Tuesday, May 25, 2010
Rwandan Genocide
The nature of the Rwandan genocide was that it was a 2-headed beast. A common misconception is that the fault for the conflict lies entirely with the Hutu leaders, but in fact they were provoked to some degree. The Tutsi's had for decades been the ruling class in Rwanda, often mistreating the Hutus under their rule. As a result, the Hutus had decades worth of pent-up anger at the Tutsis; much as was the case with the Holocaust, the Hutu extremists merely ignited a fire that was already smoldering. After the first hundred days of the Rwandan genocide, close to a million Tutsis were dead. It was then that the Tutsi army reached the killing zone, and they proceeded to take revenge on the Hutus. It is the Tutsi leader that today is in charge of Rwanda. The lesson we all must take away from this sensless genocide is that two wrongs don't make a right, and an eye for an eye kills 15% of your country.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Another interesting point is that the event that is said to have started the Genocide was when the Hutu president's (Juvénal Habyarimana) plane was shot down. While the Hutus blamed the Tutsis and used the attack as a reason to start the Genocide, it is still unknown who actually shot down the plane (Tutsis or Hutus).
ReplyDeleteSome mysteries will always remain mysteries, Scotty. I fully agree with your point Richard. Two wrongs don't make a right. Even my grandmother told me that and she was a victim of the Holocaust. Usually only a few people are the mind behind genocide, so you can't always take revenge on innocent people.
ReplyDelete