An Introduction to Genocide

A Case Study of Rwanda

Defining GenocideWord Origins

Term first used in 1941

Combines two Greek roots– genos race– cide killing

Taken together the word can be transliterated as

race killing

U.N. Definition of 1948

…Any of the following acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnic, racial or religious group, including: (a) killing members of the group (b) causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group (c) deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part (d) imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group (e) forcibly transferring children of the group to another group.

Unpacking the U.N. Definition“Any of the following acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnic, racial or religious group, including…”

national – based on a country of origin

ethnic – based on a group of people sharing a distinctive culture,religion, language, or other practices

racial – based on people linked by common descent or heredity as classified by physical characteristics

religious – based on people sharing a common faith practice or belief system

(a) killing members of the group

direct killing

actions causing or intended to cause death

(b) causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group

widespread torture

rape and sexual violence

forced or coerced use of drugs

mutilation

(c) deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part

withholding clean water, food, clothing, shelter or medical services.

confiscation of harvests, blockade of foodstuffs

detention in camps, forcible relocation or expulsion into deserts.

(d) imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group

involuntary sterilization

forced abortion

prohibition of marriage

long-term separation of men and women

(e) forcibly transferring children of the group to another group.

imposed by direct force or by fear of violence, duress, detention, psychological oppression or other methods of coercion

Genocidal acts need not kill or cause the death of members of a group. Causing serious bodily or mental harm, prevention of births and transfer of children are acts of genocide when committed as part of a policy to destroy a group’s existence.

The 8 Stages of Genocide Understanding the genocidal process is

one of the most important steps in preventing future genocides.

The Eight Stages of Genocide were first outlined by Dr. Greg Stanton, Department of State: 1996.

The first six stages are Early Warnings: Classification Symbolization Dehumanization Organization Polarization Preparation

Stage 1: Classification “Us versus them”

Distinguish by nationality, ethnicity, race, or religion.

Classification is a primary method of

dividing society and creating a power struggle between groups.

Classification (Rwanda)Belgian colonialists believed Tutsis were a naturally

superior nobility, descended from the Israelite tribe of Ham. The Rwandan royalty was Tutsi.

Belgians distinguished between Hutus and Tutsis by nose size, height & eye type. Another indicator to distinguish Hutu farmers from Tutsi pastoralists was the number of cattle owned.

Stage 2: Symbolization Names: “Jew”, “German”, “Hutu”, “Tutsi”.

Languages.

Types of dress.

Group uniforms: Nazi Swastika armbands

Colors and religious symbols:

• Yellow star for Jews

• Blue checked scarf Eastern Zone in Cambodia

Symbolization (Rwanda)“Ethnicity” was first noted on cards by Belgian Colonial Authorities in 1933.

These ID cards were later used to distinguish Tutsis from Hutus in the 1994 massacres of Tutsis and moderate Hutus

that resulted in 800,000+ deaths.

Symbolization (Nazi Germany)

Homosexuals = pink triangles Identified homosexuals to SS guards in the

camps Caused discrimination by fellow inmates

who shunned homosexuals

Stage 3: Dehumanization

Hate propaganda in media: speeches, print, radio used to vilify the victim group.

“Animals,” “vermin,” and “diseases”

Superiority of one group and inferiority of the “other.”

“Ethnic cleansing,” or “Purification.” (used to hide the horror of mass murder)

Stage 4: Organization Genocide is a group crime, so must be

organized. The state usually organizes, arms and

financially supports the groups that conduct the genocidal massacres.

Plans are made by elites for a “final solution” of genocidal killings.

Organization (Rwanda)

“Hutu Power” elites armed youth militias called Interahamwe ("Those Who Stand Together”).

The government and Hutu Power businessmen provided the militias with over 500,000 machetes and other arms and set up camps to train them to “protect their villages” by exterminating every Tutsi.

