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The Rwanda Genocide

A look at how imperialism has led to the horrible genocide in Rwanda

Nicholas Horne

on 26 November 2013

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Transcript of The Rwanda Genocide

Rwanda Before Imperialism
The Colonizationf Rwanda
The Aftermath of Imperialism
Effects of Imperialism on Rwanda Today
And the Impact of Imperialism
Before Africa was colonized by Europe, it consisted of many, many tribes. The two main tribes that occupied what is now Rwanda, were the Tutsi and the Hutu. They were self-sufficient, mostly by raising cattle and growing crops. The Tutsi, who made up approximately 10% of the population, were generally the owners of the cattle and the Hutu generally worked the land. Around 1850 the Tutsi created a monarchy that held power over most of modern Rwanda. This monarchy took actions that forced Hutu people to do more work and gave more resources to the Tutsi. These actions became the basis for the Hutu hate for the Tutsi.
In 1884, Europe held the Berlin Conference and divided Africa amongst the major European nations. Germany was given Rwanda and they choose to keep the Tutsi in power. This decision was based off of the racist idea that the Tutsi was taller, thinner, lighter skinned and, therefore, better. When Germany lost WW1 in 1918, Rwanda was given to Belgium, who made 2 major choices: 1- to give ID cards to everyone defining them as Hutu or Tutsi and 2- to favor the Tutsi and offer better jobs, education and government positions to them.
In the 1950's the first signs of violence started to show when the Hutu began rioting in the streets and a book entitled ``The Hutu Manifesto`` was published. In 1959 the Tutsi king died and the ensuing civil war eventually granted the Hutu power in 1962, the same year that Belgium granted Rwanda independence. The Hutu treated the Tutsi with the same discrimination that they had received in the past. In 1994 the Hutu president Habyarimana was killed in a plane that was shot down by Tutsi rebels. The Hutu snapped and, over a span of 100 days, committed a mass Genocide that killed between 500 000 and 1 000 000 Tutsi people, well over half their population.
By: Nick
& Noah

Photo Gallery
Today, Rwanda is still recovering from the Genocide. Many people are scarred by the violence and still grieving from lost loved ones. Even though the peace is restored in their country there will forever be a separation between the Hutu and Tutsi. It is unlikely that the Tutsi will ever be able to fully forgive the Hutu after this massacre. After the genocide ended Rwanda was in a very poor economic position. A majority of the farms and agriculture where either burned or destroyed. Those farms that were not destroyed, faced huge labor shortages. As we are approaching the twentieth anniversary of the Genocide Rwanda has not fully recovered either Socially or Economically. They have however made great steps to reconciliation and recovery. The future looks bright for Rwanda.

The population of Rwanda took
a huge dive during the genocide
Bodies after the genocide.
Our project was based off the question of imperialism contributed to the Rwandan Genocide. After our research, we can conclude that although there was unrest between Hutu and Tutsi peoples before imperialism and violence was bound to happen sometime, the European colonization of Rwanda sped up the process greatly, among other things. By keeping the Tutsi in power and giving them better opportunities, they made the Hutu angrier and angrier while still keeping them pinned down. The ID cards that were issued by the Belgians gave the Hutu an even better opportunity to kill as many Tutsi as possible because before the ID cards, Hutu and Tutsi looked almost identical and it would be easy for a Tutsi to pose as a Hutu. These actions led not only to the Genocide, but also to a civil war. Therefore, we conclude that imperialism had an extremely powerful and fully negatve effect on the Rwanda Genocide.
Photo Gallery
This cartoon refers to the media coverage of the Rwanda Genocide. During the genocide, the media covered the O.J. Simpson trial more often then the genocide because the people didn't care as much about Rwanda. It is remembered as a genocide now, but t was not referred to as a genocide at the time because the 1st world did not want to get into the problem they helped create
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