The Spark

Genocides serve as an example of the dark side of human nature. However, genocide do not start over night. Often, Genocides occur when tensions boil, and a single spark ignites these tensions, incarnating longstanding emotion into hatred and violence. This spark can take many different forms. In the Armenian Genocide, we saw a group of Young Turk's rise to power, and implement forced marches and massacres to exercise this power and demonstrate their beliefs. During World War 2, Hitler's skill as an orator ignited a nation into a frenzy of anti-semitism, where Jews were believed to be the root of all evil. In Rwanda, the assassination of the Prime Minister, and widespread propaganda demeaning Tutsis, served as catalysts that started the killing. However, in all instances of Genocide that we have studied, there are always underlying tensions. In the cases of Rwanda and Armenia, centuries of conflict between ethnic groups had engendered racial discrimination. In pre-WW2 germany, rampant inflation begetted distrust in minorities and the government. To start a genocide, a spark, a person, group, or tool used to promote hatred, must fill a void in the peoples minds and capitalize on long-standing tensions or hardships. Who knows where the next genocide will start, but instead of groups of people starting to kill each other at the same time, it will involve a charismatic leader or political party that instigates such actions.