Elie Wiesel on human rights, interfaith dialogue, and Holocaust awareness

by Seth Mandel
December 1, 2010

http://www.weeklyblitz.net/1130/elie-wiesel-on-human-rights-interfaith-dialogue

In February 2008, Elie Wiesel closed the memorial ceremony for his friend and human rights leader, Congressman Tom Lantos, who died of cancer while still in office. Less than three years later, Wiesel was in a way honored by Lantos, when he was given the human rights award named for the late congressman two weeks ago.

Wiesel, the Romanian-born Holocaust survivor and human rights activist, and Lantos, the Hungary native who would become the first Holocaust survivor in the United States Congress, would often seek each other's counsel when confronted with a human rights-related challenge.

"That's why it was a very special occasion," Wiesel said of receiving the award.

Wiesel, the Nobel Peace laureate and founder of The Elie Wiesel Foundation for Humanity, was instrumental in the Weekly Blitz's editor, Salah Uddin Shoaib Choudhury, receiving the 2007 Monaco Media Forum's Media Award for Courage in Journalism. Wiesel spoke with the Weekly Blitz on Monday, and he had some words of encouragement for Choudhury, still on trial for his life.

"What I would tell him is not to give up," Wiesel said, adding that true interfaith appreciation is "our only hope." Wiesel said people must remember that religion "should be a tool of dialogue, not of violence."

The subject of human rights has come under increased scrutiny in recent years, as many have criticized what they perceive to be the West downplaying an important issue. But though Wiesel wouldn't generalize as to which direction the world as a whole is moving on human rights, he did say that interfaith dialogue is still making gains in much of the world.

Such dialogue, he said, "is the only answer¾not only one of the answers, it is the only answer."

On Sunday, the online whistleblower WikiLeaks released another round of documents, this time mostly secret diplomatic cables between American embassies and their host countries. Among the chatter can be found several references by diplomats and government officials from different countries comparing Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to Hitler. Wiesel rejects the comparison.

"I don't compare anyone to Hitler; he is bad enough," Wiesel said. "Even without comparing him to Hitler, he is an evil man. I have been lobbying all over the world for years that he should be arrested and brought to the Hague and indicted for inciting crimes against humanity."

Wiesel doesn't, however, dismiss Ahmadinejad's anti-Semitic rants as those of a madman.

"It's too easy to say that he's crazy," Wiesel said. "He knows what he's doing."

Wiesel understands that most people who make the comparison mean well, and are attempting to call the world's attention to a dangerous authoritarian leader seeking the world's most dangerous weapon.

"But my feeling is you don't have to compare," he said. "Because if you compare Ahmadinejad to Hitler, it means Hitler was only Ahmadinejad. And I think he was more. He went beyond anything human."

Wiesel watched with interest the drama that unfolded when the Nobel Committee decided this year to bestow its peace prize on Chinese dissident Liu Xiaobo. Wiesel believes it's an inspired choice¾though he thinks the Chinese government badly misplayed its reaction to the announcement. In Wiesel's opinion, China should have welcomed it.

"Imagine the Chinese government had organized a huge reception in his honor, what it would have done for China," Wiesel said. The Chinese, in his opinion, should have boasted that Liu was one of them, not their adversary. "It would have brought China so much sympathy in the world."

Still, he said, human rights are steadily advancing even in unexpected corners of the world, thanks to the proliferation of advocacy organizations¾not to mention the Internet. Wiesel said he can remember a time when there were "maybe 20 groups dealing with human rights. Today you have 3,000 in the world."

The Blitz asked Wiesel how younger generations can effectively promote Holocaust awareness if the world is running out of witnesses. Wiesel responded simply that because of the willingness of first-generation survivors to tell their stories, the world has plenty of witnesses.

"I believe to listen to a witness is to become a witness," he said.

For more information on The Elie Wiesel Foundation for Humanity, visit Eliewieselfoundation.org.

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