Genocide, Identity and “Haratch”
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Genocide, identity and “Haratch” Fourth in a Monthly – the 1930s and 1940s. While I intend and destruction,” he says, embodying to resume that thread, this month of both tragedy and survival. Series Genocide remembrance compels the di- “We do not forget the massacres gression to Haratch. because in not forgetting we rejoice On the spectrum of Saroyan plays in our survival against terrible odds,” that lack plot or dramatic conflict, Hovannisyan posits, while Saroyan Haratch may possibly define an end- furthers this perception by suggest- point. Although it is written in the ing that the mere fact of Armenian form of a conversation, one could ar- survival serves as revenge against gue that it is not a play at all. It features Turkish atrocity. real-life Armenian figures, including “Who is it that suffers the greatest loss by Aram Saroyan himself, as “characters.” And, in a massacre, those who are massacred, Kouyoumdjian for the most part, it serves as a tran- or those who massacre them?” Saroyan script of a meandering conversation wonders, as he segues to the issue of that unfolds among them at the of- Genocide denial. “[O]ne by little one, “Only in Haratch … did Saroyan boldly fices of Haratch (meaning “forward”), human beings with their truths and se- state the facts of genocide he knew so the Armenian-language newspaper in crets die, and their children take their well.” Paris. “Armenians are never so home places; if the killers deny that they killed, So concludes Prof. Dickran Kouym- as when they are in an editorial office … their children are burdened with a va- jian (no relation to me) in his Introduc- and near printing presses,” one of the riety of diseases or self-deceptions or tion to William Saroyan: An Armenian characters observes. paralyzing unconfessed truths, while Trilogy. Saroyan makes indirect refer- Haratch takes pains to emphasize the children of the survivors … are en- ences to the Genocide in his earlier that the congregation is a “haphaz- dowed from these truths, and the sur- plays Armenians and Bitlis which, to- ard gathering,” a “disorganized get- vival of themselves … with great human gether with Haratch, comprise the tril- together,” an “accidental and sponta- Saroyan qualities.” ogy. Yet only in a play that he wrote a neous meeting.” Indeed, aside from At times, Saroyan’s celebration of mere two years before his death does someone new occasionally joining the Missakian, poet Hrachia Hovannisy- these “human qualities” in decidedly Saroyan directly confront the cam- conversation, no action transpires. an, and professor Khachig Tölölyan universalist terms seems to run coun- paign of extermination that began in As Kouymjian writes in his Introduc- probe questions of homeland, disper- ter to the notion of nationalism. “I am 1915 and that continues in myriad ways tion, the piece reads like Plato’s Sym- sion, assimilation, and repatriation, both an American and an Armenian to this day. posium. “What else is Haratch than a with specific focus on the Armenian writer, and I am neither. I am only the Turning my present attention to modern Socratic dialogue?” he asks, Case and “what it is exactly that Ar- writer that I am,” he intones at some Haratch breaks the progression of my except he points out that “being Ar- menians want.” point. “I write Saroyan.” Still, the pow- last two articles, which had been chroni- menian” replaces “love” as its central Amidst this coterie of historical erful sequence that concludes Haratch cling Saroyan’s evolution as a playwright concern. personages is the unnamed Old Man – in which the characters announce during the early decades of his career “Being Armenian,” however, is no from Bitlis, who is pre-occupied with their individual names and the places simple matter, and Haratch quickly recording his memoirs and having from where their ancestors hail – evi- Aram Kouyoumdjian is the winner of Elly Awards delves into a debate over identity. them published in Haratch. “It is a dences a recognition of and affinity for both playwriting (The Farewells) and directing Over the course of 50 pages, charac- very difficult thing to make sense of towards an identity that is undeniably (Three Hotels). His latest work is Velvet Revolution. ters including Haratch editor Arpik loss, and absence, and displacement, Armenian. f Reflective moments Morgenthau’s 24 rules at violence during South Africa’s tyranny to my mind. He is a hero to many of low clerks, but be not too intimate. of apartheid. One of those beatings us Armenians, but this principled man 13. Be not inquisitive. age 14 nearly took Gandhi’s life. Perplexed, worked at developing his strengths by 14. Neither borrow nor lend if avoid- his eldest son asked, “Father, you what he referred to as building his able. by Kay Mouradian always preach non-violence to us at moral muscles. 