Observation Of Genocide

In Rwanda during 1994 Genocide happened between the Hutus and Tutsis. Hutus and Tutsis had disagreements on who will have power which effected the whole population of Rwanda. This leads to the question why there is Genocide in Rwanda? Genocide happened by two clans who caused mass causalities. Others did little to help which caused Genocide to happen in Rwanda.

In the past 150 years, tens of millions of men, women and children have lost their lives to ethnic cleansing or genocide. Although the definition is often scrutinized, according to Merriam Webster, "Genocide is the deliberate and systematic destruction of a racial, political or cultural group". The most notable event associated with the term is the Holocaust. Stated by Judah Gribets, Edward Greenstein and Regina Stein, "nearly six million Jews fell victim to genocide during the years of the Holocaust". Of This number, one million were children who were unable to take care of themselves. People's hopes and dreams for the future were stripped from them, and many families were ripped apart. Many of these people were tortured or raped

On April 7th, 1994 in the small East African country of Rwanda the darkest and most brutal tragedy occurred, the Rwandan genocide. 800,000 Tutsi’s and Rwandan men and women were grossly slaughtered by the Hutu government. This was one of the worst genocides in history and yet not many people spoke about it, why? I believe many people did not say anything is because they were scared that they would be caught and then killed. A man by the name of Philippe Gaillard was a part of the Red Cross international committee in Kigali. He was one of the few people who spoke up about the tragedies occurring in Rwanda. He told his friend who was a news reporter for the BBC in France and published his story. By Gaillard not “shutting up” about the situation it made the Hutu extremists embarrassed and this lead to the Hutu government allowing the Red Cross committee to have safe passage throughout Rwanda. “America, the beautiful America, the brave”, was what America was known for being, but after the ethnic cleansing of the Rwandan people it changed.

One very profound characteristic of the events that occur within genocide is how one group becomes the dominating leader over the group whom they are targeting. Most of the time, the group that is targeted is the group that inhabits the lowest people within that countries’ society. This explicit event occurs in both with the Aborigines in Australia and the Herero/Nama in South-West Africa. Both places endured a genocide that targeted the group of people within each society that the world believed would not survive unless someone intervened on the Aborigines and Herero/Nama 's’ behalf. However as time would tell, those whom believed they were improving these societies…eventually saw that they instead ruined the lives of those whom lived during these events.

After Elie Wiesel was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1986, he gave an acceptance speech reflecting upon the true meaning of his novel and reflecting upon the crimes in our history. He revealed how “silence encourages the tormentor” while “indifference [is] the most insidious danger of all.” I find a lot of truth in these words and I agree with his assertion. Individuals tend to get overwhelmed by desperation, a sense of helplessness and fear in the face of acts, such as oppression and genocide. During these times, it is the responsibility of the world community to step in. This is proved to be true by the novel Night, the movie The Boy in the Striped Pajamas, and by the article called “A Secret Life.”

In order to understand the term genocide and how it works, one must understand the definition of it. Genocide, is a greek word, “geno” means people, race and “cide” means to destroy or to kill, so in other words it is defined as intended annihilation of a national, ethnical, racial or religious group. The indigenous people of America, came to this land many years ago, before than any Europeans. They settled their tribes in here and created a new home for themselves where they lived a thousand years. However, this did not last long, until Europeans settled in America. When Europeans were settled in America, they enslaved Native Americans, took their golds away, made them to convert to Christianity and introduced them to many disease. Everything

It is made known that before 1944, the term “genocide” did not exist. A Polish-Jewish lawyer named Raphael Lemkin wanted to describe the acts of the Nazi policies, in regards to the mass murders of the European Jews. Using the Greek word “geno-“, meaning race or tribe, as well as the Latin word “-cide” for killing, he formed the word “genocide” (History.com Staff). According to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, the term holocaust means, “Any of the following acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group, as such: Killing members of the group; Causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group; Deliberately

