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RFC - Inclusion of Gaza genocide

The following discussion is closed. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page. No further edits should be made to this discussion.


Should Gaza genocide be included in this list? ScottishFinnishRadish (talk) 13:46, 19 July 2024 (UTC)

Survey

  • Don't include unless the title is changed to "alleged genocides" or similar. In my view, inclusion under the current title amounts to a statement in wikivoice that a genocide is occurring. Regardless of what the majority view is, we should avoid such statements in cases where there's significant (non-fringe) controversy. I know there have been attempts to qualify such implied statements with prose like "recognized in significant scholarship", but that doesn't fully address the issue, just as false advertising can't be remedied by adding fine print. The non-neutral (implied) statement is still there. — xDanielx T/C\R 22:44, 19 July 2024 (UTC)
    Many (most?) entries in the list have been controversial, see Genocide recognition politics. The United States[1] (and others[2]) deny Rohingya genocide. The United Nations[3] (and others[4]) deny Darfur genocide. Most of those who are denying Gaza genocide would also dispute the longstanding Sabra and Shatila massacre entry in this list.VR (Please ping on reply) 00:00, 8 August 2024 (UTC)
  • Include there are a lot of reliable sources calling it genocide or saying in so many words that Israel is engaging in genocidal actions. Most of the sources that disagree with that label are either simply unreliable or directly tied to Israel and its backers. If this situation was applied to an enemy of the US, like China or Russia, we wouldn’t be having this conversation. Dronebogus (talk) 02:38, 20 July 2024 (UTC)

    If this situation was applied to an enemy of the US, like China or Russia, we wouldn’t be having this conversation.

    That's not true. For example, Persecution of Uyghurs in China and Allegations of genocide of Ukrainians in the Russo-Ukrainian War are not included in the list. BilledMammal (talk) 04:33, 20 July 2024 (UTC)
    I think there is sufficient sourcing to call China’s actions against the Uyghurs genocide of some description, at least. Dronebogus (talk) 04:31, 21 July 2024 (UTC)
    You may think, but editors' consensus was different.[5]kashmīrī TALK 22:18, 23 July 2024 (UTC)
    I see a lot of reasonable votes supporting the genocide label. There was zero consensus; the change was basically by admin fiat, implemented to sidestep the issue in a reasonable and policy-based way. “Genocide” will always be a controversial label, especially when it’s in a country that is heavily involved in international geopolitics Dronebogus (talk) 11:55, 26 July 2024 (UTC)
  • Don't include, per xDanielx. Sourcing is not sufficient yet to put it in Wikivoice per the recent RM - and generally, we should wait to do so until after the ICJ has ruled, at which point we can either make it clear that the allegations were true or that they were false. BilledMammal (talk) 04:32, 20 July 2024 (UTC)
    Wiki policy depends on RS, not ICJ. And most entries in this list don't have an ICJ ruling.VR (Please ping on reply) 00:01, 8 August 2024 (UTC)
  • Don't include per XDanielx. Right now the status of a genocide is disputed, and really entries to this article should only be made when it's clearer. — Czello (music) 09:32, 21 July 2024 (UTC)
  • Don't include. This article "only considers acts which are recognised in significant scholarship as genocides", and this case is obviously an extremely controversial topic right now, the allegations could be false as well. We should wait and see how things develop. HaOfa (talk) 15:33, 24 July 2024 (UTC)
    Based on that criteria, then Gaza should be included, as in the currently published scholarship, it is overwhelmingly described as a genocide. -- Cdjp1 (talk) 21:43, 24 July 2024 (UTC)
    No, it's not. For example, the Economist: "Charging Israel with genocide makes a mockery of the ICJ... it diverts attention from the real humanitarian crisis in Gaza". https://www.economist.com/leaders/2024/01/18/charging-israel-with-genocide-makes-a-mockery-of-the-icj HaOfa (talk) 11:16, 25 July 2024 (UTC)
    I'm not sure I follow, this isn't a scholarly article—blindlynx 11:34, 25 July 2024 (UTC)
    @האופה the Economist is not a scholarly publication, try again. -- Cdjp1 (talk) 14:23, 25 July 2024 (UTC)
    Serious publications and scholars need time to analyze the evidence and provide their verdicts. Those who have already drawn conclusions while the war is still ongoing, despite many leading outlets and world leaders directly stating this is a fabrication, should be questioned. Claims of genocide have often been made during Israeli operations in Gaza all over the past decade by activists, so there are lots of good reason to doubt their credibility. HaOfa (talk) 17:12, 25 July 2024 (UTC)
    So your answer is to call for us to use the opinions of non-experts over experts in the field, including multiple pre-eminent experts? You really are an ideologically-blinkered editor in these matters. -- Cdjp1 (talk) 19:44, 25 July 2024 (UTC)
    There is a time delay (particularly due to selection bias and publication delay) for assessing scholarly consensus. The events here are too recent to assess scholarly consensus in full. — MarkH21talk 21:28, 15 August 2024 (UTC)
    Wikipedia has an ongoing, general problem of automatically treating academic sources as reliable. General-audience publications such as the Economist are actually significantly more reliable than publications in ideologically captured fields like critical race theory, postcolonial studies, etc. Partofthemachine (talk) 05:05, 15 August 2024 (UTC)
    I disagree with both points - scholarly consensus over time is the gold standard. However, the recency means it is difficult to assess academic consensus here anyways. — MarkH21talk 21:28, 15 August 2024 (UTC)
    On the contrary, academics and subject matter experts are far more reliable in cases like this which require specialised analysis, whereas random columnists for general audience sources may not know what they're talking about or allow their personal opinions to inform their takes. Or are we saying that The Economist has more credibility than preeminent experts like Schabas and Moreno Ocampo on what a genocide looks like? TRCRF22 (talk) 16:58, 16 August 2024 (UTC)
    This claim is based on the presumption that all or most of these academics actually know anything about anything, which is not the case. For example, the Lemkin Institute for Genocide Prevention, which is one of the most prominently referenced sources for the claim that Israel is committing genocide, also believes that not allowed transgender women to compete in women's sports is a form of genocide. Partofthemachine (talk) 21:13, 16 August 2024 (UTC)
    Correction: it believes that such bans are "driven by genocidal ideology", not that trans people are literally experiencing genocide. But even if they did believe that, it does not follow that most academics "don't know anything about anything" just because one academic body has one opinion that you disagree with. Plenty of general-audience publications have put forward some pretty fringe opinions too. TRCRF22 (talk) 21:43, 16 August 2024 (UTC)
    (edit conflict) That NGO isn't an academic institution. Furthermore, anything self-published by them isn't an academic source either.
    Judging academic consensus looks at academic books and journal articles, assessing them as a whole with appropriate weighting for the most prominent and reliable individual sources. — MarkH21talk 21:48, 16 August 2024 (UTC)
    Pretty sure Omer Bartov and Raz Segal may know something about genocide. -- Cdjp1 (talk) 10:56, 19 August 2024 (UTC)
    @Partofthemachine That's not how any of this works. -- Cdjp1 (talk) 10:53, 19 August 2024 (UTC)
  • Include. Historical events are always subject to debate, and violent events are routinely challenged and contested, especially by the minoroty aligned with or sympathetic to the presumed perpetrator(s). However, this page is not titled List of unchallenged genocides (it would probably be blank in such an instance). Where the majority of reliable sources agree, or where there's evidence of a very high quality (e.g., the UN or multiple subject experts), then it would be a violation of NPOV to let minority opinions dictate Wikipedia content. This is precisely the situation with Gaza genocide. — kashmīrī TALK 22:54, 24 July 2024 (UTC)
  • Include: this is not a list of officially UN-recognised genocides or anything according to that metric, henceforth the inclusion of so many events in the article including Yazidi, Osage Indian murders, Rohingya, Genocide of Acholi and Lango people, Guatemala etc I could go on. The article is literally called Gaza genocide too. It is a list of genocide or genocidal-like massacres that are recognised as such by vast sways of scholars and non-governmental organisations etc. - the only reason for not including it is due to personal bias or else we need to have a discussion about the entire page. Additionally as per Kashmiri. Ecpiandy (talk) 00:04, 25 July 2024 (UTC)
  • Don't include, per xDanielx. The allegations of genocide in Gaza are obviously contested (according to many they are totally made up), and lack consensus. Adding such a controversial claim would violate our neutrality guidelines. O.maximov (talk) 11:48, 25 July 2024 (UTC)
    according to many they are totally made up Just who is this mysterious "many"? Selfstudier (talk) 13:47, 27 July 2024 (UTC)
  • Include: per above. Even Al Jazeera, which is declared generally reliable on WP:RSPS, covers the coverage of the subject. Sufficient evidence of genocide will be essential in history. Ahri Boy (talk) 10:52, 26 July 2024 (UTC)

