These events were similar in that they both were fueled by a racist pseudo-philosophy initiated by the government. Rwanda gained their independence on July 1, 1962. At this point in time, the Hutu took a majority of the seats in parliament and formed the new government. The Hutu abused their power and persecution of Tutsi people heightened. This aggression lead to the mass exodus of Tutsi tribes from the country in order to seek freedom. In 1964, a group of Tutsi exiles launched an armed raid on Rwanda, the government responded viciously and tens of thousands of Tutsi were killed in retribution by the army and Hutu gangs (White 44). In 1933, Jews in Germany numbered around 525,000, or only one percent of the total German population. The Nazi
In Rwanda, if the Hutsus saw a tutsis walking down the street, you would be killed immediately. For this genocide, the Hutsus didn’t hold the Tutsis in a camp, make them sleep in horrid conditions, burn them alive, make them work or even put them in gas chambers leading to death. However, the Holocaust was different, if you were a Jew you would be treated this way. Hitler would take the Jews into a concentration camp to be worked, starved, and tortured until they become weak and ill, proceeding to death. In conclusion, there are several differences between these two genocides.
“The Rwandan Genocide represents one of the worst human security failures, and the consequences still reverberate through the Great Lakes region of Africa nearly ten years later”, writes the Commission on Human Security in 2003. “Therefore, realizing human rights lies at the core of protecting and empowering people” (Bodelier, 2011). Canada's lack of response to the Rwandan Genocide was unfortunate, and it allowed for questioning of Canada's continued strength in peacekeeping operations, something Canada had been instrumental in creating merely 40 years prior. It is necessary to examine Canada's role within the international community's failure, to understand what external factors can still influence Canada's foreign policy, and to therefore
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...
I was born in the Republic of Congo, where my family fled from Rwanda to escape genocide. Growing up as a refugee in Congo was a daily hardship. My parents struggled to provide the basic necessities for my four siblings and me. The stress of living as refugees began to tear my family apart. My parents divorced in 2005, when I was only five years old. My mother struggled to keep our family together and to provide for all of us. She passionately believed in the power of education. She would try to scrape together enough money to send us to school. There were many times when me and my brothers would help sell jugs of water in the streets of Brazzaville to make enough money for school fees and lunches.
It was early in April when the disaster of Rwanda happened. When the president of Rwanda , Juvènal Habyarimana, was assassinated. After the president was assassinated thats when the fighting and killings started. A guy who has won the Pulitzer Prize twice said the most vivid thing from his assignment was hearing all the scream. The Hutu militia was killing everyone and everything that had crossed their path. The stench of dead bodies was everoywhere and filled the air everywhere you went and because of the smell everyone would get sick and vomit everywhere. People would build crosses with twigs and set the twigs on fire because it was cold and they needed a way to get warm.
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 than Hutus. The RPF decided to create a government consisting of a Hutu and a Tutsi holding the highest government positions. As the RPF took control of the government, “some two million Hutus – both civilians and some of those involved in the genocide – then fled across the border into DR Congo.
In early April of 1994 the plane carrying the Rwandan and Burundian Presidents, was shot down. Right after a genocidal mass slaughter began in Rwanda. The Rwanda genocide was a genocidal mass slaughter of the Tutsi and the moderate Hutu. The attacks were organized and committed by members of the Hutu paramilitary organizations and by people who once had been the victim’s friends or neighbors. After the genocidal the Rwandan’s came together to solve their problems and which is a great example of a collectivist society. James Neuliep defines collectivism in his book Intercultural Communication as a “cultural orientation where the group is the primary unit of culture. Group goals take precedence over individual goals.” Through those three months
Although Tutsi and Hutu have been living a lifelong battle they are very similar because they speak the same language, intermarrying and even lived as neighbors (Stratus, 2006). It was much more common to see Tutsi women to be married to Hutu men than to find Hutu women married to Tutsi men, therefore a Hutu man married to a Tutsi woman gave birth to legally Hutu. Marriage between Hutu men and Tutsi women had the full benefits of Hutu citizenship to progeny and this was perceived as racially impure (Taylor, 2008).
