Andrew Stroehlein Profile picture
Jul 4, 2021 7 tweets 2 min read Read on X
Auschwitz personnel, 1944.

Ordinary people, not monsters, make atrocities happen. ImageImageImage
The endless stream of books and films that present those who supported and took part in atrocities as one-dimensional beasts, as simply monsters, sheds no light on how atrocities emerge. It offers no insight on how to prevent future atrocities.
Nazi horror didn’t start with genocide.

It started with words...

...with the dehumanizing of minority groups...

...and the mainstream acceptance of that dehumanization.
Once a minority group is seen as less than human, anything can be done to them. Discrimination seems "natural" - they are less than human so human rights do not apply.

In time, even mass murder is "acceptable" or "necessary".
And “it can’t happen here” is a dangerous delusion.

Nazis were made, not born.

I understand why people want to believe otherwise. Who wants to think such potential exists in everyone? In ourselves?

But we ignore the truth, hiding it with "monster" narratives, at our peril.
To stop mass atrocity crimes from happening, we have to understand this as a problem of human potential, not a problem of monsters.
We have to fight against dehumanization whenever we see it, even when - especially when - it seems to be coming from ordinary people in the mainstream.

We have to defend everyone's fundamental rights as our own.

Otherwise, we start down that road to infinite disaster.

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More from @astroehlein

Nov 16, 2023
Belgium is showing the way on the #Gaza crisis.

✅ Condemned 7/10 killings by Palestinian armed groups;

✅ Questioned legality of some Israeli airstrikes;

✅ Condemned Israel's collective punishment of Palestinians & called for targeted sanctions on those responsible;

1/n
Belgium has also:

✅ Expressed support for the International Criminal Court’s role and its ongoing investigation on the situation in Palestine, which includes jurisdiction over the current hostilities between the Israeli government and Palestinian armed groups.

2/n
In addition, the Belgian federal parliament has introduced a bill to ban trade with settlements in occupied territories.

3/n
Read 10 tweets
Aug 2, 2023
Convincing people that they have fundamental rights takes no effort at all.

Convincing them that others have fundamental rights is the hard part.
I want to write about these things in ways that might encourage new people to warm to the idea of universal human rights.

I don’t feel you can do that by using language and tropes that immediately spark “culture war” reactions - those cliché phrases that close minds instantly.
That’s been the purpose of my newsletter over the past year: to find language that brings people closer to understanding the fundamental rights that bind us together.

hrw.org/daily-brief-ar…
Read 4 tweets
Jun 19, 2023
Dans l'après-midi du 2 octobre 2018, l'éminent journaliste #saoudien et chroniqueur du Washington Post Jamal Khashoggi s'est rendu au consulat saoudien d'Istanbul pour obtenir les documents nécessaires pour son mariage. C'est la dernière fois que sa fiancée l'a vu.
Des agents saoudiens l’ont assassiné à l'intérieur du consulat et ont découpé son corps en morceaux.
Il ne s'agissait pas simplement d'une opération véreuse. En 2019, une enquête de l'ONU a mis en évidence "une coordination, des ressources et des finances gouvernementales importantes" derrière l'assassinat.
Read 7 tweets
Jun 18, 2023
1️⃣ From my Daily Brief last week - Monday:

The EU’s illegal and immoral border policies prioritize suffering: hrw.org/the-day-in-hum…

Audio: hrw.org/video-photos/a…

En français: hrw.org/fr/news/2023/0… Image
2️⃣ From my Daily Brief last week - Tuesday:

US state lawmakers pushing for MORE child labor: hrw.org/the-day-in-hum…

Audio: hrw.org/video-photos/a…

En français: hrw.org/fr/news/2023/0… Image
3️⃣ From my Daily Brief last week - Wednesday:

#India shuts down the internet more than any other country - and it hurts the poor most: hrw.org/the-day-in-hum…

Audio: hrw.org/video-photos/a…

En français: hrw.org/fr/news/2023/0… Image
Read 7 tweets
Jun 17, 2023
Mass drownings at sea are to the EU what mass shootings are to the US.

It keeps happening.

And every time it happens, politicians pretend to be concerned, yet keep in place the government policies at the root of the problem.

So, people keep dying.
hrw.org/the-day-in-hum…
What can be done?

Start with official, proactive search and rescue at sea.

Some EU states have drastically reduced search-and-rescue capacity at sea, and even restricted private groups from doing it.

Read more: hrw.org/news/2023/06/1…
Accepting mass drownings is a deliberate EU policy choice.

They have deliberated. They have discussed the options, and they know the consequences of the policy they chose.

It doesn't have to be this way.

There are other policy options, like making human life the priority.
Read 4 tweets
Jun 15, 2023
Mass deaths at sea are to the EU what mass shootings are to the US.

- It keeps happening.

- And every time, politicians pretend to be concerned.

- And every time, politicians keep in place the government policies at the root of the problem.

- And it keeps happening.
Read 5 tweets

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