Read the first line of the article "This list of genocides includes estimates of all deaths which were directly or indirectly caused by genocides that are recognised in significant scholarship as genocides; overwhelming scholarship recognises this as genocide. We articulated this point well when discussing the ultimately successful name change to Gaza genocide. Ecpiandy (talk) 00:08, 25 July 2024 (UTC)

Scholarly and expert opinions on the Gaza genocide

Other scholars have offered opinions relating to the topic of incitement to genocide, but have not specifically drawn conclusions on the question of genocide itself.

Levivich (talk) 17:07, 26 July 2024 (UTC)
  • In that case, having read the sources in the template, I'm inclined to oppose the inclusion of Gaza here. The entry that swayed my opinion most was the Brooking Institute in June saying A third of scholars see Israel's military actions in Gaza as 'genocide' [34%] While I'm aware that the article itself mentions that an additional 40 percent of the scholars liken Israeli actions to "major war crimes akin to genocide," I don't consider that a classification of genocide in and of itself. Therefore, the fact that Israeli actions in Gaza amounting to genocide is a minority opinion in what I think it's reasonable to conclude is the segment of the scholarly population most likely to hold that opinion means that don't think Gaza should be included on this list out of an abundance of caution. (And out of a similar abundance of caution, I don't think this list should include any ongoing genocides until the dust has settled, but the implications of that opinion for the list leaves the scope of this RfC.) DecafPotato (talk) 04:54, 27 July 2024 (UTC)
    😂 Levivich (talk) 19:38, 27 July 2024 (UTC)
    ? - IOHANNVSVERVS (talk) 20:49, 27 July 2024 (UTC)
    See Argument from incredulity. Partofthemachine (talk) 04:03, 30 August 2024 (UTC)
    I would point to the inclusion criteria for this list are recognised in significant scholarship as genocides, and if you look at the academic publications in the collated list (see scholarship), all bar 1 (who terms it genocidal violence [...] to distinguish it from genocide per se), call Israel's assault on Gaza a genocide. -- Cdjp1 (talk) 19:53, 11 August 2024 (UTC)
  • Comment — The real question here is what is the scope of this article? If the criteria is "recognition in significant scholarship as a genocide", as is stated in the lead of this article currently, then clearly this belongs. IOHANNVSVERVS (talk) 03:03, 27 July 2024 (UTC)
  • Include Significant historic genocide that has already been the subject of international decision making in the International Court of Justice. Dimadick (talk) 07:52, 27 July 2024 (UTC)
  • Include. Historians like Pappé have been describing it as a genocide for years. Recent scholarship and international law decisions confirm it.-My, oh my! (Mushy Yank) 13:09, 27 July 2024 (UTC)
  • Include Why wouldn't we? The article Gaza genocide exists, the result of a veritable fountain of expert sourcing supporting the view that such a thing is beyond mere assertion, whatever the disagreement.Selfstudier (talk) 13:51, 27 July 2024 (UTC)
  • Don't include. Just as there are many sources calling it a genocide, there are many others disputing that (see the discussion here). Also, the argument that the relevant article is now named Gaza genocide is spurious and should be ignored by the closer. The move is under review now and in any case Wikipedia is not an RS. Alaexis¿question? 08:44, 29 July 2024 (UTC)
  • Don't include - We should avoid including this in the list due to significant controversy and lack of international consensus. The status of events in Gaza as genocide is highly disputed, and there's no unified recognition from the international community. Adding it could compromise Wikipedia's neutrality. Including Gaza in the list of genocides could set a precedent for adding other highly disputed events, potentially leading to an influx of controversial and politically charged entries. This could undermine the integrity and credibility of the list as a whole, making it harder for readers to trust the information presented.Eladkarmel (talk) 08:28, 28 July 2024 (UTC)
  • Include - It's likely that by the end of current conflict, 10% of the population of the strip will have likely perished. I wonder how people would react if this kind of mortality occurred in a western country. Say if some entity eliminated 30 million Americans or something. What kind of language would get bandied about then? My sense is people wouldn't hesitate to call it the "destruction of a people in whole, or in part". NickCT (talk) 12:16, 30 July 2024 (UTC)
    I don't know how did we arrive at 10%, it's currently ~38,000 people, around 1.7% of Gaza's population (if we accept the Hamas-run sources, which also include an unknown but significant number of Hamas militants). During World War II, approximately 8.23% of Germany's population died. Does this mean the Allies committed genocide against the German people? The answer is no. They were not systematically planned or executed with the intent to exterminate the German population. I don't get this logic. HaOfa (talk) 14:20, 30 July 2024 (UTC)
    That's true. It's not measured in deaths. It's measured in bringing about the end of conditions that maintain life and a society, like, I don't know, razing an entire territory to the ground, destroying the civic infrastructure, killing every doctor, scholar, poet and medic, torturing civilians to death in detention centres – all of that fascistic stuff. Iskandar323 (talk) 15:03, 30 July 2024 (UTC)
    The number you cite is deaths directly attributal to conflict (i.e. people hit by bombs and bullets). The number discussed in the Lancet piece I linked to is the excess mortality figure (i.e. it includes things like deaths from the starvation and disease arising from the conflict). I guess the allies weren't really trying to rid a place of Germans (except maybe France), which I guess is what makes the parellel different. NickCT (talk) 18:18, 30 July 2024 (UTC)
