The Rwandan Genocide : A Perspective Analysis Through Media

Hotel Rwanda tackles a recent event in history where the Hutu extremists of Rwanda initiated a terrifying campaign of genocide, massacring approximately

While writing an essay about the 1994 genocide in Rwanda utilizing writings from the play Maria Kizito and the script from the motion picture Hotel Rwanda I found more data by writers who wrote journals and articles that explained particular areas I had interest in. These journals and articles discuss with more detail Rwanda’s History, the history of the Hutu and the Tutsi tribes, Colonialism as the catalyst for genocide in Rwanda. The area this paper will focus on is the role of the media during that time. My goal in this paper is to expand what I read from the course about Genocide in Rwanda into a larger discussion about how media and more specifically radio played a significanant role in inciting violence against the Tutsi. To achieve this goal, I have organized my paper into three main sections beginning with a brief synopsis of the event, the origin of the Tutsi and Hutu tribes and the role of European Colonialism played as the root cause of their social indifference. In conclusion, the third area which talks about the role of media and how it was use to induce a violent eruption of mass killings against the nation 's minority, the Tutsi which explains the 1994 genocide in Rwanda.

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.

The author throws light on historical background of Rwanda which clarifies the circumstances that gave spark to the huge extermination of

(chretien,56) The kangura was another form of media that was used to disseminate hate.. The kangura established by Hassan Ngeze in 1990,was rwanda’s print media that had the most impact compared to the other bi-monthly newspapers of that time such as Akanyange and Umerwanashyaka.(Kabanda,62) In order to convince the unemployed, uneducated, and hopeless hutus without a future, the kanguras goal was to instigate feelings that would inspire revolutionary action against the tutsis.(Kabanda,63) The kangura did this by promising this majority of the audience that life would be better for all hutus if the tutsis were gone. The kangura eventually created the illusion that rwanda of 1990 was similar to the rwanda of 1957 when hutu leaders wrote the Bahutu Manifesto in which Hutu people complained that the tutsis’ were treating them as subordinate.(Kabanda,63-64) It wasn’t always just words that were used to hate, illustrations were also used. For example it was asked, “what tools will we use to defeat the cockroaches?” and alongside was a drawing of a machete.(Kabanda,68) The main purpose for these two local media sources in rwanda was to portray the tutsis in a negative light, and the succeeded in doing so.

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

Slowly, France replaced Belgium as the dominant power in Rwanda and in October 1990 an organization of Tutsi refugees, called the Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF) invaded Rwanda. The United States failed to see the obvious clues leading up to the Rwandan genocide; death squads had been exposed in October 1992, two years before the official genocide occurred. “A top ideologue of the MRND was known to have given a speech in November 1992 calling for genocide. In August 1993 a UN investigator warned of the threat of ethnic killing in Rwanda…” (48). The saddest part, perhaps, was the new radio system that was created by a few members of Habyarimana’s inner circle, the radio station was called RTLM and was used solely to whip up ethnic hatred about the Tutsi. Evidence was given to the U.S ambassador and the secretary general’s special representative

Propaganda for the Rwanda Genocide began when the RPF (Rwandan Patriotic Front) invaded Rwanda in 1990. Thus, the Hutu Power Movement began. A group of government officers and officials began a magazine called “Kangura”, which spread anti-Tutsi propaganda. The Hutu Ten Commandments, which were published in the Kangura, was an example of racist guidelines for the Hutus if they ever came into contact with a Tutsi. By 1990, the Rwandan army began arming its civilians with swords and clubs under the pretense of self defense. These weapons became the main tools used in the genocide. After the ceasefire between the Rwanda government and the RPF in 1992, Hutu extremists in the Rwandan government and the army began to plot against the President in fear of allowing the Tutsis to participate in governmental issues. The extremists began a new radios station named “Radio Télévision Libre des Mille Collines (RTLMC), which broadcasted racist propaganda against Tutsis. Hutu extremist leaders also staged or reported false events to convince the Hutu population that the Tutsis were accomplices of the RPF. (Propaganda and Practice) The Holocaust, on the other hand, utilized many more ways of propaganda.

