[ExI] Morality

[Tomasz Rola]

On Fri, 7 Jan 2011, spike wrote:

> BillK, if only morality were this simple, life would be free of the
> maddening moral ambiguity we face every day.  
[...]
> Years later, westerners began to hear of the murderous genocide which had
> taken place in Rwanda and Burundi, at which time we asked ourselves severely
> introspective moral questions, such as "Where the hell is Rwanda and
> Burundi?"

I'm afraid this wasn't quite so. Google +clinton +rwanda and you can get 
to pages like this:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2004/mar/31/usa.rwanda

http://www.theatlantic.com/past/docs/issues/2001/09/power.htm

So, there was plenty of information. Just not for the public. What the 
public had was downplaying events while they were going on. After that, 
well why not say sorry, it doesn't cost much.

As of "there are no natural resources there" - hard to believe, such a big 
coordinated bloodfest for nothing at all.

> OK suppose we had all been internet users back then, and actually heard of
> either of these events as they took place.  What would we do?  How does the
> rule Just Say No apply when we are witnessing genocide?  That's what we did
> when we witnessed both genocide and slavery in Europe in the early 1940s, we
> just said no.  That didn't work out so well from what I hear.

Oh, it seems you are very much misinformed. From what I have heared, US 
didn't say "no", instead US said nothing  at all.

Here is a rather lenghty and very boring another point of view. Why I 
serve it to you, if I think it is boring - why, I am well known sadist, of 
course. It comes from the book "Jan Karski" by Yannick Haenel. The book is 
a bit controversial in France, I hear, but the following words are quite 
consistent (IMHO) with what I know and how I imagine those things could 
have been told by Karski (maybe with some emotions removed, but on the 
other hand, I am not very emotional).

First comes my transcription from Polish Radio programme about the book:

http://www.polskieradio.pl/8/529/Artykul/273441,Jan-Karski-w-oczach-pisarzy-francuskich

Transcription is in Polish, and I include it here for archival reasons. 
Next comes my translation of it.

 -----
"Przyzwolono na eskterminacje Zydow. Nikt nie probowal jej przerwac, nikt
nawet nie chcial probowac. Nie uwierzono mi, gdy w Londynie i Waszyngtonie
powtarzalem zadania ludzi z warszawskiego getta. Nikt mi nie uwierzyl, bo
nikt nie chcial mi uwierzyc. Ciagle jeszcze widze twarze tych wszystkich,
do ktorych mowilem. Doskonale pamietam ich zaklopotanie. Byl rok 42-gi.
Czy byli rownie zaklopotani trzy lata pozniej, gdy odkryto obozy zaglady?
Wiem, ze proklamujac zwyciezcow i oglaszajac ich wygrana tryumfem wolnego
swiata, nie czuli zazenowania. Jak swiat, ktory pozwolil na zaglade Zydow
moze tytulowac sie wolnym? Jak smie twierdzic, ze cokolwiek wygral? W
45-tym roku nie bylo zwyciezcow, byli tylko wspolwinni i klamcy. Gdy
mowilem Anglikom, ze w Polsce trwa eksterminacja Zydow, gdy w
nieskonczonosc deklamowalem przed Amerykanami to samo poselstwo, slyszalem
w odpowiedzi ze to niemozliwe, ze nikt nie mialby tak duzej wladzy czy
nawet pomyslu, by zgladzic miliony ludzi. Sam Roosevelt nie kryl
zdziwienia w mojej obecnosci, ale to jego zdziwienie bylo zwyklym
oszustwem. Wszyscy wiedzieli ale udawali, ze nie wiedza. Odgrywali
ignorantow, bo ignorancja byla dla nich korzystna. Jej podsycanie lezalo w
ich interesie. A przeciez tajne sluzby dobrze wykonywaly swa prace.
Wiedziano o tym i wszyscy ci, ktorzy twierdzili, ze nie wiedza, pracowali
juz na rzecz klamstwa. Przeczytalem wszystko, co powstalo na ten temat od
zakonczenia wojny. Anglicy byli poinformowani, Amerykanie byli
poinformowani. Nie wiedzac o sprawie, nie probowali przerwac procesu
zaglady Zydow w Europie. Moze uwazali, ze nie trzeba go przerywac? Moze
nie trzeba bylo dawac europejskim Zydom szansy na ocalenie? Tak czy
inaczej, sprawny przebieg eksterminacji wynikal z faktu, ze Alianci
udawali, iz o niczym nie wiedza.