    @HaOfa Gaza MoH figures only include bodies retrieved after Israeli attacks. They don't include excess mortality. Yet, even though the Russians didn't kill a single Ukrainian during the Holodomor – all its 3–5 million victims died of starvation – we consider the event as genocide and include all the indirect deaths in the count. Similarly, I see no reason to exclude indirect deaths from the victim count in Gaza. — kashmīrī TALK 18:52, 16 August 2024 (UTC)
  • Include: It's a list of "genocides", and the clue is in the name. It's not a list of court-ruled genocides, scholarly consensus genocides or anything else. The very notion of not including Gaza genocide seems to rather spit in the face of the RM and community consensus that determined it be named as such. Iskandar323 (talk) 13:22, 30 July 2024 (UTC)
    But it is, the article clearly says that it includes only scholarly consensus genocides. HaOfa (talk) 14:22, 30 July 2024 (UTC)
    No, it says "recognised in significant scholarship", which Gaza genocide is, hence the RM result. This is just going to keep going around in circles. Iskandar323 (talk) 14:57, 30 July 2024 (UTC)
    Even if we were to use scholarly consensus (which is not the inclusion criteria for the list), looking at the specifically expert opinions published in academic literature you will find all bar 1 (who terms it genocidal violence [...] to distinguish it from genocide per se) call Israel's assault on Gaza a genocide. Which, at least currently, sounds like a consensus. -- Cdjp1 (talk) 19:59, 11 August 2024 (UTC)
  • Include. As the above table demonstrates, the body of academic opinion that this is genocide is large and growing. I also point to the 17-page legal opinion, written in April this year to the British government and signed by over 600 lawyers (including former Supreme Court judges) that has condemned Israel's actions as genocidal (see here). In addition, the ICJ said in its interim ruling on the South African case that Israel would be in breach of the Genocide Convention if it continued to block the provision of aid to Gaza, which it has done. TRCRF22 (talk) 17:07, 30 July 2024 (UTC)
  • Don't Include. THE UN did not say that there is a genocide. Only Francesca Albanese and she's clearly a very controvertial figure. As long as most countries do not recognize this as a genocide and academics and experts are divided on this, this remains an extremely minority view, and should not be included in the list. ABHammad (talk) 07:36, 4 August 2024 (UTC)
    What is this rambling comment? The UN isn't particularly relevant here and no one has based their assessment on it, so that's a straw man. Genocides are also not determined by "most countries recognizing them"; I'm not sure if countries recognising genocides has ever been much of thing, let alone a metric that anyone is following. Occasionally there are stories about countries refusing to recognize genocide, but that's normally the accused, like Serbia re: Bosnians; Turkey re: Armenians; etc. The standard here is relevant experts, and to state with any confidence that it's a minority view you'd have to either show more relevant experts rejecting the notion than affirming it, or produce a source that specifically declares it to be a minority scholarly assessment. Iskandar323 (talk) 08:15, 4 August 2024 (UTC)
    @ABHammad: The UN said precisely this. The UN Special Rapporteur on human rights in the Occupied Territories represents all the UN members and is precisely the UN that speaks. — kashmīrī TALK 09:51, 4 August 2024 (UTC)
    Francesca Albanese is a highly controversial figure who has faced criticism from the US, UK, and France for her extreme anti-Israel bias. Some leading figures even described her opinions as bordering on antisemitism. Recently, there have been investigations into her potential connections with Hamas. Since all these controversies exist, and the calls from the US for her dismissal, calling her "the UN that speaks" and using her opinion as the truth is very very problematic. Galamore (talk) 07:06, 8 August 2024 (UTC)
    Anyone who criticizes Israeli actions will be characterized by many as a controversial figure with an anti-Israel bias whose views border on antisemitism. This is true regardless of the role of the person. It is even true for humble Wikipedia editors. The relevant fact of the matter from Wikipedia's perspective is that she is the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the occupied Palestinian territories. Sean.hoyland (talk) 07:44, 8 August 2024 (UTC)
    US, UK and France are three of Israel's greatest allies/supporters... IOHANNVSVERVS (talk) 07:48, 8 August 2024 (UTC)
    @Galamore: This is BLP violation territory, per WP:BLPTALK. I suggest you heavily redact the above. Iskandar323 (talk) 08:05, 8 August 2024 (UTC)
    Francesca Albanese was not the only UN Special Rapporteur to describe it as genocide. Multiple others have done so as well, including Paula Gaviria Betancur, Michael Fakhri and other UNSRs from relevant areas. TRCRF22 (talk) 18:53, 8 August 2024 (UTC)
  • Include The United Nations includes Israel and all of its arms benefactors as a member country. They would deny genocide, wouldn't they? Dozens of reliable sources and scholars of genocide, unconnected from participation in the massive destruction regard it as such, and there's very few examples more clear-cut of genocide than what's happening in Gaza. HadesTTW (he/him • talk) 22:01, 5 August 2024 (UTC)
  • Include. The policy question here is which side should be given more WP:WEIGHT: that Gaza genocide is a genocide, or it isn't. There are ~140 entries at Template:Expert opinions in the Gaza genocide debate, but two entries have been endorsed by hundreds of scholars, so lets focus on those:
    • April: A letter by law experts in the UK wrote "there are reasonable grounds to believe that the threshold indicating Israel’s commission of genocide is met". This was signed 59 professors of law and 105 lecturers of law (1,001 lawyers in total).
    • May-June: A survey by Middle East Scholar Barometer of 750 of Middle Eastern Studies scholars found: 75% defined Israel's actions as either major war crimes akin to genocide, or genocide, vs 24% who don't.
