colonialism
when a nation forcefully takes over territory that was not their own and subjugates their people who live there to their rule.
Racism
Belief that certain races are superior to others, results in false opinions and assumptions. Can be systemic/structural.
Which country first colonized Rwanda? when?
Germany, 1890s
what was the relationship between the Hutus and Tutsis before colonization?
lived in harmony (common culture, lang, etc)
which country colonized Rwanda after germany? when?
Belgium, after wwi
how did belgian colonizers divide the Rwandans?
3 distinct racial groups: Tutsi, Hutu, and Twa
why did the belgian colonizers deem the tutsis ‘superior’?
they had more ‘european’ features, eugenics
what postions in soceity did the tutsis hold when Rwanda was a belgian colony?
powerful ones, they were seen as natural leaders
how were hutus and twa treated when Rwanda was a belgian colony?
discriminated agaisnt (ex: not allowed into higher education, land ownership, or positions in the government)
what tensions did the belgian’s racial divison create?
resentment of the tutsi by the hutus and twa
what happened after Rwanda gained independance in 1959?
increase in violence between hutus and tutsi; mass killings of tutsis
interahamwe (‘those who stand together”)
civilian militia armed by the gov and instructed to kill tutsis
power triangle - individual discrimination examples
hutus targeted by other hutus because they ‘looked tutsi’
tutsis telling the colonizers false history to emphasize their ‘superiority’
cultivators (tutsi) and pastoralists (hutu) historically not having kids together/getting married
power triangle - beliefs that enforced discrimination
that power and wealth were based on the number of followers and cattle one had
marriage with twas shunned by hutus and tutsis
belief from the colonizers that the tutsi were superior because they were closer to being european (eugenics)
the idea that the tutsis ‘civilized’ them
power triangle institutional discrimination
During colonization:
the colonizers restructuring the gov so that it favoured tutsis and disadvantaged hutus (ex: forbidden from higher edu and gov positions, courts biased agaisnt them, less freedom of movement, etc)
false history widely taught in schools, idea of tutsi superiority also taught
Post-independance:
repalcing of tutsi gov officials with hutus, tutsis no longer in positions of power
media spreading idea that tutsis are traitors/dangerous/killers
gov targeting tutsus to steal their land and posessions
classification examples
strict racial division between hutus and tutsis
president habyarimana and his government dividing the population into ‘rwandans’ (pro habyarimana) and ‘ibyitso’ (tutsi minority that opposed him)
symbolization examples
legally required to have ethnicity registered on you id card, and had to be carrying it at all times
discrimination examples
tutsis being fired from government postitions and forced to leave their homes
dehumanization examples
tutsis being referred to as cockroaches in radio propaganda
organization examples
formation of the interahamwe and other militias, arms like machetes imported en masse to arm hutu perpetrators
polarization examples
killings of hutu opponents
propaganda encouraging divison between hutus and tutsis (ex: Hutu power movement)
propaganda telling hutus to abandon partisan divides and focus on the true enemy (tutsis)
replacing, threthening, and harassing hutu officials (and some civillians) who opposed the killings, who were hesitant to participate, and/or who wanted calm
preparation examples
training of the interahamwe, other militias, and civilians
arming militas and civilians
having soldiers ready to attack targeted victims
persecution examples
driving tutsis from their homes into places where they would be easier to kill en masse, local administrators directing the division of looted proptery and stolen land
extermination examples
systematic mass slaughter of victims:
finding and killing individual targets (helped by radio broadcasts)
going house-to-house killing tutsis
mass killings by national police and soldiers, using weapons of war like marchine guns and grenades
mass killings by civillian assailants, using machetes, clubs, etc
denial examples
using pacification to avoid criticism from other countries
1918
belgium gets rwanda, they treat the tutsi as superior
1926
belgians introduce a system of ethnic id cards with hutu or tutsi
1957
PARMEHUTU (party for the emancipation of the hutus) is formed
1959
hutus rebel against the belgian colonial power and tutsi elite, 150 000 tutsi flee to burundi
1960
hutus win municipal elections organized by belgian colonial rules
1961-62
belgians withdraw, rwanda and burundi become two seperate countries
hutu rev in rwanda installs kayibanda as pres, fisghting continues and tutsis are forced to flee
1963
more massacres of tutsis, exiled tutsis in burundi start to fight back, more tutsis have to flee
1973
habyarimana seizes power, sets up one-party state, imposes ethnic quotas in public service jobs (tutsis restricted to small % of jobs)
1975
MRND is formed, hutus are given preference in jobs and tutsis are exculded
1986
tutsi exiles in uganda form the RPF
oct 1990
RPF invades rwanda, fierce fighting occurs (cease fire in early 1991)
1990/91
rwanda army begins to arm and train the interahamwe, massacres of tutsis continue, moderates and opposition are persecuted
feb 1993
RPF launches another wave of invaison, reach the outskirts of kigali, fighting continues for several months
august 1993
habyarimana and the RPF sign a peace accord, 2500 UN troops are deployed in kigali to oversee
sept 1993 - mar 1994
habyarimana stalls on setting up promised coalition gov with RPF, training of militias ramp up, RTLM starts broadcasting
april 6, 1994
habyarimana is killed, extremists blame the tutsi, genocial killing begins
april 7
Hutu gunmen systematically start tracking down and killing moderate Hutu politicians and Tutsi leaders.
