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System To Rally In Front of House Speaker Dennis Hastert's Office |
Posted by ZAk on Sunday, September 25, 2005 - 04:26 AM
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System of a Down, one of rock's most daring and innovative bands, have just announced that they along with their fans, the Armenian National Committee of America, Axis of Justice and the Armenian Youth Federation will visit the Batavia office of Rep. Dennis Hastert on Tuesday, September 27 at noon to ask Speaker Hastert to "do the right thing" and keep his commitment to hold a vote on the pending Armenian genocide legislation.
If passed, the legislation will officially recognize Turkey's goverment destruction of 1.5 million Armenians between 1915 and 1923.
SOAD's four band members - Serj Tankian, Daron Malakian, Shavo Odadjian and John Dolmayan - are of Armenian descent and have made awareness of the genocide, and genocide around the world, a central message of the band. All have lost family members to the Armenian genocide.
The band have invited their fans to join with them in this effort by attending the rally and have set up a system by which fans can directly email Speaker Hastert on the issue.
On September 15, the House International Relations Committee overwhelmingly approved legislation recognizing the Armenian genocide, despite objections from both Turkey and the Bush administration. Despite his previous public support for the measure in 2000, Speaker Hastert has twice prevented the Armenian Genocide legislation from coming to a full vote in the House.
Today the fate of this human rights issue rests in the Speaker's hands. He has two choices: either allow a vote on the Armenian genocide resolution, giving the 435 members of the U.S. House a chance to cast their ballots on this human rights measure or, delay, defer, and ultimately defeat the Armenian genocide resolution by refusing to bring the measure to a vote of the full U.S. House. The rally is in support of a fair and full vote in the House of Representatives, ending U.S. denial of this crime and opening the doors to justice, to the restoration, reparation, and restitution owed to the victims of genocide. "Dennis, do the right thing," stated Serj Tankian. “I just visited my 97-year-old grandfather, my only link to the far past, and promised him that I would go and try to talk to Dennis Hastert, Speaker of the House, and make sure that he takes this opportunity to bring up the Armenian genocide resolution to the floor of the House of Representatives. This is a personal issue to me and SYSTEM." The SYSTEM OF A DOWN/ANCA rally will take place at the offices of Rep. Dennis Hastert — 27 North River Street, Batavia, Illinois (about an hour from downtown Chicago). The rally is scheduled for 12 noon-2:00 p.m. on Tuesday, September 27. The Armenian community, activists, and the band’s fans from across the greater Chicago area are expected to attend the rally.
From many Sources
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Comments
SoldierSider
25.09.05, 08:30
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i hope it works
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shador
25.09.05, 10:06
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This is so fucked up! Sure it's great that system are fighting for recognition. But only for the armenians. What about all the other people that was nearly totally wiped out during the genocide. The genocide in Turkey wasn't aimed at only the armenians. it was aimed at all of the christians living in Turkey. But i guess that doesn't matter any more. As long as the armenians get recognized everything will be fine...
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systemfan1188
25.09.05, 10:37
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DO THE RIGHT THING DENNIS!
i still dont see how this was never recognized as a genocide? the mass killing of a group of people carried out by another country? bascailly 1.5 million armenians were killed for no reason and people like system of a dow and thousands of other armenians have to links to their past. shavos grandpa doesnt even know his own age because of this. I agree there are a lot of genocides out there unrecognized and Serj has said this MANY times. When he speaks of genocide he means ALL genocide. The Armenian Genocide is personal though. because its his family and the bands family members that were lost all those years ago.
System of a Down seem to be the only ones out there truely getting the message across about the genocide. i guess i just dont see to many other people fighting for genocide to other countries. i think there should be more recognition of it.
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systemfan1188
25.09.05, 10:39
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armenians have to links to their past
lol thats suppose to be most "armenians have NO links to their past."
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miamicanes04
25.09.05, 10:41
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shador shut the fuck up
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CaptainCharisma2
25.09.05, 11:20
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how about the genocide we americans commitied in the form of "manifest destiny" in the 1600s, killing the Native Americans... but shador your right i dont understand christians always are overlooked, like in the holocaust there were a lot of christians that were murdered.