Stage 5: Polarization Extremists drive the groups apart. Hate groups broadcast and print polarizing

propaganda. Laws are passed that forbid intermarriage or social

interaction. Political moderates are silenced, threatened and

intimidated, and killed. •Public demonstrations were organized against Jewish merchants.

• Moderate German dissenters were the first to be arrested and sent to concentration camps.

Stage 6: Preparation

Members of victim groups are forced to wear identifying symbols.

Death lists are made.

Victims are separated because of their ethnic or religious identity.

Preparation Segregation

into ghettoes is imposed, victims are forced into concentration camps.

Victims are also deported to famine-struck regions for starvation.

Forced Resettlement into Ghettos – Poland

1939 - 1942

Preparation

Weapons for killing are stock-piled.

Extermination camps are even built. This build- up of killing capacity is a major step towards actual genocide.

Stage 7: Extermination (Genocide) Extermination

begins, and becomes the mass killing legally called "genocide." Most genocide is committed by governments.

Extermination (Genocide)

Gypsies in a Nazideath camp

•The killing is “extermination” to the killers because they do not believe the victims are fully human. They are “cleansing” the society of impurities, disease, animals, vermin, “cockroaches,” or enemies.

Stage 8: Denial: Deny the Evidence.

Deny that there was any mass killing at all.

Question and minimize the statistics.

Block access to archives and witnesses.

Intimidate or kill eye-witnesses. Destroy the evidence. (Burn the

bodies and the archives, dig up and burn the mass graves, throw bodies in rivers or seas.)

Denial: Blame the Victims.

Emphasize the strangeness of the victims. They are not like us. (savages, infidels)

Claim they were disloyal insurgents in a war.

Call it a “civil war,” not genocide.

Claim that the deniers’ group also suffered huge losses in the “war.” The killings were in self-defense.

Denial: Deny facts fit legal definition of genocide.

They’re crimes against humanity, not genocide.

They’re “ethnic cleansing”, not genocide.

There’s not enough proof of specific intent to destroy a group, “as such.” (“Many survived!”-

UN Commission of Inquiry on Darfur.)

Claim the only “real” genocides are like the Holocaust: “in whole.”(Ignore the “in part” in the Genocide Convention.)

Claim declaring genocide would legally obligate us to intervene. (We don’t want to intervene.)

Genocide in the 20th CenturyThe following events qualified as major acts of genocide between the years 1900 and 2000.

Armenians in Turkey: 1915 to1918 1,500,000

Stalin's Forced Famine: 1932 to 1933 7,000,000

Rape of Nanking: 1937 to 1938 300,000

Nazi Holocaust: 1938 to 1945 6,000,000 + 5,000,000

Pol Pot in Cambodia: 1975 to1979 2,000,000

Rwanda: 1994 800,000

Bosnia-Herzegovina: 1992 to 1995 200,000

Total number of deaths due to genocide in the 20th Century: 17,450,000

22,450,000

ColonialismColonialism is a practice of domination, which involves the subjugation of one people to another.

One society gradually expands by incorporating adjacent territory and settling its people on the newly conquered territory.

Many ancient civilizations – the Greeks, Romans, moors, and Ottomans – practiced colonization.

In the 16th Century, improvements in technology, particularly related to navigation, connected more remote parts of the world. It became possible to move large groups across the ocean and maintain political control over a wider geographical area.

Imperialism occurs when a foreign government administers a territory without significant settlement; this occurred in 19th Century Africa.

Definition

Colonialism is the policy or practice of acquiring full or partial political control over another country, occupying it with settlers, and exploiting it economically. – How do you gain political control over another

nation or territory?– How do you keep political and economic control?

The Scramble for Africa

Between 1881 and 1914, many European countries attempted to gain land in Africa.

This land was often taken after armed struggle with the existing inhabitants.

European countries were eager to occupy land in Africa both for the economic advantage it afforded and power and domination.

Injustice

Economic exploitation (the action or fact of treating someone unfairly in order to benefit from their work) is a cornerstone of colonialism. It involves one country using the resources, both natural and human, of another country or area.