  • Alternatively, we can focus on peer-reviewed scholarly publications in that table published in the last few months. The existence of Gaza genocide is supported by Semerdjian (Journal of Genocide Research, July); Green (State Crime Journal, June); McAlister (Canadian Foreign Policy Journal, June); Ak (Journal of Humanity, Peace and Justice, June); Di-Capua (Journal of Genocide Research, May); Jamshidi (Journal of Genocide Research, May); Sultany (Journal of Genocide Research, May) etc. VR (Please ping on reply) 23:47, 7 August 2024 (UTC)
    "The policy question here is which side should be given more WP:WEIGHT: that Gaza genocide is a genocide, or it isn't." — This is not true. The current criteria includes any events "recognised in significant scholarship as genocides". We don't need to, and shouldn't, be saying whether or not it is a genocide, but just that there is significant scholarship which considers it to be. IOHANNVSVERVS (talk) 00:13, 8 August 2024 (UTC)
    My mistake, it turns out that previous consensus was indeed achieved here on the inclusion criteria being ""that are recognised in significant scholarship as genocides"". We ought to be following the WP:LISTCRITERIA consistently, and can't exclude a genocide that meets that criteria arbitrarily.
  • Don't include. This event is not widely recognized as genocide, and the allegation itself has been described by many as inaccurate and politicized. We should keep this page focused on actual, widely accepted cases. Otherwise, this article, which is supposed to be neutral and encyclopedic, could turn into a propaganda page used in future conflicts to attack opponents with unverified allegations. Galamore (talk) 07:03, 8 August 2024 (UTC)
  • Include obvious that it meets the list criteria, no serious argument from opposers that it does not. (t · c) buidhe 14:06, 13 August 2024 (UTC)
  • Include. recognised in significant scholarship as [a genocide] as per the list criteria.—Alalch E. 20:51, 15 August 2024 (UTC)
  • Don't include – The classification of "Gaza genocide" is disputed. We should wait for a clearer consensus before considering inclusion. IntrepidContributor (talk) 15:40, 17 August 2024 (UTC)
    Consensus isn't the inclusion criteria for this list—blindlynx 15:46, 18 August 2024 (UTC)
  • 'Include per Levivich's list of scholarship, it's discussed enough as a genocide to warrant listing. starship.paint (RUN) 15:20, 18 August 2024 (UTC)
  • Include. We already have Gaza genocide, and most of us have eyes and ears with which to see what Israeli politicians say and Israeli soldiers do on a daily basis. xDanielx does raise a good point however: we should be careful what we say in wikivoice. At present the list inclusion criteria is quite lax. The US State Department is in a bit of a pickle here, because if we change the criteria to academic consensus then the Holodomor entry goes. KetchupSalt (talk) 12:04, 23 August 2024 (UTC)
  • Include. When credible sources refer to it as genocide, why shouldn't it be included? The death toll estimates range from 40,000 to over 186,000 people. Hosein (talk) 01:59, 27 August 2024 (UTC)
  • Include The classification is disputed, and we should not have an entry on Gaza until such a time as there is consensus in the scholarly sources. Quite frankly, adding "Gaza Genocide" to this list is absolutely taking sides in a contentious political/social dispute. Spirit of Eagle (talk) 04:01, 27 August 2024 (UTC) After some discussion, I've changed my vote to include on the basis that (a.) there is a more than nominal amount of scholarship alleging that Israel's actions in Gaza amount to genocide and (b.) the article now clearly states that inclusion in the list does not necessarily indicate universal consensus. I believe that the "don't include" votes have raised significant concerns regarding NPOV/due weight; these are concerns that I share. The entry should absolutely reflect that this is a controversial accusation which many reliable sources reject; it should absolutely not be written in wikivoice. My include vote is contingent on the text following our policies on due weight and NPOV; I would much rather not have an entry than have an entry that strays from these principles. Spirit of Eagle (talk) 23:02, 27 August 2024 (UTC)
    The present list inclusion criteria does not require scholarly consensus. KetchupSalt (talk) 08:35, 27 August 2024 (UTC)
    The article specifically requires that entries be “ recognised in significant scholarship as genocides”; any reasonable reader is going to interpret the presence of an entry as meaning there is widespread to undisputed scholarly consensus. If (a.) the quoted language were edited to note that recognition does not mean universal agreement/the absence of significant scholarship to the contrary and (b.) the Gaza entry gives sue weight to academic sources that do not find genocide, I would be willing to include. However, as the article is currently written I do not support inclusion. Spirit of Eagle (talk) 13:18, 27 August 2024 (UTC)
    Recognition in significant scholarship is already not the same thing as having scholarly consensus. Iskandar323 (talk) 13:27, 27 August 2024 (UTC)
    Our inclusion criteria should be fully spelled out and the distinction you identified should be clearly and unambiguously explained within the article itself. Basically, just be fully transparent about our rational. You and I may know the difference between consensus and significant recognition, but many casual readers skimming through the article will not. We’re dealing with a highly controversial subject and I think we need to be extra careful with our wording. Spirit of Eagle (talk) 14:02, 27 August 2024 (UTC)
    I've added a sentence to this effect in the lead for clarity's sake, feel free to massage it—blindlynx 14:44, 27 August 2024 (UTC)
    Given this additional clarification, I’m dropping my objection and will support inclusion of an entry on Gaza. Spirit of Eagle (talk) 15:23, 27 August 2024 (UTC)
  • Include I realized i haven't explicitly stated my position in this discussion yet. For the sake of making the closer's life easier i think we should include given there is significant scholarship calling this a genocide—blindlynx 19:14, 27 August 2024 (UTC)

