Miranda Shearer
Mrs. Sohal/ Mrs. Love
Period 3
17 October 2014
The Rwandan Genocide
A genocide is defined as the deliberate killing of a group of people, especially of a certain ethnicity. By that definition and almost any other a dictionary could define, the killing of the Tutsis was certainly a genocide.The Rwandan Genocide occurred in 1994, in an African country called Rwanda. A long history of building friction between the Hutus and the Tutsis undeniably caused the mass murder of over 800,000 Tutsis, but various countries’ failure to act allowed the genocide to go on longer than it should have been able to.
Before the genocide actually occurred, the Hutus and Tutsis had a long history of tension between them, which would sometimes break out in violence. Though hostility between the ethnicities has always existed, dislike grew into hatred when Belgian colonists came to Rwanda in 1916 ("Rwanda"). The Belgians decided that Tutsis were superior to Hutus, and forced everyone to carry ethnicity identity cards. The Tutsi were slightly taller and thinner than the Hutus, with slightly paler skin and more experience with governing, which was likely what led the Belgians to make such a decision. Though the Hutus and Tutsis are similar in language and traditions, these identity cards allowed the Tutsis to get superior jobs and education. Needless to say, the Hutus became increasingly resentful, which led to increased ("Rwanda"). In 1959, there were a series of Hutu riots that
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.
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.
The Rwandan Genocide was the 1994 mass slaughter in Rwanda of the ethnic Tutsi and Hutu peoples. The Rwandan Genocide left 70% of total ethnic Tutsi dead and a total of 20% of the entire country 's population dead. Today, more than twenty years later, Rwanda is a growing society with an ever expanding skyline.
In between 1930 and 1945, an event took place that changed the world in many ways. The Holocaust was a genocide that consisted of the decimation of one single race, the Jews. This solemn event is very similar (and also quite different) to another event that took place only four thousand miles away. Like the Holocaust, this event is was a genocide and it took place at Rwanda in 1994. This genocide was between the Hutus and Tutsis. These two groups have a long background with each other that consisted of civil wars, switches in power and superiority, and tension. It began when the Europeans put the Tutsis in a superior position because they were the ones that closely resembled them, the Europeans, in physical appearance. It was the death of
The Tutsi are a people who live in Rwanda, Burundi, and the northeastern part of the Democratic Republic of Congo. The location, size, and history, most importantly, is why the Tutsi tribe the second largest population division among the three largest groups in Rwanda and Burundi, the other two being the Hutu and the Twa. Although the Tutsi tribe is one of the most known tribes in Africa, it comes from a long way of fighting for its' rights and independence.
“When you start to see another human being as less than you, it 's a danger.”-Immaculee Ilibagiza. In 1994, a mass genocide broke out in Rwanda, a small country in Africa. The genocide occurred between the two ethnic groups where the Hutus were targeting the tutsis. The Rwandan genocide, ranking in the top five largest genocides in the world, was caused because of the resentment the hutus had towards the tutsis and was even more instigated by media and outsiders causing differences between the two parties. This quote is trying to provide an insight on what happened in rwanda and why. The local and international media played a significant role in the rwandan genocide of 1994; however racial hatred intensified from European colonists and the
Twenty years ago in the small east African country of Rwanda, eight hundred thousand people, mostly those of the Tutsi tribe, were slaughtered by their own government. The Hutu and the Tutsi tribes followed the same traditions and inhabited the same territory for over a thousand years. The rise of conflict between the Tutsi and the Hutu dates back to 1918, when the Germans lost their colonies following World War I, and the Belgians took control of Rwanda. In 1933, the Belgians establish the superiority of the "Tutsi" over the "Hutu" which lead to a great divide between these two groups (Admin of PBS.org). When the Belgians handed over power to the Hutu majority, a deep resentment of
