The Terror of Rwandan Genocide - Essay Example

The act of genocide has been carefully broken down, and divided into 8 separate steps. Each of these factors contribute to the overall horror of the genocide, and are equally terrorizing within themselves. These eight steps are Classification, Symbolization, Dehumanization, Organization, Polarization Preparation, Extermination and Denial. All of these steps are horrible and gruesome, but their ultimate acting together forms the horrible scene that is genocide. The steps of genocide can also be shortened to four more direct steps, as decided by the United Nations in 1948. This definition of genocide narrows the steps down to "any of the following acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group, as such: a. killing members of the group; b. causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group; c. deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part; d. imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group; e. forcibly transferring children of the group to another group." (http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/rwanda/reports/dsetexhe.html) Whatever your definition may be however, all of these horrible acts occurred in Rwanda during the mass slaughtering of the Tutsi people. The first step of genocide, classification, has been taking place for years before the genocide even started. Long into Rwanda's history had there been a distinct ethnic difference between the two rival factions, the Hutu and the Tutsis. In the late 1800's, it was the Tutsi people who had enslaved the Hutus in a feudal system, with the Hutus working the land under the supervision of Tutsi land lords. After World War One however, this all came to change. When Rwanda was granted self government from Belgium in 1959, the elections led the Hutu majority into power over the government, and this could be seen as one of the first steps towards the later genocide. The distinct differences had already been in place, and now the oppressed Hutus had political control over their ancient land lords. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rwandan_Genocide#Background). The next few steps toward the genocide all began to happen quickly. As Tutsi refuges began to pour in Rwanda in the 1990s, the Hutu majority began to become afraid of the past enslavement. The Hutu government "broadcast and published material referring to the Tutsi as subhuman and making veiled calls for violence. Radical Hutu groups, organized and funded by members of the government, started to amass weapons and conduct training programs" (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rwandan_Genocide#Background). This was an example of symbolization, by making and targeting all the members of the Tutsi group, dehumanization, by denying the humanity of the Tutsi and declaring them subhuman, and this was also a prime example of organization and polarization, which both continued to happen as the genocide began. There is also quite a bit of evidence that the killings were organized even by the government and government leaders. One cabinet member was quoted in saying that "she was personally in favor of getting rid of all Tutsi; without the Tutsi, she told ministers, all of Rwanda's problems would be over" (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rwandan_Genocide#Background). This shows just how deep into the country the hatred for the Tutsi people ran and was accepted. After the assignation of the president of Rwanda, the damn finally broke, and the genocide began. The military began rounding up all the Tutsi they could and slaughtering them, a sign of preparation as they began to mass weapons and dispatch the militia, and then finally as they began to round up and murder the Tutsi. "Within hours, recruits were dispatched all over the country to carry out a wave of slaughter",( http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/1288230.stm) as the people of Rwanda prepared for one of the most brutal and shocking genocides the world had seen since the Holocaust. In the span of just 100 days, over "an estimated 800,000 Rwandans were killed"( http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/1288230.stm). This was the mass execution of slaughter, and we the happenings of the second to last stage of genocide, the actual extermination of the people. As this happened in Rwanda, the terror was huge and the events that unfolded shocked the world. However, as shocked as the world was, the international response was largely not as much as it should have been. A lot of this had to do with the original news coverage of the story. Once the Un had fled Rwanda, the Rwandan government was in no hurry to publicize on the horror that was going on within its borders. This helped seal the name of genocide on the event, as they committed denial, and the world somewhat turned its head. All of these factors intertwined to that fact that "for nearly three weeks in April, after its first days had passed, the story of one of the 20th century's worst crimes had failed - in an age of global satellite broadcasting - to make the top of the TV news bulletins (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/panorama/3599423.stm). The news stations also worked to cover up the destruction. As journalists put their life on the line to get images from the genocide, it wasn't until June 27th that the first actual documentary was finally filmed and shown. This however, was a little to late to stop the horrors of the genocide from happening. The United States was very reluctant to put troops into Rwanda, after loosing 13 troops in Somalia just a year earlier. Then, The United Nation, with no help coming from the United States, had to try to convince other countries to join in the efforts. Due to the disease spreading and the danger of the area, this kept many ground forces from wishing to deploy there. This inaction is now often condemned, and the decision to not get involved was a decision United States President Clinton would later regret( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rwandan_Genocide#Background). In conclusion, the horror of this genocide were vast, as the ethnic differences between the Hutu and the Tutsi erupted into mass murders and ethnic cleansing as the world had not seen in some time. Although the original efforts were not well done, the now seemingly vast spread of this event is huge. It opened the world's eyes for events like this, and hopefully will prevent another such even from taking place without intervention from global forces. The genocide that took place in Rwanda covered all of the signs and steps of genocide, and was definitely genocide by every definition of the word. Sources: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rwandan_Genocide#Background http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/1288230.stm http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/panorama/3599423.stm http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/rwanda/reports/dsetexhe.html Read More