Discussion

This has been going back and forth for a while, so let's go ahead and continue with the WP:DR steps. ScottishFinnishRadish (talk) 13:46, 19 July 2024 (UTC)

This does not pertain to the RFC question. Lets wait till it is resolved before we wikilawyer over the status quo. ScottishFinnishRadish (talk) 17:36, 25 July 2024 (UTC)
The following discussion has been closed. Please do not modify it.

 Comment: The page included Gaza genocide at the time of publishing this RfC, as it was added two weeks prior. The question should possibly be about whether to remove it. — kashmīrī TALK 23:01, 24 July 2024 (UTC)

This content was never stable on this page, and was forced in through edit warring. WP:ONUS: "The responsibility for achieving consensus for inclusion is on those seeking to include disputed content." HaOfa (talk) 17:08, 25 July 2024 (UTC)
This does not dispute the inclusion of Gaza prior to the RfD, in line with other similar conflicts like Rohingya. Ecpiandy (talk) 17:32, 25 July 2024 (UTC)
  • I think that we might need to clarify the standard for inclusion a bit. Currently it says the list is things that are recognised in significant scholarship as genocides, but this is ambiguous in a way that is leading to the split above - does it mean "significant scholarship exists that describes this as a genocide, even if it's in the minority", or does it mean "the consensus of all significant scholarship on the topic, taken collectively, is that it is a genocide?" Normally I think we use the latter standard for whether to call something a genocide in the article voice or not. --Aquillion (talk) 08:26, 30 July 2024 (UTC)
    I'm inclined towards the former reading, mostly because the language parallels WP:WEIGHT. That said we should defiantly explain the state of current scholarly disagreement here for any entry—blindlynx 11:07, 30 July 2024 (UTC)
    I think that the latter option — that inclusion requires the consensus of significant scholarship – is best for the article, but I think that this question would be best posed as a separate RfC given its overarching scope. DecafPotato (talk) 08:07, 31 July 2024 (UTC)
    I don't see a difference between the two, consensus of a significant portion of scholarship can still be in the minority—blindlynxblindlynx 18:54, 31 July 2024 (UTC)
It matters because, if it's in the minority view (or even if it's a plurality but is clearly disputed enough to not be an overall scholarly consensus), then we might mention it but wouldn't put it in the article voice. And this can be tricky for a list, where inclusion in a list of X carries an implication of "this is definitely X"; the list is "list of genocides", not "list of things scholars have described as genocides". --Aquillion (talk) 08:56, 2 August 2024 (UTC)
How do you assess the majority/minority? By the number of occurrences? By the number of copies printed? Are different academic publications weighted against each other, e.g., by impact factor? Is a UN report more or less of a majority opinion vs a thinktank report?
My feeling is that majority/minority can sometimes be merely abstract concepts on Wikipedia that get brought up simply to deny inclusion of specific opinion, under the pretext that the other side didn't provide that abstract "evidence of majority".
IMO, an opinion that's accepted beyond a niche community is probably WP:DUE for inclusion on Wikipedia, and then can be summarised in the lead, too, if it helps the reader to understand the subject better. — kashmīrī TALK 11:29, 2 August 2024 (UTC)
There's an important difference between just mentioning something (which certainly does not require a majority; we cover minority views all the time) and putting it in the article voice (which implicitly treats it as established fact.) See eg. the dispute over how to cover the "Uyghur genocide" above, which similarly concerned the article title - there are definitely many sources using the term, and we would definitely cover those sources, there was never any doubt about that; it's just that there's not a clear scholarly consensus that it's a genocide, so we can't call it one in the article voice ourselves. The question of whether we can include something that lacks that sort of scholarly consensus in this list therefore hinges on whether inclusion in this list amounts to Wikipedia itself saying, in the article voice, "yes this is definitely a genocide." And if it's not intended to convey that, we should consider changing the name. (This is a common issue with lists that have "sweeping" declarative titles.) If the list is intended to contain a bunch of entries saying "respectable scholars A, B, and C call this event a genocide; scholars X, Y, and Z disagree" then it's not a list of genocides, is it? --Aquillion (talk) 05:35, 7 August 2024 (UTC)
I don't understand, everything on wikipedia follows wp:Reliable sources so this has to be a 'list of list of things scholars have described as genocides' because scholars are the WP:BESTSOURCESblindlynx 21:44, 2 August 2024 (UTC)
This is definitely an unorthodox comparison but over on the video-game side of Wikipedia we don't have a "List of the best video games" but a "List of video games considered the best," which has a strict inclusion criteria in which a game needs to be considered "among the best" by a set amount of reliable sources. It's not a 1:1 transition, obviously, but it might be worth restructuring this list slightly in that vein to relieve issues of wikivoicing, where an objective (or as close as one can get to objective) criteria can be set for inclusion. DecafPotato (talk) 12:56, 5 August 2024 (UTC)
Thank you. This actually seems like a sound suggestion to me. CAVincent (talk) 17:28, 5 August 2024 (UTC)
To be clear are you proposing a title change or modifing the inclusion criteria? —blindlynx 21:02, 5 August 2024 (UTC)
  • But the level of sourcing needed to present something as a contested opinion with in-text attribution - "these scholars say ABC; these other scholars say XYZ" - is different from the level of sourcing needed unambiguously present something as fact. I think it's reasonably obvious that this is a situation where there's sufficient sourcing to present it as an opinion that many scholars of note hold, but not sufficient sourcing to present it as absolute uncontested truth. And that's a problem if inclusion in the article implicitly treats an event's status as a genocide as uncontested truth, at least within academia. --Aquillion (talk) 05:38, 7 August 2024 (UTC)
    This isn't and shouldn't be list as presenting uncontested truth though. It's a list of events where where there is enough scholarship that we should mention them, ie. their inclusion is WP:DUE. As DecafePotato said it's worth making this clearer—blindlynx 14:22, 7 August 2024 (UTC)
    The text of the disputed entry read "Israel has been accused by experts, governments, UN agencies and non-governmental organizations of carrying out a genocide against the Palestinian population during its invasion and bombing of Gaza during the ongoing Israel–Hamas war." — No one is proposing to present this designation as a genocide as an "absolute uncontested truth".
    More wording discussing its disputed status could be appropriate and perhaps the background of the entry in the table for the Gaza genocide could be made yellow or red to more clearly indicate its contested status. IOHANNVSVERVS (talk) 17:59, 7 August 2024 (UTC)
    There is no truth, only verifiability. And verifiability can only ever be a reasonable consensus among reliable sources. Dronebogus (talk) 08:37, 12 August 2024 (UTC)
The discussion above is closed. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page. No further edits should be made to this discussion.

