Response to Rwandan Genocide

What is Genocide?

Genocide by definition is "the deliberate killing of a large group of people, especially those of a particular nation or ethnic group"(usually the minority group). WWII is an example of genocide, as Hitler tried to wipe out all of the Jews. Now Genocide can occur for many different reasons but there are a few that have occurred in each major genocide these are blame, hatred and desperation. A genocide doesn't just happen overnight, people don't just decide to kill their neighbours and entire cultures, there is always a background of blame, hatred and desperation between the groups. Take WWII for example, After WWI Germany lost all of its resources and went into the great depression. They were already desperate, the Germans then blamed the Jews for there misfortune because while the Germans were not doing so well the Jews were very successful as they were very good businessmen. Just these two things don't cause genocides there is usually a tipping point. This can come in many ways such as a new leader coming in with lots of great ideas on how to improve everything and who to blame or a big event. In the case of WWII, the tipping point was Hitler, although he did many atrocious things he was a very good speaker who could persuade anyone to see his point of view (hence why so many Germans were all for getting rid of the Jews). He persuaded the Germans into thinking that the Jews were the main cause of Germany misfortune and that getting rid of them would benefit them greatly, and that turned into the Holocaust/genocide. So basically a genocide is one group of people trying to wipe out another, and the main components of a genocide are Blame, Desperation, hatred and some sort of big event.


What happened in Rwanda?

So In 1994 Rwanda (a small African Country) fell into genocide. There had been a conflict between the Tutsi and the Hutu (the two main groups that occupied the country with the Tutsi being the minority) The conflict between the two groups had been silently going on for as long as anyone could remember as the Hutus were jealous of the Tutsi success and blamed them for the lack of their own success. The genocide did not start overnight the Hutu extremists and some parts of the government had been planning some sort of attack on the Tutsi but nothing was set in place. Some Tutsis had been hiding out from everyone out and tried to stop the government (these people were called the Tutsi rebels). After a while, the Rwandan President agreed to sign a peace treaty with the Tustis and this angered a lot of the Hutus.  The big event that set off the genocide was the death of the Rwandan President. His plane was shot down before he could sign the peace treaty and the Hutu blamed the Tutsis for his death (although many think that this was not the case) This is the main event that set off the 100-day Killing spree. The radios had been used for a while by the Hutu extremists to voice their opinions about how the Tutsi are cockroaches and they are no good, but after the death of the President the talk over the radio went from why they are no good to telling Hutus to kill the Tutsi saying things such as "watch your neighbors" and "kill the cockroaches" and that is exactly what a lot of people did. The weapon of choice of the genocide was a machete, this was because they were extremely cheap and very effective so they were used a lot to kill the Tutsi. Not all of the Hutus were trying to kill the Tutsi as a lot of them were married these people were killed as they were"traitors" they became refugees. A man named Paul Rusesabagina who was a house manager at a hotel way a Hutu married to a Tutsi and had Tutsi children although his life was threatened many times and he was one of the main traitors he was able to successfully harbour and shelter 1268 Tutsi and Hutu refugees in the hotel during the Rwandan Genocide. Throughout the 100-day Genocide, it is estimated that around 1 million Tutsi were slaughtered.


How could we stop/decrease the impact of genocide?

Genocides are manufactured from a background of hatred and blame and these are things that we as humans cant take away as they are emotions we all feel. So there has to be other ways to prevent genocide? Getting rid of poverty and improving the quality of life especially in developing countries will help stop genocides as poverty and desperation are two big factors in creating a genocide. Countries need to have early warning systems set in place in case acts of genocide break out. These warning systems will allow people to get to safety as protecting the public should be a top priority. Military assistance would also be a very important thing in stopping a genocide. Not only to protect the public but if the need be standing with guns between the fighting to make sure that the people aren't being killed. Preventing genocide would benefit the world immensely not just by stopping mass killings but making sure that cultures can grow and develop throughout time.