Raffi, genocide and OST

Mon Apr 25 02:30:57 PDT 2005

I didn't really have this in mind, a blame and denial game, when I mentioned an open space with Turkish and Armenian people...because there is no end to that kind of debate...
My dream is more about acceptance and acknowledgement. Because I feel that's when the healing starts.
When I was in Armenia, people would ask me: do you know the Armenian genocide? And I would say: yes
And they would say: thank you!

This is it. That's all. From that point on we could move forward to a more constructive 'conversation' rather than a 'debate'
This is what I am envisioning.

Raffi, you asked me if I have a poem. I do actually. There is one poem from Neruda that I love very much, it is called Keeping Quiet...it very much relates to what I am saying above...

Now we will count to twelve
And we will all keep still.

For once on the face of the earth,
let's not speak in any language;
let's stop for one second,
and not move our arms so much.
It would be a delicious moment
without hurry, without locomotives;
all of us would be together
in a sudden uneasiness.

The fishermen in the cold sea
would do no harm to the whales
and the peasant gathering salt
would look at his torn hands.
Those who prepare green wars,
wars of gas, wars of fire,
victories without survivors,
would put on clean clothing
and would walk alongside their brothers
in the shade, without doing a thing.

What I want shouldn't be confused
with final inactivity;
life alone is what matters,
I want nothing to do with death.
If we weren't unanimous
about keeping our lives so much in motion,
if we could do nothing for once,
perhaps a great silence would
interrupt this sadness,
this never understanding ourselves
and threatening ourselves with death,
perhaps the earth is teaching us
when everything seems to be dead
and then everything is alive.
Now I'll count up to twelve
and you keep quiet and I'll go.

Pablo Neruda, as translated by Stephen Mitchell, "Keeping Quiet"

filiz

every day is a good day
-----Original Message-----
From: OSLIST [mailto:OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU] On Behalf Of Funda Oral
Sent: Friday, April 22, 2005 10:55 AM
To: OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU
Subject: Re: Raffi, genocide and OST

Dear Raffi,

I don't have long time so i will try to write shortly.

Many articles about that have been published in our newspapers.
One that has been very useful for me was a series of articles published
in one of the main nespaper (Milliyet) about 6 months ago.

This was written by a very famous  and popular journalist ( Filiz might know
; Can Dündar)
published after Can Dundar visited Armenia with a  group of people (
journalist, politicians, scientists) and
hold different meetings with different group of people.

So i can tell you that there are many different opinions, points of view,
ideas, suggestions about
what happened in 1915 and the claims of genocide.

I don't want to discuss about these here or somewhere else because this is
not very much
my domain.

But, i wanted to ask you something else....how you think we can collaborate
if you start the
discussion saying that ;
" i blame you, your history, your ancestors with genocide, and i want you to
accept this in front of all the world
and i want all the countries accept that "

We met at Goa and we discovered that we had many similarities.In the house i
grew up we had armenian neighbours
and we had very good relationship with them. But this blame and claim makes
me lose hope of any collaboration.

A relation of collaboration can not start like that. This is my feelings and
thoughts.

Funda

----- Original Message -----
From: "Raffi Aftandelian" <raffi at bk.ru>
To: <OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU>
Sent: Thursday, April 21, 2005 11:18 PM
Subject: Re: Raffi, genocide and OST

> Filiz,
> I want to say I think it's wonderful you've been to Armenia. What
> courage!
>
> I would very much like to meet you some day. And it would be great to
> work together on an OS.
>
> I have wanted to go to a PoP training. The announcement looks
> interesting, but I don't quite understand how it's different from
> an OST training.
>
> And I am very happy that you'll hold space on the 24th.
>
> We are all connected in more ways than we can imagine.
>
> My grandfather escaped northwest Iran (Tabriz) for Russia in 1910-1915
> to avoid the genocide coming to that country. And he was deported as a
> foreigner back to Iran in 1938.
>
> As a doctor with a private practice most of his patients were Azeri
> Iranians. He spoke Azeri with them. My grandparent's housekeeper was
> Azeri.
>
> Today, a number of people asked the question of what the point of the
> Poem in your pocket day was. I think that ultimately it's about all of
> us being in genuine contact with one another, to remind ourselves if
> only once a year that we are interconnected. All. Of. Us.
>
> Do you have a poem, Filiz?
>
> Funda,
> I appreciate you replying to what I wrote about the Genocide. I am so
> thankful that we met each other at the OSonOS in Goa. When I see your
> words, I recall those eyes of love and that warm smile. I know (if
> only a little bit) the human behind those words. And in the way I can
> I love you.
>
> All I can ask you, if you care to continue, is to unfold those
> feelings, whether privately (to yourself) or onlist.
>
> On one level I understand the sadness. On another level, there is
> "helpful" on the other side of the coin which has "helpless" looking up.
> Helpful for me would look like this:
>
> Writing a letter to a Turkish newspaper (a major daily) just sharing
> your questions on the Genocide. It can be on your sadness, on your
> sense of helplessness, whatever. But, for me is that any piece should
> ask the question. What the question is, you decide.
>
> Yes, I agree that it wouldn't make a lot of sense to hold an OST
> meeting on what happened in 1915. The other meeting you propose makes
> sense to me. AND, I would say, that I probably wouldn't wait even for
> the facilitator to finish opening the space to write my session topic
> for THAT meeting:
>
> "When/how are we going to recognize the Armenian Genocide?" and
> "What reparations should the Armenian people receive?"
>
> Do I feel that this conversation must receive an answer before there
> is ANY true collaboration between Turks and Armenians?
>
> No. But it sure would help.
>
> Otherwise, our collaboration would smack of dancing around our
> ancestors.
>
> Warmly,
> Raffi
>
>
>                           mailto:raffi at bk.ru
>
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