“This is a campaign for justice. Genocide is the most violent political act which racism can lead to, and denial is a part of the act itself. To fight against denial is to fight racism and therefore for a more equal and just society.”
#Remember24April1915
100 years ago, on April 24th 1915, several hundred Armenian intellectuals were rounded up, arrested and later executed as the start of the Armenian genocide which lasted until 1917. By 1922, there were only about 387’800 Armenians left in the Ottoman Empire, compared to the 2’133’190 Armenians in 1914.
There were executions into mass graves, forced death marches of men, women and children across the Syrian desert to concentration camps with many dying along the way of exhaustion, exposure and starvation.
At this centenary of the Armenian genocide – the first genocide of the 20th century – EUJS reaches out to our Armenian friends and partners in solidarity and remembrance.
EUJS supports the “1915-2015 : Let’s commemorate the Armenian Genocide in Turkey!” campaign by our partners AGBU-Armenian General Benevolent Union and EGAM-European Grassroots Antiracism Movement.
Joint project with Armenian, Roma and Jewish youth: Europe of Diasporas
Furthermore, EUJS is joining together with AGBU, EGAM and Phiren Amenca, a Roma youth organization, for the joint project “Europe of Diasporas”. The project will establish a core think-tank involving young Armenian, Jewish and Roma activists, academics and leaders who will take part in the project throughout its development.
Together, they will try to provide answers to four series of questions:
– Who are we? Who are you? An introduction to the diasporas involved in the project and to the significance of identity within that group. The project will initially focus on the Jewish, Armenia and Roma diasporas.
– What is a European diaspora? What does it have to contribute to your country, to Europe?
– What challenges are the different groups are confronted with in different parts of Europe? Which are most important? Which concerns are shared between different groups?
– What is the role of public authorities on these different issues? These are issues shared between at least some of the groups involved, which they think necessary to bring to the attention of policy-makers at European level, or at national level.
The project naturally involves communicating together the results of the project to others in their networks, to the wider European public as well as towards policy-makers at European level.
Three seminars will take place in the course of this project, leading to one major European conference. Each seminar will focus primarily on one theme.
The first seminar, June 26th-28th in Paris, will be an initial exploration, around the notion of identity. It will also, crucially, set the agenda for the rest of the project.
The second seminar will hold an exchange around issues relating to prejudice, denialism and discriminations.
The third seminar will focus on education and empowerment.