 Dlatego wychodzac ze spotkania z Rooseveltem 28-ego lipca
1943r. zrozumialem, ze wszystko stracone.  Europejscy Zydzi gineli,
jeden po drugim, mordowani przez nazistow przy biernym wspoludziale
Anglikow i Amerykanow. Usiadlem na lawce przed Bialym Domem, na
skwerze Bohaterow Niepodleglosci, posrod pieknych cedrow i krzewow
akacji i owiewany zapachem laurowcow patrzylem przez kilka godzin, jak
rozpada sie swiat. Zrozumialem, ze nigdy nie uda sie poruszyc sumienia
swiata, choc tak bardzo pragneli tego dwaj mezczyzni z warszawskiego
getta. Zrozumialem, ze samo pojecie sumienia swiata juz nie
istnieje. Wszystko sie skonczylo. Swiat wkraczal w epoke, w ktorej juz
nic nie mialo stac na przeszkodzie zniszczeniu, bo stawianie oporu
niszczycielom przestalo przynosic korzysci. Zniszczenie mialo sie
dokonywac coraz jawniej, nie napotykajac zadnych granic. I nie
istnialo juz zadne dobro, ktore by moglo przeciwstawic sie zlu,
istnialo juz tylko zlo, wszedzie. Roosevelt dzielil sie ze mna
wspaniala wizja przyszlosci, w ktorej ludzkosc nie bedzie dopuszczac
do nastepnych wojen i obali nawet sama idee wojny. On, jak wielu
innych, tak pochopnie mowil o tym, co stanie sie po wojnie. Tymczasem
wojna kazdego dnia dziala sie na naszych oczach. Roosevelt chcial
przede wszystkim uchylic sie od odpowiedzialnosci. Siedzialem na
lawce, na skwerze Bohaterow Niepodleglosci i chcialo mi sie
wymiotowac.

 Mdlosci uratowaly mi kilka razy zycie, ale tym razem nie przychodzily
z pomoca. Siedzialem na lawce przez kilka godzin, opatulony wojskowym
plaszczem. Tuz po moim przybyciu na lotnisko w Nowym Jorku ktos
zarzucil mi na ramiona ten plaszcz jak derke, ktora przykrywa sie
konia po dlugiej, wygranej gonitwie. W Bialym Domu zaczely rozswietlac
sie okna a ja zrozumialem, ze zbawienie nie nadejdzie, ze nie
nadejdzie juz nigdy, ze samo pojecie zbawienia jest martwe. Gdy rok
pozniej wybuchlo Powstanie Warszawskie, Polacy do konca wierzyli ze
Anglicy, Amerykanie i Rosjanie przybeda im na pomoc. A ja od 28-ego
lipca 1943r wiedzialem, ze nie zrobia nic. Tamtego popoludnia dotarlo
do mnie, ze Warszawa zostanie opuszczona dokladnie tak, jak Polska
zostala opuszczona we wrzesniu 1939-ego i tak, jak zostali opuszczeni
Zydzi z Polski, Niemiec, Holandii, Francji, Belgii, Norwegii, Grecji,
Wloch, Zydzi z Chorwacji, Bulgarii, Austrii, z Wegier, z Rumunii i z
Czechoslowacji. Z jednej strony zaglada a z drugiej opuszczenie. Na
nic wiecej nie mozna bylo miec nadziei. To byl program przyszlego
swiata i ten swiat rzeczywiscie nadszedl. Wszyscy odczulismy to
osamotnienie i nadal je odczuwamy. Wlasnie wtedy zaczalem cierpiec na
absolutna bezsennosc. Nie spie od 28-ego lipca 1943r, od ponad 50-ciu
lat. Nie moge zasnac, bo slysze glosy dwoch mezczyzn z warszawskiego
getta. Kazdej nocy slysze ich przeslanie, rozbrzmiewa ono w mojej
glowie. Cos, czego nikt nie chcial slyszec, od 50-ciu lat w
nieskonczonosc zakloca mi sen."

 ----- Here transcription ends.

Translation (mine, rough and full of all kind of errors):

 -----

"There was consent for Jews' extermination. Nobody tried to stop it,
nobody even wanted to try. I wasn't believed when in London and
Washington I recited demands of people from Warsaw ghetto. Nobody
believed me, because nobody wanted to believe me. I still recall faces
of all those to whom I delivered my speaches. I flawlessly recall
their bafflement. It was year 42nd. Were they equally baffled three
years later, when concetration camps had been discovered? I know, that
when proclaiming winners and calling their victory "a triumph of the
free world" they didn't feel discomfort. How a world that allowed for
killing of Jews can name itself free? How dare it claim to win
anything? In 45th there were no winners, just accomplices and
liars. When I was telling Englishmen that there was Jews'
extermination going on in Poland, when I was ad infinitum declaiming
in front of Americans the very same legation, all I heard was that it
was impossible, that nobody had power so big or could even have an
idea of killing millions of people. Roosevelt himself showed
astonishment to me, but his astonishment was just a trick. They all
knew, but pretended to not know. They played ignorance, because
ignorance was beneficial to them. Playing it up was in their
interest. But all secret services were doing their job all right. It
was all known and those claiming to not knowing were already labouring
for a ghost story. I have read everything written about it since the
war's end. Englishmen had been informed, Americans had been
informed. Not knowing, they didn't try to stop the process of Jews'
extermination in Europe. Maybe they thought that there was no need to
stop it? Maybe European Jews didn't deserve a chance to live? One way
or another, smooth extermination was enabled by Allies pretending to
know nothing.

