Mind Matters

by Rev. Robert H. Tucker

Number 339
April 5, 1999

Twentieth Century - Death by Government


Kosovar Refugees in Northern Albania, April, 1999

Once again we see a vast human sea-this time Kosovar refugees flooding Macedonia, Albania and Montenegro. Daily TV images alert us to the unfolding horror. Seen by itself, the ethnic cleansing of Kosovo is a human aberration. On the other hand, viewed in the context of this bloody century, it seems to be a one of the lesser occurrences. The major slaughters, based on conservative estimates, have been:


Russian: Concentration/Labor Camps

1917-87
 39,464,000
German: Concentration/Labor Camps

1942-45
 7,000,000
German: Jewish Holocaust

1942-45
 6,000,000
Russian: Intentional Famine in Ukraine

1932-33
 5,000,000
China: Land Reform

1949-53
 4,500,000
Russia: Collectivization

1928-35
 3,133,000
Cambodia: Killing Fields

1975-79
 2,000,000
China: Cultural Revolution

1964-75
 1,613,000
Pakistan: Bengal-Hindu

1971
 1,500,000
Young Turks: Armenians

1915-18
 1,404,000
Russia: Great Purges

1936-38
 1,000,000
Croatians: Serbs, Jews, Gypsies

1941-45
 655,000
Indonesia: Communists, Sympathizers

1965-66
 509,000
Uganda: Idi Amin's 'enemies'

1971-79
 300,000
Vietnam: Boat People

1975-87
 250,000
Spain: Civil War

1936-39
 200,000
China: Japanese Rape of Nanking

1936-39
 200,000
Rwanda: Hutu Killing Tutsi

1971-72
 150,000
Indonesia: East Timor

1975-87
 150,000


As I sit and take time to think about each number (rounded off to the nearest 100,000), my mind shuts down. It is only when I think of one solitary person after another that the numbers become tangible, and that only increases the horror. Few of the above incidents are part of our active consciousness. The recent book by Iris Chang, The Rape of Nanking: "The Forgotten Holocaust of World War II," brings one to light.

This record leads me to speak with humility about living in this age of marvelous progress. That progress has a grim side, since it allows governments more effective means to slaughter more people more efficiently.

No democratically elected government is in the above list. In light of that, we can add a corollary to Lord Acton's dictum: power kills and absolute power kills absolutely.

 

 

--Robert H. Tucker
5 April 1999


© Robert H. Tucker, 1999.
 
 
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