"NEVER AGAIN" - AN EMPTY PROMISE

January 2023 will go down into U.S. history as the worst month for mass shootings. Well in excess of 40 incidents were recorded during a four week period. In the course of virtually every eulogy delivered during funeral services for victims of these now, unfortunately, routine events, including those for solitary murders like the recent one for Tyre Nichols in Memphis, we would hear the call: "Never Again." These simple words resonate as a dominant plea, often interpreted as a pledge, but more frequently than not followed by a resigned: "Once Again." The phrase "Never Again" was initially used by Holocaust survivors, and was particular to Jews. The outcry insisted that "never again can we allow Jews to be victims of another Holocaust." The expression, although associated with the lessons of the Holocaust, may have originated from a 1927 poem by Yitzhak Lamdan, which stated: "Never again shall Ramadan fall." Its exact meaning is debated, including whether it should be used specifically as a command to avert a second Holocaust of Jews, or whether it is a universalist injunction to prevent all forms of genocide. Meir Kahane, a far-right rabbi and his Jewish Defense League, introduced the phrase as a Jewish slogan, making it the title of his first book: "Never Again: A Program for Survival," published in 1972. It was used to fight antisemitism and justifying terrorism against perceived enemies. Holocaust survivor and Nobel laureate Elie Wiesel paid homage to the term as well, as did many others. Today the phrase is widely used by politicians and activists, and it appears on many Holocaust memorials. In August 1989, Louis Farrakhan, an avowed U.S. anti-semite, arguably committed blasphemy by co-opting the expression when he delivered his eulogy for Yusef Hawkins, an African American youth killed by a white gang in Brooklyn. Since then, in response to multiple mass murders, the clarion call was repeatedly invoked by victims and observers alike. Between 1992 and 1995, 8,000 men and boys endured summary executions and torture by Serbian paramilitary forces in Srebenica, in what was considered the most extensive genocide in Europe since the Holocaust. "Never Again?" Obviously, nobody listened. Atrocities in Baathist Iraq, Cambodia, Burundi, Rwanda, Somalia and Sudan followed. "Never Again?" Once a rallying cry, rapidly began to sound hollow. Aside from Farrakhan and multiple others delivering eulogies for the plethora of victims of gun related deaths - more than two million since the liberation of Auschwitz and Buchenwald - some organizations still thought enough of the expression to adopt it for their specific campaigns. Case in point was the crusade developed by students from Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland Florida, after Nikolas Cruz and his AR15 killed 17 students and faculty on February 14, 2018. The student "March for Our Lives," which brought thousand to D.C. a month later, adopted "Never Again MSD" as their motto. Shortly thereafter, the Jerusalem Post published interviews with Israeli citizens expressing concerns about what some considered cultural appropriation. Some felt that it was "very uncomfortable to watch a term you've used to talk about your family and people's own heritage and history be taken overnight." However, most doubted that the kids knew this or did it intentionally. Either way, the expression had entered the realm of universal usage. Nevertheless, although some thought that this student movement, which appeared to be gathering strength at the time, might actually be different - irrespective of its powerful rallying cry - ultimately fizzled as well.The Parkland shooting was one of 119 school shootings that year. Since then, more than 900 shootings in K-12 school settings have been recorded. These include mass casualty events like the massacre at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas. "Never Again" expresses the aspiration of a civilized world. It is a powerful rallying cry, but it is no longer much more than that. The presumed necessity to proclaim it over and over again, does not really strengthen it. It diminishes its effectiveness. Politicians frequently express the same sentiment as well. However, more frequently than not, they stick to the catchphrase, raising expectations, but stopping well shy of constructive follow-up. Many no longer even dust off their stock responses to calamitous events. They, as are many of us, appear resigned to be frustrated and feeling impotent. "Never Again," as a slogan, no longer carries the same weight as it did right after the Nazi extermination camps were liberated. Theo Wierdsma