Rwanda Imperialism

The world is constantly changing and so are the powers within many nations. People have pointed to religion to be the primary cause of ethnic violence within the global community (like the hostility between the Islamic people and the Christian church that has existed for centuries). Others blame racism for ethnic violence, such as the case in the holocaust. However, in the case of the 1994 Rwanda Genocide, the conflict rooted itself in an economic disparity between two culturally constructed entities. Previous to European colonization there existed three primary groups of people within Rwandan borders. The first were the Hutu who comprised the majority of the population and were primarily considered to be peasant farmers, tending to plows

In 1894 when Belgium colonists appeared the previously unimportant economic definitions of Hutu and Tutsi transformed. The Belgians believed that the Tutsi had facial features more similar to that of a European. The Tutsi tended to be taller and were considered to be superior by the European colonists. Despite the Belgian interest in the anthropometry of the Hutus and the Tutsi, their observations are dismissed today. Modern anthropologists have determined that the differences between the two classes are virtually indistinguishable. Due to the European preference for the Tutsi, they were often considered to be the most appropriate governors of Rwandan society. Tutsi people were often helped by Belgians in securing leadership roles. In the late 1920s the Rwandan government began to require that all citizens carry around an identification card. On this card was listed the kind of person the Rwandan citizen was, Hutu, Tutsi, or Twa. It began to become the case that only Tutsi people could get government jobs and they were generally treated better than the Hutu. The Hutu began to become an oppressed class and this fueled animosity between the

Just before the UN peace treaty and the death of the Hutu president, the Hutus would broadcast passionate radio sermons expressing hate for Tutsi government officials, and suggesting that their murder may be a fantastically positive thing.

After reading into this topic, I find it hard to believe that the Hutus and the Tutsi were actually ever two distinct people. Instead it seems more likely that their class system is the product of a cultural construction. The stories the Rwandans tell about how the two peoples came to Rwanda are vastly difference from one another. I believe that the Hutus and the Tutsi say that they are separate people so that they can feign responsibility for killing their own kind.

The animosity comes from a very basic place- jealousy. The Tutsi were born into aristocratic families and were well off, whereas the Hutus were made to work as peasants. This dichotomy is enough to bother any working majority. In fact, the relationship between the poor working class standing up against the rich is very much reminiscing of communist uprisings, or even American protests against the rich 1% on Wall