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systemfan1188
25.09.05, 11:24
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its not all about Armenia. System is about ALL genocides. obviously their focus is on Armenias because its personal...its THEIR families.
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Moonette
25.09.05, 11:44
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Yay! Go System! ^o^ I hope they reach their goal! ^__^
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209116032
25.09.05, 13:11
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I wish em luck
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systemfan1188
25.09.05, 13:34
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thats a good point about the manifest destiny thing!
but we all know american will never admit to genocide on the native americans dispite how true it really was! we all know it happend but american wont recognize that. that would hurt america even more then we already have.
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Theinfectedangel
25.09.05, 14:59
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<FONT color=#ff00ff>i hope it works...good luck...
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prr_sun
25.09.05, 20:22
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damn, i really wish i could go... im not armenian but it would still be cool being there and rallying along system for a good cause... BUT THEY LIED! BATAVIA ISN'T AN HOUR AWAY FROM CHICAGO (-well, if you go on an airplane...) actually, i live in cicero which is 30min from downtown chicago and batavia is like about 2 to 3 hrs away -WITHOUT TRAFFIC... oh well, at least i'm going to the concert on friday... ~go system!~
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SYSTEMADDIX
26.09.05, 09:31
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Don't all chuck your toys at Shador for not getting the point of this as on the surface it may seem all one sided. The point of this is not only to gain recognition for all the Armenians who suffered and died but also to bring the true horror of Genocide to the front and get it talked about. Maybe if this had happened many years ago some of perpetrators of the more recent atrocities would have thought twice. Perhaps Hitler wouldn't have assumed he could get away with the Holocaust - he's publicly quoted as saying "Who, after all, speaks today of the annihilation of the Armenians". They should be applauded for their efforts in this, because be it successful they will not only achieve closure for themselves, their families and all the thousands of others affected but maybe go someway to protect future generations, whatever race or religion, from the same horror................. I'm not Armenian but I'm still behind them all the way!!!!
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shador
26.09.05, 10:28
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Sorry if i'm pissing people off but i'm just saying. I if someone do get the point of this, i belong to one of the peoples that were slaughtered in Turkey. I also have relatives that lost everything to the turkish goverment. SoaD is doing something great. One of the reasons that i love Soad is because they're fighting for recognition (for the genocide) but as i said, the armenians aren't the only ones that were affected by that genocide.
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YeReVaN2005
26.09.05, 13:03
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Everyone knows that Armenians aren't the only ones that were affected by the genocide. READ THE FREAKIN ARTICLE. The article is about SYSTEM ASKING HASTERD TO KEEP HIS COMMITMENTTO HOLD AVOTE ON THE PENDIND ARMENIAN GENOCIDE LIGISLATION. HOW DUMB CAN YOU BE SHADOR. THEY ARE NOT SAYING IT WAS THE ARMENIANS WHO ONLY SUFFERED GENOCIDE. THEY ARE ASKINK HASTERD TO DO THE RIGHT THING AND DO WHAT HE HAS PROMISED TO THE ARMENIAN COMMUNITY.
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Mark_Malakian_1915
26.09.05, 13:46
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shador is right, but the armenians were the most affected by the genocide by the ottoman, system of a down are an Armenian group and these guys have been doing all they can to help the Armenians, i hope it works, not just for system's sake, but for all the armenians.
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Moonette
27.09.05, 16:25
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Umm, guys. Serj wouldn't be very happy if he was reading this and seeing how y'all are fighting over something that's supposed to be about peace. Anyways, let's hope the rally is a success, again, not just for System, but for EVERYONE affected by the genocide.
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Harout
27.09.05, 21:24
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ARMENIA FOR LIFE!!!!!90 YEARS HAVE PASSED AND NOW FINALLY IT MIGHT HAPPEN!!!,SOAD ROCKS FOR SUPPORTINGOUR COUNTRY. HAYASDAN ALLL THE WAY!!!
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