POLITICAL IDEAS

COURSE WORK.
CASE STUDY: RWANDAN GENOCIDE
GROUP MEMBERS
NAMES REG. NO COURSE

AKOTH VERONIC 19/U/4288/PS ARS

BUKIRWA MARIA 19/U/4457/PS ARS

NAKIBUUKA JOAN 19/U/9782/Eve BAED

NAMPALA DORAH 19/U/17373/PS BAED

NANNENGO GLORIA 19/U/17502/PS BAED

NASAAZI SHIFRA 19/U/17592/PS BAED

NAYIGA FLAVIA 19/U/17636/PS BAED

SEMBATYA BRIAN 19/U/29764  

WAIDEMBE YUSUFU 19/U/29130 BAED

WANYAMA EMMANUEL DISMAS 19/U/18045/PS BAED

• Genocide,  Is the deliberate killing of a large number of people from a particular nation or ethnic group
with aim of destroying them.
•  Instrumentalism,  This is theory which understands ethnicity as a device used by individuals and groups
to unity, organize and mobilize population to achieve large goals .
•   Primordialism, This is the approach that explains ethnicity as a fixed characteristic of individuals and
communities.
•   Ethnicity, Is the fact of belonging to a social group that has a common national or cultural tradition and
language.
• Ethno nationalism, Is elicits understanding of nationalism that regard ethnicity and ethnic ties as core
components of conceptions and experiences of the nation.
• Patriotism, Is the devotion to one's country.
RWANDAN GENOCIDES
The Rwandan genocide, also known as the Genocide against the Tutsi, occurred between 7 April and 15 July 1994 during
the Rwandan civil war. During this period of around 100 days, members of the Tutsi minority ethnic group, as well as some
moderate Hutu and Twa were killed by armed militias. The most widely accepted scholarly estimates are around 500,000
to 662,000 Tutsi deaths.
CAUSES OF THE RWANDAN GENOCIDES.
• Discrimination is one of the cause of genocide .In this dominant group uses law, custom, and political power to deny the
rights of other groups. The powerless group may not be given full civil rights or even citizenship for example in 1994 in
Rwanda both Germanyand Belgium favoured the minority Tutsi (14%) over the aHutus (85%) the Tutsi were give
previlages like , access to western education yet the Hutus were denied. The Tutsi were chosen by the Belgians to rule on
their behalf, while the Hutus were seen as peasant and the Tutsi as rulers which created hatred for the two ethnic
groups which later led to 1994 rwandan genocide.
However discrimination on the basis of nationality, ethnicity, race or religion should be outlawed. Individuals should have
the right to sue the state, corporations, and other individuals if their rights are violated.
• Persecution is another cause of genocide . Victims are identified and separated out because of their ethnic or religious
identity. Death lists are drawn up. In state sponsored genocide, members of victim groups may be forced to wear
identifying symbols. Their property is often confiscated. Sometimes they are even segregated into ghettoes, deported into
concentration camps, or confined to a famine-struck region and starved. For example in 1994 in Rwanda.During the
genocide, the bodies of Tutsis were thrown into rivers, with their killers saying they were being sent back to Ethiopia. it
is estimated that that Resentment among the Hutus gradually built up, culminating in a series of riots in 1959. More than
20,000 Tutsis were killed, and many more fled to the neighbouring countries of Burundi, Tanzania and Uganda .All these
massacres are acts of genocide because they intentionally destroy part of a group. At this stage.
 CAUSES OF RWANDAN GENOCIDES

