COMMEMORATING
THE 2015 INTERNATIONAL DAY IN MEMORY OF HOLOCAUST VICTIMS
The term ‘Holocaust’ came from the Greek word ‘Holokauston’; referring
to an animal sacrifice offered to a god in which the whole animal is completely
burnt. Literary, holocaust which was formed from two distinct Greek words
‘Holos’ and ‘Kaustos’ meaning whole and burnt respectively, can be defined as a
situation involving a very great destruction and loss of lives and property.
Destruction of lives and property, which could result from either
natural or manmade circumstance such as war, inferno, earthquake, auto crash,
plane crash, genocide, or insurgency, is obviously a phenomenon that is as old
as the world. It has indeed rendered several homes and communities useless or
incapacitated both in the past and present.
Considering the possible origins of holocaust, which include ethnicity,
fanaticism, carelessness, envy, greed, hatred, tyranny, mutiny, and treason,
there is no part of the world that is yet to experience tragedy. Needless to
say that, the ugly incidence has brought mankind in its entirety to a state of
unending torture and unthinkable anguish.
War, which is usually a
manmade crisis, subjects humanity to an untold hardship and subsequently
creates parallel lines among the ethnic bodies that constitute the affected
country. In consequence to the emergence of war in any nation, distrust invariably
becomes the order of the day amidst the populace or citizenry which often
results to eternal enmity or lack of unity.
There is no gain reiterating the fact that disasters not unlike
earthquake or plane crash which could be natural or manmade as the case might
be, have ended up making the mindset of every concerned individual to be
preoccupied with a psychological cankerworm known as ‘fear of the unknown’.
Inferno or fire outbreak for instance, which mainly takes place as a result of
man’s carelessness or lackadaisical attitude, has succeeded in rendering many
families homeless and stranded thereby making them constitute severe menace to
the society they belong.
Taking Nigeria that is currently salvaged by insurgency as a case study,
you will agree with me that every right thinking individual in the country has
been sleeping with one-eye open since the emergence of the terror, even though
the incidence is peculiar to the people residing in the Northern part of the
country – particularly North Eastern region, because nobody knows whose turn it
would be the next day.
Suffice to say; insurgency which often leads to high level of massacre
or wanton destruction of lives and property, does not only affect the victims
or the group of people directly involved but as well members of the surrounding
or neighbouring communities/countries.
The economic mayhem caused by holocaust cannot be overemphasized. For
instance, after the Biafran civil war in 1970 under the reign of General Yakubu
Gowon, Nigeria whom used to be one of the major exporters of petroleum products
prior to the era of the said war abruptly became dependent on other countries
for the aforementioned resources including oil, gas and fuel thereby ushering
the economic status of the nation to a state of mockery.
Owing to the damaging effect of holocaust, on 1st November
2005, the United Nations (UN) General Assembly unanimously adopted January 27
of every year as International Day of Commemoration in Memory of the Victims of
the Holocaust. The UN Outreach Programme seeks to remind the world of the
lessons to be learnt from the Holocaust in order to help prevent future acts of
genocide or any form of massacre.
The first commemoration of the Day took place in 2006 at the United
Nations Headquarters situated in New York, U.S.A alongside all the UN offices
across the globe. The ceremony which occurred in the General Assembly Hall drew
over two thousand two hundred (2200) people and was viewed by countless others
globally via webcast and live television broadcast. During the commemoration,
the then UN Secretary General Mr Kofi A. Annan unequivocally stated that,
holocaust will forever warn all people across the globe of the dangers of
hatred, bigotry, racism, and prejudice.
As the world over marks the 2014 annual Int’l Day for the Victims of the
Holocaust, there is need for everyone to acknowledge that the occurrence of
holocaust can be avoidable regardless of the locality in question. And there is
also need for the bereaved/affected families to be duly compensated in order to
erase any form of agony from their minds.
On their part, the civil society, activists, and the religious bodies
are expected to bring succour to the victims or their relatives by conducting
seminars, crusades, and disseminating radio cum television jingles, and what
have you, as well as soliciting for appropriate compensation on behalf of the
said victims or their families, as the case may be.
They are also meant to educate the entire public on the dangers of
holocaust by painstakingly condemning all the possible manmade causes of the
mayhem such as ethnicity, racism, fanaticism, carelessness, hatred, envy,
apathy, mutiny, treason, tyranny, among others.
At this juncture, I enjoin everyone to
live with the consciousness of holocaust with the aim of avoiding any
irrational attitude or thought that could lead to the emergence of the forsaken
and thought-provoking incident. A word, they say, is enough for the wise. Think
about it!
COMR
FRED NWAOZOR
(The Media Ambassador)-------------------------------------------
frednwaozor@gmail.com
+2348028608056
Twitter: fdnnwaozor
