Rwandan Genocide

Only 26 years before present, a genocide that shocked the world happened. It was hard to believe that the genocide on such a scale could occur so recently.
This event took palace in Rwandan, a small country in Africa. There were three races, Hutu, Tutsi, and Tewa, they made up 85%, 14%, and 1% population of Rwandan respectively. Hutu and Tutsi weren’t that different. They liven in peace and could marry each other. When Belgium took over Rwandan after World War I, it gave a higher social status to Tutsi for administrating convenience. The social status of Hutu declined gradually. This kind of range made the resentment between them deepened.
After Rwandan became independent, the Hutu got the regime. After a long grudge, they have carried out several tribal vendettas. Many refugees of Tutsi escaped to neighboring countries.
The refugee who lived in Uganda established an organization called Front Patriotique Rwandais, FPR for short, to fight against the Hutu government forces. After three years of the civil war, both sides signed a peace agreement. The agreement was not well implemented since there were lots of discontentment.
On April 6th, 1996, the plane that was taken by president Juvenal Habyarimana and Cyprien Ntaryamira was shot down near the capital of Rwandan, Kigali. This event inflamed Hutu. The genocide that toward Tutsi begun.
In the 3 months, about 800,000 to 1 million people were killed, which included Tutsi and Hutu who sympathized with Tutsi. The FPR and the army from the Uganda Government cooperated. They broke into the capital of Rwandan, Kigali, and defeated the Hutu government. Some Hutu escaped from Rwandan since they were afraid of Tutsi’s revenge. The fleeing refugees brought huge pressure to neighbored countries. 1/8 population of Rwandan was decreased.
What causes this tragic genocide?
Besides the reason for history, the incitement from extreme media played a crucial role in the Rwandan Genocide.
Radio Télévision Libre des Mille Collines is a local broadcast in Rwanda, called RTLM for short. The RTLM radio was initially widely acclaimed through song and chat and became the local radio station with the highest ratings. Then it had repeatedly appeared the talk about disparaging the Tutsi and the Hutu supremacy. Before the genocide began, the RTLM spread the atrocious speech like “Everyone goes to war against foreigners terrorists and bad guys. ”, “The grave is half-filled, who will fill it?”. During the massacre, the broadcast had become a guide to killing Tutsi by telling the location of Tutsi.
According to Martin Maximino, “approximately 51,000 perpetrators (10% of overall participation in the Rwandan genocide) can be attributed to the station’s broadcasts, and almost one-third of the violence by militias and other armed groups” (Maximino 7). The powerful speech spread anxiety and anger to people. More people joined in the slaughter of the Tutsi. The rest of the people would be affected by Bandwagon Effect, which is a theory talks about the individuals will be influenced by the surrounding groups, distrust, even negate their own opinion and behavior, change to the decision of most people, took machetes and slashed at their Tutsi neighbor. In January 2019, the United Nations General Assembly passed a resolution to change the official name of the Rwanda Holocaust Remembrance Day to “Rethinking the 1994 International Day of the Rwanda Holocaust against the Tutsi”.
The hope is that people will look at the Rwandan genocide as a reflection, and think critically and rationally at all times.

References

Kellow, CL, and HL Steeves. “The Role of Radio in the Rwandan Genocide.” Wiley Online Library, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd, 7 Feb. 2006, onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/j.1460-2466.1998.tb02762.x.

Martin Maximino, Journalist’s Resource December 3. “Propaganda, Media Effects and Conflict: Evidence from the Rwandan Genocide.” Journalist’s Resource, 29 Feb. 2016, journalistsresource.org/studies/international/human-rights/propaganda-conflict-evidence-rwandan-genocide/.