OVERVIEW
The Rwandan Genocide of 1994 is defined as the mass massacre in the African country of Rwanda. An African ethnic group called the Tutsis were viciously attacked by another group called the Hutus, thus genocide was formed. The Rwandan genocide may have kicked off in 1994 but there were many issues behind it. Long before the genocide, around the 1890s, there were three ethnic groups ; the Hutus, which made up 85% of the Rwandan population; the Tutsis, which made up 14% of the population and the Twa which was a small 1% of Rwandan population. Everyone lived in peace and harmony, being commonly interracially married, working together on the many hills of Rwanda, whether working the land or herding cows. These groups lived together in a densely populated area and everyone was equal.
Going back into context, imperialism was spreading all around the world in the late 1800s. Imperialism is expanding a stronger country and the domination of weaker ones. German count Gustav Adolf von Gotzen came to power over Rwanda after the Berlin Conference of 1885, which split up control of African continent for their natural resources ( Rwanda was a major exporter of coffee). The Germans and von Gotzen came into Rwanda on an information gathering mission to find out more about their newly gained land. He noticed the physical differences between the Hutus, Tutsi and Twa. The Twa were short, muscular and hairy. The Hutus had thick bodies, were short and had wide noses. And the Tutsi were tall and thin, with thinner noses and lips and straight white teeth.
Going back into context, imperialism was spreading all around the world in the late 1800s. Imperialism is expanding a stronger country and the domination of weaker ones. German count Gustav Adolf von Gotzen came to power over Rwanda after the Berlin Conference of 1885, which split up control of African continent for their natural resources ( Rwanda was a major exporter of coffee). The Germans and von Gotzen came into Rwanda on an information gathering mission to find out more about their newly gained land. He noticed the physical differences between the Hutus, Tutsi and Twa. The Twa were short, muscular and hairy. The Hutus had thick bodies, were short and had wide noses. And the Tutsi were tall and thin, with thinner noses and lips and straight white teeth.
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Soon the Europeans started to break the once, family-like, equal ethnic groups and turn the completely against each other. They labeled the Tutsi as the superior and better race, and start the spread the “myth” that the Hutus were inferior. The Tutsis carried themselves differently and believed that they were physically and mentally better than the Hutus. Social classes began to form. There were the Europeans, Tutsi elites , the rest of the Tutsit and all of the Hutus on the bottom.The Tutsi elites were given government jobs and the power to discipline the Hutus if they went against a German ruling, while the Hutus were forced to work on the farms and live in poverty.
After WW1 the German land was taken and split up between other countries. Belgium came into power over Rwanda in1914. They made a system of laws which made everyone have to work for a certain amount of day per week. The Hutus were forced to dedicated half of their time to work building public projects while the Tutsi were in charge of forcing them to do it. The Hutus hatred for the Tutsi began to build up. The Belgians introduced Christianity to Rwanda, but only to the Tutsis elites. They were taught about Christianity was became scholars and grew to have a lot of power over the Catholic churches. |
The Tutsi gained a lot of control over Rwanda. They began to demand independence of Rwanda as they grew against Belgium. The Belgian’s, afraid of losing control of their land turned back to the Hutus and used propaganda and spread a new theory to get them to rise up against the Tutsi. Secret plans were forming behind the Tutsi’s back. A new Hutu president came into power named Juvenal Habyarimana. He was also extremely corrupt and caused a coffee crisis which left many people in extreme poverty. Habyarimana made everyone carry ID booklets stating if you were a Hutu or Tutsi. He used propaganda and his political power to divide the group with oppressive rule. Tutsi were accused of supporting rebel groups like the RPF, which was formed to united all Tutsi, including tutsi elites, together as one. The racial prejudice and anger at the corruption grew up until the president's plane was blown up setting of the genocide in April of 1994, which only lasted a little over 3 months but had a lasting impact on the country. Genocide is the mass killing of a religious, ethnic or national group in hopes to destroy their existence.
Neighbors hunted down and killed other neighbors. Wives and husbands killed each other. Students attacked teachers and teacher attacked their students. One of the worst things was that nothing was done by any association like the United Nations, to prevent the genocide in any way. There were over 336,000 refugees who ran to other surrounding African countries. People were hacked to death by machetes. The people who were caught hiding were murdered right on the spot. Wounded people in hospitals, and the imprisoned (which most of the time were Tutsi) were murdered. Death was close to inevitable. According to the statistics over the course of the first 100 days of the genocide, 800,000 to 1 million Tutsis and some Tutsis were slaughtered. Even Hutus were murdered for opposing the campaign. More than 6 men, women and children were murdered every minute of every hour, of every day, for three months of the genocide. There were between 300,000 to 400,000 survivors of 1994 Rwandan Genocide.
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CRITICAL THINKING QUESTION: Evaluate the cause of the genocide in your own opinion. Do you think the Rwandan genocide of 1994 was at all preventable?