Rwanda, Ethnicity, and
Genocide
Does this mean ethnicity is not “real”?
The Power of Identity
Violence today world wide is largely ethnic
violence, wars, ethnic cleansing, genocide
mainly related to ethnic and religious divisions,
not mainly class struggle.
While “secular states” are the goal of US policy,
ethnicity and religion are major ways we
organize meaning.
How did the
Middle East
get its
boundaries?
The uncertainties of globalization
reinforce localized, ethnic identity
Where is Rwanda?
Hutu and Tutsi in pre-colonial times
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Hutu and Tutsi have always spoken the same
language
Tutsi meant warrior/farmer
Hutu meant peasant
While Tutsis generally are taller and lighter
skinned, intermarriage through the years has
rendered identification by sight impossible
Hutus, by accumulating enough property, could
become Tutsi. The distinctions were fluid
German and Belgian Rule
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Both colonial powers sharpened the distinction
between Tutsi and Hutu so it represented class,
or more properly caste distinctions.
Tutsis were a neo-colonial ruling class.
The Germans in 1914 had only 5 civil and 24
military officers in Rwanda. In other words they
depended on the Tutsi
UN Convention on Genocide
ARTICLE 1
The Contracting Parties confirm
that genocide, whether committed
in time of peace, or in time of war,
is a crime under international law
which they undertake to prevent
Article Two
In the present Convention, genocide means any of
the following acts committed with intent to
destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethical,
racial or religious group as such:
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(a) Killing members of the group;
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(b) Causing serious bodily or mental harm to
members of the group;
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(c) Deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of
life calculated to bring about its physical destruction
in whole or in part;
What happened in Rwanda?
900,000 murdered in 100
days
That is about 9,000 per day,
every day, for more than
three months
US Defense Department
memo during the genocide
“Be careful. Legal at State was worried
about this yesterday — Genocide finding
could commit [the US government] to
actually ‘do something.’ ”
May 1, 1994
Who is Richard Clarke?
Critic of Bush policy on Iraq. Managed US
policy on Rwanda and staunchly opposed
any intervention and demanded the
removal of UN peacekeeping forces.
When UNAMIR officers said 5000 troops
could stop the killing, the UN, under US
pressure, withdrew all peacekeepers.
Why so much violence today?
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We are still experiencing the
consequences of colonialism and the
ethnic division of the world by the colonial
powers
Progress in Africa
There are more phone lines in Manhatten or
Tokyo than all of sub-saharan Africa
Combined export earnings of 45 African
countries (500 million people) declined
from $50 billion in 1980 to $36 billion in
1990
World imports from Africa declined from
3.7% in 1980 to 1.4% in 1995
Africa and Globalization (2)
Food imports have grown 10% since 1980 in a
continent that was once a food exporter
After a hefty growth of industry in the 1960s and a
small increase in the 1970s, Africa’s industrial
economy collapsed in the 1980s and had
negative growth
International aid accounts for 12.4% of GNP in
Africa; 2/3 of GNP in Mozambique and half in
Somaila
Africa and Globalization (3)
External debt went from 97% of the value
of exports in 1980 to 324% in 1990
 External debt rose from 30.6% in 1980 to
78.7% of GNP in 1990.
 Direct foreign investment is only 2% of all
DFI to the developing world.
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Does civilization mean less
violence?