Cruelty

Exploitation (the action or fact of treating someone unfairly in order to benefit from their work) was justified through racist logic.

Dehumanizing treatment and conditions.

Ex: Rubber plantations in the Belgian Congo

Disrupted Social Systems

During the period of colonialism in Africa, there were countless societies and civilizations (nations) already established that the colonizers fought and disrupted. These societies were no longer able to function as they had before the colonial project.– Ex: the Ashanti, the Zulu, the Kikuyu, the Hutu,

the Tutsi, the Yoruba are just a few examples of groups with distinct and developed cultures and social systems.

Assimilation and Cultural Pressure

The cultural assumptions and beliefs held by European colonial rulers were expected to be shared by colonized peoples.

European values were applied to the colonial setting, and these values included deeply racist and supremacist belief systems.

Rwanda

In Rwanda, Belgian colonizers favored the Tutsi minority because they appeared more European and owned more land than the Hutu majority. In fact, the Belgian colonial government created a racially charged environment through unfair treatment among people who had formerly lived in relative peace.

RWANDAN GENOCIDE- Genocide started in April, 1994

with the assassination of Habyarimana, Rwanda’s president.

- In just 100 days, 800,000-1,000,000 people - mostly Tutsis - were dead.

- Hutus tried to take complete control by wiping out all Tutsis and Hutus who supported the peace movement.

- They accomplished this with the organization of the militia group called the Interahamwe.

Hutu

Mostly a Roman Catholic people, numbering around 11 million (85% of Rwandan population).

Considered lower class farmers for the most part. In the early 1960s, even though Tustis remained in control

of Burundi, the Hutu took control of Rwanda by force. In 1972, between 80,000 and 200,000 Hutus were struck

down in Burundi by the oppressive Tutsi officials. In April 1994, the Hutu president’s plane was shot down,

sparking the Rwandan genocide. The Hutu military, teaming with the Interahamwe, called

for the mass extermination of all Tutsis by use of the radio, demanding that even civilians strike down their Tutsi neighbors or else be shot with them.

Tutsi

Tutsis are also mostly Roman Catholic, but number just 2.5 million (14% of total Rwandan population).

They are considered mostly upper class. Held a monarchy dating from the 15th century until 1961,

when Belgian colonizers and the majority Hutu took control of Rwanda.

Tutsi rebels were blamed for shooting down the plane carrying Hutu president Habyarimana – the blame for the plane crash has not been determined, but is mostly thought to have been shot down by the Hutu military, not Tutsi rebels.

This act sparked the mass murder of 800,000 to 1,000,000 Tutsi civilians (men, women, and children) in just 100 days.

Despite the loss, the Tutsi army once again took control of Rwanda by defeating the Hutu regime.

Aftermath

• In the years following the Rwandan genocide, only 20% of the population identified as male.

• An estimated 2 million Hutus fled to nearby DRC

• Nearly 100,000 children were left orphaned– Nearly 42,000 housholds in Rwanda were headed

by children as young as 9 or 10– The number of genocide orphans reached

~320,000 by 2010 as victims died of HIV infections that were spread during the genocide

• An estimated 800,000 Tutsis and moderate Hutus were killed in the first day alone.

• Altogether, an estimated 1,000,000 people were killed over the course of the 100 days of the Rwandan genocide.

• Now, Rwanda wants to rebuild itself into a middle-income country by 2020.

• They have one of the best yields of healthcare investment in Africa.

• The service sector – to help facilitate the reappearance of mass tourism – has boomed, employing thousands of people.

• HOWEVER – 50% of all Rwandan children are malnourished and 40% of the population lives in poverty.

QUESTIONS?

Sources

• “Genocide in Rwanda.” http://www.unitedhumanrights.org/genocide/genocide_in_rwanda.htm

• “The radicalized movement of the Hutu against the Tutsi becomes known.” Google Images. blogs.qc.cuny.edu