Self-Defense in the Ghettos of Today?

Two days ago was the sixty-fourth anniversary of the end of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising. Led by Mordechai Anielewicz, a small group of Jews armed themselves and resisted the deportation to Treblinka of the ghetto’s remaining Jews. They were surprisingly successful against overwhelming odds and held out for almost a full month of fighting before their inevitable defeat.

In just a few days, I will walk the streets of Warsaw and visit what is left of the ghetto. I will pay my respects to Anielewicz’s memorial and the Ghetto Heroes Memorial. Anielewicz’s last letter before his death ended thus:

The dream of my life has risen to become fact. Self-defense in the ghetto will have been a reality. Jewish armed resistance and revenge are facts. I have been a witness to the magnificent, heroic fighting of Jewish men in battle.

This is one of the most inspiring incidents of the Holocaust, when a few Jews learned of their fate and decided to die with honour by striking back at their exterminators when nobody else in the world would save them. They died as fighters rather than victims.

It makes me wonder if self-defense could be a reality for today’s victims in Darfur. World governments and the UN constantly call for peace between the rebels in Darfur and their Janjaweed and Government enemies. The rebels must not be asked to lay down their arms until others come to defend their people in the IDP camps that have become today’s ghettos. The world should end its moral ambiguity, take sides and aid the rebels if they aren’t willing to fight for them.

If we could go back in time and help the Jews of Warsaw in their fight against Nazi Germany, wouldn’t we? Is today really any different?

Please post your comments and thoughts on the possibility of enabling self-defense for the victims of genocide.