The U.S. decides to evacuate all Americans.
Canadian General Romeo Dallaire, head of the U.N. peacekeeping force in Rwanda, is told by headquarters not to intervene and to avoid armed conflict.
april 9, 10, 11
Evidence mounts of massacres targeting ordinary Tutsis
Gen. Dallaire requests a doubling of his force to 5,000
Nearly 3,300 Americans, French, Italians and Belgians are evacuated by troops sent in from their countries
APRIL 15
Belgium withdraws its troops from the U.N. force after ten Belgian soldiers are slain.
Belgium asks the U.S. to support a full pull out.
some are in favour other not, comprimize: a dramatic cutback that would leave a token force in place.
APRIL 19
Human rights watch estimates the number of dead at 100 000, urges UN sec council use the word genocide
Belgian troops leave Rwanda; Gen. Dallaire is down to a force of 2,100
APRIL 21, 22
The U.S. and the entire U.N. Security Council vote to withdraw 90% of the peacekeepers in Rwanda
the White House issues a statement calling on four Rwandan military leaders to "end the violence." (the only time in the genocide that high level US attn is directed at the leaders of the genocide)
APRIL 25
Dallaire is down to 450 ill-equipped troops from developing countries. He works to protect some 25,000 Rwandans who are at places guarded by U.N. forces.
late april + early may
the UN and US keep skiritng around the word genocide, and US doesnt want to step in or have to do anything
May 5
A Pentagon memo rejects a proposal from Gen. Dallaire and State Department officials to diminish the killings by using Pentagon technology to jam the extremists' hate radio transmissions.
May 13
some members of the U.N. Security Council are ready to increase Gen. Dallaire's force.
Dallaire's plan is for 5,000 more troops to secure Kigali and create safe havens in the countryside.
The U.S. wants to create protected zones at Rwanda's border areas, a less risky option for intervening troops.
May 17
the U.N. and U.S. finally agree to a version of Gen. Dallaire's plan: nearly 5,000 mainly African U.N. forces will be sent in and the U.N. requests that the U.S. provide 50 armored personnel carriers (APCs).
but actually getting them goes slowly bc of beuraucracy (dont arrive until july)
june 22
still no sign of a U.N. deployment to Rwanda, the U.N. Security Council authorizes France to unilaterally intervene in southwest Rwanda
French forces create a safe area in territory controlled by the Rwandan Hutu government. But killings of Tutsis continue in the safe area.
july 17
RPF have captured kigali, and set up an intrim gov there
The Hutu government flees to Zaire, followed by a tide of refugees.
The French end their mission in Rwanda and are replaced by Ethiopian U.N. troops.
why was the radio and important way for the gov to get messages to the people?
many rwandans were illiterate, but most had easy access to a radio
when and who first broadcast something claiming that tutsis were planning to kill hutus and telling hutus to go kill them first?
march 1992, Radio Rwanda
why was RTLM widely listened to by the public?
played popular music, informal/witty/funny content, inteviews with people on the streets
what movement did RTLM become the voice of?
Hutu power movement
Hutu power movement
idea that the hutu majority would never again allow the tutsi minority to rule over them or threathen them
what did the RTLM repeatedly emphasize?
hutu/tutsi differences
foreign origins of tutsis (not true rwandans)
horrors of past tutsi rule
the need to be alert to tutsi plots and possible attacks
how did RTLM facilitate the killings of tutsis?
specific targets were identified, would provide their names and locations
how did RTLM encourage the killers?
congradulated those that were ‘working’ well and villified those who hesitated (sometimes they would be named as targets)
how did the RTLM try to make hutus see killing tutsi?
their responsability as rwandan citizens
how did the RTLM legitimize/normalize the killing?
has killers explain on air what they were doing and why they were doing it
how did the perpertrators describe the first time they killed?
in a frenzy, they didnt see the people they were killing as individuals and didnt noticed that they were their neighbours
how were the perpetrators organized?
