Author: nataliewestrick

My most important takeaway from my internship is to be patient. Social justice work takes a long time and you can’t expect to solve every problem in a day, let alone a summer. Sometimes it takes a (very) long time for projects to be published and even if they are published, it can take some time before they achieve their intended purpose. I wish that I had known the importance of staying patient going into the internship. Even with this knowledge, I sometimes feel like my work is not reaching enough people or having enough of an impact. It has been important to be kind to myself and lower my expectations.

That is the other important thing to learn about work in social justice, but especially human rights: it is frustrating! Either there is no obvious solution and you really need to get creative about what the next steps should be, or there is an obvious solution that is nearly impossible to achieve! Often it is a combination of the two. For example, at the beginning of my internship, I focused on advocacy for the Rohingya. I went through two weeks of research to learn about Covid-19 rates among Rohingya in refugee camps and vaccination efforts, only to be told to focus on a new project by my supervisor because of a lack of feasibility. The clear solution was to increase vaccination for refugees in India and Bangladesh, but this would have been impossible for our virtual-based organization.

My advice for anyone interested in genocide prevention and human rights work is not to get your hopes up too high. This sounds really disheartening but I think it’s true. It is unfair to yourself to go into an internship with the expectation that you will have a significant impact on preventing a genocide in Ethiopia, China, or even here in the U.S. This work depends on so many people, and one person cannot do the work of hundreds. Managing expectations and being fair to yourself is not only important for your mental health, but crucial for not getting disgruntled or disheartened with your work. Understand that this is hard, but that there are so many amazing people just like you with the same passion and drive. Work with them and over time you will make a difference!

In the next few weeks, I will leave my internship with three soon-to-be published country reports (Egypt, U.S., Czech Republic), two of which lacked reports (you can find them here when they are published). I will also have a number of infographics and documents about the Rohingya genocide and its similarities to the Holocaust. Additionally, Genocide Watch will have a presentation on Brazil’s eco-cide to use in classrooms and other pedagogical areas. These concrete deliverables do not include my achievements updating the Alliance Against Genocide Watch website and my efforts in coordinating between Genocide Watch and our Alliance members. I have also begun the process of adding a new organization called Cultural Survival to the Alliance.

While this experience was not the rainbows and sunshine that genocide studies is (that is supposed to be a joke), it was a really amazing learning experience. I plan to take these new skills and perspectives to all of my future endeavors!

One thing I have learned at Brandeis—especially this past year—has been the importance and joy of working in a group setting with my peers. Given the virtual nature of the school year, I think many professors felt that it was important to create group assignments for students to develop relationships. Before the pandemic, however, this was still a foundation of my learning experience at Brandeis and helped me develop important skills in working with others to complete a goal. Aside from formal group assignments, working with friends and peers to ask questions about assignments or lectures has been a vital way for me to succeed in my assignments and get the most out of a class.

At my internship with Genocide Watch this summer, almost all of my work is done in collaboration with at least one other intern. I am currently working on a Timestream presentation (similar to a PowerPoint) on the ecocide in Brazil under President Jair Bolsonaro with two other interns—who have been fantastic to collaborate with—in order to learn more about a new issue that we were not familiar with at the start. Having them on my team has been incredibly helpful, not just in learning about the atrocities, but also learning the Timestream platform (which is not very user-friendly). Once this project is finished, it will be posted here. I am also in the planning stages of a project that will be done in collaboration with a few of the other interns to map atrocities committed by the U.S. government against indigenous populations.

Outside of that formal group setting, I get to work on three different teams: Advocacy, Alliance, and Research. Each team has a group meeting every week where everyone shares what they have been working on and what their goals are for the next week. These meetings are incredibly helpful, not only to keep myself accountable (it is incredibly helpful in a virtual internship to have other people to keep you accountable to finish projects), but to also have a space to ask questions and get inspired by the incredible work that my fellow interns are pursuing. I have also developed a number of relationships with my fellow interns and often work with them, in an unofficial capacity, to read over each other’s work and ask each other questions. This has been extremely helpful, not only from a work perspective, but also to get to know the other interns, which can be difficult when working virtually.

The importance of working with others in the context of genocide prevention has been obvious from the beginning at my internship. Genocide Watch knows that it cannot successfully prevent genocide on its own. We work with many other organizations in the Alliance Against Genocide and with governments to ensure that our work has the greatest possible impact. The ability to work with others in a productive and meaningful way is a vital skill in life to ensure meaningful work in the context of social justice. I know that developing this skill both at Genocide Watch and at Brandeis will be significant in my future professional endeavors.

My work this summer is with Genocide Watch. As a nongovernmental organization, Genocide Watch seeks to prevent genocide, condemn current genocidal actions, and educate about previous genocides. The organization uses a model called “The Ten Stages of Genocide,” created by the founder and president Dr. Gregory Stanton. The model establishes a method for recognizing pre-genocidal behavior in order to implement steps to prevent further atrocities. By looking at government policies and behavior towards minorities in different areas, the organization attempts to correct the injustices suffered by many ethnic minorities to create equality and safety for all.

I work on the Alliance, Advocacy, and Research Teams at Genocide Watch through my role as an intern. As the head organization of the Alliance Against Genocide, Genocide Watch works with the Alliance Against Genocide to aid in its mission of preventing genocide through the creation of an international movement concerned with genocide prevention.

My work on the Alliance Team in the past few weeks has been dedicated to updating the Alliance website, including adding pages for new member organizations and changing links and resources so that each page reflects the most up-to-date information from each member organization. Once the website is updated, I will be responsible for communicating with thirteen of the member organizations to coordinate between Genocide Watch and each organization to ensure mutual support on projects and events. This communication is vital to the effectiveness of the Alliance Against Genocide to ensure that each initiative has the greatest success possible.

Within the Advocacy Team,  I work with fellow interns and staff who monitor different countries and populations that are at risk of extermination. In coordination with the other staff, I am in the process of organizing methods to advocate for peace and justice in Central Asia, and for the Rohingya in Myanmar. Additionally, in conjunction with my work on the Alliance Team, I plan to work with Alliance member organizations that focus on the Rohingya to create a louder voice for Rohingya refugees in repatriation talks between India, Bangladesh, and Myanmar.

Finally, I am involved in a number of projects through my work on the Research Team. I am working on a report on Egypt, as well as a presentation on the ecocide in Brazil under the leadership of President Jair Bolsonaro and its impact on Brazil’s indigenous population. I also plan to work on a project to document atrocities committed by the United States against Native Americans to be used for pedagogical purposes.

While my work this summer will not completely end and prevent genocide, I know that my work helps further Genocide Watch’s mission to “predict, prevent, stop, and punish genocide and other forms of mass murder.” I see my responsibilities as small, yet necessary, steps that aid in the prevention of genocide. I am optimistic that all of these tasks will create an impact, no matter how small, in ensuring justice for all.