Members of the ‘NEVER AGAIN’ Association were honoured by the invitation to speak at the global congress of the International Association of Genocide Scholars held in Phnom Penh, Cambodia.
The IAGS conference entitled ‘The Missing
Picture: Rethinking Genocide Studies and Prevention’ gathered
around 500 intellectuals, researchers, and civil society
representatives from all over the world. It was held at the American
University of Phnom Penh on 14-19 July 2019. A special meeting with
the Oscar-nominated renowned Cambodian filmmaker Rithy Panh was a
highlight of the conference programme.
During the conference, Natalia Sineaeva presented
a paper on ‘Museums as Spaces for Dealing with Difficult Knowledge:
Examples from Eastern Europe and Southeast Asia’, Rafal Pankowski
spoke on ‘Polish Entries at Tuol Sleng in 1979 and the Issues of
Polish-Cambodian Genocide Analogies’. Nickey Diamond, a friend of
‘NEVER AGAIN’ from Myanmar, presented the subject of
‘Securitization of Islam in Myanmar: Security Discourse Analysis on
the Mass Atrocities against Rohingya Muslims’.
After the conference, Natalia Sineaeva, Rafal
Pankowski and Ali Al-Asani conducted two full-day workshops in Phnom
Penh under the heading ‘An Introduction to the History of the
Holocaust’. The well-attended workshops (in English and Khmer
languages) were co-organized by ‘NEVER AGAIN’ and the Heinrich
Boell Foundation Cambodia and took place at the office of the Konrad
Adenauer Foundation on 23 and 27 July. Around fifty participants
included Cambodian human rights activists, academics and students.
The themes of genocide, resistance and dealing with the past were
discussed alongside the parallels and differences between the tragic
chapters of European and Asian histories.
- ‘We want to share our knowledge, but our aim
is also to learn from our Cambodian friends, from their unique
perspective and experiences’ – said Natalia Sineaeva, a ‘NEVER
AGAIN’ member and International Rotary Peace Fellow 2018.
The activities in Cambodia illustrate the
long-standing commitment of the ‘NEVER AGAIN’ Association to
support genocide commemoration and prevention, peace and
intercultural dialogue both in Europe and in the region of Southeast
Asia. Future Polish-Cambodian meetings, publications and other
activities are planned, also in cooperation with the Cambodian
diaspora.
Other international events with the participation
of ‘NEVER AGAIN’ Association members and supporters are scheduled
to take place over the next weeks and months in Thailand, South Korea
and Japan.
The ‘NEVER AGAIN’ Association is an
independent educational and research organization established in
Warsaw in 1996. It has campaigned against racism, antisemitism and
xenophobia in Poland and internationally.
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