[July 08, 2015] I listened intently to a small group of Albanian refugees, 16 years ago to the day in 1999, telling stories about their flight from their home country of Kosovo. They’d departed quickly; fleeing from an ethnic-inspired war that not only drove them from their homes but also saw the destruction of all records showing their historical claim to their properties. This ethnic cleansing was part of the destruction of a culture we’ve seen repeated throughout history.
The destruction of any culture is certainly inspired by leaders and has been a common theme throughout history. Today we label those events as evil and are quick to morally judge those who bring death and destruction for the sake of an ideology. Fortunately, there has been much historical documentation about those tragedies that have unfolded and we have learned many leadership lessons from it.
For example, the Japanese occupation of Korea from 1909 to the end of World War II helps us understand the motivations of those involved and should be a moral signal for countries to intervene to stop it. The Koreans were considered by the Japanese as a lower species of humanity; all the more inferior for having been conquered. The Japanese, sure of their racial and cultural superiority, set out to destroy all remnants of Korean independence and history … and they went about it brutally. The world stood by without giving much help.
The residue of this brutal time remains with us and continues to put obstacles in the way of Japanese-Korean political and business cooperation. Despite being allies, these two countries continue to act in ways that shows the ugly side of the past and reminds their leaders of the sensitivity of those who lived during those days of the military occupation.
Today, we see this repeated in the Islamic State as it gains ground in Iraq, Syria, and elsewhere. We see only the simple evidence of the destruction of historical sites and antiquities. While the terrorist group of the Islamic State has been accused of “cultural cleansing”1, we often miss the destruction of the lives of thousands of people. This group does more than deliberately destroying ancient artifacts but also brutalizes the local populations and forces them to covert to the Sunni sect of Islam or die.
Western intellectuals are quick to make excuses for the Islamic State or why we should not intervene. Those who’ve been on the receiving end of it will not share those views.
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