Ethnic Cleansing and Genocide
ETHNIC
CLEANSING
Ethnic Cleansing is the process by
which a more powerful ethnic
group forcibly removes (and often
exterminates) a less powerful one
in order to create an ethnically
homogenous region.
Ethnic cleansing is not merely a
war targeting male soldiers.
Instead it aims of removing every
single member of an ethnic group
(mean, women, children, the
elderly).
The aim is for the dominant
ethnic group to be the SOLE
inhabitants of an area.
Recently, ethnic cleansing has
occurred primarily in Europe and
Africa.
ETHNIC CLEANSING
IN EUROPE
Historically the largest process of ethnic
cleansing in Europe came at the hands
of Nazi Germany.
They deported and otherwise
exterminated millions of Jews, Roma,
Sinti,
Africanyears,
and other
ethnic
In
recent
ethnic
minorities.
cleansing has centered in parts
of
the
Yugoslavia
After
theformer
war, millions
of Poles, on
Germans,
Russians
and other ethnic
the Balkan
Peninsula.
groups were also forced to migrate
from regions as national boundaries
The
Balkan Peninsula includes
were redrawn.
Greece, Bulgaria, Romania and
the various countries of the
former Yugoslavia.
ETHNIC
CLEANSING
IN EUROPE
CREATION OF
YUGOSLAVIA
The Balkan Peninsula has long been a hotbed of ethnic clashes.
Austria-Hungary ruled the north, the Ottoman Empire ruled the south.
In 1878, Austria-Hungary seized Bosnia-Herzegovina.
In 1914, a Bosnian Serb seeking Bosnian independence assassinated the
heir to the throne of Austria-Hungary and sparked WWI.
After WWI, the allies created Yugo(south)-slavia as a multiethnic state to
unite several slavic speaking Balkan ethnic groups.
Yugoslavia was held together by Josip Broz Tito from 1953 to 1980 and
was comprised of six republics:
Bosnia & Herzegovina (mix of Serbs, Croats and Muslims)
Croatia (for the Croat nationality)
Macedonia (for the Macedonian nationality)
Montenegro (for the Montenegran nationality)
Serbia (for the Serb nationality)
Slovenia (for the Slovene nationality)
There were four official languages: Croatian, Macedonian, Serbian, and
Slovene
And three major religions: Catholic in the north, Orthodox in the east and
Muslim in the south.
ETHNIC
CLEANSING
IN EUROPE
DESTRUCTION
OF YUGOSLAVIA
After Tito’s death in 1980, ethnic violence
erupted and the various republics began to break
away.
In the 1990s, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Croatia,
Macedonia and Slovenia broke away and then
Montenegro in 2006 leaving Slovenia standing on
its own.
Ethnic groups were relatively peaceful as
republics within Yugoslavia, but when the
republics were transformed into separate
countries, clashes erupted over the placement of
borders.
The boundaries failed to match the ethnic
territories and several other smaller but
important ethnic groups failed to get recognition
as nationalities.
ETHNIC
CLEANSING
IN EUROPE
CLEANSING
IN BOSNIA
Bosnia consisted of 48% Bosnian Muslims, 37% Serbs
and 14% Croatian.
However, the Bosnian Muslims were considered an
ethnicity rather than a separate nationality.
Bosnian Serbs and Bosnian Croats did not want to live
in a multiethnic state with a Muslim majority, and so
they fought to unite their respective regions with
Serbia and Croatia.
To strengthen their case, both Bosnian Serbs and
Bosnian Croats sought to cleanse their regions and
create homogenous regions.
The Dayton Accords in 1996 created three regions,
each dominated by a separate ethnicity.
The Bosnian Croat and Muslim regions were united
into a federation with some cooperation.
The Serb region has operated in almost complete
isolation. The success of their cleansing campaign
won them almost half of the country even thought
they represented only 1/3 of the population.
Croats (1/6 of population) got ¼ of the land.
