In
Naimark’s book Fires of
Hatred: Ethnic Cleansing in Twentieth-Century Europe we see how effectively the author
provides us vivid and clear accounts of the Soviet deportation of the
Chechens-Ingush from the North Caucasus and of the Tatars from the Crimea in
1944. In this chapter, as is the case for most of his chapters, he addresses
the importance of being able to differentiate ethnic cleansing from genocide,
stating that these two activities are categorized through their different
objectives. According to Naimark "Genocide is the intentional killing off
of part or all of an ethnic, religious or national group; the murder of a
people or peoples ... is the objective. The intention of ethnic cleansing is to
remove a people and often all traces of them from a concrete territory"
(Naimark, 3).
In this particular chapter, Naimark
provides background into the 1944 Soviet Deportations, stating that Soviet NKVD
special units were specifically trained to do the business of deportation. The
chapter also elaborates on the methods used by the Soviets to carry out their
mass deportation strategies stating that the NKVD ordered all Chechens and
Ingush out of their homelands. No exceptions allowed. Those that refused were
brutally shot. That although the NKVD claims that it was a flawless operation
with no unnecessary casualties, this forced deportation claimed the lives of
“some 3,000 Chechens who perished before being deported. . . roughly 10,000
died from disease, hunger, and cold.” (Naimark, 97) These deaths are mainly attributed
to the fact that the rail cars in which they were transported were completely
sealed with no food, water, and sanitation. Naimark goes on to state that in
the NKVD “lessons were learned about how to conduct military-like
operations against their own people, using surprise and speed as their most
valuable weapon to uproot masses of unsuspecting citizens”.
In regards to a real-life example
that I feel can be attributed to this reading is todays modern day
immigration-raids. Me being Mexican-American and having many immigrant
relatives that reside in America, I hear a lot of stories of ICE Officials
conducting immigration raids, showing up to immigrant’s home or workplace and
ambushing the individual without the necessity of a search warrant or the
arrestee’s right to an attorney . Much like the NKVD, without the excessive
brutality and inhumaneness, these ICE Officials have to act with speed so as to
surprise their ‘prey’, which typically consists of undocumented individuals
working to feed and support their families.
On June 29, 2013, an immigrant uncle
of mine was arrested during an ICE Raid at a local south-side Chicago
flea-market. According to a news article from (http://jakemanlaw.com/ice-raid-sparks-protest-in-chicago/) covering
this incidence “ICE insists that the raid conducted was not an immigration raid
to scoop up undocumented immigrants . . . and that ICE officials were targeting
vendors selling pirated CDs.”. Yet my uncle not being a flea-market vendor much
less a pirated CDs vendor was arrested and taken to Cook County Jail. This
occurrence often leaves behind a negative lasting impression on community
members specifically children, who sometimes witness these militarily trained
units, forcibly take their relatives and loved ones in handcuffs. Sadly, this
is one of many reoccurring cases where ICE Officials intentionally and forcibly
remove people from their homes and families on a day-to-day basis and on a
national scale; similar to the NKVD in the deportations of 1944, minus the
blatant death-toll and malice.
More on
the recent Chicago Immigration Raid:
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