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A Meeting of Diasporas
April 15, 2002Comments (0) | Add | E-mail this to a friendBy Martin Kalenberg, Fourth Year, Universidad ORT
(Reprinted from New Voices, the National Jewish Student Magazine)
"What the weak Western European civilization thinks about me does not matter... Who still talks nowadays of the extermination of the Armenians?" Adolf Hitler, preparing his officers for the invasion of Poland, cited the slaughter of 1.5 million Armenians by the Turkish Empire between 1914 and 1918 as proof that mass murder is forgotten.
Last November, Uruguay Hillel hosted the "Dialogue Between Diasporas," bringing together Jewish and Armenian Uruguayan youth. The objective, beyond considering the common history of genocide of both peoples, was to share traditions and perspectives that serve to bring us together as minorities in our small South American country. Although most of Uruguay's population of three million is of Spanish and Italian extraction, there are now between 15,000 and 20,000 Jews and approximately the same number of Armenians.
I came up with the idea for the meeting last July when Enrique Dreisis, the director of Hillel Uruguay, told me about Hillel International's initiative to create joint activities with the African-American community in the United States and suggested that we create similar events in Uruguay. His suggestion brought to mind an exchange I had with an Armenian student at my university a few years ago. As my Armenian classmate shared with me the history of her people, I had been struck by the similarities between the histories of Armenians and Jews. Why not create a dialogue between our two diaspora communities?
I approached Diego Karamanukian, an Armenian activist who conducts a daily radio show for his community in Montevideo, and proposed creating a dialogue between our two communities. After consulting with his colleagues, he accepted the invitation and, four months later, the anxiously awaited "Dialogue Between Diasporas" took place. Those who participated in this relatively informal event were Jewish youth, mostly from the Tzedek Hillel social justice committee, and Armenian youth from the Hnchakian Armenian House, an Armenian cultural center.
From exchanging ideas, both sides were surprised to discover many similarities between our two peoples. For example, both groups marry mainly within their own group, and both groups have preserved their thousands-of-years-old languages.
The dialogue also brought to light differences between our two communities. For example, during an exchange of opinions about emigration from Uruguay to Israel and Armenia, the Armenians noted that Armenia's economy is experiencing difficult times, which makes it more difficult for it to absorb immigrants than Israel. The Armenian participants in the event were also struck by the infrastructure and organization we have at Hillel Uruguay.
The outcome of the event was truly positive. For the first time in Uruguay's history, a group of young Armenian and Jewish adults came together to discuss their past, present, and future, demonstrating to those who wanted to exterminate our cultures and traditions that they did not achieve their objectives.
Visit New Voices at http://www.newvoices.org.
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