Proposed reopening of Gaza RFC

I am proposing that we reopen the Gaza RFC to allow for further discussion. Its current result is effectively just a fiat of the editor that closed it, without seriously taking into account many of the arguments made. The result did not take into account that many of the cited sources, such as those in Middle Eastern studies, are ideologically captured and beholden to an anti-Western perspective and do not really have any academic rigor (our article on the subject mentions this). Partofthemachine (talk) 20:46, 7 September 2024 (UTC)

Ummm ... there is a procedure to vacate an RfC close, and this isn't it. Please see WP:CLOSECHALLENGE. Newimpartial (talk) 22:52, 7 September 2024 (UTC)
This seems like a crank proposal, but noting strongest possible oppose. That was a robust discussion, and calling the closure "effectively just a fiat" is not assuming good faith, or really even paying attention to the discussion and its closure. The consensus wasn't what I wanted, but it's the consensus. Reopening the discussion now is not going to change the consensus. CAVincent (talk) 01:11, 8 September 2024 (UTC)

Extended-confirmed-protected edit request on 8 September 2024

Remove “Gaza Genocide” as it is not a genocide, and the numbers are falsified. 180,000 people have not been killed, this is way over the number even Hamas themselves listed, which was 40,000. Half of which are Hamas militants. IZG123 (talk) 20:36, 8 September 2024 (UTC)

 Not done: See #RFC - Inclusion of Gaza genocide above. There was a long discussion about this which concluded it should be included. — Czello (music) 20:38, 8 September 2024 (UTC)

Extended-confirmed-protected edit request on 9 September 2024 (2)

Add Jallianwala Bagh massacre to this list as well, as the lower estimate for deaths falls above the lowest in the list. Xyznwa (talk) 15:57, 9 September 2024 (UTC)

You'll need reliable sources that say this was a genocide. IOHANNVSVERVS (talk) 16:03, 9 September 2024 (UTC)

Comparing stats from excess mortality, violent deaths, etc

The list is currently selecting as numbers for upper and lower bounds simply whatever is provided by the source as the "total", but in some cases that is excess mortality (over some defined time frame, when measurable) while in others that may be battle-related violent deaths, or else include nonviolent deaths as direct consequence of war activity (but still invariably a much lower number than excess mortality). See OurWorldInData's overview of some of these methodologies. These numbers are not simply comparable against one another, and certainly cannot be sorted in a list, without giving a deceptive impression.

The simplest place to start is to look at two general stats: excess mortality and violent battlefield deaths only, and find separate numbers accordingly. Some incidents have numbers available for one and not the other, and that's fine -- better to have numbers left blank than to give false comparisons. If a source for numbers does not make it obvious that its numbers come from one general methodology or another, then that source is probably unusable.

As an example, the numbers currently used for the Rohingya genocide entry are for deaths directly attributed to violence or consequences of displacement. This will invariably be a fraction of excess deaths. Excess deaths are in contrast used for the Darfur and DRC entries. (The Bosnian genocide number is simply incorrectly reported from source; if you get the correct number, it's not excess deaths or violent deaths, but their source Tabeau & Vijak use "war-related deaths" -- that's fine for the main article or blurb, but if your goal is to do a comparative list, there are more recent articles that try to calculate excess deaths in Bosnia.) SamuelRiv (talk) SamuelRiv (talk) 00:10, 3 September 2024 (UTC)

If this is going to happen, then the column names must be changed, and a lot of numbers must be deleted, "despite" what RS say (but in actuality being precise to RS; I'd argue right now the columns are SYNTH). This needs feedback, because it's basically rewriting the list, and I don't want to waste time on this if it's just going to be reverted endlessly. SamuelRiv (talk) 16:06, 9 September 2024 (UTC)

Extended-confirmed-protected edit request on 9 September 2024

Add the 1984 Sikh Genocide. Source: https://www.basicsofsikhi.com/post/sikh-genocide-of-1984 Gurnisha (talk) 15:26, 9 September 2024 (UTC)

Another source: https://pub.njleg.gov/Bills/2020/SR/142_I1.HTM Gurnisha (talk) 15:29, 9 September 2024 (UTC)
Not done. You'll need to show that "significant scholarship" considers this to be a genocide. IOHANNVSVERVS (talk) 16:06, 9 September 2024 (UTC)

Include the Cromwellian Conquest of Ireland on the list

I believe this conquest should be included as it was an attempt to destroy the Irish race and Catholicism in Ireland. Anyone who knows about it can attest to its bloodiness. There also does exist significant scholarship calling it a genocide.

  1. "Oliver Cromwell offered Irish Catholics a choice between genocide and forced mass population transfer". - Albert Breton, Nationalism and Rationality
  2. "Therefore, we are entitled to accuse the England of Oliver Cromwell of the genocide of the Irish civilian population" - Ukrainian Society of America, Ukrainian Quarterly
  3. "Faced with the prospect of an Irish alliance with Charles II, Cromwell carried out a series of massacres to subdue the Irish. Then, once Cromwell had returned to England, the English Commissary, General Henry Ireton, adopted a deliberate policy of crop burning and starvation, which was responsible for the majority of an estimated 600,000 deaths out of a total Irish population of 1,400,000" - Frances Stewart, War and Underdevelopment: Economic and Social Consequences of Conflict v. 1
  4. "As a leader Cromwell was entirely unyielding. He was willing to act on his beliefs, even if this meant killing the king and perpetrating, against the Irish, something very nearly approaching genocide" - Alan Axelrod, Profiles in leadership
  5. "The massacres by Catholics of Protestants, which occurred in the religious wars of the 1640s, were magnified for propagandist purposes to justify Cromwell's subsequent genocide" - Tim Pat Coogan, The Troubles: Ireland's Ordeal and the Search for Peace
  6. "It was to be the justification for Cromwell's genocidal campaign and settlement" - Peter Beresford Ellis, Eyewitness to Irish history
  7. "[The campaign was] a conscious attempt to reduce a distinct ethnic population". - Mark Levene, Genocide in the Age of the Nation State: Volume 2