In 1994, over the course of a hundred days, the Hutu government of Rwanda and its ally extremists nearly succeeded in exterminating the country's Tutsi population. The ethnically motivated violence resulted in the loss of over 800,000 innocent lives. Unlike previous genocides, the Rwandan genocide unfolded before the eyes of the national media. Journalists, television news reporters, and radio broadcasters covered the events live from Rwanda as the rest of the world stood by and watched in silence. The RTLM radio station (Radio Télévision Libre des Mille Collines), run by Hutu extremists, played a significant role in the uprising of the racially charged atmosphere that fuelled the genocide. Immaculée referred to RTLM as “a radical hate machine that spewed out anti-Tutsi venom” (Ilibagiza, 2014, p.37). Not only did they refer to the Tutsis’ as "cockroaches" and explicitly threaten

This investigation will seek to answer the question “How Did the Rwandan Genocide of 1994 Effect the Hutu and Tutsi?” I chose this question because last year I read the book Left to Tell and I wanted to know more about the two different types of groups, the Hutus and the Tutsis. This was and still is an important topic because many died that day just for belonging to a specific group. This topic shows how much our world has changed since 1994. In order to answer my historical investigation question, I have structured my analysis section using the following method. First, I will answer how the two groups are different? And how these differences began the Rwandan Genocide? Next, I will talk about a survivor and her experience, then, the survival rate of Hutus and Tutsis. There are two main sources this paper will cover, first, a website called the United Human Rights Council, then, a book called Left to Tell.

The assassination of the president of Rwanda, Juvenal Habyarimana on April 6, 1994, was the event that started the 100 Day massacre of the Tutsis by the Hutus, known as the Rwandan Genocide. The objective of this investigation is to find out the root of the cause of the Rwandan Genocide. The body of evidence will investigate the history of the conflict between the Hutu and Tutsi ethnic groups and the events leading up to the genocide. The evidence includes articles from different news sources, ranging from CNN to BBC, and world organizations. The investigation will cover the history of the two ethnic groups, the reason for their conflict, events leading to the genocide, and events during the genocide itself.

The Rwandan genocide was targeted towards the Tutsi population in April to July in 1994. This genocidal mass slaughter of the Tutsi was carried out by the Hutu majority. At the end of the one hundred day genocide about 800,000 Rwandans were pronounced dead. In the publication “How many perpetrators were there in the Rwandan genocide? An estimate,” Straus accounts for the detailed precision that the Hutu’s implemented in preparation to exterminate the Tutsi’s. The Hutu’s preparation combined with the collapse of a failed state set the Hutu’s up with the ability to strike the Tutsi effectively. According to Straus, the collapse of the state created a power

The 1994 genocide in Rwanda took place on the 7th of April, a day after the aircraft carrying the Rwandan President Juvenal Habyarimana and Cyprien Ntaryamira, president of neighboring Burrundi was shot down. The 7th of April 1994 saw a succession of massacres across Rwanda. In 100 days, this state-led extermination campaign targeted at the Tutsi minority and “moderate Hutus” was orchestrated by specific, influential architects -Hutu hardliners of the Habyarimana’s inner circle. This power clique was accountable for the systematic annihilation of Rwanda’s Tutsi minority, an approximate of over half a million civilian lives.

An estimated 250,000 to 500,000 woman were victims of rape during the Rwandan genocide. More than 67% of these woman also suffered from the transmission of HIV through a system rape used as a genocidal weapon. This was one of the many cruel methods carried out by Hutu nationalists to oppress the Tutsi people, and eradicate their presence from Rwanda. Over a 3 month period Rwanda experienced an outbreak of mass killings of Tutsi people and Hutu moderates. Media broadcasting prompted Hutu nationalist to raise arms against their Tutsi oppressors, who for decades had subjected them as inferior by influence of a biased imperial race ideology. Nationalism was a driving force on both sides of these two major ethnic groups in Rwanda. The introduction

The most astonishing thing is the number of lives that were lost in such a span of time (Akresh 4). What triggered the genocide is when Juvenal Habyarimana, the Rwandan president died on sixth April nineteen ninety four in a shooting that happened in Kigali Airport. This wave of violence spread drastically in all places of the country. The Hutus being the perpetrators of the massacre, wanted to wipe away the Tutsi (Mamdani 3). However, could the death of President Juvenal Habyarimana be the cause of such a dreaded massacre? This paper will explore the historical rivalry of the Hutu and Tutsi communities, the motive of the genocide, the role of the media and the international community and the aftermath of the massacre. In my opinion, I must declare that it I unavoidably difficult to discuss the Rwandan genocide without raising the deepest emotions, a cry for humanity.