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Use of propaganda in genocides
Use of propaganda in genocides
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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. In both cases of genocide, the killings were done as a way to ‘cleanse’ the population; they both resulted from a political power rising up and wishing to kill off any impurities or competition. In Rwanda, the Hutus wished to eradicate the rival tribe, the Tutsis, and take back their home. Political tension had existed between the Tutsis and Hutus for years, as the more powerful Tutsis had taken the Hutus’ land militarily before the Belgian colonization. Even during the Belgian colonization, the Tutsis remained prominent and favored for their system of government. These conflicts had already led Hutus and Tutsis to have enmity between each other before the genocide started. This contrasts the Holocaust, as in Germany there was no political tension between the Jews and Germans to spark conflict. German propaganda had to play a larger role in order to convince common people that the Jews, homosexuals, Slavs, and others were all impure people. “In 1929, Hitler chose Josef Goebbels as his Minister of Propaganda. Goebbels developed extremely successful campaigns using simple slogans and images repeated over and again in order to win public support for the pa... ... middle of paper ... ... the killings. Many others received prison sentences for their roles in the genocide. The genocides in Rwanda and Nazi Germany are just two examples of how the world sat back and watched as masses of innocent people were killed. Both were a result of political powers wishing to solidify control and create a better society, through the mass killings of those who were taught to be enemies of the state and sub-humans. Both relied on the use of propaganda to control knowledge common people had access to, thus controlling them. The differing methods of mass killing was a result of the varying reasons for killing, resources available, and power of the party in charge. The rest of the world can and should learn through these acts of hate that any unjust killing must be stopped, as country’s internal affairs can not be allowed to include massacres of innocent people.
Human rights violations, unfortunately, have been common in all parts of the world for thousands of years. Not all abuses lead to world attention or mass causalities, but large-scale tragedies that do gain notice often involve the use of propaganda. Propaganda has often been used to promote an individual leader, political party or government’s agenda, which will often tyrannize specific groups. The definition of propaganda according to Merriam-Webster’s dictionary and for this paper is, “the spreading of ideas, information, or rumor for the purpose of helping or injuring an institution, a cause, or a person.” One of the major questions many have when investigating the causes of genocide and why average citizens often accept and at time tolerate mass violence and permit their friends and neighbors rights to be taken away. To understand this issue we must look to past examples of propaganda that demoralized and demonized entire communities that eventually lead to genocide. During the Nazi rule in Germany and the genocide in Rwanda in the mid-1990s there have been clear cases where misinformation has been used in order promote violence and repress the rights of citizens. More often than not, similar manipulation and deception techniques have been used during these periods to oppress the basic rights of groups and individuals. Germany and Rwanda both exercised comparable methods such as emotional manipulation, media and demonization of minority/weaker groups in order to harm/eliminate large sectors of the population. Overall, propaganda is often a tool used to commit massive manipulation and rationalization for large-scale human rights violations.
...everal times since the Holocaust, and the previous three are a few of the worst. These tragedies that occur throughout history are caused purely by fellow human beings, and it is up to human beings to stop them. As Jack Schwartz says, “Genocide is an attempt to exterminate a people, not alter their behavior.” It is the responsibility of not one, but all. The world needs to make these crimes against civilization come to a halt, once and for all.
Former UN Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali once said, "We were not realizing that with just a machete, you can do a genocide." To be candid, nobody anticipated the Rwandan Genocide that occurred in 1994. The genocide in Rwanda was an infamous blood-red blur in modern history where almost a million innocent people were murdered in cold blood. Members of the Tutsi tribe were systematically hacked or beaten to death by members of the Interahamwe, a militia made up of Hutu tribe members. In just 100 days, from April 6, 1994 to mid-July, 20% of Rwanda's population was killed; about 10,000 people a day. Bodies literally were strewn over city streets. Genocide obviously violates almost all articles of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights; however, the article I find most important is Article 3 - the right to life, liberty, and personal security. In just 100 days, one million people were denied the most basic privilege granted to every human – the right to live, simply because they were born to the wrong tribe.
“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.
It’s amazing how a small spark of hatred can grow and grow only to become a wildfire causing mass destruction. The horrific acts of humanity, now universally dubbed as genocide, occurred to frequently throughout history, and action for complete and absolute prevention should be taken at all times.
The truth about genocide is each situation is unique, the motivations, mindsets and values can all change from example to example. One thing remains the same, genocide is always a deliberate action that results in the death of many people. Whether a genocide is meant to be a statement of power, a political scheme, or a means of cleansing a nation of people whom someone has deemed unfit to live there, genocide remains unto this day an almost natural reaction by which people solve complex issues. The importance of studying genocide is that understanding the motivations, no matter how deplorable, that lead to genocidal actions is the only way by which we can begin to present new less atrocious ways of handling these complex social issues to the depraved individuals who orchestrate genocide.