ResearchAgent007 (talk) 17:06, 7 September 2024 (UTC)

Seconded. It has been reliably estimated that up to 20% of the civilian population of Ireland died during the conquest, and some historians have put the figure as high as 41%. I have tracked down one additional academic source that supports inclusion: a 2017 article by Aziz Rahman, Mary Anne Clarke, and Sean Byrne that states "The 1649 warfare by Cromwellian soldiers culminated in acts of genocide against Irish Gaels with the liquidation of the inhabitants of Drogheda and Dundalk". - Peace Research, v. 49, no. 2 TRCRF22 (talk) 19:17, 8 September 2024 (UTC)
If we're going to try and get this added, looking at the list of sources in reference 39 in the article Cromwellian conquest of Ireland, and 331 in the article Genocides in history (before World War I)#War of the Three Kingdoms. Opposition to the inclusion in lists previously is the framing of historians who label it genocide or genocidal as being nationalist historians. Mark Levene who specialises in genocide refers to the Cromwellian conquest as such in volume 2 of "Genocide in the Age of the Nation State":

"[The Act of Settlement of Ireland], and the parliamentary legislation which succeeded it the following year, is the nearest thing on paper in the English, and more broadly British, domestic record, to a programme of state-sanctioned and systematic ethnic cleansing of another people. The fact that it did not include 'total' genocide in its remit, or that it failed to put into practice the vast majority of its proposed expulsions, ultimately, however, says less about the lethal determination of its makers and more about the political, structural and financial weakness of the early modern English state."

Any sources found supporting it's assessment as genocide should be added to, and quoted from, in the relevant main articles. -- Cdjp1 (talk) 17:52, 11 September 2024 (UTC)

Content removal to be discussed

These two removals of content should be discussed. 1 & 2. @Andrevan. IOHANNVSVERVS (talk) 01:25, 11 September 2024 (UTC)

Sure, I did explain in my edit summaries but happy to discuss, on the first, the Lancet letter is a letter, not a medical report. That letter is quite controversial and it's not up to snuff to be included in my view. On the second I clearly stated that the material wasn't referenced at all. Unless the reference is hiding somewhere. You may restore that with a proper footnote, of course, as per usual. Andre🚐 01:27, 11 September 2024 (UTC)
I don't have issue with the removal of the Lancet letter, as while their logic is fine, for an estimate I would want something that is more thorough in its calculations based on data coming out of Gaza. If it is re-added, it should be called what it is, which is not a "medical report". As to the blockade, while it's easy to add references for it, it may border in the excess detail area for inclusion in the list. -- Cdjp1 (talk) 16:02, 11 September 2024 (UTC)
Agreed. Andre🚐 18:37, 11 September 2024 (UTC)

Darfur genocide

There is consistent evidence of attacks against the darfur people by militants aimed at the killing of civilians in the currentbongoing war. Why is this item jot on the list?

https://www.hrw.org/report/2024/05/09/massalit-will-not-come-home/ethnic-cleansing-and-crimes-against-humanity-el Varjagen (talk) 08:59, 14 September 2024 (UTC)

...it is. TRCRF22 (talk) 09:28, 14 September 2024 (UTC)

Extended-confirmed-protected edit request on 15 September 2024

Factorfiction0 (talk) 02:17, 15 September 2024 (UTC)

Suggest changing "List of genocides in reverse chronological order" to "List of possible genocides in reverse chronological order"

 Not done: please provide reliable sources that support the change you want to be made. Bunnypranav (talk) 06:37, 16 September 2024 (UTC)

There is no section on the Tigrayan/ Ethiopian Civil War ?

Mass Starvation, documented drone bombings (and sales, transport documentation), etc. Regardless of low-end/ average death toll, all 9/10 steps of genocide can be attested. 97.126.88.45 (talk) 17:13, 19 September 2024 (UTC)

you can open a talk page for it, do you have citations describing it as a genocide? From some metrics and the highest estimate it could be the deadliest war in the 21st century The Great Mule of Eupatoria (talk) 12:02, 26 September 2024 (UTC)

Extended-confirmed-protected edit request on 8 October 2024

Under the section for Gukurahundi it lists the deaths as between 8000 and 300,000. However, inside the article nowhere are the estimations this high. I think this is upper bound is meant to be 30,000.

Change 300,000 to 30,000 2601:603:201:9C70:6594:29F2:5EBC:7D1F (talk) 21:09, 8 October 2024 (UTC)

Done ✅ IOHANNVSVERVS (talk) 21:18, 8 October 2024 (UTC)

Extended-confirmed-protected edit request on 11 November 2024

The Gaza genocide is a completely inaccurate and biased statement. Please remove this immediately. 108.51.151.24 (talk) 00:43, 11 November 2024 (UTC)

Not done. There is consensus to include this. IOHANNVSVERVS (talk) 01:53, 11 November 2024 (UTC)

Siege of Leningrad body count

Perusing the list, I was confused by the lack of a precise body count for the Siege of Leningrad. The lowest estimate is listed as the incredibly vague "more than 1 million", and there is no higher estimate. Surely there must be more detailed casualty counts than this available. TRCRF22 (talk) 20:03, 25 September 2024 (UTC)

I'd also like to add that formatting it like that is strange as 1) 'lowest estimate' already implies more than the number given and 2) not having it be a number makes it appear above the Holocaust when sorting the list by 'lowest estimate'. I propose changing it to '1,000,000' to fix both of these problems (any other change non-withstanding). Citation unneeded (talk) 13:52, 23 October 2024 (UTC)
The siege of Leningrad wikipedia page gives a more precise estimate of 1,042,000 civilian deaths. I would suggest that this would be a better number to use. 82.47.186.69 (talk) 14:06, 23 October 2024 (UTC)

tamil genocide

there’s an article on it. why not included on list? 157.131.130.26 (talk) 07:42, 24 October 2024 (UTC)

Inclusion of Gaza genocide

In the interest of avoiding further edit warring, I'm starting a section to discuss the Gaza genocide inclusion and the list inclusion criteria more generally.

