The Rwandan Genocide was a tragedy that happened in Rwanda during 1994 between April and June. An estimated eight-hundred-thousand deaths of Tutsi people occurred during this time however the exact number is unknown. A variety of circumstances allowed this to happen such as: mass propaganda used to dehumanize and the Tutsi people; rationalization targeted the majority that genocide of Tutsi would be good for the country; denial by those with the power to stop the mass killing; and complicity in the face of genocide by multiple countries. Although the crime of genocide is recognizable as it follows deliberate and hauntingly similar patterns, it still happened to the Tutsi people when it should not have.
The Hutus and Tutsis are the two primary
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In the Rwandan Genocide, the Hutus dehumanized the Tutsi people, effectively distancing themselves from the idea of killing and eradicating humans as they saw the Tutsi people as less than human. Propaganda used by the Hutus to dehumanize the Tutsis and further distance themselves from the minority group was distributed in a variety of ways, two such ways being newspapers and radio. One such newspaper, Kangura, written by Hutu radicals, even went so far as to create their own “ten commandments” which was comprised of ideas such as Hutus men should not marry Tutsi women and that the entire Rwandan military should be comprised of solely of Hutus men. This newspaper which further distanced the Hutus from the Tutsis even went so far as to depict Tutsis people as animals. “Cartoons and articles in Kangura referred to Tutsis as cockroaches and snakes, and regularly expounded the myth that they had invaded from Ethiopia. Tutsis were "devils" who ate the vital organs of Hutus. Twenty other extremist newspapers also published regular hate propaganda against Tutsis.”[1] Propaganda created and distributed by radical Hutus likened the Tutsis to vermin and Hutus people saw their mass-murder as extermination rather than what it truly was: …show more content…
Easy to obtain, radio broadcasting was able to reach most people in Rwanda. The government even went so far as to make sure radios were distributed throughout the country. "President Habyarimana ...provided small, inexpensive transistor radios to every region of the country."[4] Utilized by extremists to spread hate speech, fear mongering, and even call for the deaths of specific people, radio broadcasts played a serious role in the incitement of Tutsi genocide. Radio des Mille Collines, a radio station ran by Hutu radicals, was among the most prominent radio stations used in such a violent manner to achieve violent outcomes. Created in August of 1993, it was backed by President Habyarimana as well as others in high status political and government roles all of whom had ties to Hutus extremists. “ It became the government voice in demanding genocide.”[4]
The station called for the ethnic cleansing of Tutsis as well as for the deaths of even moderate Hutus political leaders, such as Agathe Uwilingiyimana who when “...proposed ending the quota system that restricted Tutsi access to higher education...was attacked in her home by twenty armed men.”[1] Although she survived the attack and eventually became the prime minister, she was among the first government officials killed after April 6, when the Rwandan Genocide
The ethnic division within the Rwandan culture played an integral role during the genocide. In 1918, Belgium is given the authority to govern the territory of Rwanda-Urundi under the Treaty of Versailles. Under Belgian rule, the traditional Hutu-Tutsi relationship was morphed into a class system favouring the Tutsis over the Hutus. The Belgians eventually created a system of ethnic identity cards differentiating Hutus from Tutsis. This would become a central driver of the Rwandan genocide. In the movie there are many instances where Rwandan citizens are asked to show their identity cards. In most cases, those who were not Hutu would be punished. Another example of the geopolitical struggle between these two ethnicities was illustrated through the media. Media is used as a platform to convey a message that influences the thoughts and actions of individuals around the world. Since Hutus are the majority in Rwanda, they were able to exert their influence over the Tutsis through mechanisms such as the media. Throughout the country, local Hutu power radio stations were aired calling for the extermination of Tutsis. The station would often find ways to dehumanize the Tutsis. In most cases they would refer to Tutsis as ‘cockroaches’. In order to create an accurate portrayal of the genocide, the film used the exact recordings from the Hutu power radio.
The film Hotel Rwanda starts off with a radio broadcast. The man on the radio is speaking against the Tutsi’s; presumably this mystery man on the radio is Georges Rutaganda, who is a Hutu militia Interahamwe. Our protagonist, Paul Rusesabagin, runs a hotel and is also a Hutu himself. He is a friendly man who gets along with everyone and does not agree with most of the other Hutu’s. His wife is a Tutsi which forces him to deal with a lot more harassment from the other Hutu’s. With Paul’s determination, he helped spark the counter revolution seen at the end of the movie.
In the year of 1994 and estimated eight-hundred thousand Rwandans were killed between April and June. There was not a day were the Tutsis was not being killed by the Hutus. Imagine one-hundred days of straight killings of your friends and family. It would leave you in a never-ending nightmare and you would be scarred for the rest of your life. Imagine if you were stuck in a bathroom so small that it could barely fit two people in there but you had five or six more people in there. It would be hot, it would smell, and it would be uncomfortable. Immaculée Ilibagiza had to go through the entire Rwandan Genocide in this type of situation. She barely ate and barely went to the bathroom because if the Hutu heard Immaculée or any of the other girls
It was said that the genocide had deemed the name of Hutu Power, this meant that they were plan and simply killing off people and as many as possible. All this started in Rwanda’ Capitol Kigali and spread outwardly from there, as the Hutu traveled they killed the Tutsi. The Hutu had set up road blocks and checked ID’s and killed Tutsi, t...
