Kate Walsh
Project report
MACS390, “Media, war and peace,” autumn session, 2011
Media and Cultural Studies, University of Wollongong
The project report had two components. For details of the assignment see
http://www.bmartin.cc/classes/MACS390_10outline.pdf
1. An information pack, starting on the next slide.
2. A fictional dialogue about carrying out the project, available as a separate
file.
This document is located at
http://www.bmartin.cc/classes/MACS390_11tops/.
please be aware this presentation contains graphic images
Student number 3450351. Tutor Ian Miles
What is Genocide?
•
The 1948 United Nations Convention on the Prevention and
Punishment of Genocide defines it as
“any of the following acts committed with intent to destroy,
in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religions
group, as such: Killing members of the group; Causing
serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group;
Deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life
calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or
in part; Imposing measures intended to prevent births within
the group; Forcibly transferring children of the group to
another group.” [1]
This is the accepted international legal definition of genocide.
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Ian Miles
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Genocide is…
To simplify this definition
“genocide is organised and unilateral mass
killing on the basis of ethnicity.” [2]
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Ian Miles
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The Rwandan Genocide
• The Rwandan genocide
occurred in 1994, when
800,000 [3] Tutsi
peoples were killed by
the Hutu peoples, the
two main ethnic groups
in Rwanda.
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Ian Miles
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How did it Begin?
There is no one reason the genocide began, rather it is due
to many historical and social changes in Rwanda over
more than 100 years. These include:
• Tutsi formed the basis of the government, urged on by
colonial rule, until the early 1960s, when a Hutu
government came to power. After years of being
portrayed and treated as inferior to the Tutsi, the Hutu
used the distinctions already in place to demote the Tutsi
to second class citizens.
• During the 1970s, a massacre of Hutu by the Tutsi
occurred in the neighbouring country of Burundi.
Thousands of Hutu refugees came to Rwanda, while
thousands of Tutsi left for neighbouring Uganda, altering
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Tutor
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the power balanceStudent
in Rwanda
[4].
Ian Miles
• As Tutsi began returning to Rwanda, the
Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF) was formed,
carrying out acts of violence against the Hutu.
From 1990, both groups were increasingly
violent towards each other.
• The organised killing of the Tutsi is widely
acknowledged to have begun when President
Habyarimana’s plane was shot down in April
1994 [5].
• The genocide officially ended on July 18,
1994.
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Theories of Genocide
Genocide as Social Control - Bradley Campbell
• This theory suggests genocide belongs to a part of social
life that incorporates law and gossip, aspects of society
that are used to control and manipulate. Campbell
assumes that genocide is organised, lethal, unilateral
and involves collective liability [6].
• Cultural distance must be present between the groups
involved and society should be organised along “ethnic
lines, where there is a higher degree of ethnic
visibility”[7]. This creates unequal statuses between
groups, convincing citizens one group is evil and must
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be destroyed in order
preserve
the
society.
Ian Miles
Theories of Genocide
Genocide as Transgression – Dan Stone
• Stone suggests that genocides stem from the creation of
“ecstatic communities based on a radical form of social
inclusion” [8], where societies need to use up their
excess energy, releasing it as an act of catastrophic
violence.
• Tensions already within society reach their peak, urged
on by the government’s validation of extreme actions, to
the point where a collective euphoria results in an event
that is a transgression from the normal functioning of
society.
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Ian Miles
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Genocide and the Media
• Media can convince citizens
to take part in acts of
genocide, through the use of
propaganda that draws on
already established
differences between groups.
• For resistance groups and
those that do not support the
genocide, the media is also a
crucial tool in drawing
attention to their cause from
more powerful allies.
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•
Radio
Rwanda
The majority of Hutu could not
read or write, so radio played a
crucial role in hate media against
the Tutsi.
• Radio Rwanda was first used for
direct promotion of hate killings
against the Tutsi in 1992.
• The station consistently warned
the Hutu that Tutsi were about to
attack, and to take measures to
protect themselves.
• The station disbanded this
singular message after an
agreement was signed between
the Rwandan government and
But another station soon took over…
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the RPF.
Ian Miles
Radio-Television Libre Des Milles
Collines
• This station started where Radio Rwanda left off,
but connecting on a greater scale with the Hutu
by playing current music and having a more
upbeat tone.
• The station gave sensationalised reports of the
violence carried out on Hutu people by the Tutsi,
referring to them as inyenzi: cockroaches.
• “After April 6, (Habyarimana’s assassination),
RTLM called on all Hutu to rise up as a single
man to defend their country, in what was said to
be the final war.”[9]
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Ian Miles
Karunga
• Kangura was a popular bi-monthly
newspaper that was well known for its
hatred of both Tutsi and any Hutu who
openly advocated for change.
• This paper printed the Rwandan
government’s infamous ‘Ten
Commandments.’
