By Atira George | Fairleigh Dickinson University | USA
Rwanda genocide survivor Paul Rusesabagina expressed his sentiments, “In 1994, during the one hundred days of the Rwanda genocide, I tried everything to get the international community to listen, to respond, to help—but nobody was ready to see, hear or, most importantly, to act.” His statement speaks the truth about the inaction of the international community throughout the genocide. During our course we have discussed genocide and the framing of genocide, and spent some time discussing the silence that surrounds genocide.
Through this discourse I will aim to answer the question “why the silence?” surrounding the 1994 Rwanda genocide, drawing from coursework covered in class as well as my online dialogue with students from Rwanda who recall the devastation of genocide. I am humbled to be a part of their dialogue and I hope that together we can come one step closer to not only answer the question but also try figure out a plan for action and implementation on the broad level for everyday citizens. Continue Reading…
By Chris Kessler | Fairleigh Dickinson University | USA
Generally considered a twentieth century phenomenon, genocide has emerged as the pinnacle of all human rights tragedies upon garnering the attention of the United Nations in 1946. Two years later, the 1948 Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide formally established a definition for the term coined by Raphael Lemkin. Excusing any inherent flaws that various segments of the global community vociferously decry, the presence of a legal definition for genocide, and its recognition as a crime, reinforce both the legitimacy of the act and the threat it poses to humanity. In spite of this, instances of genocide have occurred since 1948, in developing and developed regions alike. In each instance, most of the world sat idle. In fact, it wasn’t until fifty years after the inception of the treaty that anyone would be convicted of genocide (Power, 60). Continue Reading…
By Elizabeth Schedl | Fairleigh Dickinson University | USA
The Rwandan genocide began on April 6,1994 after the Rwandan president, Juvenal Habyarimana, was assassinated. The genocide was an outgrowth of years of conflict between the Tutsi and Hutu that had resulted in a civil war breaking out in l990. Habyarimana had negotiated a peace agreement with Tutsi rebels and was in the process of implementing this agreement when he was killed. Powerful Hutu leaders in the MRND and members of the Akazu opposed the peace agreement. These individuals appear to have been planning the attacks on the Tutsis prior to Habyarimana’s death and may even be responsible for his death. Whatever their involvement was in his death, it is clear that behind the attacks on the Tutsi people was a struggle for power amongst the Hutu. According to Lemarchand, the genocidal process was driven by a struggle for power between moderate and extremist Hutu. The genocide was organized by the MRND, the Akazu and officials of the Rwandan government and carried out by the Rwandan military and Hutu militia. Amongst the first targets were Hutu moderates, other political opposition groups and leaders of the Tutsi people. Once the killings started, many Hutu civilians also participated in the attacks on the Tutsis (Lemarchand, 2009 & Peck , 2005). Over a period of 100 days, from April to July, about 800,000 Tutsi and Hutu’s sympathetic to the Tutsis were killed. Continue Reading…