taken to soccer fields and told what to do by a judge (kill)
who trained/instructed the civillian killers?
the interahamwe
why were machetes used?
the majority of hutus worked in agriculture/as farmers and were comfortable using it as a tool for that work
how did one perpetrator compare the original use of the machetes to the way they were used in the genocide?
said that killing people was basically the same as killing animals (same motion)
what was the role of women during the genocide?
looting (collecting possesions and clothes from the dead bodies)
initially, why/when did the perpertrators torture their victims?
if they resisted the killers/begged for their life/made the killer chase them
why did the perpetrators continue and increase the torture?
they began to almost get a high from it, and enjoyed it more than the killing itself
what was the role of food in the genocide?
killing takes a lot of energy, so the killers needed to eat big, heavy meals (lots of meat, that they got by buchering the cows that victims owned)
when was the ICTR (international criminal trial for rwanda) established and when did it end?
nov 8 1994 - dec 31st 2015
where was the ictr established?
arusha, tanzania (appeals court is in the hague)
when did Gacaca start and end?
march 2001 - june 2012
how was the ictr established?
UN security council resolution 955
who established the ictr and why?
the international community who were trying to bring perpetrators of genocide and crimes agaisnt humanity to justice (specifically punitive justice)
how and who established Gacaca?
the Rwandan government, on the advice of a human rights moniter who reaerched this tribal custom and suggested it to the government
what was the purpose of Gacaca?
reconciliation, forgiveness (to settle disputes and help people live together again)
what crimes was the itr trying people for?
genocide, crimes agaisnt humanity (murder, rape, torture), conspiracy to commit genocide, incitement of genocide
what crimes was gacaca trying people for?
material crimes like stealing and moral crimes
jurisdiction of the ictr vs gacaca?
international vs community-based (as sanctioned by the government)
what was the framework of the ictr?
9 independance judges hear cases, UN sec council chooses cheif procecutor and judges, 3 trial chambers
what was the framework of gacaca?
community met once a week for several hours, all citizens required to participate, gather together to name victims and perps, act as witnesses, prosecution, defence, and judges (gov developed rules and procedures)
how many cases has the ictr put on trial?
93 indicted, 62 sentenced with various jail times (incl high ranking gov officials, military members, businessmen, religious leaders, people in the media)
how many cases has gacaca put on trial?
1.2 million; ~1500 convicted (various punishments and jail times)
legacy of the ictr
part of broader interntaional system of justice, sets a warning to people who may plan genocide in the future, lots of firsts in terms of prosecuting people for genocide (ex: 1st to judge genocide post nuremburg, define rape as a way to carry out genocide, etc)
legacy of gacaca
allows for community based healing, so neighbours who may have been survivors and perps can find forgiveness and live side by side again
criticisms of the ictr
very costly
slow (UN - seen as ineffective and dysfunctional)
meaningless (doesnt help rwandans, just existed to cleat the international community’s consiousness)
didnt indict members of the RPF
life imprisonment is the harshest penalty
only limited to jan and dec 1994
judges from other countries may be biased
prison time is not served in rwanda
criticisms of gacaca
witnesses memories can fade
fears of retalitation if perps are identified or if testifying agaisnt them
hard to re-live painful memories
survivors sometimes face verbal and physical assaults
fear that people could be identified as perps just because theyre hutu
no real ways to defend agaisnt false accusations
not independant of gov (so is it really fair?)
not prosecuting RPF crimes
not protecting witnesses and survivors
many rwandans don’t trust the process
who lead the “provisional governement” after Hayiramana’s death?
Colonel Theoneste Bagosora
operation turquoise
France had sent in troops in July. The goal was supposed to be to protect the Tutsis from being killed but many criticized the French government, saying it was only a cover for their real intentions to hold off the RPF.
what did the provisional gov tried to get the troops of operation turquoise to do? what did they actually do?
tried to convince the French to fight the RPF. Instead, the French created a “safe haven” where no fighting or killing would take place, but also, as it turned out, where many perpetrators could safely leave the country
when did the rpf take control of Rwanda?
by the end of july
what big things happened right after the rpf took control of Rwanda?
tutsi survivors could come out of hiding, but they (the rpf) killed civilians, government forces, and members of the militia
how has kagame been good for rwanda?
abolishing ethnic identity labeling
helping to reestablish Rwanda on the world stage (improved economy, life expectancy, local infrastructures and institutions)
supporting the gacaca system
how has kagame been bad for rwanda?
changed law so he could stay in power for longer
ruled with an iron fist
denying that the rpf did any crimes and refusing to prosecute them