In Assignment A, I summarize the events of the Rwandan genocide of 1994. In that summary i describe that the devision of classes in Hutu’s and Tutsi’s, together with inequalities between those ethnic groups were the basis of the genocide. Which is the popular believe amongst western media. However, Jarod Diamond describes in chapter ten of his book Collapse: How societies choose to fail or succeed, how the genocide in Rwanda was partly a malthusian event. A malthusian event is a large decline in population due to imbalance of population growth and growth of food production. Such an event can occur when the population grows exponentially, whilst food production grows arithmetically due to sudden leaps in agricultural technology. You can compare …show more content…
He admits thoroughly that the situation in Rwanda was highly complex. The division of ethnic classes already existed for decades, political division lead to tense situations and attacks from the RPF made Hutu’s fear for their lives. Of course, the political elite group of Hutu’s invoked the fear, as a mean to keep their own power. But Diamond does make a strong point that population density and growth, together with inefficient agricultural production and food shortages have been a catalyst in the genocide of …show more content…
He thinks that Diamond exaggerates the population density and growth as a cause to the genocide. He notes that Diamond also explains that when farm sizes and income decreased, people were unable to compensate through non-farm incomes. Diamond fully subscribes the inability to compensate their income to the population pressure. ‘By exaggerating the role of Rwanda’s population increase, Diamond underplays the importance of other factors in the genocide’, Morris argues. If only the population pressure had been the cause of the genocide, other countries that experienced a sudden and dramatic increase of population would have suffered the same faith. But there are multiple examples of countries that did manage their increase in population and wealth, without experiencing a Malthusian event.
The population pressure and land scarcity weren’t the only reason peasants found it difficult to generate an non-farm income. The lion’s share of the salaried jobs were in the public service. But the main path for upward mobility was state controlled. In other words: paid jobs weren’t accessible for most Rwandans. They had to have powerful connections at the Ministry of Labor to obtain
As the news reported that Islamic State committed genocide against Christians and other minorities had suffered serious defeats from recent battles against the allied forces, the images of piles of dead bodies shown to the world in Rwanda about a couple decades ago emerge once again and triggers an interesting puzzle: why did the Rwandan Genocide happen in one of the smallest nations in the African Continent? The documentary film, Rwanda-Do Scars Ever Fade?, upon which this film analysis is based provides an answer to the puzzle.
Though the event occurred almost twenty-one years ago, the Rwandan genocide of 1994 has prompted much discussion about what truly caused the deaths of an estimated 800,000 civilians. Scott Straus, a political scientist and author of The Order of Genocide: Race, Power, and War in Rwanda, makes the claim that it is very difficult to precisely identify what began the genocide in Rwanda for a number of reasons, and also comments that many of the beliefs in regards to the causes and evolution of genocide in Rwanda are incomplete. In his book, Straus focuses on three main aspects: to look closely at the local dynamics of the genocide, to produce an assessment of explanations, and finally to develop a theory that would explain the genocide in Rwanda.
The purpose of this paper will be to focus on the differences between the film Hotel Rwanda and the reality of the Rwandan genocide. I will seek to determine how accurately the film draws from history and how much of the film is fiction. For this essay I will first look at the history of the relations between the Hutus and the Tutsis dating back to the 1950s, so to grasp a background of the country. I will then account the events leading up to the 100 day massacre and look at how they were depicted in the film Hotel Rwanda. I will then examine how accurately Paul Rusesabagina and his efforts were displayed in the movie as well as the efforts from the U.N. This essay aims to have a comprehensive summary of the infamous tragedy as well as critically highlighting how Hollywood can alter history.
The genocides of the 20th century which occurred in Rwanda and Germany had striking similarities, something that should have alerted the world to stop them. At the core of these two massacres, patterns existed that outlined how similar thinking and reasoning could lead to something as horrible as these two events. One can see how both groups used their command of knowledge as a way to control the people, how the rest of the world refused to step up to stop the killings, and how the people were thought of as less than humans to provide a just cause for such terrible acts.
Many innocent lives were taken during the genocide in Rwanda in 1994. Philip Gourevitch’s “We Wish to Inform You That Tomorrow We Will Be Killed with Our Families,” explains why the genocide that occurred in Rwanda should not be written off in history as just another tribal disagreement. This book entails the stories of Gourevitch and the people he interviewed when he went to Rwanda. These stories express what people went through during the genocide, the loss they saw, the mass killings they tried to hide from, and the history of what led to the Rwandan genocide. Rwanda’s colonial past did influence the development of the genocide in Rwanda. The hatred between the Hutus and the Tutsis had been going on for many years before the genocide.
The definition of genocide as given in the Webster's College Dictionary is "The deliberate and systematic extermination of a national, racial, political, or cultural group." This definition depicts the situation in 1994 of Rwanda, a small, poor, central African country. The Rwandan genocide was the systematic extermination of over eight hundred thousand Tutsi, an ethnic group in Rwanda, by the Hutu, another ethnic group in Rwanda. In this essay I will briefly describe the history of the conflict of the Hutu and Tutsi, the 100 days of genocide in 1994, and the affects of the massacre on the economy and the people of Rwanda.