15. Trust none too much, but be not dis- home, but if I had been at this beating, At the tender age of 14, Morgenthau trustful. what should I have done?” And Gandhi composed 24 rules he wished to live 16. Be not vain, for vanity is the destruc- Rajmohan Gandhi, a human rights ac- replied, “If you cannot immediately by. He made a chart and every night tion of men. tivist and historian, is a visiting pro- think of something to do that is non- he marked the breaches of that day. He 17. Be grateful for the smallest favor. fessor at the South Asian and Middle violent, then hit him!” That statement titled his chart Tabulating virtues to be 18. Never leave for tomorrow what can Eastern Studies Program at the Univer- surprised me. acquired and vices to be avoided. His be done today. sity of Illinois. He recently spoke at the PCC’s Sexson Auditorium was filled rules were as follows: 19. Drink no kind of intoxicating liquor Pasadena City College (PCC), the first to capacity, and I was fortunate to be nor smoke any weed. leg of a lecture tour pertaining to his sitting in the front row. I was charmed 1. Do not use any profane words. 20. Never play at any game of chance. new book, Gandhi: The Man, His People by the smile of a rugged-looking La- 2. Do not eat much sweet food as it dark- 21. Conquer temptation though it be and the Empire, a monumental biogra- tino man who, with camera in hand, ens the mind. ever so powerful. phy of his grandfather, Mahatma Gan- sat next to me. He introduced himself 3. Always speak the truth. 22. Keep yourself clean, as cleanliness is dhi. Rajmohan talked about the stature and told me he was going to record 4. Spend nothing unnecessarily, for if next to godliness. of his remarkable grandfather and how Rajmohan’s talk and post it on his Web you save when young, you can spend 23. Wonder not at the construction of this ordinary man became a revolution- site. Wearing a Che Guevara beret, he when old. man, but use your time in improv- ary who believed in the efficacy of non- said he had recently filmed the Nobel 5. Never be idle as it will cause you to ing yourself. violence, emerging as the Great Soul Laureate Muhammad Yunus and we think of wrong things. 24. In deciding any doubts in the mean- who liberated India from the yoke of both agreed that Dr. Yunus, the small- 6. Talk little, but think much. ing of above maxims, let conscience Great Britain. loan banker from Bangladesh who is 7. Study daily, or else your knowledge decide. I was moved by Rajmohan’s dis- lifting the poorest of the poor out of will not improve. course about how his grandfather poverty, was most likely today’s Ma- 8. Keep your own secrets, for if you do These moral muscles, which he worked continued to live by the principle of hatma Gandhi. not keep them, no one will keep as a teenager, built within him an honest non-violence even as he was beaten in That conversation triggered my them for you. power that eventually led to the world’s South Africa by Whites, Blacks, and thinking about how the very ordinary 9. Make few promises, but if you make recognition of him as a wealthy entre- his own compatriots, South African can become totally principled and nev- any, fulfill them. preneur, a diplomat extraordinaire, and a Indians, who refused to embrace non- er waver from their core, and how they 10. Never speak evil of anyone. noble humanitarian. f can affect the lives of thousands, if 11. Work for your employer as though it Kay Mouradian is author of Reflective Meditation not hundreds of thousands. And the was for yourself. connect: and A Gift in the Sunlight: An Armenian Story. image of Henry Morgenthau, Sr. came 12. Deal fairly and honestly with your fel- aGiftInTheSunlight.com C6 Armenian Reporter Arts & Culture April 26, 2008 .