Monday, November 29, 2010

Racial Identification Cards




"The Belgian administration implements a Ten-Year Development Plan to achieve social stability through native participation in government. Under Belgian rule, the class distinctions in Rwandan society have been conflated with the ethnic division, granting the Tutsi minority privileged political, economic and social status. The mechanics of the new plan codify ethnic profiling into a system of identity cards. The Kinyarwanda language has no word for "ethnicity";ubwoko, or "clan", is used instead."

Hutu Propaganda

tutsi cockroaches


(Translation: “What’s happening?” “They killed Habyarimana (Hutu President of Rwanda)” “We ask all our Hutu brothers not to let this crime remain unpunished. Get up. Get to work. Take your tools and eradicate this race of cockroaches. Find them in all the holes…”)

Belgians measuring Noses to Classify Rwandans

Group of Hutu Extremists

A Belgian colony: AD 1914-1962

"When Germany invades Belgium, at the start of World War I, the Belgians retaliate in a smaller way in central Africa. Belgian troops move east from the Belgian Congo to occupy (in 1916) Ruanda-Urundi. After the war the League of Nations confirms the existing state of affairs, granting Belgium in 1924 a mandate to administer the colony.

From 1925 Ruanda-Urundi is linked with the neighbouring Belgian Congo, but colonial rule takes a very different form in the two territories. The administration of the Congo is centred in Brussels, but in Ruanda-Urundi it is left in the hands of the Tutsi aristocracy. Indeed the Belgians, observing the distinction between Tutsi and Hutu, make it the very basis of their colonial system. 












The Hutu are subject to the forced labour which disfigures many European colonies in Africa, but here it is the Tutsi who supervise them at their tasks. From 1933 everyone in Ruanda-Urundi is issued with a racial identity card, defining them as Hutu (85%) or Tutsi (14%). The remaining 1% are the Twa, the remnants of the original Pygmies indigenous in this area.

This Belgian attitude, setting in stone the distinction between the two groups and favouring one of them, prepares the ground for future violence (in earlier times racially based massacres have never occurred between Hutu and Tutsi). The predictable occasion for its outbreak is the rush towards independence in the late 1950s. 










The problem is more immediately evident in Ruanda than in Urundi. In 1957 Hutu leaders in Ruanda publish a Hutu Manifesto, preparing their supporters for a future political conflict to be conducted entirely on ethnic lines. In 1959 the first outbreak of violence is sparked off when a group of Tutsi political activists in Gitirama beat up a Hutu rival, Dominique Mbonyumutwa (he survives the attack but the rumour of his death spreads rapidly in Hutu circles and is still believed today).

The resulting nationwide campaign of Hutu violence against Tutsis becomes known as 'the wind of destruction'. Over the coming months many Tutsis flee from Ruanda, including the 25-year-old hereditary ruler, the Mwami. 










In elections in 1960 Hutu politicians score an overwhelming victory. Grégoire Kayibanda, one of the authors of theHutu Manifesto, leads a provisional government for the interim period to independence.

In Urundi the Tutsi monarchy proves at first more resilient, both in holding on to the reins of power and in attempting a resolution of the Tutsi-Hutu conflict. When elections are held in 1961, they bring a landslide victory for a joint Hutu and Tutsi party. It is led by the popular Prince Rwagasore, the eldest son of the Mwami. He is assassinated a few months later, before independence has been formally achieved. But this disaster does not yet tip Urundi into ethnic violence."

Frontline: Interview with Luc Marchal

How would you sum up what this man was telling you?
Jon Pierre gave me a very good and clear description about the interahamwe organization. He described the cells, the armaments, the training, and he told me that everybody was suspected ... and then the reaction will follow immediately, and the reaction was to kill a maximum of Tutsis. And each family, each house, was located in Kigali, so everything was being prepared ... And [based] on what Jon Pierre told me of the interahamwe organization, I felt the it was a real killing machine because the objective was very clear for everybody--kill, kill and kill.
Kill who?
... Just kill a maximum of people.
Meaning civilians?
Yes, of course, civilians, Tutsis, of course. Jon Pierre used the word Tutsi.... there was no specification about the person, just Tutsis must be killed.




