Gencide - unit 1: intro

what factors shape identity?

what factors shape identity?

internal (feelings, emotions, interests, values) and external (how others see you, media, family, politics, friends)

identity - the indiv and society

explores how we define ourselves, how we think/feel others define us, how identity influences behaviour and decision making

membership (us and them)

examines how we divide ourselves, the group identities that bring us together are the same things that make us different from others and create distict groups in society

choosing to participate

we have the potential to change history by taking responsability to make the right choices, in the same way that perpetrators and bystanders to genocide also have/had these choices

sterotype

a belief about an indiv based on the real or imagined chracteristcs of a group that they belong to

prejudice

to form an opinion about an individual or group based on a negative sterotype

discrimination

treating and individual/group negatively based on prejudice

unconsicous bias

prejudice that we arent aware we have/dont conciously aknowledge

bystander

someone who sees injustice/harm happening and chooses to do nothing about it

upstander

someone sees injustice/harm happening and chooses to take action against it/ who intervenes

resistor

someone who refuses to comply or obey

rescuer

someone who saves people from injustice/harm

perpetrator

the person/group carring out the injustice/harm

victim

those targeted by the injustice/harm

who were to sample group of the milgram experiment

mostly white men (~40s) from the 1960s from a variety of classes

what were the results of the milgram experiment?

65% got to 450 volts and 100% got to 300 (these numbers went down in cases where the learner and teacher were in the same room)

purpose of the milgram experiment

to see how far people would keep doing something harmful to others when they are asked to do it by a figure in authority

what was the inspiration for the milgram experiment?

stanley milgram seeing Eichman say on trial that he did what he did because he was following orders (which milgram wanted to test)

what were the important themes of the milgram experiment?

responsibility, obedience, and conformity

the bystander effect

Diminished sense of personal responsibility to act when in a big group

why does the bystander effect happen?

people think others will/should act first, bystanders who feel anonymous in a big crowd are less likely to act, when others dont act its taken as a sign that acting is unessecary/not appropriate

how does human evolution impact the psychology of genocide?

were born with psych motives that can trigger in big groups and cause us to be competive, warlike, and to favour people that look like us

favouring people that look like us leads to ….

an us vs them mentality that can lead to ingroup bias

how can people/regimes in power exploit this us vs them mentality?

saying one specific identity matters the most, and claming that all that do not belong to that group are lesser

how can claming one identity as superior lead to genocide?

people in power can restrict that groups rights and priviledges until it gets to the point that they are not allowed to exitst if they have a certain identity

human rights

basic freedoms and nessecities that should be afforded to everyone regardless of identitiy

national sovereignty

the right of a country to make its own laws without outside interfearance

acts of barbarity

trying to exterminate a group, by killing, limiting their livlihood/economic prosperity, limiting their freedom, etc

acts of vandalism

trying to exterminate a group by erasing/destroying their cultural/artistic heritage/monuments/etc

root words of genocide

genos- tribe/race

cide- killing

when did genocide become a crime

1948 - geneva convention

what inspired lemkin to write the madrid paper

armenian man who’s family has been killed shoots member of the ottoman government, lemkin thinks its messed up that theres no crime to punish the government

why didnt the madrid paper do anything?

the officals said that acts of vandalism and barbarity happen so infrequently that they dont need to be legistated agaisnt

war crime

extreme violations of the geneva convention that occur during armed conflicts, that are commited as part of a plan or on a large scale

things that are only war crimes, not genocide or crimes against humanity

taking hostages, deliberate attacks agaisnt civillians (of any identity group), deliberate attacks agaisnt cultural buildings, pillaging, conscription under 15

genocide

doing any of these things with the intent to destroy (in whole or in part) a specific group:

Killing members Causing serious bodily or mental harm Deliberately inflicting conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part

Imposing measures intended to prevent births

Forcibly transferring children of the group to another group

crimes against humanity

doing any of the these things as part of a widespread or systematic attack directed against any civilian population, with knowledge of the attack:

Murder

Extermination

Enslavement

Deportation

Imprisonment or other severe deprivation of physical liberty Torture

Rape, sexual slavery, enforced prostitution, forced pregnancy, enforced sterilization, or any other form of sexual violence of comparable gravity

