Genocide in the Twentieth Century - Book Report/Review Example

Genocide in the Twentieth Century Introduction "In the spring of 1994 the tiny African nation of Rwanda exploded onto the international media stage, as internal strife reached genocidal proportions. But the horror that unfolded before our eyes had been building steadily for years before it captured the attention of the world". Grard Prunier, 1995 Merriam-Webster (2009) defines genocide as "the deliberate and systematic destruction of a racial, political, or cultural group". A similar meaning of genocide has also been exemplified in Article II of the 1948 United Nations Genocide Convention, which described genocide as the following: (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; and (e) Forcibly transferring children of the group to another group (United Nations Treaty Series, No. 1021, vol. 78 (1951), p. 277; Prevent Genocide International, 2008). In the same manner, according to Melvern (2004), genocide, a term that was coined by a Polish lawyer named Raphael Lemkin, entails an orchestrated course of action and a conspiracy, which would be implemented against the target preys. In regard to these facts, one can only imagine and contemplate how horrible, devastating, and appalling the said circumstance would be actually, it is totally beyond any negative description a person could ever utter. On one hand, who would have thought that such barbaric scheme could still exist in the twentieth century, where diplomacy and peace-talks were already known and even successfully implemented in some countries, but, on the other hand, we cannot easily tell or jump into a hasty conclusion as to the applicability of those peace-keeping measures, especially in varying cases, histories, and preexisting conditions in different nations, which might possibly cause genocide to ensue. Nevertheless, the seemingly unimaginable event took place in an African republic named Rwanda and killed roughly 800,000 people in a span of 100 days, from April to June 1994, which had left a mark, or should we say a scar, in the modern day history, and undeniably posed a significant international attention (BBC News, 2008). According to Hinton (2002), the said catastrophic event would warrant some challenging and mind-stirring questions to scholars: "why does one group of human beings set out to eradicate another group from the face of earth" and "what are the origins and processes involved in such mass murder" (Hinton, 2002). In this regard, this paper aims to dissect and explicate the causes that led to the occurrence and execution of the so-called Rwandan genocide. Furthermore, this paper shall examine relevant, reputable and scholarly references/literature in order to provide an appreciable discussion and analysis regarding the aforementioned area of inquiry. As such, considerable knowledge pertaining to applicable concepts, theories, different viewpoints and empirical evidences shall be obtained and be closely dealt with in due course of this paper. Discussion and Analysis Background In order to carefully examine the causes of Rwandan genocide, it would be better for us to tackle a brief background of Rwanda, its people, and some relevant information pertaining to it. Rwanda, "a land of breathtaking beautiful vistas dotted with countless hills", is a small African country with an area of only 26, 338 km2, and lies above the 1000-metre mark, with over half in the 1, 500-2, 000 m. zone (Prunier, 1995). Moreover, Rwanda's favourable climate and generous land fairly contributed to its agricultural affluence which benefited its industrious peasants, who, according to Prunier (1995), are actually large-scale gardeners. Indeed, the richness and opulence of Rwanda's agricultural land are nature's inheritance to the Rwandan people. Additionally, during its pre-colonial period, Rwanda had one of the most powerful and sophisticated kingships in Eastern Africa (Straus, 2006). Dwelling in Rwanda's rich land are the two rival 'tribes' which literally made the whole world witness the tragic fruit of their long-term, enduring rivalry: the Tutsis and the Hutus. The Hutus comprise 84-90 percent of the population, whilst Tutsis were 9-15 percent (Straus, 2006). Actually, there is one more group among the Rwandans, which were called the Twa, but they only comprised about 1% or less of the population and were regarded to belong "at the bottom of the pile" (Straus, 2006; Prunier, 1995). In this paper, we want to give more focus on the Tutsis and the Hutus, thereby enabling us to dissect the roots of their enmity. Conversely, the Hutus, the Tutsis, and the Twas were inappropriately called 'tribes' for most, if not all, of the time (Prunier, 1995; Destexhe, 1995; Hogan, 2003). Tribe is certainly a "wrong register" for describing Rwanda's ethnic groups (Straus, 2006). In fact, they had none of the characteristics of tribes, which are micro-nations (Prunier, 1995), because of the actuality that they are linguistically and culturally homogenous, which means that they share common language, which is called Kinyarwanda (Straus, 2006), and respect the same traditions and taboos (Destexhe, 1995; Hogan, 2003). They even intermarry (Straus, 2006; Prunier, 1995). They only had some differences that are not related to racial or ethnic divisions, and these differences were only exaggerated by colonizers who supported one side against the other (Hogan, 2003), which eventually ignited and intensified the tensions between these two groups. Hence the phenomenon called "Tribalism without Tribes" (Hogan, 2003). A comparison between these two tribes was made in Prunier's book entitled "The Rwanda Crisis: History of a Genocide", wherein the Hutus were depicted as follows: "The Hutus generally display Bantu (pertaining to the people of Uganda) features: generally short and thick set with a big head, a jovial expression, wide nose and enormous lips. [Moreover,] they are extroverts who like to laugh and lead a simple life" (Prunier, 1995, p. 5-6). With regard to the Tutsis, the following descriptions were exemplified: "The Tutsis are of good race; nothing of the Negro apart from their color. They are usually very tall (1.80 m - 1.90 m or more). Their features are very fine: thin nose and fine lips framing beautiful shining teeth. ...they are natural born-leader, capable of extreme self-control and of calculated goodwill" (Prunier, 1995, p. 6). Evidently, as revealed in the above descriptions, Hutus and Tutsis were physically distinct from each other; the Tutsis elicited more fine features compared to the Bantu likeness of the Hutus. These physical features of the Rwandan rivals are significant in the succeeding discussion, as their distinctive features must have played a part in their eventual division. Moreover, just like any other nation in the Great Lakes region of Africa, the social and economic distinction between farming and animal husbandry was significant in determining greater status and power (Straus. 2006). In this regard, animal husbandry was deemed superior over farming (Straus, 2006). As such, the Tutsis were known to be cattle-raisers, whereas the Hutus were hailed workers of the land (Hogan, 2003). In this manner, it is obvious that Tutsis belong to a higher status while the Hutus were in a lowly and humble position. Nevertheless, it is important to note that not all Tutsis were royalties, in the same way, not all Hutus were poor farmers because there variations in the socio-economic status of the members that belong to the aforementioned groups (Straus, 2006 p. 20). Viewpoints, Theories, and Empirical Evidences regarding the CAUSES OF GENOCIDE Population density: too many people on too little land Gerard Prunier (1995) stipulated that "at least" part of the reason for carrying out the genocide was due to a high population density. Accordingly, this view relating population density to the Rwandan genocide can be simplified using these ideas: "the land is small and population density is high" and "there were too many people on too little land; with a reduction in the number of the people there would be more [resources to be utilized] for survivors" (p. 4). As evidence to that, from 1934 to 1989 the population density of Rwanda had been shooting up steadily (Jean-Damascene Nduwayezu quoted in Prunier, 1995, p. 5). The practical densities per year were as follows: 1934 - 85; 1950 - 102, 1970 - 200, 1980 - 281, and 1989 - 380 (p. 4). In fact, by the year 2040, it was projected that Rwanda's population density will be twenty times higher than that of France (Prunier, 1995). The high population density within a small land area inevitably led to a very tight social control, thereby contributing to the unfolding of the tragedy in 1994 (Prunier, 1995, p. 3). In addition, according to Straus (2006), Rwanda's population density limited the number of exit points for both victims and perpetrators, therefore aggravating the genocide and augmenting the number of people killed. Colonizers: "They are more like us" The Europeans, particularly the German and Belgian colonizers, were amazed by the physical attributes and intellectual capacity of the Hutus (Prunier, 1995). These colonizers adhere to the nineteenth-century idea of being "racially-obsessed", thereby placing the Tutsis superior over the Hutus (Prunier, 1995) and probably saying that "they are more like us" (Hogan, 2003). However, it must be emphasized that the European rule did not invent the terms Hutu and Tutsi, but the colonizers themselves had changed the meaning of the two categories, or groups, as much as how they mattered (Straus, 2006, p. 20). Further, they perceived