Literary Critique of “An Inconvenient Genocide”

Alicia Ghiragossian, the groundbreaking poet and author of now 59 volumes of meteoric poetry once again showers us with her blazing lyrical genius. In her latest epic poem and manifesto, “An Inconvenient Genocide,” the poet shares her life-long experiences and gathered first hand wisdom as the child of Armenian genocide survivors. The work solidifies Ghiragossian’s voice as a leader among the Armenian people, who challenges the world governments to recognize the Armenian genocide as a “genocide.”
The book, while being factual and historical, also manifests the poet’s genius metaphors in powerful new ways which explain the stark and unjustified truth of an “Inconvenient Genocide.” The work at the same time penetrates the reader’s soul and soars into their hearts with fervent and moving music, radiating change. And this movement is the goal of the book, itself a revolution, itself a cause, and a progression towards the dream of the author’s and the Armenian people to have this genocide recognized.  As the author so eloquently writes at the beginning of the book:

Great souls speak the truth.

But who listens to them?

We still live in a lie-bubble.

In that bubble it is not possible

to heal the broken hearts

of crime survivors.

Our hearts are still bleeding.

Have you heard

about our tragedy?

The one in which the Turks

exterminated

a million and a half Armenians?

To exterminate

half of the people

of a nation

is called Genocide

but some politicians

prefer to call it tragedy.

It is more convenient.

There is no doubt that, even perhaps unawares, the international community is adding to the discrimination of the Armenian people and their inherent right to have the atrocities committed against them justified and validated. This is discrimination, for why would thousands of people around the world join in solidarity for this cause and demand to be heard against governments unwilling to listen. The “Stop the Protocols” protest, which took place in October 2009 in Los Angeles, is a profound example of this demand for justice, where many people protested and even duct taped their mouths in a hunger strike. Condoleezza Rice, Secretary of State in the Bush presidential administration, said in a hearing regarding the recognition of the genocide: “Now is not the time.” The book expresses the frustrations and injustices of such a statement and raises the question of why it is so “inconvenient” for governments to recognize this dark time in history, considering many others in the past have been. The work is destined to become a part of human history with the same power to bring dignity back to humanity as history has seen in the abolition of slavery in the United States, in breaking down of the Berlin wall, and in the recognition of the Holocaust across the globe and Germany. And it is Alicia Ghiragossian’s illuminating voice, which courageously and undauntedly rises to this challenge enthralling us with her profound expressions, stunning us with her truth and conviction, and awakening within us a new hope for a more just world.

By Robert Danielak