Propaganda And The Rwandan Genocide

Genocides happen when ethnic divisions become apparent. Many times, these ethnic divisions were due to colonization from people of different race. These cases are especially true in Africa when Europeans colonized their territory, with clear racial divisions between them (Gavin). These genocides go on because of nations acting on ignorance and refusing to help out the nations in turmoil, allowing the genocides to continue, without wasting their own resources. These nations purposefully ignoring the slaughter of people cause the nations to also be guilty of the genocide underway (“The Heart”). The genocide occurred in Rwanda in Central Africa during 1994. The decades of Tutsi oppression of Hutus and the assassination of President Habyarimana in 1994 led to the genocide in Rwanda.

The novel, Animal Farm, is a well-known allegory written by George Orwell. As a satire of the Russian Revolution, Orwell portrays the rise of a cruel dictatorship and the mistreatment of the general population under it. Like the Communist government in Russia, the government in Animal Farm employs the use of many manipulative tools, especially propaganda. Propaganda was used by the pigs throughout the book, deceiving many of the animals. As this story shows, propaganda can enable governments to bend people to any purpose. By spreading positive messages about Napoleon, persuading the animals that Snowball is an enemy, and convincing the animals that they can’t survive without the pigs, propaganda

For years, Rwanda has been a hotbed of racial tension. The majority of the Rwandan population is made up of Hutu's, with Tutsi's making up the rest of it. Ever since European colonial powers entered the country and favoured the Tutsi ethnic group over the Hutu by putting Tutsi people in all important positions in society, there has been a decisive political divide between the two groups. This favouring of the Tutsi over the Hutu, and the Hutu subjugation as an ethnic lower class resulted in the civil war and revolution of 1959, where the Hutu overthrew the Tutsi dominated government, and resulted in Rwanda gaining their independence in 1962.

Rwanda is a country located in the middle of the African continent. The two ethnic groups present in the country lived in peace under their monarch until the arrival of Europeans. The Belgians arrival into Rwandan is what split the two ethnic groups of the Tutsi and Hutus, making them identify themselves with ID cards. This caused tension between the two groups as the Belgians favored the ethnic Tutsi, and made them the head of the government. Decade’s later Hutu extremists would take over the government and have revenge on the Tutsi. The new government would send out broadcasts calling on Hutus to kill their friends and neighbors. The Rwandan genocide would become the worst genocide to ever happen in Africa and one of the worst in the world. Today Rwanda’s recovery is surprisingly fast with the help of multiple nations and organizations. Rwanda’s recovery is nothing short of a miracle and is an amazing story of a war between two peoples.

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.

Persuasion is an art. An art mastered by only the most atrocious of leaders. An art that embeds itself into the minds of its targets, enticing them to believe. It is for this reason that a reader can perceive the quote “Propaganda does not deceive people; it merely helps them to deceive themselves” (Eric Hoffer) to be very accurate in George Orwell’s Animal Farm. The allegorical satire and dystopian novella is about the Russian communist revolution. However, in a twist, the book uses animal characters. Through the book, Squealer, the propaganda machine of animal farm, cleverly uses the elements of persuasion ethos, logos, and pathos, to gain trust among the farm animals which consequently causes the animals to deceive their own thoughts. The

During this period of time, 10,000 people were murdered each day and more than 6 men, women and children were murdered every minute every day. This kept going for about 3 months.

Propaganda during the Rwanda Genocide. The Rwanda Genocide was a long lasting Genocide. The people of Rwanda lost over 10 percent of their population due to the hate and the differences between the Tutsis people and the Hutus. There was lots of manipulation and fear during the 100+ days of this horrifying situation.

Animal farm is a renowned, allegorical novella written by George Orwell in 1945, which can be interpreted to have a hidden political meaning behind it referring to the Russian Revolution. Throughout this novella, the author purposely positions the audience to make judgements based on sensible, moral perception to show that Orwell effectively revealed how the pigs exploited a vast majority of propaganda techniques to deceptively manipulate the values, attitudes and beliefs of the other animals, with full intention of complete social control. This was exposed to the reader when the three main values of ‘Animalism’, as outlined in Old Major's speech, which consists of freedom, unity and equality, are abused for the pigs own advantage. This task

The world’s history has been tainted by many instances of violence targeted at specific groups of people due to either their ethnicity or beliefs. This paper will discuss the characteristics of the Rwanda Genocide and the Jewish Holocaust. The Rwanda Genocide targeted the Tutsis because of their ethnicity, while the Holocaust targeted the Jews because of their ethnicity and religion.

On April 7, 1994, tragedy began. In the small country of Rwanda, a civil war between

To many Americans, the feeling of being a bystander as countries slaughter their own people has been in legal debate since 1933, it has gradually developed into a concept that can be applied in many situations, both historical and contemporary. The meaning of the phrase genocide is the cleansing of a race or ethnicity in a country. There has been evidence that this phrase can be used to describe past and present day massacres being committed around the world and how media has changed its perception on this issue overtime.

Realism is one of the oldest and most popular theories in International Relations. It offers a perspective about competition and power, and can be used to explain the actions between states. An example of realism is the U.S. reaction – or lack thereof – during the 1994 Rwandan genocide.

During the 1994 genocide, propaganda played a vital role in converting moderate Hutus to join the extremist Hutu side. The main source for such propaganda was two radio stations, Radio Rwanda and Radio Television des Milles Collines, also known as RTLM. Radio Rwanda was owned by the government and under the second Arusha Accord, it was banned from spreading hate propaganda. In result, RTLM was formed and became “immensely popular as a young, hip alternative to the official voice of the government. It played popular music, and encouraged the public to phone in and participate in radio broadcasts” (“Rwanda Radio Transcripts”). This station attracted unemployed youth and interhamwe militia. From October 1993 to late 1994, Hutu extremists used

“The Tutsis are collaborators with the Belgian colonists. They stole our land. They whipped us. Now they have come back, these Tutsi rebels. They are murderers. They are cockroaches. Rwanda is our Hutu Land. We must squash the infestation. This is RTLM, Hutu Power Radio. Stay Alert. Watch your neighbors. (Hotel Rwanda).” This is a part of one of the broadcasts Radio Télévision des Milles Collines (RTLM) used to transmit hate propaganda to the state of Rwanda. From October 1993 to late 1994, the RTLM advanced fearmongering ethnic distinctions and misinformation to maintain the climate of fear during the genocide; it defined the Tutsis as enemies and distorted the line between the RPF (Rwandan Patriotic Front) and domestic Tutsis. Essentially, the RTLM was a facilitator of genocide; it was able to create a dehumanizing discourse - a discourse that procured Hutu participation in the mass killings and provided the legitimacy for Hutu perpetrators to kill the Tutsis and moderate Hutus. But the RTLM not only mobilized the Hutu in an organized and coordinated campaign against the Tutsis, it also mobilizes the conversation about the role media plays in and against any large scale massacre.