Do you feel that responsibility or guilt can go wider than simply the people who shot the bullets and wielded the machetes?
Yes. I think that the whole international community is responsible for what happened in Rwanda. I will take the words of General Dallaire, he said, "The whole community ... international community has blood on his hands," and I feel the same ... Because during the month of May it was obvious for the whole world what was going on in Rwanda.

The Hutu Ten Commandments

1. Every Hutu must know that the Tutsi woman, wherever she may be, is working for the Tutsi ethnic cause. In consequence, any Hutu is a traitor who:
- Acquires a Tutsi wife;
- Acquires a Tutsi concubine;
- Acquires a Tutsi secretary or protégée.

2.Every Hutu must know that our Hutu daughters are more worthy and more conscientious as women, as wives and as mothers. Aren’t they lovely, excellent secretaries, and more honest!

3.Hutu women, be vigilant and make sure that your husbands, brothers and sons see reason.

4. All Hutus must know that all Tutsis are dishonest in business. Their only goal is ethnic superiority. We have learned this by experience from experience. In consequence, any Hutu is a traitor who:
- Forms a business alliance with a Tutsi
- Invests his own funds or public funds in a Tutsi enterprise
- Borrows money from or loans money to a Tusti
- Grants favors to Tutsis (import licenses, bank loans, land for construction, public markets...)

5. Strategic positions such as politics, administration, economics, the military and security must be restricted to the Hutu.

6. A Hutu majority must prevail throughout the educational system (pupils, scholars, teachers).

7. The Rwandan Army must be exclusively Hutu. The war of October 1990 has taught us that. No soldier may marry a Tutsi woman.

8. Hutu must stop taking pity on the Tutsi.


9. Hutu wherever they be must stand united, in solidarity, and concerned with the fate of their Hutu brothers. Hutu within and without Rwanda must constantly search for friends and allies to the Hutu Cause, beginning with their Bantu brothers.
Hutu must constantly counter Tutsi propaganda.
Hutu must stand firm and vigilant against their common enemy: the Tutsi.

10. The Social Revolution of 1959, the Referendum of 1961 and the Hutu Ideology must be taught to Hutu of every age. Every Hutu must spread the word wherever he goes. Any Hutu who persecutes his brother Hutu for spreading and teaching this ideology is a traitor. 

Abstract


Many people are not aware of the complexity of the Rwandan genocide and have been mislead by movies such as Hotel Rwanda to believe a narrow-minded view; while the majority of this movie is accurate, it portrays Hutus as aggressors and Tutsis as victims, when in reality this is not the case.  It is easy to simplify the situation and disregard its intricate history.  This paper goes beyond the ‘superficial’ and publicized historical events and examines ways in which colonization pushed the ethnic divide between Tutsi and Hutu perpetuating the hate leading to the 1994 genocide.  In addition, it will also question the reliability of the world’s responsibility when faced with a situation such as this.

There were no conflicts between the two ‘tribes’ before colonization—the names ‘Tutsi’ and ‘Hutu’ were social and based on wealth, just as that of an aristocrat or peasant.  Switching sides whenever most convenient, the colonists and their manipulative strategy reinforces their carelessness in destroying the peaceful Rwandan culture. They decided to desert the mess they created by granting Rwanda their independence.  Having no previous experience governing a country with such hatred and hostility, Rwanda suffered greatly with leaders who highlighted this racial dichotomy.  Anti-Tutsi propaganda and French support heavily aided Hutus to govern Rwanda by numbers and force. Insufficient media coverage during the genocide as well as the passivity of the U.N., makes one question the responsibilities one has in the world as a compassionate human being.

Neither Hutus nor Tutsis are truly at fault, but victims of their circumstance — the manipulative power that colonists had on them took a heavy toll on them.  This less fortunate country will forever struggle to overcome the difficulties put on them and may possibly never fill the cultural rift and recover their original unity.