Genocide: A Legacy for the Twentieth Century

1. Genocide: A Legacy for the Twentieth Century Explain how true you think this statement is: “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.”

2. I. Terms • Holocaust-Destruction or slaughter on a mass scale. • Genocide-The deliberate killing of a large group of people, esp. those of a particular ethnic group or nation.

3. Article 2 of UN Convention Against Genocide • In the present Convention, genocide means any of the following acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group, as such: • (a) Killing members of the group; • (b) Causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group; • (c) Deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part; • (d) Imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group; • (e) Forcibly transferring children of the group to another group. • Article 3 of UN Convention Against Genocide • The following acts shall be punishable: • (a) Genocide; • (b) Conspiracy to commit genocide; • (c) Direct and public incitement to commit genocide; • (d) Attempt to commit genocide; • (e) Complicity in genocide.

4. II. Rwanda 1994 • Partially a consequence of the ignorance and unjust segregating by a foreign power • Tutsi-cattle-herding people who become the politically-dominant class • Hutu- farmers who lived in large family units

5. Belgium (the colonizing power) encouraged ethnic division between two groups (Hutuand Tutsi) • Believed Tutsiwere superior, so treated them as the upper class • Hutuwere demoted to the lower-class, which later fueled a violent overthrow of Tutsi

6. Hate war exploded on April 6, 1994 when the president (a Hutu) was shot down in his airplane • Rumors spread that it was ordered by a Tutsi • Violence erupted against Tutsi • Escalated at an extreme pace and 800,000 Tutsidied in 3 months

7. Genocide widely ignored by international community • Why might they not want to get involved? • Should the int’l community have been involved?

8. United Nations (UN) sent troops, but after 10 died they withdrew until a clear victor was in sight • The US, Belgium and France all had knowledge of the situation, but took no action “The Americans were interested in saving money, the Belgians were interested in saving face, and the French were interested in saving their ally, the genocidal government.” -Alison Des Forges, Rwanda scholar

9. III. Darfur 2003 • Centered around Arab Muslims in north and African Muslim farmers/herders in southwestern region of Darfur • These groups are the same religion, but what differences might they have?

10. Local African tribes are suppressed by government-backed militia groups called the Janjaweed • Janjaweeduse terror tactics like mass killings, rape and destruction of villages • Sudanese gov’t funds the Janjaweed with oil revenue Children in the camps are encouraged to confront their psychological scars. The clay figures depict an attack by Janjaweed.

11. Recent estimates reported at least 300,000 dead and 1.8 million displaced • What does displaced mean? • What is an example of a displaced population?

12. 2006- Agreement signed to begin disarming Janjaweed Who enforces? 2010- Another peace agreement signed to try to end the conflict and help victims 2011- South Sudan votes to form its own country

13. Assignment: Using the information you have just learned about Darfur and Rwanda, choose one statement below and assess its validity. “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.” - Dr. Martin Luther Kind, Jr., Letter from Birmingham Jail, April 16, 1963 “The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.” - Edmund Burke, British statesman and orator (1729-1797)