In 1994, over the course of 100 days, a genocide in Rwanda took the lives of 800,000 innocent men, women, and children and displaced 2 million more. The genocide was a result of tension that had been building since the Belgium colonization of Rwanda in 1916 between two ethnic group, the Hutus and the Tutsis. When Belgium colonized Rwanda, power was given to the Tutsis (an ethnic group in Rwanda that was 15% of the population) who became the privileged minority, whereas the Hutus (another ethnic group in Rwanda that was 85% of the population) became the working class majority. As the years progressed, the signs of inequality intensified. Tutsis were given priority in terms of education, jobs and power. There was even an identity card system created to differentiate between Hutus and Tutsis. The inequality and unfair treatment came to a boiling point and spilled over into a revolution in Rwanda in 1959. The result was a transition from Tutsi controlled Rwanda to a Hutu elected government. 70% of the Tutsi population was killed and the majority fled to neighbouring countries. For the next 5 years the displaced Tutsis’ made unsuccessful attempts to re-take the country, the result of which was the killing of roughly 10 000 Tutsi 's in Rwanda by the Hutu government as an act of revenge. For the next 30 years a negative peace ensued, but below the surface tensions continued to rise, finally erupting in the spring of 1994 with
Reasons for ethnical tension between the Hutus and Tutsis have been the subject to several studies. “Historian have purported “ethnic hatred” as the cause of the Rwanda Genocide and while an ethnic divide was indeed present in Rwanda around the time of the conflict, the reasons for the genocide are multiple and far more complex.” (Hain 5) The Hutus were the original inhabits of Rwanda, but in the 15th century the Tutsis peacefully took over Rwanda and
In today’s world, it is of the utmost importance to learn from mistakes of the past. Certain events, especially tragedies that could have been avoided, hold within them the lessons and wisdom that should be used to prevent similar disasters. The 1994 Rwandan genocide resulted in over 800, 000 deaths of the Tutsi people, at the hands of the Hutu; the genocide, and the international response to it, is a lesson about the humanitarian responsibilities, successes, and shortcomings of the United Nations.
“If human is capable of conducting genocide, no need for an asteroid to wipe out dinosaurs.” -Toba Beta
“In the Rwandan genocide over one million helpless Tutsi were murdered in a span of 100 days” (Briggs). Because of the underlying government and cultural problems in Rwanda, the Hutu led a 100 day massacre against the Tutsi in an attempt to eradicate them. To begin, the word genocide contains many definitions and has been used several times throughout history. The dispute of the Rwandan Hutu and Tutsi occurred long before the events of 1994. There were lots of methods that were taken to eradicate the Tutsi. Furthermore, the aftermath of the Rwandan genocide had many atrocities.
Bang!Boom! The Hutus entered Tutsis homes and started to kill using machetes, guns and their hands. They killed the young, old, disabled, it didn’t matter. On the night of April 7th,1994 the elimination of the Tutsi race began.The Hutu and Tutsis did not live in perfect harmony before the invasion of Europeans. Major problems did not occur until after colonialism was over. When the Europeans settled down, they divided Hutus and Tutsis by their physical traits. Tutsis were favored by the Europeans causing hatred from Hutus. With their division amongst different races, European colonialism put Rwanda on the road to genocide.The mass murder of millions of Tutsis and moderate Hutus in the Rwandan Genocide was driven by the imperialistic motives of the Belgian government.
In the year 1994, the Rwandan Genocide took place. During this time, Rwandans were set into two distinctive groups that were at war with each other. He Hutu ethnic majority were determined to remove the Tutsi ethnic minority. In westernized states, many people were not concerned with this because they felt that there was no real connection. The United States, specifically, did not want to engage in what they believed to be “not their fight”. In 2004, Hotel Rwanda was released and it baffled many westerns when they realized how little help they provided. It also caused an emotional response because it was noted how much could have changed if they had stepped in. Hotel Rwanda was a very historically accurate film and had many key features
The Rwandan genocide was a series of innocent murders occurring between the ethnic groups, the Hutu and the Tutsi and these unrealistic dispossessions of murders were facilitated and carried out by the Belgians. Prior to the Rwandan genocide, there were three commonly recognized ethnic groups known as the Hutus, Tutsis, and Twas, however the Hutus and Tutsis had some similarities and social differences. The Hutu “compromised 84-90 percent of Rwanda’s population before the genocide, Tutsis were 9-15 percent, and Twas were 1 percent” (Straus 19). Even though the Tutsis had a smaller population compared to the Hutus they had some similarities.