The Rwandan Genocide was a terrible event in Africa's history that decimated many minorities in Rwanda. The Hutu killed 800,000 people of minority in Rwanda, including Tutsi and Pygmy people in 100 days, and if it was scaled to the length of time the Holocaust took place, the casualties would be more than 34 million people killed. Citizens were told to gather arms and fight against their neighbor, and many obeyed.
Over the period of around 100 days, with the death toll ranging somewhere between 800,000 to 1,100,000 the Rwandan genocide has become infamous for the high numbers of dead in such a short amount of time, and for the inadequate response of the UN an...
Rwanda has almost always been somewhat of a melting pot, much like other African nations. People of various ethnicities, occupations, and social classes lived in the country without much more trouble than the surrounding nations. Even so, much like other nations, Rwanda still had underlying issues beneath the surface that still had to be faced. Beginning on April 9th, 1994, the genocide had begun, leading to a systematic killing of over 800,000 Rwandans. For what reason were these people killed to begin with? Each of these people were killed for being either Tutsi, an upper-classed ethnic group in the nation, or for refusing to partake in the barbaric bloodletting. After the confrontations between the “upper class” Tutsi and the “lower class” Hutu subsided at the outset of the summer of 1994, the grim horror of what had just happened finally sunk in. More disgustingly, it seemed that the entire world had watched in dull horror as Rwandans – neighbors, friends, families- slaughtered each other, and rather than assist, they continued on with daily activities, as if nothing was happening. Even the organization that had been established to prevent this exact dilemma from occurring, the United Nations, had failed to actually help anyone, even though there were plenty of members of the UN right there in Rwanda as this was happening. Overall, the United Nations, and the entire world itself, had either been too poorly organized, too cowardly, or too apathetic to even begin to ever do any good outside of their proper nations.
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...
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.
Many times we ask why nobody did anything to stop such horrific events from happening. Actually, many people said that this would never happen again but this is not the case. Since the Holocaust we have seen several examples of how the general public sometimes refuses to acknowledge the occurrence of events and how the government often has little political will to stop mass murders until it is too late. One example of this that occurred not too long ago is the Rwandan Genocide. In 1994, between half a million to a million Rwandan Tutsi as well as thousands of moderate Hutu, were exterminated in the clearest mass murder case since the Holocaust. The world stood back and observed as the murders took place. Samantha Power, in the book she wrote, A Problem From Hell: America and the Age of Genocide1,and her article The Atlantic Monthly, “Bystanders to Genocide: Why the United States Let the Rwandan Tragedy Happen,” Power writes “The story of U.S. policy during the genocide in Rwanda is not a story of willful complicity with evil. U.S. officials did not sit around and conspire to allow genocide to happen. But whatever their convictions about ‘never again,’ many of them did sit around, and they most certainly did allow genocide to happen.”2 Samantha Power's writing shows that the U.S. government knew enough about the genocide through early warnings but nevertheless because they lacked political will to do anything about it they passed up many opportunities to end the rain of terror.3
To fully understand why this slaughter occurred, we must first look at the history of the Hutu and the Tutsi. In the early 1900's, the Tutsi were placed in positions of power by Belgium, because they looked "whiter". Governed by Belgium's racist way of thought, ethnic identity cards were introduced. The Catholic Church supported the Tutsi and the new social order and educated the Tutsi and imposed their religion on them. Though the population of Rwanda was ninety percent Hutu, they were denied land ownership, education, and positions of power. In the 1950's, the end of the colonial period, the Hutu overthrew the Tutsi government. The Hutu maintained the practices of ethnic division, and the Tutsi were forcibly removed from positions of power. Many Tutsi fled from Rwanda and were not allowed to return. Many Tutsi that stayed in Rwanda were killed. Supported by Uganda, the Tutsi formed the Rwandan Patriotic Front, a rebel army. The rebel army was anxious to regain citizenship and their homes in Rwanda, and began a civil war that lasted four years. The world wide coffee marke...
The Tutsi race has long held control over the Rwandan government because, though they only make up an approximate 14 percent of the Rwanda population, the Europeans who took over the country chose them because they were said to resemble the Europeans more than the Hutus. The Hutus later started a revelution for independence that the Belgian, who controlled the country at the time, quickly ended it by letting the Hutu run the government instead of the Tutsi. Of course, this did not make the Hutu forget the years of oppression they suffered at the hands of the Tutsi. So, naturally, there were Hutus who believed that the Tutsi race should be exterminated. These people were called Hutu extremists. The Hutu etremists within the government blamed the Tutsi as a whole for the countrys' st...
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.