In the documentary Inanga: A Song of Survival in a Daughter’s Rwanda, Sibomana Athanase says, “After the drum, the inanga is the queen of all the traditional instruments” (Inanga: A Story of Survival in a Daughter’s Rwanda). For Rwandans, it is an instrument that is deeply rooted in tradition and in culture, yet as time goes on, it is slowly losing its appeal across generations. Traditionally associated with the Tutsi people, the inanga’s identity lies in its historical origin. Played in the courts in order to soothe the Tutsi kings, or mwami, the inanga became a concrete symbol of the contention and power divide that separated Rwanda into two distinct groups (Barz, McGovern). It is impossible to assess the significance of the inanga without first looking at the historical background of Rwanda. It is within this context that the inanga drew its meaning—both as a symbol of destruction and of rehabilitation. It is imperative that the role of the inanga be assessed from an African perspective; only then can one fully appreciate the instrument as a national symbol rather than a primitive and inconsequential artifact.
In Rwanda different from some other countries, we all strive to have one single culture, which is simply known as the Rwandan culture. However, due to the problems of Tutsi Genocide in 1994, Rwandans have immigrated to other countries. Those who went to other countries, came back to Rwanda having adopted to other countries’ cultures and beliefs. For example, people called Abanyamurenge, who shifted to DRC, came back with different beliefs and different cultural practices. Some of these differences includes having their own type of favorite food, which is thought as the best food according to them. This food is called kawunga, which is the maze flour. In the Rwandan culture, kawunga has not been recognized
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...
In 1994 many people were murdered . From April to July of 1994, members of the Hutu ethnic majority in the east central African nation of Rwanda murdered as many as 800,000 people, mostly of the Tutsi minority .About 85% of the population was Hutu, the rest were Tutsi along with a small number of Twa. The Tutsis were favored and felt superior to the Hutu and Twa. This caused much tension and jealousy between the two groups.The greater half of Rwanda, known as the Hutu, are a big part of the social issues that took place in 1994 as they overthrew the Tutsi power. The Hutu were located in both Rwanda and Burundi and while they wanted to gain power in both countries, the Hutu of Rwanda forcefully took over the Tutsi ruler. The Rwandan Hutu were in command until 1994 when they were invaded by the Tutsi. Tutsi are people who live in Rwanda. The Tutsi people had dominance over the Hutu in
Colonization by both the Germans and Belgium's outlined religion in, the country of Rwanda.Early colonization by the belgians and Germans brought few changes to the landscape of rwanda.Although religious views such as Roman Catholicism were instilled upon the culture of Rwanda.These religious views broke the already existing tribal affiliated and indigenous views of the early people.The growing fascination among Europeans drove the Belgians to change the government in Rwanda.To change the goveremnt in Rwanda, the Belian sused religion to gain piower in goverment.The people in power (those of the Roman Catholic Church due to colinization) placed the Tutsi in power in the goverment,and left the Hutus to farm land.The determinination of who was in power we...
In 1897 Germany seized Ruanda-Urundi (present day Rwanda), as a piece of German East Africa. Seventeen years later World War I broke out, this brought Belgian Troops to Rwanda and eventually led to Belgium’s reign over Rwanda. Under Belgian rule the people of Rwanda were required to carry identification passes that stated their ethnicities, this solidified the ideal of ethnic division. In addition the Tutsi’s became a favored race and were given increased opportunities for education and employment. Years later in 1959 the death of Mwami (King) Mutara III created even more unrest, as well as uprising. After his death the Hutu’s rebelled against the Tutsi’s, in due course the Hutu’s acquired control of both the government and economy (Rwanda).
Suri people of south west Ethiopia is a cattle-centered culture where the riches and status of a family is determine by the amount of cattle they have. The cattle are used for milk and blood which is consumed by the people, as a wedding gift and not to be eaten unless there is big ceremony is in place. Suri villages range between 40 until 2500 people. Suri are famous for their stick-fighting skills, a sport, martial arts and highly dangerous activities done by the Suri men. They believe that engaging this activity will let them used to the pain as the Suri are always under threat from neighboring tribes for land. Suri woman are one of the tribes who uses lip plates, a clay plate that are inserted into the bottom lips. Suri has no written history, only verbal history references pass down from generations to generations. It is said that their former name was ‘Nagos’ instead of Suri, Suri also have similarity in term of culture with the Mursi tribes.