by: Hoshang Farhad

Throughout history some people are forgotten. Their lives and memories do not matter.

The kurds embody this. They are the forgotten. The largest nation without a country. Their land does not have borders, their language is forbidden, their history denied and their families and children are massacred. The chemical attack on Halabja wiping 5500 people of the map, the Anfal operation where more than 282,000 kurds were killed and the continuous denial of the kurdish rights are just mere examples.

Where is justice? Dignity? Human rights ? When those notion clash with geopolitical and economic interests, justice is traded for commodity and compromise and those people are but forgotten. Yes, the Kurds are forgotten.

But we must be aware that our collective indifference and inaction not only affects those denied. Our collective humanism is denied in the process, and our very existence becomes meaningless. Because when one man is denied of his freedom and dignity, all men are.

The Peshmergas are kurdish fighters. The meaning of the word says it all : the ones « facing death ». Their bravery and sacrifice, serving the kurdish cause is not a myth. But they actually fight for even more. They fight for all Humanity, as they stand for life and freedom.

Well perhaps there is hope. Perhaps they are not alone. Some people stand with the Peshmergas. Some people refuse to yield to the world’s apathy in front of such injustice and decide to serve. Some people leave the comfort of their lives to serve the people of a place on earth that the world has decided to forget.