Maslow's Hierarchy Of Needs In Rwanda Genocide

In 1994, in Rwanda, about 800,000 people perished within 3 months. It was a genocide of the tutsi minority which was led by the Hutus. It is argued that people can result to committing violent acts when threatened, that it is an act of attaining safety, egotism, and people tend to ignore logic when threatened.

Ordinary people can be violent as an act of self defense. Take Maslow’s Hierarchy of needs in which safety comes in as the second fundamental need following the physiological needs.Safety is crucial to the lives of the people and therefore needs to be obtained all the time. If humans aren’t safe, they tend to forget everything that comes after that, such as love, esteem, etc. In the study of the Hierarchy of needs, Gwayne states that “people who are deprived of lower needs such as safety may defend themselves by violent means. (Gwayne, 1999) This explains that violence comes in necessary because it is the initial reaction on

protecting themselves.

PRIDE

Another is that, people are threatened to do so.

They will more likely to do such violence under the pressure of a higher authority, for instance, the government. This can be seen in Rwandan genocide. The government and the officials pressured the hutus to kill their neighbors, and those who did not follow the orders were killed on the spot. The RTLM, a radio station which was sponsored by the government, also pressured the hutus to kill the tutsi minority. The tutsi minority were expressed as the enemies and “cockroaches” and therefore needed to be exterminated. Killing the Tutsis became a duty for the Hutus, as the RTLM have commanded, “Clean your neighborhood of brush. Cut the tall trees… Do your work.” (Rusesabagina, 82) Rusesabagina’s encounter with a potential killer conveyed the government’s power towards the hutus. In return, the killers were given properties and money; Paul explains: “The money was for a last bribe, something to pay the militia to let me and my family be shot rather than face a machete.” (Rusesabagina,

134)

Some claim that even in the midst of chaos, ordinary men can still be a hero. An article by Luciana Gravotta expressed: “when people are threatened, they go against conventional wisdom.” (Gravotta, 2013) However, this claim fails to account for those majority, the ordinary people, who doesn’t have substantial control and knowledge over their actions. Paul Rusesabagina, a considerable hero in the midst of the Rwandan genocide, was able to control his actions; he didn’t gave in to the threats. But this was because of his environment; he grew up with a wise father who taught them such knowledge and benevolence. He was also trained to be a priest. Looking at these considerations, we can refer to Paul Rusesabagina as not an ordinary man. Still, in An Ordinary Man, Paul described his feeling on nearly committing violence: “I was nearly blind with a red whirling of fury and relief and fright, but I had a job to do and I forced myself to stay in control.” This explains that Paul nearly got out of his control, that he wanted to fight against those who hurt his family.
Violence is inevitable, and often times necessary but only to a certain extent. When threatened, people can create illogical decisions. Yes, violence can only add up to the prevailing violence and threat, but to ordinary people, it is conventional to react to threats in a violent way.