The Rwanda Genocide Essay

The Hutus are now in the position of power; the Hutu officials began to carry out massive genocides on the Tutsis. According to Document 8 it states, “The Hutu officials who took over the government organized the murders [of Tutsis] nationwide…Meanwhile, when the murders started the RPF [Tutsi-led Rwandan Patriotic Front] in Uganda invaded Rwanda again.” This quote demonstrates the back and forth genocide each ethnic group is imposing on each other. The genocide in Rwanda was sparked by the death of the Hutu Rwandan President Juvenal Habyarimana, when his place was shot down. Many Hutus blamed the Rwandan Patriotic Front and instantly started campaigns of slaughter. This also provided additional reasons why the Hutu had hatred against the Tutsis. According to Document 9a it states, “Over the course of the genocide nearly one million people were killed.” This shows how extreme the genocide was and how extensive the genocide

Although Peter Gourevitch talks thoroughly about the protection of the Tutsi’s from the Rwandan genocide in his novel “We wish to inform you that tomorrow we will be killed with our families” the hindrance of the eradication remains unclear from a reader’s discretion. The topics of discussion in Gourevitch’s book are solely focused on the idea of horror and casualties in consequence of the genocide. Although it is extremely important to reflect upon, in perspective, a reader is also curious about how the genocide could have been prevented. The logic of genocide is described as, “the product of order, authoritarianism, decades of modern’ political theorizing” (Gourevitch 1998: 95). In light of this notion, it is practical to wonder if every effort was made to prevent the possible reoccurrences made in the Rwandan blood-bath and what was necessary for prevention despite the reaching arms of help provided from United forces.

Throughout the 20th century, numerous acts of genocides have attempted to bring the complete elimination and devastation of large groups of people originating from various particular ethnicities. With these genocides occurring in many regions of the world, the perpetrators often organizing such crimes, have historically been larger and more powerful than the victims themselves. Often being the government and its military forces. However, the lack of international response associated with these genocides, further contributed to the devastating outcomes. On April 6,1994, the fastest killing spree of the century took place in Rwanda against the Tutsi minority population. With many warning signs having already been proclaimed prior to the start of the Rwandan genocide, I believe that with international interference, this bloodshed could have ultimately been prevented.

On the 7th of April 1994, Rwanda experienced the first signs of genocide when the Hutu's used radio signals to send out. hate messages such as “cockroaches”, and “rats”, towards Tutsis.1 Hutus started to send radio signals throughout Rwanda because a day earlier, Rwandan President Juvenal Habyairmana’s private plane was shot down. Since Habyairmana was a Hutu and the perpetrators of his death were unknown, this allowed the Hutus to blame this horrific crime on the Tutsis. After 100 days of Habyairmana’s death, almost one million Tutsis were killed.2 The mass killings in Rwanda were known as the Rwandan genocide. The blame for the Rwandan genocide should not only be placed upon the Hutus, but the Belgian colonists should be blamed for the genocide; due to their acts of colonizing Rwanda in 1918 to improve imperialism, which caused the death of more than one million Tutsis.3

In Rwanda there were not as many forms of propaganda as there were during the holocaust or I should say they were less obvious. The main use of spreading propaganda was through their radio station RTLM. During the Genocide this is the means the Hutu's used to remain with other Hutu's as well as threaten Tutsi's who may have been in hiding or still alive, the announcer stated "who ever survives will regret that we stayed for the rest of his life" (Gourevitch, 112). There was also a newspaper that sent out violent propaganda towards the Tutsi's; one article read that the President as a "Tutsi-loving RPF accomplice, and the article

During the 100-day period from April 6th to mid-July, 1994, an estimated 800,000–1,000,000 Rwandans were killed, which equaled as much as 20% of the country 's total population and 70% of the Tutsi population living in Rwanda at the time. The genocide, which was begun by Hutu extremists in the capital of Kigali, spread throughout the country with astonishing speed and brutality. The Hutu government and local officials provoked ordinary citizens to bring death upon their neighbors. The way the government and local officials increased the hate between the Tutsi and the Hutus were by using the radio and newspapers. The national radio station, or RTMLC, and the newspapers that were being distributed mainly in Kigali were the ways these

Many religious conflicts are built from bigotry; however, only few will forever have an imprint on the world’s history. While some may leave a smear on the world’s past, some – like the homicide of Semitic people – may leave a scar. The Holocaust, closely tied to World War II, was a devastating and systematic persecution of millions of Jews by the Nazi regime and allies. Hitler, an anti-Semitic leader of the Nazis, believed that the Jewish race made the Aryan race impure. The Nazis did all in their power to annihilate the followers of Judaism, while the Jews attempted to rebel, rioted against the government, and united as one. Furthermore, the genocide had many social science factors that caused the opposition between the Jews and Nazis.

