Genocide Awareness Month [UC Berkeley]

Throughout the month of April, the Armenian Student Association of UC Berkeley held its annual Genocide Awareness Month.

This year, the campaign began with a candlelight vigil on April 2oth in commemoration of the Armenian and all other genocides.

A special Pomegranate Memorial, symbolizing Armenian culture and endurance, was crafted by the ASA members and brought out for the vigil. It remained on display for the entire week in front of the campus' main library with a dozen informational posters on the Armenian Genocide surrounding it.

Campus activities for the month culminated with the 5th annual UC Berkeley ASA "United Hands Across Cal" demonstration on April 22. The event consisted of Armenian students and anti-genocide activists linking hands across UC Berkeley's famous Sproul Hall in unity against human rights abuses. It also featured musical performances, poetry, and speeches.

ASA students capped off the campaign by joining with CalSlam, a Berkeley poetry group, to hold a special Genocide Awareness Poetry Slam session on the night of the 22nd.

(Thank you to UC Berkeley ASA member, Andre Ivan Arzoo, for supplying the material featured in this post. Click here for an interview with Arzoo and other activists on a KPFA Radio program commemorating the Armenian Genocide)

Letters Condemning Defacement of Genocide Memorial [USC]

Daily Trojan, May 1, 2008

"The best answer to the haters and deniers here at USC and abroad would be to recognize the Armenian Genocide."

"Never Again, must be a reality, and not a slogan."

Alissa Bittenson
USC Tzedek Chair

Charlie Carnow
Former USC Tzedek Chair [more]

Students Recognize Armenian Genocide [UC Irvine]

Stella Cho, Arshi Khan, and David Lumb, New University, April 28, 2008

"The day carries the charge of injustice for those descendents of the half-million Armenians who were lucky enough to survive, and as such has been commemorated by the UC Irvine Armenian Student Association in recent years through the “Peace, Love and Genocide” event series." [more]

Armenian Genocide Issue Requires Sustainable Solution [Tufts]

Harout Harry Semerdjian, Tufts Daily, April 28, 2008

"This month, the world once again commemorates the 1915 mass killings and deportation of over two million Armenians by the Young Turk regime of the Ottoman Empire. Ninety-three years after the first genocide of the 20th century, the United States and the international community should, at last, compel the leadership of Turkey to seek a real and sustainable solution to the Armenian Genocide issue by ensuring that the country comes to terms with its past, as well as adopts some much-desired changes in its policies toward Armenia." [more]

Valley Marks 93rd Anniversary of the Armenian Genocide [Valley College]

Astrid Seipelt, Valley Star, April 27, 2008

"Thursday night was a night of remembrance and recognition for the Armenian community of Valley College, as more than 80 people gathered in Monarch Hall to honor the 93rd anniversary of the Armenian Genocide." [more]

Century's 1st Genocide Remembered by Students [Rutgers]

Pablo Albilal, Daily Targum, April 25, 2008

"Somber music floated around passersby, as Armenian-American students and others convened to commemorate the 93rd anniversary of the 1915 Armenian genocide, the first of the century, in front of Brower Commons yesterday on the College Avenue campus." [more]

Armenian Students Organization Reflects on 1915 Genocide [Univ. of Mass.]

Jess Sacco, Daily Collegian, April 25, 2008

"Yesterday, as the evening approached, students of the Armenian Students Organization (ASO) gathered on the steps of the Student Union to recognize the 1915 Armenian Genocide in a commemorative candlelight vigil." [more]

Student Groups Remember Genocide [USC]

Silva Sevlian, Daily Trojan, April 25, 2008

Naritsa Kazanjian cannot trace back her family linage more than two generations, a fate common among Armenians because of the Armenian genocide, which left 1.5 million people dead.

"My grandfather doesn't know who his parents are," said Kazanjian, a junior majoring in accounting. "Kazanjian is not even my last name - it is the name he took from his adopted family." [more]

Students Disrupt Genocide Memorial [USC]

Melody Chiu, Daily Trojan, April 24, 2008

"A peaceful demonstration was disrupted Wednesday when two students stepped on flowers and knocked down signs at a memorial service honoring those who died in the Armenian genocide between 1915 and 1923." [more]

Enough is Enough: Recognize the Armenian Genocide [CSUN]

Eileen Mansoorian, Daily Sundial, April 24, 2008

"It is no secret that the Armenian Genocide happened. There are pictures and documentations on the atrocities that can fill up a museum. If a person has done their research, there is no way they can deny the inhumane acts of the Ottoman Empire in the beginning of the 20th century as an act of genocide." [more]

Anger and Remembrance for Armenian UCSB Students [UC Santa Barbara]

Ben Preston, Santa Barbara Independent, April 24, 2008

"Last night in the dimly lit auditorium of the Isla Vista Theater, a group of about 60 people listened as members of UCSB’s Armenian Student Association (ASA) read aloud the memories of survivors of the Armenian Genocide —which began on April 24, 1915, and lasted until just after World War I. Chilling tales were recounted — a father raped by gendarmes while his family was forced to watch; a group of five- to ten-year-old boys thrown into a pile and stabbed with bayonets; families forced to march across the desert for days without water, only to drink from a river filled with swollen corpses." [more]

Ninety-Three Years and Counting [Univ. of Arizona]

Sevan Abnous, Arizona Daily Wildcat, April 22, 2008

"Ninety-three years have passed and Armenians from all over the world still commemorate the Armenian Genocide. Since Turkey failed to erase the entire population of Armenia, Armenians have the opportunity to educate others in hopes that the world will recognize the Genocide and Turkey's actions will never be forgotten." [more]