In the early 1990s, Rwanda had one of the highest population densities in Africa. The Rwandan population was comprised of Hutus, who made up 85% of the population while the Tutsis made up 14% of the population which “dominated the country,” (BBC , 2014). Before the Rwandan genocide the Hutus and the Tutsis ethnic groups got along with each other. They shared everything. They shared the same language, culture, and nationality. They were even intermarrying between the two groups. Most of the time they worked on farms together. The Hutus were usually in the field and the Tutsis were usually the landowners. When European colonists moved in they took the privileged and “educated intermediaries” and put them into two groups, governors and the governed.
The Rwandan Genocide was a terrible event in history caused by a constantly weakening relationship between two groups of people. The country of Rwanda is located in Africa and consists of multiple groups of people. Majority of Rwanda is Hutu, while a smaller amount of people are Tutsis. The genocide started due to multiple events that really stretched the relationship between the two groups to its end. One of the starting factors was at the end of World War 1. Rwanda was a German colony but then was given to Belgium “who favored the minority Tutsis over the Hutus, exacerbated[exacerbating] the tendency of the few to oppress the many”(History.com). This created a feeling of anger towards the Tutsis, because they had much more power then Hutus.
Africa has been an interesting location of conflicts. From the conflict between Ethiopia and Eritrea to the revolutionary conflict in Libya and Egypt, one of the greatest conflicts is the Rwandan Genocide. The Rwandan Genocide included two tribes in Rwanda: Tutsis and Hutus. Upon revenge, the Hutus massacred many Tutsis and other Hutus that supported the Tutsis. This gruesome war lasted for a 100 days. Up to this date, there have been many devastating effects on Rwanda and the global community. In addition, many people have not had many acknowledgements for the genocide but from this genocide many lessons have been learned around the world.
When the Rwandan Hutu majority betrayed the Tutsi minority, a destructive mass murdering broke out where neighbor turned on neighbor and teachers killed their students; this was the start of a genocide. In this paper I will tell you about the horrors the people of Rwanda had to face while genocide destroyed their homes, and I will also tell you about the mental trauma they still face today.
When the Belgian colonizers entered Rwanda in 1924, they created an ethnic classification between the Hutu and the Tutsi, two tribes who used to live together as one. After independence in 1962, there was a constant power struggle between the two tribes. Former Canadian Prime Minister, Jean-Pierre Chrétien described the situation as “tribalism without tribes.” (Destexhe, 1995) There were many signs leading towards genocide, yet the nations in power chose to ignore them. From April 6, 1994 until mid-July, a time spanning approximately of 100 days, 800,000 people were murdered when the Hutu attacked the Tutsi. No foreign aid came to the rescue until it was too late. Ten years after the genocide the United Nations was still involved in Rwanda, cleaning up the mess that was left behind because of man’s sinful nature. Could the Rwandan Genocide have been prevented, or is it simply a fact of life? Even though the international community is monitoring every country and race, such an event as the Rwandan Genocide could occur again because the European colonizers introduced ethnic classification where it did not exist and the nations in power chose to ignore the blatant signs of genocide.
“Beginning on April 6, 1994, Hutus began slaughtering the Tutsis in the African country of Rwanda. As the brutal killings continued, the world stood idly by and just watched the slaughter. Lasting 100 days, the Rwanda genocide left approximately 800,000 Tutsis and Hutu sympathizers dead” (Rosenberg 1). When Rwanda’s President, Habyrimana, was killed in a plane crash, turmoil and massacres began. A series of events escalated violence until two ethic groups were engaged in bloody battle: The Hutus and the Tutsis. Throughout the Rwandan Genocide, the Tutsis were targeted because the death of President Habyrimana and problems in social and economic life was blamed in them, thus resulting in the 100-day genocide.
...appened because of a variety of reasons; long struggle of the Hutu, knowing that they were different and a bane aspiration to being able to be placed in an important place in society, holding a good position in government or in Church, for example. However, greed was not the reason for the killings. Perpetrators were poor, as poor as their victims were and neither the killings started in the poorest regions of Rwanda (Stratus, 2006). Now, focusing on religion to Rwandans Religion became so important because they became aware of “something bigger than themselves”, understanding that with God everything is possible, they realised that their life must had a meaning. Faith was obviously their food, the source of the strength that kept motivating them to commit the “work”. Now, they forgive, now they ask for forgiveness and once again, the power of religion is upon them.
Addy O’Byrne Mr. Scott Language and Literature Honors 23 May 2024 Female Power in The Odyssey Female empowerment, an issue still being debated and addressed by today's leaders, was displayed over two thousand years ago in Ancient Greece through the famous myth, The Odyssey. Despite obvious outdated aspects, The Odyssey perfectly captures the power that women can hold in society and should be allowed to wield. The Odyssey is an epic poem written by the ancient Greek poet, Homer. This poem follows Odysseus, the King of Ithaca, who journeys for ten years, trying to return home after the Trojan War. Penelope is Odysseus’ wife, she faces many obstacles in her life while her husband is away from home, the most infamous of which being the suitors.
Middleton, John. "Rwanda." Africa: an Encyclopedia for Students. Vol. 3. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 2002. Print.