that the Tutsis were far better than the Hutus, and even regarded the Tutsis as "too fine to be Negroes" (Prunier, 1995). In this way, the Belgians colonizers reorganized the Rwandan customs which led to Tutsi domination and political power, not to mention they favoured the Tutsis in terms of education and their policies, in general (Hogan, 2003). More Tutsis apparently gained higher education and enjoyed the policies which definitely were in favor of them. In contrast, a very small number of Hutu gained education. In 1930s, identity cards that labeled the Rwandans according to their ethnicity were introduced by the Belgians (Straus, 2006), which critically denoted a more perceptible racial partition (Destexhe, 1995, pp 38-40; Hogan, 2003). Hence, the policies laid by the colonizers played an essential role and perpetuated an ethnic split that brought about racial hatred on the part of the Hutus (Hogan, 2003; Eltringham, 2004). 1959: The change, now Hutus over Tutsis "The shifts in the meaning of ethnic identity now came full circle: race thinking that had once hardened identity categories and benefited the Tutsi minority now gave rise to ethnic nationalism. Rwanda's new Hutu leaders claimed independence in the name of the previously-oppressed Hutu majority. [Hence] democracy meant Hutu rule." Scott Straus, 2006 In 1959, the Hutus, comprising the majority of the population, were seemingly burned out by the increasing dominance of their rival Tutsis (Destexhe, 1995). Seeing the restlessness of the Hutus, the Belgians reinstated their policies, which now discriminated the once favoured Tutsis (Hogan, 2003). This marked the turning point in the Rwandan history, a shift in political power from the Tutsis to the Hutus (Melvern, 2004; Hogan, 2003). At this juncture, the repressive Tutsi monarchy, previously supported by Belgium, had been violently overthrown by the oppressed majority, the Hutus (Melvern, 2004). In effect, a series of riots killed 20,000 Tutsis, which were duly allowed by the Belgians in sympathy to the Hutus (Destexhe, 1995; Hogan, 2003). The Rwandan Cultural Concepts of Blockage and Flow According to Taylor (1999 quoted in Hinton, 2002), the genocide that took place in 1994 was deeply symbolic and personified a cultural patterning. Although Taylor contended that there was fairly a cultural pattern that can be looked upon during the course of the violent event, he contrasted that the cultural knowledge per se did not cause the genocide to happen. Rather, the cultural patterning only came to structure upon the execution of the mass violence as evidenced by the symbolic implementation of genocide in certain ways, which include the following: (a) severing of Achilles tendons, (b) genital mutilation, (c) breast oblation, (d) the construction of roadblocks that served as execution sites, and (e) bodies being stuffed into latrines (Taylor, 1999 quoted in Hinton, 2002). In regard to those emblematic executions, Taylor (1999) relates them to the Rwandan concepts of flow and blockage. Accordingly, the Rwandan concept of flow encompasses health and well-being free from obstruction and interference, thereby allowing a smooth social exchange. On the other hand, the Rwandan concept of blockage meant an exact opposite of order and an obstruction to flow, thus necessitating the removal of obstructing beings to ensure personal and communal well-being (Taylor, 1999). Hence, these concepts can be summed up in this idea: the ability to block obstructing beings and the capacity to guarantee proper social flows (Taylor, 1999; Hinton, 2002). Based on these concepts, it would be clear enough to equate that Tutsis were perceived as an obstructing element in the eyes of the Hutus, as the latter experienced repression and malevolent treatment from the former (Taylor, 1999; Hogan, 2003; Straus, 2006). With this, the pattern of many of the horrible acts must "at least" be partially explained the concepts of blockage and flow. Thus, an explanation was affirmed by Taylor (1999 quoted in Hinton, 2002): " thousands of "obstructing" Tutsis were dumped in rivers-a signifier of flow in Rwandan cosmology. [and] to mark Tutsis as blocked beings, Hutus: deprived these victims of their ability to move and live (stopping Tutsis at barriers, where their Achilles tendons were often severed before they were killed in cruel ways); removed their symbolic organs of reproductive social flow (genital mutilation and breast oblation); clogged their bodily conduits (impalement from anus or vagina to mouth); compelled them to engage in asocial acts signifying misdirected flow (rape and forced incest) (Taylor, 1999 quoted in Hinton, 2002)." The Tribal Hatred Model In line with the Tutsi dominance, oppression, and the concept of obstruction of the flow of Hutus way of life by the Tutsis, or block contributed