Persecution against any identifiable group or collectivity on political, racial, national, ethnic, cultural, religious, gender

disappearing people

apartheid

ethnic cleansing

the systematic and forced removal of members of an ethnic group from their communities to change the ethnic compostiton of a region (not under intnl law)

classification explanation (us vs them)

method of dividing society and creating power struggles between groups (national, ethnic, racial, religious)

classification examples

in Rwanda, hutus and tutsis were seperated based on physical traits (eye color, nose size/height, skin color), and the tutsis were deemed superior because of similarity to europeans

classification prevention

finding common ground between groups (school, music, sports, etc) and focusing on transcendent identities (humanity or nationality)

symbolization explanation

creating a physical divison between groups to other them and make them easily identifyable (thus easy to control and target)

sybolization examples

names (jew, aryan, hutu, tutsi)

types of clothing (blue checkered scarf in Cambodia)

Id cards

other symbols (yellow stars/triangle system)

symbolization prevention

not showing race, religion and/or ethnicity on ID cards

refused to use hate symbols

outlaw public display of hate symbols

discrimination explanation

dominant group uses legal, social, poltitical power to deny the rights of other groups (segregation (aparthied), probit certain groups from voting, fire groups from professions, require ‘'passes’ to travel)

discrimination examples

nazis firing jews from being professors and civil servants, south african aparthied where black and white south africans were segrated

discrimination prevention

outlaw discrimination based on race, religion, ethnicity, nationality, etc

dehumanization explanation

one group denies the humanity of the other, makes the victim group seem subhuman (or inferior) so that people can kill them without remorse

dehumanization examples

hate propaganda: tutsis called cockroaches and diseases, jews called rats or vermin

dehumanization prevention

condemn the use of hate speech and make it culturally unacceptable

organization explanation

state usually organizes arms and financially supports the groups that carriy out genocidal violence, plans the “final solution”

organization examples

hutu power elites armed the interahamwe with machetes and set up training camps

organization prevention

outlaw membership in hate groups

freeze finances/deny visas of group members

impose offical arms bans

investigate violations

prosceute arms suppliers in nation courts

polarization explanation

extremists drive the groups apart

propaganda furthur divides groups

intermarriage and social interaction are forbidden by law political moderates are slienced, threatened and killed

attacks are staged and blamed on targeted groups

cultural centers are attacked

polarization examples

public marches agaisnt jewish merchants, moderate german dissenters were the first to be arrested and sent to camps

Reichstag fire blamed on jewish communists

synagoes destroyed on kristalnacht

polarization prevention

support anti-genocide groups

protect moderate leaders

protest arrests of moderates + demand their release

prosecute hate groups for hate speech or incitement

take down their websites/social media

preperation/planning explanation

final solution is planned, militias are trained, weapons are stockpiled and distributed to killers

preparation examples

segragation into ghettos, victims are forced into camps, victims deported to famine struck regions to be starved

preparation prevention

use journalisitc, NGO, and government intelligence networks

publicly expose genocidal plans

support political opponents of plans

freeze finances and deny visas to planners

persecution explanation

members of victim groups are forced to wear identifying symbols, death lists are made, victims are separated because of identity, property of victim groups is expropriated

persecution prevention

diplomacy using regional allies

targeted sanctions on leaders

political asylum for victims

prepare relief for refugees

arms assitance for victims self defense

extermination explanation

campaigns of systematic mass killing begin

mechanized massacre (transport of victims to labour or extermination camps, kill, and cremate them)

called extermination because victims are seen as less then humans

extermination examples

financed/planned by the state, but armed forces work with local militas (in Rwanda and Nazi Germany), the killing fields in cambodia, mass graves

extermination prevention

rapid armed international intervention (UN security council authorized, UN general assembly authorized, regional organizations sponsored, or support for local resistance)

denial explanation

happends during and after genocides, deny or minimize the evidence or numbers of people killed

tactics of denial

attack truth tellers, question/minimize stats, destroy/block evidence, deny intent, claim it was self-defense, blame victims, deny that legal definition fits (say it was crimes agaisnt humanity, ethnic cleansing, etc), say claim of genocide would harm current interests or harm the peace process

denial examples

holocauset deniers, armenia not considered a genocide by some

denial prevention

trials of perpetrators in international, hybrid, national or local courts