In 1936 Hitler allied with Mussolini and sent troops into Rhineland. In 1938, Hitler annexing Austria. This should have been a red flag for the other countries because Hitler already broke the Versailles Treaty. However, nothing was done. Only one year later German troops invalided the Poland. At first the Germans were somewhat progressive with the amount of aircrafts they acquired. Their mobile, mechanized offensive force was very effective and underestimated. The German air force was strong and effective. With 1,300 planes, countless soldiers on foot and tanks the Polish, they didn’t stand a chance. The Germans technique of Blitzkrieg or lightening war proved to work. With this technique the Netherlands only stood for four days. The countries

Since the world's first existence there has been many examples of genocide, and unfortunately there will most likely be many more. With genocide many people will die, when there is an example of genocide you would hope and expect that other countries will help and relieve the pain that genocide has done. With crimes against humanity we wonder what extent should nations respond to situations that involve crimes against humanity and genocide. Some of the most known example of genocide would be the US dropping the atomic bomb on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan. The holocaust which killed over 6 million jews. And the events that happened in Rwanda where the hutus killed over 800 000 tutsi in a span of 100 days. These are only a few of the many tragic events of crimes against humanity that have occurred over the thousands of years that humans have roamed the earth.

Studying the past and and learning the stages of genocide has the potential to help prevent genocide. It only has this power if the people that are informing themselves about the stages and signs of genocide are willing to share their knowledge and speak up. Knowing that we have made a mistake before and letting it happen again tells us that we did not truly learn anything we just memorized information. To be able to identify when a genocide is serous and about to take place is difficult because every genocide is different, however there are warning signs that are more definite than others. If these things can be identified and there is a strong plan in place to help neutralize the problem there is a chance that genocides could be stopped.

According to the table 5.9, in the book Order of Genocide, the two main motivations perpetrators had for joining the movement and attacking Tutsis were both driven by fear. More than half of the participants claimed to have joined the movement because they feared what other Hutus may do to them if they did not join. One man stated that he joined an attack because if he did not join they would fine him if he did not pay they would destroy his parents’ home. Furthermore, there were those individuals that where afraid of what Tutsis may do to them and their families if they were not destroyed. Those who feared what the Tutsis may do to the Hutu nation decided to attack and make other Hutus attack by making huts afraid of the consequences of not

Genocide, a dire event, has been recurring time and time again throughout history. In the past, there was the Holocaust, where Hitler exterminated over six million Jews based on his anti-semitic views. Elie Wiesel, a Jewish author, has become a very influential man in educating the world of the true events of the Holocaust due to his involvement in the disaster. Presently, a genocide is occurring in the Darfur region of southern Sudan, in which according to Cheryl Goldmark, “a systematic slaughter of non-Arab residents at the the hands of Arab militiamen called Janjaweed” has been taking place since 2003. (1) Not only is genocide a tragic historical event, it also continuously occurs today.

Genocide is considered a vile, inhumane and illegal act throughout most of the world today. Though it should not continue to happen, genocide is still an ever occurring event which takes place within modern society. Many prominent scholars throughout history have paved the way for genocide’s recognition and prevention, most importantly Raphael Lemkin, who went on to define the term and who’s persistent efforts eventually led to his definitions and elements of genocide to become included within the United Nations Genocide Convention of 1948 (Card, 66). Interestingly enough, not all of Lemkin’s elements were included within the convention. Cultural and Political aspects of genocide were left out. These missing pieces didn’t make the cut. Why

As young children in America, we obsessively study the Holocaust and the atrocities of World War II, and often wonder “how could something like this happen?” It is often assumed that there must have been something particular about the German people and culture to have permitted these atrocities. However, acts of genocide and violent ethnic conflicts share common patterns that have nothing to do with individual cultures but rather develop due to specific circumstances. Violence is a human experience that no culture is exempt from. The UN has finally, after four years of human rights violations, made a statement that Myanmar (formerly known as Burma) is carrying out “ethnic cleansing.” This essay will analyze cultural markers of

We need to study genocide for several reasons. First, we need to be able to see genocides as they happen and stop them to the best of our abilities. If we study genocides, then we can see the problems leading up to them, why they happen, and eventually the hope is that we’ll be able to neutralize them--stopping them even before they start. The second reason why studying genocides is so important is because it helps us realize that little things can, and often do lead to big things. Many of the genocides we talked about in class/researched all started because of a small problem, such as people rebelling against the government, racial profiling, etc. When we actually apply this concept to our lives, we can stop the less magnitudinal problems,