Theory of Genocide: The Case of Rwanda
I feel that Social Dominance Theory best explains the Rwandan Conflict. According to Houghton (2009), within every society there is at least one dominant group and one subordinate group. In the Rwandan Conflict, the Tutsis were seen as the dominant group while the Hutus the subordinate group. Despite the Tutsis being a minority, they held more political power than the Hutus. The Tutsis held most of the power up until the year 1994 when the Hutu president was assassinated. There has been constant tension between the two ethnic groups due to the Tutsis social dominance over the Hutus. The peak of the tension occurred when President Juvénal Habyarimana, who was Hutu, was assassinated, causing the Hutu people to start a genocide of the Tutsis. The Hutus, in my opinion, wanted to be in power – i.e. the extremist wanted to be the socially dominant group – so they went to great extremes to make it happen. According to Sidanius & Pratto (1999), the Hutus were the ones who devised the plan to kill their president not the Tutsis.
Social Dominance...
Ethnocentrism, the belief in the inherent superiority of one's own ethnic group or culture, has been the cause of genocide throughout history. Two examples of Ethnocentrism include the Nazi party during the Third Reich and the Hutu reign in Rwanda during the late 20th century. During the 20th century, the Holocaust and the Rwandan Genocide, two historically astounding genocides, took place containing similarities in the motive to kill but differentiating in their techniques. However they are more ______ than _____ by nature. The definition of “genocide” is very controversial. It means: “the deliberate killing of a large group of people, especially those of a particular ethnic group or nation”. This definition could be used as neither one of the excuses that the United States did not intervene in the Rwandan Genocide nor the opening stages of the Holocaust.
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...
If ancient chaos/race were an actual reason for why the genocide occurred, the racial tensions of the Hutus and the Tutsis would have existed long before the genocide and colonization. This notion is supported by Robert Melson, author of “Modern Genocide in Rwanda”. Melson alludes to the fact that during precolonial Rwanda, the Hutus and the Tutsis lived fairly peacefully with one other. Melson demonstrates that if it were tribal chaos, it would have to involve disputes over “land, booty, and women”. Because that was not seen in precolonial Rwanda, it would be hard to attribute the genocide only to race and territory.
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.
History contains horrific periods of time that which people suffer and are murdered. This period of time is known as genocide. The legal definition of genocide is “the international destruction of a group of people as such, a crime so severe that it demands immediate and total condemnation” (Rothenberg 395 ). The most well known genocide is the Holocaust, a genocide in which six million Jews were killed by Nazi Germany. After World War II and the Holocaust, the word genocide was originated by Raphael Lemkin. Lemkin coined the word “genocide” by combining Greek genos, meaning race or group, with Latin cidere, meaning to kill or murder.
For over a half of a century in Rwanda, the Tutsi and Hutu people had fought back and forth over supremacy, due to a racial battle driven by discrimination and severe torment. The Tutsi and Hutu societies were pressed alongside one another by foreign colonialist powers up to 1994 when a something had finally sparked.
In 1994 the people of Rwanda went through a horrific experience when one of the major ethnic groups known as the Hutus, slaughtered hundreds and thousands of the second major ethnic groups known as the Tutsis over the course of 100 horrific days. The genocide resulted in the loss of almost one million lives, partly due to a lack of outside intervention, but also the surprising unification of the Hutus & Tutsis. At the same time, it influenced the way the world (more specifically the UN) handles situations like the Rwandan Genocide.
The Rwandan genocide would be one of many examples of jealousy and power. In Africa falls a tiny country called Rwanda. Rwanda’s small country is around the size of Maryland and roughly the population of eight million people . Since the country was so small this made it easier to function if the three groups of people (Hutus, Tutsis, and Twas) coexist peacefully as neighbors. The Twas only make up about one percent of the land. The Hutus being the biggest of the group and the Tutsi being the middle in size. The Twas were the lowest class, the Hutus were the middle class, and the Tutsis were the upper class. The three groups that make up Rwanda got split up and classified by social status, only Tutsis could be the leaders.
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.
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.
The Rwanda Genocide was the mass slaughter of ethnic Tutsis by ethnic Hutus located in Rwanda, Africa.
It has been nearly 20 years since the horrible and inhuman atrocities of the 1994 Genocide in Rwanda that engulfed the lives of more than a million in three months. Because of this, Rwanda has embarked on eminent hardships but the only way towards national unity is reconciliation and the processes of forgiveness. This national endeavor that was initially aimed at restoring national unity, strengthening national values and reclaiming Rwandese common identity and dignity, has achieved commendable successes. The reason behind this slow but progressive journey is attributed to mechanisms and social justice approaches that were applied in Rwanda. These mechanisms were meant to redress inherent identity crises’ and conflicts that lived and spread amongst the Rwandan population since the advent of colonial era and well before.
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
Realism is one of the oldest and most popular theories in International Relations. It offers a perspective about competition and power, and can be used to explain the actions between states. An example of realism is the U.S. reaction – or lack thereof – during the 1994 Rwandan 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.