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the ten commandments
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Ian Miles
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Rwandan Media and Genocide
Theory
Genocide as Social Control
In order to mobilise citizens against a common enemy, it
is important to provide them with evidence, as the
Rwandan media did. Through constantly portraying the
Tutsi as “clannish, to have a disproportionate number of
places in secondary and higher education, and to have
infiltrated all aspects of Rwandan society”[10], the
government was successfully able to mobilise the Hutu
into action. By highlighting the supposed distance and
differences between two groups, the Tutsi were
victimised and thus targeted by ordinary civilians.
Student number 3450351. Tutor
Ian Miles
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Rwandan Media and Genocide
Theory
Genocide as Transgression
• Negative characterisation of the “other”, in this
case the Tutsi, is also how regular people
become transgressive, fighting against people
who were once their neighbours and friends. As
most Hutu held a lower position in society, or
had risen from these positions, the Tutsi became
a scapegoat for their problems, and the Hutu
were mobilised by the media.
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Ian Miles
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International Media
Internationally, the media had little to say on the
Rwanda genocide. Why?
• Lack of understanding about the history.
• Lack of resources in African nations.
• Unwilling to send journalists due to danger and
expense.
• Government agenda setting: Particularly the US,
who became involved in the Somalian conflict
due to images portrayed by the media, and were
unwilling to take the same actions again.
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Avoiding the “G-Word”
• Using the word “genocide” would require action from the
United Nations [11].
• When the events in Rwanda were reported, international
media avoided using the word “genocide”, terming it a
“civil war” instead. This was at a detriment to the
Rwandan people, as misreporting the genocide allowed
it to continue without international intervention for longer
than it should.
• The first paper to use the word “genocide” was French
paper Liberation, five days after it had begun[12]. The
rest of the world followed suit two weeks later.
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Ian Miles
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Without attention from the international
media, the events of the Rwandan
genocide remained largely unknown by
the world. This highlights the importance
of the media to report accurately and fairly,
and to operate as a resource, not a
business or arm of the government.
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References
•
Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide,
Adopted by the General Assembly of the United Nation on 9 December
1948, available from
http://untreaty.un.org/English/millennium/law/human_rights/iv_1E.wpd,
accessed 01/06/11.
•
Campbell, C., 2009, ‘Genocide as Social Control,’ Sociological Theory, vol
27, no. 2, pp150-168.
•
Caplan, G, 2007, ‘Rwanda: Walking the Road to Genocide’ in A Thompson
(ed), The Media and the Rwanda Genocide, Pluto Press, London, pp 20-39.
•
Chaon, A 2007, ‘Who Failed in the Genocide, Journalists or the Media?’ in A
Thompson (ed), The Media and the Rwanda Genocide, Pluto Press,
London, pp 160-166..
•
Des Forges, A, 2007, ‘Call to Genocide: Radio in Rwanda 1994’ in A
Thompson (ed), The Media and the Rwanda Genocide, Pluto Press,
London, pp 41-54.
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• Stanton, G. H., 2004, 'Could the Rwandan genocide
have been prevented?', Journal of Genocide Research,
vol 6, no. 2, pp 211-222
• Stone, D., 2004, ‘Genocide as Transgression,’ European
Journal of Social Theory, vol 7, no. 45 pp 45-60.
• Thompson, A, 2007, ‘Introduction’ in A Thompson (ed),
The Media and the Rwanda Genocide, Pluto Press,
London, pp 1-11 .
• Uvin, P., 2001, ‘Reading the Rwandan Genocide’
International Studies Review, vol.3, no. 3, pp 75-99.
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Images accessed from
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Image 1
http://www.omanskligt.se/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/machete-rwanda.jpg
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Image 2
http://www.state.gov/cms_images/soh_rwanda_5.jpg
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Image 3 http://changeproduction.s3.amazonaws.com/photos/wordpress_copies/rwandagenocidekillingsdk0.
jpg
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Image
4http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_Qe1wgxDiEdU/TJSyzB0BiyI/AAAAAAAACLM/BNFpqvMo
JbU/s1600/rwanda.church.jpg
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Image
5http://thehumancondition.wikispaces.com/file/view/skull_of_victim_in_rwanda_genoc
ide.jpg/146188515/skull_of_victim_in_rwanda_genocide.jpg
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• Image
6http://beta.images.theglobeandmail.com/archive/00357/Rwanda_g
enocide__357361artw.jpg
• Image 7 http://www.iitaly.org/files/imagecache/545x/files/still_photos/Genocide%20_susp
ect_1255250932.jpg
• Image 8http://filipspagnoli.files.wordpress.com/2008/07/tutsicockroaches.jpg
• Image 9http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_pCXi6k0Szc/THPyozUSizI/AAAAAAAAWGA/OEGzF_iuhrs/s640/Hutu
+Ten+Commandments+-+Wikipedia,+the+free+encyclopedia++Mozilla+Firefox.png
• Image10
• http://image.shutterstock.com/display_pic_with_logo/151882/151882
,1270625080,12/stock-vector-april-day-of-reflection-on-thegenocide-in-rwanda-50390086.jpg
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