The Rwandan Genocide was a terrible event in history caused by a constantly weakening relationship between two groups of people. The country of Rwanda is located in Africa and consists of multiple groups of people. Majority of Rwanda is Hutu, while a smaller amount of people are Tutsis. The genocide started due to multiple events that really stretched the relationship between the two groups to its end. One of the starting factors was at the end of World War 1. Rwanda was a German colony but then was given to Belgium “who favored the minority Tutsis over the Hutus, exacerbated[exacerbating] the tendency of the few to oppress the many”(History.com). This created a feeling of anger towards the Tutsis, because they had much more power then Hutus.
Africa has been an interesting location of conflicts. From the conflict between Ethiopia and Eritrea to the revolutionary conflict in Libya and Egypt, one of the greatest conflicts is the Rwandan Genocide. The Rwandan Genocide included two tribes in Rwanda: Tutsis and Hutus. Upon revenge, the Hutus massacred many Tutsis and other Hutus that supported the Tutsis. This gruesome war lasted for a 100 days. Up to this date, there have been many devastating effects on Rwanda and the global community. In addition, many people have not had many acknowledgements for the genocide but from this genocide many lessons have been learned around the world.
Tutsi – A group of people in Rwanda that initially started as the cattle raising people of the old tribes. The Tutsi ruled over the Hutu for the majority of the time, until 1962 where the Hutu revolted. Then in 1994 the president of Rwanda’s plane was shot down, which sparked a massive violent out brake of Hutus killing Tutsis. In the film “Hotel Rwanda”, the Tutsi were the refugees in the hotel, trying to hide from the murdering Hutus.
Tutsi and Hutus are very similar thus categorizing then as different was a very crucial misunderstanding between them when Belgians recognized Tutsis as being the top tribe to rule Rwanda. Hutus gained control of Rwanda after independence with this giving them the power to undermine Tutsis as continued to believe that Hutus took their places in secondary and higher teaching institutions as well as employment and private sector. Hutu believed that by forbidding Tutsis to educate themselves and actively play in government or military they would marginalize them minimizing their participation in society. Who was the better race? There is a long history of the differences they had to grow up with however, one day this “difference“ becam...
"Rwanda, Genocide, Hutu, Tutsi, Mass Execution, Ethnic Cleansing, Massacre, Human Rights, Victim Remembrance, Education, Africa." UN News Center. UN, n.d. Web. 01 Dec. 2013.
Tutsis are related to the Masai and the people along the Nile, while the Hutus
The main reason the Hutus killed Tutsis in the Rwandan genocide was for economic reasons. The Tutsis began to benefit greatly from killing Tutsis by looting them and gaining things like money, land, and cattle. The looting of Tutsis became a means of income to the Hutus. The Hutus neglected their fields in favor of killing so they could loot for better food and goods. As Jean Baptiste states, “Why dig in the dirt when we were harvesting without working, eating our fill without growing a thing?”(Hatzfeld, 60) The Hutus mind set of being farmers shifts to being killers who can benefit more from that, than from their regular jobs of harvesting. As stated by Adalbert, “…we didn’t care about what we accomplished in the marshes, only about what was important to us for comfort.” (Hatzfeld, 83) This shows how the men became more concerned with looting and profiting from the killing than actually being concerned with killing people. So in a sense, the job of killing became a means for the men to do their more comfortable job of looting. One can begin to enter the Hutu mind set and see how, by killing other people, people they may have a...
During the Rwandan Genocide, the persecuted Tutsi’s banded together to form the “Tutsi Rebellion Group” in order to drive back the Hutu’s who were indiscriminately murdering “Tutsi’s and those with ties to the Tutsi ethnic group” (Rwandan Genocide
The Rwandan genocide occurred due to the extreme divide between two main groups that were prevalent in Rwanda, the Hutu and the Tutsi. When Rwanda was first settled, the term Tutsi was used to describe those people who owned the most livestock. After the Germans lost control over their colonies after World War I, the Belgians took over and the terms Hutu and Tutsi took on a racial role (Desforges). It soon became mandatory to have an identification card that specified whether or not an individual was a Hutu, Tutsi, or Twa (a minority group in Rwanda). The Tutsi soon gained power through the grant of leadership positions by the Belgians. Later on when Rwanda was tying to gain indepe...
When the Rwandan Hutu majority betrayed the Tutsi minority, a destructive mass murdering broke out where neighbor turned on neighbor and teachers killed their students; this was the start of a genocide. In this paper I will tell you about the horrors the people of Rwanda had to face while genocide destroyed their homes, and I will also tell you about the mental trauma they still face today.
There are several ethical issues surrounding the decision by the Hutu politicians to start the genocide. It is unfair and unethical for the Hutus to blame the entire Tutsi tribe for the president’s death. The Hutu politicians are so much driven by hatred that they fail to consider the innocent lives to be lost in the planned genocide. Instead, they organiz...