions. It is both a human rights and a humanitarian disaster in which neither the citizens of western Sudan, nor those of eastern Chad, are being protected by their respective governments. The conflict that began in Darfur has spilled over into the bordering countries of Chad and the Central African Republic. The origins of the conflict as well as its current state are complex, as are the intricate workings of the many groups involved. It is sometimes difficult to approach such a complex issue, so this activity is designed to provide an introduction to Sudan and more specifically, to the conflict taking place in Darfur and eastern Chad.


1. Collect Handout 1.1 – How much do you know about Sudan?
2. This is not meant to be graded rather it is designed to measure how much you already know about what we are going to learn.
3 Collect Handout 1.2 and fill in Sudan and the countries that border it on the map.
4. Collect Handout 1.3 - UDHR. Use handout 1.4 to identify the specific human rights of civilians in eastern Chad and Darfur that are being violated due to the conflict.
5. Use handout 1.5 to answer the questions with a partner on handout 1.6.
6, Create a poster, drawing, short essay, poem, song, etc. to illustrate what you have learned about the conflict in Darfur. Include the following research:
• The U.S.’s role in the conflict in Darfur and eastern Chad.
• How the conflict that began in Darfur has spilled over into eastern Chad and is also affecting the northern Central African Republic.
• Analyze how the conflict is affecting each country.


ACTIVITY 2 – ROLE OF WOMEN AND GIRLS


The experience of women and girls in conflict tends to be significantly different than that of men and boys. Although women are not always active participants in combat in many conflicts, they are always very much subject to the violence. In the conflict in Darfur and eastern Chad, gender-based violence has been used as a tool of war and domination by almost all parties. Shame and stigma are often causes in any nation for under-reporting of rape and sexual violence, and researchers believe that it is no different in this particular conflict. Sexual violence is seldom talked about in many classroom settings due to its inherently graphic and disturbing nature. However, laying a foundation through education and awareness is the first step to action against violence against women everywhere.


1. Do women and girls experience war/conflict differently than men and boys? If so, in what ways is their experience different? In what way do men and women have similar experiences?
2. Can you think of a time when you have read or heard about the use of rape as a tool of war/oppression/domination?
3. Collect Handout 2.1, read over it and take notes on anything that surprises you. Include any questions they might have.
4. Collect Handout 2.2 and record your answers. You may work with a partner.
5. Collect Handout 2.3 and read the personal accounts from survivors. Write a one page reflection about what you have read. Include the following:
• What do you think about rape as a tool of war in Darfur and eastern Chad ask
• Brainstorm ways to end rape as a tool of war in general.
o What is needed?
o What can you do?
o Awareness campaigns?
o Education about sexual violence in schools?
o More coverage by the media?
o Protest rallies/marches?
o Devise a strategy that you think would be effective in raising awareness and spurring people to action.
• Research women’s human rights in the context of the Iraq war.
o Explain any parallels between the conflict in Darfur and the War in Iraq.


ACTIVITY 3

Approximately 2.5 million people have been forced to leave their homes since the beginning of the conflict in Darfur in February 2003. Those who have been forced to leave their homes due to violence, human rights abuses or humanitarian issues are often categorized as either refugees or IDPs. Refugees are people who flee into another country, whereas internally displaced persons seek refuge inside their own country. This distinction is an important one, as it is often used as a measure of the level/type of support and aid that will be given to a person. When learning about the atrocities of war that people face in conflicts like the one in Darfur and eastern Chad, students often ask, “Why don’t they just leave?” This activity is designed to demonstrate the complexity of the situation and to encourage students to view refugees and IDPs through a human rights lens.

1. Collect Handout 3.1. Read through the fact sheet, taking notes on things that surprised you, or any questions you may have.
2. Collect Handout 3.2 and work with a partner to answer the questions.
3. Read the accounts in Handout 3.3. Write a short reflection on what you thought of each one.
4. Take out handout 1.3 and circle the 5 rights that you think are the most likely to be violated when a person is a refugee or an IDP.
5. Research refugees and IDPs in the context of the Iraq war.
• How many are there?
• Where are they living?
• What are the conditions like?
• Will they ever be able to return home?
• Who is supporting them and offering aid? (governments, the UN,
• NGOs)

Ted Braun's documentary about Darfur showcases how six different people have each done their part in order to help stop the genocide in the region and bring humanitarian relief to the millions there who suffer. His subjects include a UCLA student who, with no political experience whatsoever, passes a state bill to stop any money from going to Sudan; the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court; Pablo Recalde, a central figure in the World Food Program; and actor Don Cheadle, the star of the movie Hotel Rwanda. ~ Perry Seibert, All Movie Guide

Sometimes in April has a broader sweep, recounting the stories of many victims of the genocide. In addition, the film describes the situation of three fictional survivors. Martine, a teacher at a Catholic girl's school, lives with the memory of seeing her class massacred. Augustin, a Hutu, who had married a Tutsi suffered the loss of his family. His wife and sons were murdered trying to escape. His daughter was a student in Martine's class. Augustin's brother, Honore, was a hate mongering announcer for Radio RTLM. He is on trial before the International War Crimes Tribunal for inciting people to commit genocide. This movie shows the horror of the genocide and the difficulty of recovery. The film raises questions of guilt, punishment, forgiveness, and reconciliation that Rwandans must still resolve.