Was it Genocide ? - 06/07/15

On Monday Seagate Rotary President elect Adam Moonie presented a cheque for £700 to Stephanie Frearson of the Stillbirth and Neonatal Death Support group.  The money was partly raised at the bottle stall at the recent SANDS gala at Eglinton Park, topped up with a donation from the club.

Speaker on Monday was member Jim Anderson, questioning whether the treatment of the native American peoples by the European settlers should be classed a genocide.  In the period from the first major settlements in the sixteenth century, to the end of the nineteenth century, the native populations were systematically displaced and their numbers decreased by over 80%. 

Whilst much of this was due to disease, there were many examples of massacres and forced dispossession.  There was a lively debate about whether current attitudes could be imposed on actions from several hundred years ago, and comparisons with recent and ongoing events, and a Vote of Thanks was proposed by Hugh Hutchison.