Genocide In Rwanda

“They prod and probe until I am awake and in a startled moment I realize that I am lying at the bottom of a pile of rotting corpses” (Keane 2). This quote is from a Tutsi civilian that was experiencing a dream out all the bodies that piled up once the killing of the Tutsis had commenced in the little country of Rwanda. To begin, the term genocide is seen differently through the eyes of all the people involved and requires specific steps. In Rwanda, different cultural views caused division amongst the Hutu and the Tutsi. All the premeditated stages of genocide can be connected with the events that occurred in Rwanda. Finally, in order to do away with genocides, global intervention must happen for the sake of the people. The monstrosity of Rwanda,

which was caused by the paranoia of the Hutu government, was only because the Hutu thought that the Tutsis had come together to regain the power they had in previous years, and so, they didn’t deserve the right to live.
There are several definitions that fall under the word genocide.

The first definition is the organized killing of people because of their membership in a group (Rummel). Also, genocide is often thought of to be one of the most heinous moral injustices a government can inflict on it’s people or territory. To continue, the UHCG (Convention on the Prevention and punishment of the Crime of Genocide) has said that a genocide is, “the intention to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group” (Rummel). Finally, another definition, which is also called a democide, is “any intentional government murder of unarmed and helpless people for people for whatever reason”

(Rummel).
Raphael Lemkin applied the first cases using genocide in connection to mass murders. He was an international scholar who fled Poland in 1939. After World War II, he called for a convention that would essentially make it an international crime to try to annihilate entire groups (Rummel). Using Plato’s Greek word for genos (which means “race” or “tribe”) and the Latin term cide (means “killer” or “act of killing”), Raphael Lemkin coined the word genocide (Rummel). Before the term genocide was established, large group killings were often named through very generic terms like: mass murders, massacres, and extermination (Rummel). Finally, the legal application of genocide was first used in the in the indictment of Nazi leaders after the war (Rummel).
All in all, genocides develop through the progression of of eight different stages. First it classification, this is where all culture have their own ways of splitting people up into different categories (Stanton). Second is symbolization, this is when people are identified within a group based on how they dress or act (Stanton). Once a group begins to deny the very existence of another group, only then have they reached the stage of dehumanization (Stanton). Also, in order for a genocide to occur, there has to be some sort of organization--which normally occurs through militias (Stanton). Polarization is when an extremist group begins to drive other groups apart, or by targeting and silencing moderates (Stanton). Furthermore, preparation begins when the victims are identified and discriminated against because of ethnicity or religious beliefs (Stanton). Once the mass killing of groups actually commences, so does the stage of extermination. Finally, after all is said and done, the final process of denial of the event ever happening sets in.
Based on the origin of the two cultures, history plays a key role. To begin, Rwanda is a very mountainous, small, and has a very temperate and humid climate (Prunier 1). So because of this type of climate, most of the Tutsi people raised cattle for their living (Prunier 5). “In 1896 Rwanda, a country where Hutus and Tutsis had lived for several centuries, became a German protectorate and was incorporated into the German Empire” (Cruvellier xi). The Germans used to subcontract Tutsi chiefs in order to keep control of an area they had (Prunier 25).
Although there were many Hutu that resided in Rwanda, there was still a considerable amount of the country that contained the Tutsi culture. To start, prior to the genocide, Tutsi and Hutu lived side by side in the villages in the hills (Prunier 249). The Tutsis had distinct physical features like the fact that they were very tall and they possessed sharp, angular faces (Prunier 5). Also, the Tutsis wanted to gain their independence from the Belgians, and they sabotaged through technical or political methods in order to gain it (Prunier 48). After the government overthrow by the Hutu in 1959, thousands of Tutsi people fled for neighboring countries (Cruvellier xi).
There were many different beliefs that cause the separation between the two cultures. First, the Tutsi government was based on a monarchy system, which started with a king that was considered a superior being (Cruvellier xi). The Tutsi considered hoe work (farming) as demeaning so they made their living through cattle (The Editors of Encyclopedia Britannica). Also, a Tutsi clan would make arrangements for impoverished Tutsis to borrow cattle from one another because the cattle were considered a symbol of superior status (The Editors of Encyclopedia Britannica). Finally, the Tutsi believe in the two religions of Animism and Christianity (The Editors of Encyclopedia Britannica).
