Bridges out of genocide

The Armenian genocide of 1915, marking the beginning of a series of ethnic slaughters over the course of the last century, has only recently been getting widespread attention, and Atom Egoyan’s upcoming film Ararat is bound to generate new interest. In the meantime, the Armenian General Benevolent Union of Montreal is using genocide to bring communities together rather than divide them. Their third annual Distinguished Speaker event will host survivors from several persecuted groups, including Afghanis, Jews, Palestinians, Guatemalans and Rwandans, as they recount their stories of surviving some of history’s worst slaughters. Also speaking, via pre-recorded video, will be a 97-year-old Armenian woman who survived the Ottoman-organized genocide.

“We want to address the issue of survivor memory, how to keep the memories of genocide alive across the generations,” says Viken Attarian, vice-president of AGBU Montreal. “This is something the victims of the Rwandan genocide will have to face two generations from now, and what Jewish survivors of the Holocaust are facing today.”

Attarian describes the event as an “expression of solidarity” with other groups who have suffered from genocidal persecution. “We want to hear about the other genocides,” he says. “We want to learn about their communities, exchange ideas and how we can support each other. We want to make each individual a story. These people are not numbers, they’re not statistics. They are real survivors.”

The event takes place on Sunday, May 26, at the Gundjian Hall, 755 Manoogian in Ville St-Laurent, at 7 p.m. It’s free. Call 748-2428 for more information. :

—Patrick Lejtenyi