According to Raphael Lemkin, genocide is “… the destruction of a nation or an ethnic group… generally speaking genocide does not necessarily mean the immediate destruction of a nation, except when accomplished by mass killings of all members of a nation. It is extended rather to signify a coordinated plan of different actions aiming at the destruction of essential foundation of the life of national groups, with the aim of annihilating the groups themselves.”
According to Hannah Arendt there is a “New Criminal” whom he calls, “The Cog in the Machine”. The person who depicts this is Adolf Eichmann. Eichmann was brought to trial in Jerusalem in 1961 where he was charged with “Crime Against Humanity”. He was a German citizen who worked for a private oil Company and later joined the Third Reich. He was responsible for sending thousands of Jews to their death. After WWII, when Germany was defeated, he fled to Argentina. He was brought to a Court in Jerusalem and tried for “Crimes Against Humanity”. Throughout his trial he denied he killed any Jews or broke any law. He said he was obeying Government orders. Psychiatric examination showed that he was not “pathological”. He was found guilty and executed in June 1, 1962.
What we see above is that Eichmann was a common individual who got involved in genocide. Aleander Alvarez gave a thorough explanation of how common people get involved in genocide. HE applied neutralization techniques to the individual’s decision making to participate and showed how some people may transform into genociders. Their brain is so filled with an ideology that they think of what they are doing, that is harm to others, as their duty.
Let us now take the case of Suhabhatta, a Kashmirit Pandit, who converted and started cooperating with the invading Islamic rules and became a genocider. Six centuries before Raphale Lemkin, Pandit Jonoraj talks of genocide as Jatividhwansha, (Jati is species or race and Vidwansha as destruction). Pandit Jonoraj talks of Suhabhatta’s action as based on the thinking that the entire Kashmiri Hindu civilization, with all its roots and branches, must be destroyed. where all the roots and branches of a tree are destroyed. Pandit Jonoraj talks of the mentality of Suhabhatta as “Childlike” who cannot distinguish what is “good” and what is “bad”. It seems that his ideology was so overshadowed by his new ideology, that he lost in touch with reality. In this sense, one could say that Suhabhatta free will was overshadowed by his ideology to destroy the Hindu (Sanatan) civilization, roots and branches. He was a “Cog In The Machine” like Eichmann.
Yet, we see exceptions to this. In 1971 when Nixon and Kissinger facilitated the killing of the people of East Pakistan, the American Diplomat, Archer K. Blood, stood against his own administration and said there was genocide being done to the people of East Pakistan, specially the Hindu population. He sent telegram after telegram to the Nixon administration about this. Archer K. Blood, a Government official, did not act like a “Cog In The Machine”. He did not act in bad faith, rather, he stood up and protested. One could argue that he acted authentically. Maybe the difference in these people is their mental makeup, upbringing, and conviction to always act morally, even at the risk of their own lives. It is a complex issue and probably psychoanalysts are the best people to answer this question.