There were many different ways that the Tutsi were put into a different classification category. Before the genocide, the Tutsi were considered the superior race because of their political standing. Whereas the Hutu were considered inferior (Prunier 39). Also, after the Hutu embodied the democracy idea, the Tutsi were seen as “feudalistic” and “anti-democratic” (Prunier 226). Even if there is a person with a family connection to the Tutsi, they were killed on site (Prunier 255). Intermarriage sometimes created Tutsi-looking Hutu, and because of this they were often killed (Prunier 249).
For symbolization, Tutsi were forced to carry around their identification cards anywhere they went. In 1933, when the Belgian colonial government introduced the ID cards, it created a rigid racial profile between the Hutu and the Tutsi (Prevent Genocide International). During the genocide, the Tutsi were forced to display their ethnicity through the identification cards they were given (Klinghoffer 115). Once the genocide started, the significance of the ID cards also mentally distanced the killers from the people they were murdering (Prevent Genocide International). Finally, the Hutu and Tutsi were forbidden names to use (code words replaced them) until the 1980s (Stanton).
The Tutsi were dehumanized through many premeditated hate propaganda.
“Caught up in the frenzy were Belgian UNAMIR (United Nations Assistance Mission for Rwanda) peacekeepers. Anti-Belgium feeling was widespread among the Hutu due to inflammatory radio broadcasts regarding the presidential assassination…” (Klinghoffer 44). This quote shows the kind of methods the Hutu used to turn people against the Belgians, as well as the Tutsi. The Commission of Experts were able to seize transcripts of the RTLM (Radio Television Libre des Mille Collines) that promoted the killing of Tutsis (Klinghoffer 63). “The Tutsi were depicted as ‘animals,’ ‘cockroaches,’ and ‘snakes’ and there were Hutu claims that the Tutsi were ‘haughty’ and ‘arrogant’” (Klinghoffer 113). Finally, they were seen as revengeful Ugandans rather than Rwandan and favored ‘ethnic purification’ (Klinghoffer 113).
The Hutu initiated many organized ways to eradicate the Tutsi culture from existence. To begin, The organization of the Rwandan genocide was identified through systematic killings on a civilian scale as well as political figures (Prunier 239). The day after the massacres began, there was a list on a blackboard that contained the names of opposition figures who were, or should have been, killed (Cruvellier 76). Among those was Agathe Uwilingiyimana, who was the Prime Minister, and one of the first victims of the genocide (Prunier 230).
The Hutu used many methods to silence the people in power within the government who could have put a stop to this atrocity. In 1991, the Bugesera massacres was the first experiment with killing a large group of Tutsis and it targeted political figures (Prunier 168). In April 6,1994, at 8:30 P.M., President Ntaryamira’s plane was shot down by two missiles that were later blamed on the RPF (Rwandan Patriotic Front) (Prunier 212). Also, the RTLMC was an independent radio that was considered a vampire radio; since it kept calling for more bloodshed and massacres (Prunier 189). Melchior Ndadaye, who was elected as the first Hutu President in Burundi, was kidnapped by Tutsi extremists and murdered (Prunier 199).
Before the killings even began, the Hutu had been making preparations for their genocide. “Their anger at the President went hand in hand with their growing dreams of a ‘final solution’ which would solve ethnic problems (killing all the Tutsis) and the threat of democratisation (killing all the moderate Hutu) (Prunier 222). In 1994, there were two articles written that predicted President Habyarimana’s death in March; which said that his killer would be Hutu (Prunier 222-223). April 6, 1994, Rwanda’s presidential plane was shot down, which killed President Habyarimana (Cruvellier 36). To end, prior to April 6th, the Hutu were killed on the basis of a list; however, the Tutsi were just killed at random (Klinghoffer 44).
During the first one hundred days of the genocide, the Hutu seized many opportunities to eradicate the Tutsi population.

After the reported (false) death of Dominique Mbonyumutwa, confused killings erupted, and Tutsi houses were being burned with people still inside of them (Prunier 49). Businessmen would hire local militiamen to kill Tutsis, and in return they would pay them with alcohol (Klinghoffer 45). Also, there were some situations where Tutsis were forced to kill their own people, and the Hutu were given the option of kill or be killed as well (Klinghoffer 45). Finally, at the University of Butare, many of the Tutsi students and professors were taken out of the college and killed on the lawns (Klinghoffer

46).