to the so-called "tribal/racial" hatred that flamed the nationalistic discourse of the Hutus. However, this model was argued by Straus (2006), saying that the "Ancient" Tribal Hatred Model lacked some historical elements. It was so because of the facts relating to the misuse of the term "tribe" to denote the ethnic groups of Rwanda, as discussed earlier in this paper. Nevertheless, "tribal hatred" had been viewed by many writers, commentators and scholars as one of the factors that sparked and sustained such horrifying genocide (Straus, 2006). Political Intentions and Economic, to some extent Perhaps, one of the most notable theory/concept pertaining to the cause of genocide was that it was of a political nature. "The decision to kill was of course made by politicians, for political reasons" says Prunier (1995). Moreover, according to Melvern (2004), the Rwandan genocide was planned (the planning which took three years) and political, employing an effective racist propaganda against the minority Tutsi. It was even organized and coordinated with cabinet meetings held by Rwanda's "interim government" to discuss the progress of the slaughter, which exemplified "a conspiracy to murder" (Melvern, 2004). Hence, still according to Melvern (2004), the Hutu Power extremists hoped to achieve a pure Hutu state, and in order to do so, the elimination, or should we say extermination, of the Tutsis a scapegoat in every political crisis (Hogan, 2003) would be a paramount move. To some extent, the struggling economy of Rwanda at that time was also pointed out as one of the possible factors that contributed to the planning and ideology of genocide (Prunier, 1995; Straus, 2006; BBC News, 2008). The Death of Habyarimana: The Triggering Factor The killing of President Juvenal Habyarimana was said to have triggered the genocide (Destexhe, 1995, 47; BBC, 2008). Habyarimana's plane was shot down above the Kigali airport on the 6th of April 1994 (BBC News, 2008). Thereafter, the morning of April 7, 1994 marked the beginning of the genocide, where Rwanda's entire political class lawyers, journalists, politicians and anyone who had stood against the northern extremists were killed and the Presidential Guards were said to be the culprit (Melvern, 2004). Allegedly, the current Rwandan President, Paul Kagame (at the time the leader of a Tutsi rebel group, Rwandan Patriotic Front or RPF), and some of his close associates were pointed out and blamed by French judge to be responsible for the killing of Habyarimana, of which Kagame denied (BBC News, 2008). Conclusion Consequently, this paper has gone through an in-depth discussion and analysis on the most significant points pertaining to the causes that revolve around the 1994 Rwandan genocide. It was said that the Tutsis, the victims of the ruthless violence, were guilty on these counts: (1) they were a remainder of the feudal system and (2) they were regarded as colonizers in their own country (Destexhe, 1995:47 quoted in Hogan, 2003). Hence, the causes that are mentioned and explained in the subsections of this paper are indeed important in dissecting the roots of the Rwandan genocide, thereby enlightening our minds as to the factors that led to such horrible event which killed approximately 800,000 people and was witnessed by the world. Finally, the causes that were dealt with in the course of this study are depicted in the image below (which I have made): Bibliography BBC News (2008) Rwanda: How the genocide happened. 18 December 2008. Available from: [Accessed 27 March 2009]. Destexhe, A. (1995) Rwanda and Genocide in the twentieth century. London, Pluto Press Publishers. Eltringham, N. (2004) Accounting for horror: post-genocide debates in Rwanda. London, Pluto Press Publishers. Hinton A. L. (2002) Annihilating Difference the anthropology of genocide (edited by Alexander Laban Hinton). London, University of California Press, Ltd. Hogan, L. (2003) Genocide in Rwanda - Fundamental Questions. Module Title: Origins, Development & Conflict Resolution. Ireland, University of Limerick. Melvern, L. (2004) A Conspiracy to Murder: The Rwandan Genocide. 18 May 2004. Available from [Accessed 26 March 2009]. Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary (2009) Genocide. Available from: [Accessed 29 March 2009]. Prevent Genocide International (2008) Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide. Available from: [Accessed 30 March 2009]. Prunier, G. (1995) The Rwanda Crisis: History of a Genocide. New York, Columbia University Press. Strauss, S. (2006) The Order of Genocide: Race, Power, And War in Rwanda. United States of America, Cornell University Press. Taylor, Christopher C. (1999) Sacrifice as Terror: The Rwandan Genocide of 1994. Oxford, Berg. U.N.T.S. (United Nations Treaty Series), No. 1021, vol. 78 (1951), p. 277. Read More