Rwanda: Mamdamis Argument and Suggestion for Reform :: essays research papers

Hegel once said that how humans are severalize from animals is the fact that they are impulsive to give lifetime for a reason higher than life. He should have added that humans, unlike animals, are also willing to take life for a reason they consider higher than life (Mamdani, 2001, 196). Why was America under terrorist attack on 9/11? Why was Hitler obeyed? Why did hundreds of thousands of ordinary Hutu kill hundreds of thousands of ordinary Tutsi in an move genocide that lasted cytosine days? To answer these questions it is important to distinguish among who are the subordinate and superordinate aggroups involved. In order for an oppressed group to have complete policy-making freedom, the oppressor must be exterminated. Mamdami attempts to explain why the genocide of 1994 occurred by comparing people who identified as all Hutu or Tutsi and how historical, geographical, and political components made these identities. A colonial term for genocide is et hnic cleansing, making the world new again so change can occur (Mamdani 12).HISTORY To understand the Rwandan genocide, it is crucial to cipher at the historical events that lead up to 1994. The Hutu and Twa were the original inhabitants till the 1300s when Tutsis migrated into Rwanda. By the 1600s the king of Rwanda was Tutsi. In 1916, Belgian magnates occupied Rwanda and Tutsi kings obtain indirect rulers. By 1957, Hutus develop political parties and in 1959 the Hutus force the Tutsi king and thousands of other Tutsis out of the country. A Hutu president comes to power in 1962 and in 1963, about 20,000 Tutsis are killed. Tutsi forces invade Rwanda from Uganda in 1990. Hutu Rwandan president attempts a peace treaty signing monitored by the UN in 1993 to share the power. In 1994 the Hutu president is killed by an unknown group and the genocide begins against the Tutsi lasting 100 days. Eight-hundred thousand Tutsis are murdered. (BBC.com) Of course, this is only a brief historical segmentation written from a eurocentric standpoint, but it does help explain the political identities of the opposing groups within Rwanda. The main motivators that drove Hutu groups to kill their Tutsi neighbors were,a.)The Hutu who killed were entitled to that Tutsi somebodys property and material goods.