Bosnian Muslims (1/2 of population) got ¼ of the land.
ETHNIC
CLEANSING
IN EUROPE
BALKINIZATION
The term balkanized refers to an area that cannot be successfully organized into one or more stable/successful states because it is
inhabited by a number of ethnicities with a long-standing hatred and mistrust of one another.
Balkanization is the process by which a state fails and breaks apart due to conflicts among its ethnicities.
The Balkans themselves have once again become balkanized, and the Balkan Peninsula, like the Caucasus region is considered a
shatterbelt.
ETHNIC
CLEANSING
IN EUROPE
CLEANSING
IN KOSOVO
Serbia remained a multiethnic state after
the fall of Yugoslavia.
Albanians represented 90% of the
population in Serbia’s Kosovo region.
Serbia was given control of Kosovo when
Yugoslavia was formed, but under Tito,
ethnic Albanians in Kosovo got
administrative autonomy and national
identity.
When Yugoslavia dissolved, Serbians began
an ethnic cleansing campaign of Albanians
in Kosovo.
Over 750,000 of the region’s 2 million
Albanians were forced from their homes
(fleeing mostly to Albania).
NATO forces launched an air attack against
Serbian forces, and in 2008, Kosovo
declared its independence from Serbia.
ETHNIC CLEANSING
IN AFRICA
In the 19th and 20th centuries, European countries
carved Africa into various colonies with no regard for
ethnic boundaries.
Modern ethnic clashes in Africa result largely from
state boundaries of former colonies not at all
matching ethnic boundaries.
African identity has always formed along ethnic
(tribal) boundaries, with each tribe having its own
tradition of religion, language and custom.
It is difficult to determine the exact number of tribes
due to indistinct geographic and ethnic boundaries.
New states formed after colonial powers left typically
followed the colonial boundary lines.
Therefore, some tribes were divided between
numerous states, ad other tribes found themselves
grouped in a state with dissimilar tribes.
ETHNIC
CLEANSING
IN AFRICA
ETHNIC CLEANSING
IN RWANDA
The Hutu were the indigenous population of Rwanda and were farmers.
The Tutsi were rift valley herders who migrated into Rwanda 400 years ago.
Although only 15% of the population, the Tutsi took control of the region and
made the Hutu into serfs.
In 1899, Rwanda, and Burundi to the south, became a German colony, and after
WWI, the colony was given to Belgium.
Belgium classified the population into racial categories, and even though the
tribes were largely indistinguishable randomly assigned identity cards making
some Tutsi and others Hutu.
The Tutsi were classified as white and were allowed to attend college and given
administrative government positions.
The Hutu were classified as black, were kept uneducated and given only labor
positions.
Rwanda gained independence in 1962, the Hutu were allowed to voted, and as
the majority gained control of the country.
Reprisals and ethnic cleansing campaigns began at that point and culminated in
1994 with a genocide of nearly 1 million Tutsi in under a year.
Tutsi later counterattacked for control, causing 2 million Hutu to flee Rwanda,
and in Burundi displaced Hutu and Tutsi both attacked each other.
Refugees have since returned to both countries and democratic elections have
been held in both.
ETHNIC
CLEANSING
IN AFRICA
ETHNIC CLEANSING
IN THE DRC
The Hutu / Tutsi conflict spilled over into the Democratic Republic of
Congo, the country to the immediate west of Rwanda and Burundi.
As of 2009, over 5.4 million people had died in civil wars raging in the
DRC.
In 1997 Tutsi armies from Rwanda invaded the DRC to flush out Hutu
militias.
While there, Tutsi armies helped rebels overthrow president Mobuto
and install new president Laurent Kabila.
Kabila allowed Tutsi armies to kill various populations of Hutu in
reprisal for the 1994 genocide in Rwanda.
In 2001 Tutsi helped Congolese rebels assassinate Kabila an install his
son.
Fighting continues in the DRC, especially along the eastern border.