I don't think we can verify many of the list entries as being the majority view in relevant scholarship. Usually we cite a couple sources that call the event a genocide. So, I support inclusion of any genocide described as such in a significant body of scholarship, with a disclaimer at the top of the list indicating that this list doesn't represent Wikipedia's viewpoint and a note of relevant disagreement with every disputed entry. (t · c) buidhe 19:06, 8 July 2024 (UTC)

In this case we should change the article name to present this change in criteria. Vegan416 (talk) 20:24, 8 July 2024 (UTC)
buidhe's suggestion is no different from the criteria that is currently detailed in the article lede, so a change of name is not necessary. -- Cdjp1 (talk) 21:45, 8 July 2024 (UTC)
we did that a few months agoblindlynx 22:27, 9 July 2024 (UTC)
As per the discussion in April, it was agreed to change the criteria from the previous criteria where it was scholarship + "in line with the UN convention", to "significant scholarship" (this can be by prominence or by multitude), as most Genocide Scholars and related specialists use frameworks different to the UN convention. So in trying to apply the previous standard editors would have to make that determination which it was thought bordered to close to OR. -- Cdjp1 (talk) 21:43, 8 July 2024 (UTC)
Buidhe's suggestion seems very reasonable to me: articles like this one should reflect significant body of scholarship. Of course we shouldn't require unanimity – there will always be sources close to or sympathethic to the perpetrators, while decisions by international tribunals unfortunately have also a political dimension and may or may not reflect the facts on the ground. Impartial scholarship appears the best way to go here. No disclaimer is necessary – there's no "Wikipedia point of view", and anyway every Wikipedia page already contains a link to Wikipedia:General disclaimer. — kashmīrī TALK 02:45, 14 July 2024 (UTC)
According to the definition of genocide on this very same page what is happening is Gaza is NOT genocide.
The definition on this page says "any of the following acts committed with INTENT TO DESTROY, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group..."
What is occuring in Gaza simply does not meet that definition. Israel is attempting to stop Hamas (a terrorist organization) from attacking them. The death of many Palestinians, while certainly tragic, is not the intent of the attacks. If there is anything close to genocide going on it is the attempted genocide of the Israeli people by Hamas since it is the intent of Hamas to wipe out all Jews. Jimv1983 (talk) 10:02, 27 October 2024 (UTC)
This is a list of events which have been classified as genocide by significant scholarship. Please read the rest of that section which makes it clear the UN definition is not always used is and is presented in the list as an example of a definition of genocide not the only definition of it—blindlynx 15:29, 27 October 2024 (UTC)
I'm confused. I don't see any reference in this case to any significant scholarship. The only reference to any scholarship is the Time article, in which the referenced scholarship is (a) not significant and (b) not unequivocal. Moreover, this section of the article cites so little scholarship that it actually violates the basic Wikipedia standard of no original research. Based on these criteria, Gaza does not presently qualify. In contrast, it's rather shocking that Oct 7, 2023 is not listed, which is about as textbook a case of genocide as they come - the perpetrators themselves publicly declared their genocidal intent and indeed there is a separate Wikipedia article on it. Why is the latter not included here? ~~ Narc (talk) 06:19, 7 November 2024 (UTC)

Yes, keep it on here that is the way the consensus is going now, and you can see plenty of other massacres and events that are only considered as such by a few sourcesa as you say there. Ecpiandy (talk) 21:42, 9 July 2024 (UTC)

How are you gauging "consensus"? It looks to me like anything but. Narc (talk) 19:26, 7 November 2024 (UTC)

By including it, we're saying that it is a genocide. This is going beyond what we can reasonably do based on the current sourcing. For example, we exclude the Ukraine genocide. We need to wait until the ICJ ruling for both of these. BilledMammal (talk) 00:40, 14 July 2024 (UTC)

I don't think that's what we're saying necessarily. The standard I think, which is what it is written at the top of the list, is acceptance in some "significant scholarship". See for example the Holodomor: the majority scholarly position is probably that it is not a genocide, but we include it because there is legitimate scholarly debate. I think if we include the Holodomor we should include the Gaza genocide. Though there is also a reasonable argument to include neither. Endwise (talk) 01:01, 14 July 2024 (UTC)
There are several items on the list that probably don't belong here, but given these events are happening now it's more important that we get this one right. BilledMammal (talk) 01:12, 14 July 2024 (UTC)
The idea that including the Gaza Genocide means Wikipedia is saying it is a genocide is complete nonsense. Wikipedia does not make determinations of fact. It merely reports what authoritative sources say, and there are many authoritative sources saying what's happening in Gaza is a genocide. Ianbrettcooper (talk) 11:12, 6 August 2024 (UTC)
Confused. I don't see any significant scholarship cited here. The only reference to any scholarship is the Time article, in which the referenced scholarship is (a) not significant and (b) not unequivocal. Moreover, this section of the article cites so little scholarship that it actually violates the basic Wikipedia standard of no original research. Based on these criteria, Gaza does not presently qualify. What "many authoritative sources" are you referring to?
In contrast, it's rather shocking that Oct 7, 2023 is not listed, which is about as textbook a case of genocide as they come - the perpetrators themselves publicly declared their genocidal intent and indeed there is a separate Wikipedia article on it. Why is the latter not included here? ~~ Narc (talk) 19:25, 7 November 2024 (UTC)
Is there a reason you're making this same comment twice here? [20] IOHANNVSVERVS (talk) 19:36, 7 November 2024 (UTC)
Here you go. -- Cdjp1 (talk) 22:28, 8 November 2024 (UTC)
@Ianbrettcooper
For anybody who feigns ignorance of these sources, which must at this point be simply in bad faith, the United Nations is officially examining what Israel is doing in Gaza for its constituting a genocide. https://www.ohchr.org/en/press-releases/2024/11/there-must-be-due-reckoning-horrific-violations-possible-atrocity-crimes عبد المؤمن (talk) 23:04, 10 November 2024 (UTC)