Mass genocide is one of the most immoral crimes any ruling authority such as the government or the president can try against its people. The general meaning of "Genocide" is the aim to destroy or kill individuals on account of their race, convictions, or even political and economic status. Legitimate expert, Raphael Lemkin made the expression "Genocide" in 1944. Lemkin a Polish Attorney, joined the antiquated Greek word "genos" which implies race and the Latin word "cide" which means executing (what-is-genocide, 2009). Many people who actually practice genocide would say genocide is acceptable. However, those individuals who think life is the most significant thing in universe, would say genocide can’t be justified forever, if we look at the …show more content…
In both the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota and the Rwanda Genocide this occurred. In the Pine Ridge Reservation, the United States had created a society in which alcoholism and violence was rampant. Common outcomes to the people are similar to a sixty two year old survivor Verlyn Long Wolf who says, “I’ll say about three-quarters of the people I’ve grown up with are dead… Very few are still alive. Alcohol. Drugs. Violence” (Hedges 3). The situation in the Pine Ridge Reservation with Wolf is similar to the outcome created when an estimated 800,000 Rwandans were killed in the space of 100 days during 1994. In Rwanda, the Tutsi were killed on the grounds of ethnicity. In the Pine Ridge, the Government made a situation in the reservation with alcohol and drugs and create an environment where up to eighty percent of the Pine Ridge population was affected by alcoholism. Alcoholism in Pine Ridge in turn leads to an abusive society where families becomes wrecked. In Rwanda, the government’s genocide caused two million refugees where thousands perished. In both Pine Ridge and Rwanda, the crimes committed against them were because of ethnicity, and in turn caused suffering and created broken environments for those who
Lawyer: the word genocide, is the deliberate killing of a large group of people, especially those of a particular nation or ethnic group.
The word genocide was derived from the Greek root genos (people) and the Latin root cide (killing), and did not exist in the English language until 1944, which was the end of World War II (Power). According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, genocide is “the deliberate and systematic destruction of a racial, political, or cultural group.” Such violence occurred during the Holocaust and during the separation of Bosnia and Herzegovina. The problems of ethnic cleansing and repression have become so prevalent in the last century that they have contributed to two world wars, over fourteen million deaths, and a new word. United Nations Secretary-General, Ban Ki-moon, said, “Far from being consigned to history, genocide and its ilk remain a serious threat. Not just vigilance but a willingness to act are as important today as ever.”
“Cultural Genocide is the intentional destruction of the culture of another people, not necessarily including the destruction of actual lives” Canada’s first encounter with the Native Canadians was a dark and brutal period. The Native Canadians, also referred to as Indians, were stripped of their cultures and called to be ashamed for their traditional ways. Indian Residential Schools were a method used by the Canadian government to destruct the ethnicity of the Native Canadians. The crimes committed by Canada are clearly represented by the Residential Schools and the special rights that they have gained today; one can not say the aboriginals have not been a victim to Cultural Genocide, if the accusations of cultural genocide are false, why were they given special rights?
The genocides of the 20th century which occurred in Rwanda and Germany had striking similarities, something that should have alerted the world to stop them. At the core of these two massacres, patterns existed that outlined how similar thinking and reasoning could lead to something as horrible as these two events. One can see how both groups used their command of knowledge as a way to control the people, how the rest of the world refused to step up to stop the killings, and how the people were thought of as less than humans to provide a just cause for such terrible acts.
There are many ideas of what genocide is, but, according to Webster’s Dictionary, the official definition of genocide is “The deliberate and systematic extermination of a national, racial, political, or cultural group”. However, the more realistic and practical definition is “The unnecessary and unjustified killings of tens of thousands of innocent people all because of hate”. This was most defiantly the case in the Kurdish Genocide, which took place between 1986 and 1989. The result of this mass murdering left thousands of people without loved ones, and even more wondering why it had to happen.
The crime of genocide is one of the most devastating human tragedies throughout the history. And the word genocide refers to an organised destruction to a specific group of people who belongs to the same culture, ethnic, racial, religious, or national group often in a war situation. Similar to mass killing, where anyone who is related to the particular group regardless their age, gender and ethnic background becomes the killing targets, genocide involves in more depth towards destroying people’s identity and it usually consists a fine thorough plan prearranged in order to demolish the unwanted group due to political reasons mostly. While the term genocide had only been created recently in 1943 by Raphael Lemkin, a Polish-Jewish legal scholar, from the ancient Greek word “genos” meaning race and the Latin word “cide” meaning killing , there are many examples of genocide like events that occurred before the twentieth century. And this new term brings up the question as whether genocide is a contemporary description defined through current perspectives towards the crime act or is it just a part of the inevitable human evolutionary progress caused by modernity.