However persecution can be solved if the political will of the great powers, regional alliances, or the U.N. Security Council
can be mobilized, armed international intervention should be prepared, or heavy assistance provided to the victim group to
prepare for its self-defense. Humanitarian assistance should be organized by the U.N. and private relief groups for the
inevitable tide of refugees to come.
• Dehumanization is also another cause of genocide. Dehumanization is when one group treats another group as second-
class citizens. Members of a persecuted group may be compared with animals, parasites, insects or diseases. When a
group of people is thought of as “less than human” it is easier for the group in control to murder them. At this stage, hate
propaganda in print and on hate radios is used to make the victims seem like villains for example in 1994 in Rwanda the
Tutsi were treated in favour of the Hutus, they were reguarded as the rulers while the Hutus as peasants, they were given
western education while the Hutus were denied in this the Hutus felt like they were nit treated as humans and due to the
propaganda which attracted their anger they decided to kill the tutus leafing to 1994 Rwanda genocide.
However , In fighting this dehumanization, one must remember that there is no right of “freedom of speech” to tell people
to commit murder. Outlawing hate speech can help save the lives of those targeted. If a country is on the verge of
committing genocide it is no longer a democracy (if it was before), and the broad freedom of speech protected in a
democracy may need to be limited in such a country. Hate radio stations should be shut down, and hate propaganda
banned. Hate crimes and atrocities should be promptly punished.
• ORGANIZATION: Genocide is always organized, usually by the state, though sometimes informally or by terrorist groups.
Special army units or militias are often trained and armed. Plans are made for genocidal killings.Membership in these
militias should be outlawed. Their leaders should not be allowed to travel outside their country where they may be able
to raise funds or get weapons.
CAUSES OF THE RWANDAN GENOCIDE
• However, the United Nations should enforce arms embargoes on governments and citizens of countries involved in
genocidal massacres, and create commissions to investigate violations, as was done in postgenocide Rwanda.
• POLARIZATION: Extremists drive the groups apart. Hate groups broadcast propaganda that reinforces prejudice and
hate. Laws may forbid intermarriage or social interaction between the groups. Extremist terrorism targets moderates,
and intimidates them so that they are silent. Moderate leaders are those best able to prevent genocide and they are often
the first tassassinated. Prevention may mean security protection for moderate leaders or assistance to human rights
groups. Assets (money and property) of extremists may be seized, and opportunities for international travel denied to
them. If extremists try to take over the government, then international sanctions should be put in place.
• . PREPARATION: National or perpetrator group leaders plan the “Final Solution” to the Jewish, Armenian, Tutsi or other
targeted group “question.” They often use euphemisms to cloak their intentions, such as referring to their goals as “ethnic
cleansing,” “purification,” or “counter-terrorism.” They build armies, buy weapons and train their troops and militias.
They indoctrinate the populace with fear of the victim group. Leaders often claim, “If we don’t kill them, they will kill us.
• The solution of preparation may include arms embargos and commissions to enforce them.
• EXTERMINATION: This is also another cause of a genocide. Extermination begins, and quickly becomes the mass killing
legally called "genocide." It is "extermination" to the killers because they do not believe their victims to be fully human
(see dehumanization). When it is sponsored by the government, the armed forces often work with private armies to do
the killing. Sometimes the genocide results in revenge killings by groups against each other, creating the downward
whirlpool-like cycle of mutual genocide where the victims actually organize and commit a second genocide on the
perpetrators.
• The U.N. needs troops that can go in to genocidal areas and stop the killing when the U.N. Security Council calls it. The
U.N. may decide to act through regional military forces from organizations like NATO. Relief groups should be prepared to
assist the victims. If the U.N. will not get involved directly, militarily powerful nations should provide the airlift,
equipment, and financial means necessary for regional states to intervene with U.N. authorization.
CAUSES OF THE RWANDAN GENOCIDE.

• DENIAL: Denial is the tenth stage that always follows genocide. It is among the surest indicators of further genocidal
massacres. The perpetrators of genocide dig up the mass graves, burn the bodies, try to cover up the evidence and
intimidate the witnesses. They deny that they committed any crimes, and often blame what happened on the victims.
They block investigations of the crimes, and continue to govern until driven from power by force, when they flee into
exile. Leaders of the genocide continue to deny the crime unless they are captured and a tribunal (special court) is
established to try them.
• The best solution to denial is punishment by an international tribunal or national courts. There the evidence can be
heard, and the perpetrators punished. Tribunals or international courts must be created. They may not prevent the worst
genocidal killers, but at least some mass murderers may be brought to justice.