Political Science 1020E Lecture Notes - Lecture 9: Hutu, Tutsi, Indirect Rule
28 Apr 2018
School
Department
Course
Professor
November 27th, 2017
Case Study: The Rwandan Genocide
Background to Rwanda
- Pre-colonial times: A centralized society with two main groups: the Hutu and the Tutsis
o Hutu about 85%
o Tutsis 15%
- Germany acquires Rwanda in 1885 – Colonial Era
- Hypothesis: a superior race existed within Africa, was more Caucasian than others on the
continent, taller and sharper featured, originated from Ethiopia
- Tutsis already had the more prominent position and on average they fit the physical
description more than the Hutu
o were designated as superior by the Germans
- Racial theories incorporated into everyday life
o The church adhered to these ideas
▪ Missionaries would practice this as well
o School curriculum
- Terms were socially and politically constructed terms – not ethnic
o No identifying features to distinguish them
- Tutsis
o The elite of society
o Owned cattle
- Hutu
o Cultivators and farmers
- Had an intertwined life
o Would intermarry, same religion, same language, etc.
- Tutsis had a better standard of living at the expense of the Hutu because of the Germans
- Post-WW1: Belgians gain Rwanda and continue the practice
o Made the groups even more distinct by issuing an identity cards which states
which group you belong to
o Can no longer switch between the groups
o Identity cards were used for everything – no longer about how wealthy a Hutu or
how poor a Tutsi, statuses were forever engrained
- Hutu became economically far worse off
o Resentment increasing towards the Tutsis
- Indirect rule – Belgians chose the Tutsi as the rulers of the country
o Elevated their status and allow them to rule the country
- Before independence the Belgians changed their support in 1959
- Independence (1962) saw Hutus fill the political void left the Belgians
o Begin to see massacres of the Tutsi by Hutu extremists
▪ Done in the name of revenge
o About 20,000 killed which went unpunished
▪ An environment of impunity which lasted until the genocide
- 1960s-90s Rwanda’s economy goes downhill
o cannot govern the economy, is almost in ruins by the 90s
o pressure from the international community for reform
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
▪ by 1990 donors are saying that they have to democratize to continue
receiving aid
▪ a threat to those in power
o blaming the Tutsis for all the ongoing problems
- civil war – 1990
o not unusual for genocide to follow
o “the fog of war”
o invasion by a group of Tutsis from Uganda – the RPF
▪ many had kept fleeing the country since independence and gone to
Uganda
▪ Want the gov’t out, political reform (more equal opportunities) and those
who fled to be able to come back
o Gov’t in power saw this as all Tutsis rising up and trying to overthrow the gov’t
and kill all Hutu
▪ The average Hutu now fears for their lives
- Colonialism created division
o Though exaggeration and manipulation override all types of differences in society
o What mattered was so-called ethnicity differences – the defining feature of
Rwanda society by the time you get to the genocide
- after 3 years of civil war, the two sides had come together to sign a peace agreement
o looked like the international community had help to work out all the issues
o signed in 1993 – in reality was very problematic
o was political suicide for the gov’t saw as a win for the tutsis
o international community created the perception that they would be massively
involved in the period after the treaty
▪ in reality, the UN had little intention of taking any meaningful action
- openly planned the genocide for over a year
o created a environment of fear and panic among the general Hutu population –
wanted them to believe that the tutsi had really cynical goals
o completely false but the narrative went unchallenged
▪ had an illiterate population whose only source of information were radios
• state sponsored: bias and controlled by Hutus
▪ culture of impunity
• tutsis killings increased the year before the genocide which went
ignored
▪ no major actors were willing to look into the situation or take decisive
action into dealing with it
- april 6th: president’s plan shot down
o president not extreme enough
- april 7th: genocide begins
o estimated that 250,000 people took part
o very apparent of the plan that took place
▪ organized and intricate
o top-down gov’t very easy for the gov’t to know about the location of its citizens
o first days, took out anyone who formed a threat to their overall plan
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