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.
When the Belgian colonizers entered Rwanda in 1924, they created an ethnic classification between the Hutu and the Tutsi, two tribes who used to live together as one. After independence in 1962, there was a constant power struggle between the two tribes. Former Canadian Prime Minister, Jean-Pierre Chrétien described the situation as “tribalism without tribes.” (Destexhe, 1995) There were many signs leading towards genocide, yet the nations in power chose to ignore them. From April 6, 1994 until mid-July, a time spanning approximately of 100 days, 800,000 people were murdered when the Hutu attacked the Tutsi. No foreign aid came to the rescue until it was too late. Ten years after the genocide the United Nations was still involved in Rwanda, cleaning up the mess that was left behind because of man’s sinful nature. Could the Rwandan Genocide have been prevented, or is it simply a fact of life? Even though the international community is monitoring every country and race, such an event as the Rwandan Genocide could occur again because the European colonizers introduced ethnic classification where it did not exist and the nations in power chose to ignore the blatant signs of genocide.
“Beginning on April 6, 1994, Hutus began slaughtering the Tutsis in the African country of Rwanda. As the brutal killings continued, the world stood idly by and just watched the slaughter. Lasting 100 days, the Rwanda genocide left approximately 800,000 Tutsis and Hutu sympathizers dead” (Rosenberg 1). When Rwanda’s President, Habyrimana, was killed in a plane crash, turmoil and massacres began. A series of events escalated violence until two ethic groups were engaged in bloody battle: The Hutus and the Tutsis. Throughout the Rwandan Genocide, the Tutsis were targeted because the death of President Habyrimana and problems in social and economic life was blamed in them, thus resulting in the 100-day genocide.
To start off with, what is genocide? Genocide is the killing of a massive number of people of in a group. Genocide has not only been practices in the present day, but it has been practiced for m...
Various schools of thought exist as to why genocide continues at this deplorable rate and what must be done in order to uphold our promise. There are those who believe it is inaction by the international community which allows for massacres and tragedies to occur - equating apathy or neutrality with complicity to evil. Although other nations may play a part in the solution to genocide, the absolute reliance on others is part of the problem. No one nation or group of nations can be given such a respo...
People in the genocide got treated the same as people in the Holocaust. For example they both got treated like animals. The Holocaust begin January 1933 when Hitler gain power, that's when the act of genocide started. (http://www.ppu.org.uk/genocide/g_holocaust.html) Another fun fact about the Holocaust is jews were forced out of their homes and moved into smaller apartments, often shared with other families.
The Rwandan Genocide “It is our responsibility to empower the powerless while giving voice to the voiceless” -(Irwin Cotler “Six Lessons from the Rwandan Genocide”) 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. Hutu and Tutsi Origins When Rwanda was first settled, the people there raised cattle, the ones with the most cattle were considered “Tutsi” and everyone else was ‘Hutu”.
“Never again. Leaders throughout the world had declared that after the Holocaust. The President of The Genocide Watch explains, “The history of the twentieth century instead proved that “never again” became “again and again.” The promise the United Nations made was broken…genocides and other forms of mass murder killed 170 million people, more than all the international wars of the twentieth century combined”(Stanton). Throughout history, people have killed others. Normally, it is because of hatred. Unfortunately, most of the time, people can have a deeply rooted hatred of an entire group of people. That hatred soon leads to genocide. Genocide cannot be prevented in the future because of the inevitability of evil, some people are ignorant and refuse to give into the reality that all people should be equal and not discriminated against, and society would not be able to persuade everyone in the world to agree and prevent future genocides.
The question of moral validity has plagued societies for millennia. Unsurprisingly, this question afflicted Indonesia between 1965 and 1966. In the early days of October 1965, a group of conspirators took and killed six generals. The disagreement of whom caused this coup caused the killing of more than 80,000 (1,000,000 in some areas) people. This caused a social change from aristocrats to an Indonesian business class. For other peoples around the world, the view of this genocide was a victory over communism. While these killings were clearly morally deplorable, the result was an improved and restructured government; a victory for capitalism at the height of the Cold War.