The Akazu aimed to accelerate racist prejudice in Rwanda, first by extending the threat of the RPF to all Tutsi. This was achieved by various staged shootings by the army on the capital Kigali, which were blamed on the Tutsi (Uvin, 1998). Hate propaganda was also used to spread fear and hate against the Tutsi. This propaganda was financed by Akazu members and was in various different mediums including the state radio station (Dadrian, 2004). Also during this period, a

Dehumanization was a major factor during both the Holocaust and the Rwandan Genocide; people should not be killed because of ethnicity, prior prejudices, or from what some claim is for the “betterment of society.” The Rwandan Genocide occurred on April 7th- June of 1994. At this time, Rwanda’s population consisted of 85% being Hutu, and the remaining percentage being Tutsi (“The Rwandan Genocide”). The Rwandan Genocide focused upon the Tutsis being blamed for the suffering of the Hutu society; therefore, the Hutu society wanted “revenge” resulting into mass killings of the Tutsi society.

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.

Genocide is “the deliberate and systematic destruction of a racial, ethnic, political, or cultural group”. In Rwanda for example, the Hutu-led government embraced a new program that called for the country’s Hutu people to murder anyone that was a Tutsi (Gourevitch, 6). This new policy of one ethnic group (Hutu) that was called upon to murder another ethnic group (Tutsi) occurred during April through June of 1994 and resulted in the genocide of approximately 800,000 innocent people that even included women and children of all ages. In this paper I will first analyze the origins/historical context regarding the discontent amongst the Hutu and Tutsi people as well as the historical context as to why major players in the international

The killings were carried out with meticulous organization and their militias had the help of the government who gave them specific locations and people to go and kill (BBC News). Not only did government officials help the Hutus in the killing but the radio played a major role in it as well. The United End to Genocide article states that “The radio was utilized to not only list the location of specific Tutsis to be targeted, but to also justify the genocide. Radio hosts discussed discrimination the Hutus suffered under the power of the Tutsis … Radio stories were used to anger the Hutus and channel that anger into action” (United End to Genocide). The Hutus were going around exterminating every Tutsi when they encountered a Tutsi rebel group who fought back which only made the fighting more toxic on both sides. According to an article by BBC News “The killings were carried out so swiftly and effectively because the then governing party, MRND, had a youth wing called the Interahamwe, which was turned into a militia to carry out the slaughter. Weapons and hit-lists were handed out to local groups, who knew exactly where to find their targets” (BBC News). The newspaper and radio affected everybody, including priests and nuns who were also convicted of killing people just to save

Later that year the Security Council also established the United Nations Assistance Mission for Rwanda (UNAMIR) to support the peace process but limited their involvement to peacekeeping, humanitarian assistance, and general support.[iv] Despite these attempts to create peace and ease rising tensions in the region, plans to exterminate Tutsis and moderate Hutus were already being created by the Hutu extremists and Interahamwe (militia), literally meaning “Those Who Attack Together.” Ultimately on April 6, 1994, following the plane crash killing the Presidents of Burundi and Rwanda, violence erupted across Rwanda as Hutus began to massacre Tutsis. Again the radio was instrumental in the coordination of attacks and encouraged Hutus to massacre Tutsis. RTLMC would often use coded language to communicate messages such as “go to work” which “everyone knew [that] meant get your machete and kill Tutsis.”[v] The radio that once featured pop music, disc jockeys, and phone-ins became a “powerful medium” in motivating Hutus to kill their fellow man. Despite efforts from the Belgian ambassador to shut down the broadcasts, they

In analyzing the Rwanda Genocide as an ethnic conflict it's far vital that ethnicity is tested because it influenced and became encouraged via economic, political and social factors. The venture for outlining the violence in Rwanda as an ethnic warfare is that while, on the one hand, the atrocities were a clean reduce case of genocide, devoted with “the criminal intent to destroy or to cripple permanently a human group” (Lemkin, 1947), The lines along which the victims have been grouped were not just ethnic but also

Beginning April of 2004, the Rwandan Hutu started mass murders of Tutsi. This genocide is believed to have spawned from the civil war that was taking place at that time. This civil war was based on issues over power and resentment between the Tutsi and the Hutu. (Rwanda, 2008) Eventually the war escalated to the point where the Hutu began genocide of the Tutsi and anybody who opposed the ideas of the Hutu. The killing of the Tutsis became so common—in a very short amount of time—that it was practically acceptable amongst the Rwandans. (Hintjens, 1999) This was a very brutal and gruesome genocide. In just five weeks, approximately half a million Tutsi and innocent civilians had been murdered. (Hintjens, 1999) This is an astounding number of people, especially because the Hutu murdered the Tutsi at knife point—usually with a machete. (Snow, 2008)