 This is how, going out of meeting with Roosevelt on July 28th, 1943,
I realised it was all over. European Jews were dying one by one,
murdered by nazis with passive cooperation of Great Britain and USA. I
have seated myself on a bench on Lafayette Square, among beautiful
cedars and acacia shrubs, windblown with laurel flavour, the next few
hours I spent watching the world fall apart. I realised there would
never be possible to move conscience of the world, even thou two men
from Warsaw ghetto desired this so much. I realised there was no more
such thing as conscience of the world. Everything was over. World
entered an epoch in which nothing would stand in a way of destruction,
because opposing destructors was no longer lucrative. Destruction was
to go more and more openly, not coming to any limits. And there was no
more the good that could oppose the evil, from this moment there was
only evil, everywhere. Roosevelt was sharing with me a wonderful
vision of a future, when humanity would no longer allow wars and even
the idea of war would be abandoned. He, like many others, was so quick
to talk about world after the war. In a meantime, war was going on
everyday as we were watching. Roosevelt didn't want responsibility. I
was seating on a bench on Lafayette Square and I wanted to vomit.

 Nausea saved my life few times before, but this time it stayed
away. I sat on a bench for few hours, muffled in battledress. Soon
after my coming to New York someone covered me with this battledress,
like they cover a horse after long, victorious run, with a blanket. In
a White House windows started to lighten up and I understood that
salvation was not going to come, never, that idea of salvation is
empty. Year later the Warsaw Uprising started and Poles to the very
end believed that Englishmen, Americans and Russians would come to
help them. But I, from the day 28th July, 1943 knew that they would do
nothing. On this afternoon it came to me that Warsaw would be let go,
just like Poland in September of 1939 and just like Jews from Poland, 
Germany, Netherlands, France, Belgium, Norway, Greece, Italy, Croatia,
Bulgaria, Austria, Hungary, Romania and Czechoslovakia had all been
abandoned. From one side, destruction, from the other side,
abandonment. There wasn't hope for anything more. This was a plan for
future world and this world indeed had come. We have all felt this
solitude and we still feel it. This was when my insomnia started - I
cannot sleep since the day 28th July, 1943, for over 50 years. I
cannot sleep because I hear voices of two men from Warsaw ghetto. I
hear their message every night, it echoes in my head. Something that
nobody wanted to hear, from 50 years disturbs my sleep."

 ----- And here translation ends, too.

As I said, fictionalised Karski says his message in a very emotional tone 
and it doesn't make me feel very comfortable... But maybe this is actually 
how it should be. His grim vision of western attitude is quite right, but 
needs some correction. Those are:

[ 
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_individuals_and_groups_assisting_Jews_during_the_Holocaust
 ]

On this list, there is even Albert Goring (brother of Hermann, Luftwaffe 
Commander) but there is almost no mention of US Americans (ditto for 
Britons). Careful reading of one diplomat's biogram can give very 
interesting insights:

[ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hiram_Bingham_IV ]

Just in case, if anybody still wants to read:

[ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jan_Karski ]

So, all in all, few individuals from US and UK contributed but there 
wasn't (as it seems) any kind of state level action, word of support or 
anything like this. What US was interested in, it was "the best of 
refugees" - educated, scientists with achievements etc. The rest was left 
out. Perhaps this was justified but I really need to dive deeper into this 
shit and I do this only for my own pleasure.

Of course, the problem was much bigger one - besides 3 million Jews, there 
was for example 2.5 million other Polish citizens (like, ethnic Poles, 
Ukrainians and Belarussians) killed by nazis or soviets (this does not 
include military deaths, only civilians). Overally, more than 5.5 million 
Polish citizens. And it was sure thing that after dealing with Jews, nazis 
would go on and deal with the rest of us. In Soviet Union, nazis killed 
about 14 million civilians (some of those could have died from very harsh 
conditions, hunger and illness but certainly not all) and about million 
Jews. So they were quite capable when it came to mass killing.

I would say, history seems to repeat itself in a way. As of yet, lessons 
not necessarily had been learned.

Citing Jan Karski again, from Marek Edelman's talk about him in 2000 in 
Polish PEN Club:

"Polityka ma byc pragmatyczna ale musi byc moralna, pragmatyczna i 
moralna. Jezeli bedzie niemoralna to przegra."

Translation (mine):

"Politics has got to be pragmatic but it has to be moral, pragmatic and 
moral (at the same time). If it is immoral, it will fail."

I strongly share this point of view.

Regards,
Tomasz Rola

--
** A C programmer asked whether computer had Buddha's nature.      **
** As the answer, master did "rm -rif" on the programmer's home    **
** directory. And then the C programmer became enlightened...      **
**                                                                 **
** Tomasz Rola          mailto:tomasz_rola at bigfoot.com             **