The Stolen Generation And Genocide In Rwanda
A genocide is the deliberate killing of a large group of people, especially those of a particular ethnic group or nation. The Stolen Generations and genocide in Rwanda were both terrible and horrific but differ in who the perpetrators were, what the end goal was, and how it was resolved.
Every genocide is committed by a person or group of people, whether it be the government, different tribes, different races, different religions, etc. The genocide in Rwanda was started by extremists of Rwanda’s majority, Hutu. They planned to kill the minority, Tutsi, or anyone who opposed their genocidal intentions. In the article Rwanda Genocide: 100 days of slaughter, it says “About 85% of Rwandans are Hutus but the Tutsi minority has long dominated the country”. The genocide in Australia, known as the Stolen Generations began when “half-caste” children were forcibly removed …show more content…
from their homes by federal and state government. The article A Guide to Australia’s Stolen Generations explains, “In the early 20th century under the assimilation policy white Australians thought Aboriginal people would die out.
In three generations, they thought, Aboriginal genes would have been ‘bred out’ when Aboriginal people had children with white people”. An important factor to learning and understanding genocides is knowing who started it.
When it comes to genocides, there must be a reason people commit these terrible acts and a goal they have for them. It was April 6th 1994 when the plane carrying the president at the time, Juvenal Habyarimana, and his counterpart Cyprien Ntaryamira who were both Hutus, was shot down and killed everyone on board. Hutu extremists believed the Rwandan Patriotic Front was to blame and that was how the killing of the Tutsi minority began. The Hutu extremists goal for this genocide was to kill all of the Tutsi minority and anybody against the genocide. They did this by broadcasting hate propaganda telling people to “weed out the cockroaches” on radio stations and newspapers. Overall about 800,000 people were killed. The
article Rwanda Genocide: 100 days of slaughter says, “The Hutu extremists set up radio stations and newspapers which broadcast hate propaganda, urging people to ‘weed out the cockroaches’ meaning kill the Tutsis. The names of those to be killed were read out on radio. Even priests and nuns have been convicted of killing people, including some who sought shelter in churches”. The Australian government did not believe in the future of Aborigines. 1910 through 1970, children usually of mixed descent, as young as babies were stolen from their families or even stolen at birth before their mothers could see them. The children were placed in girls and boys homes, foster families, or missions and released into white society at age 18. The goal of this genocide was to end the Aboriginal culture and turn them to christianity. In the article A Guide to Australia’s Stolen Generations it explains, “In removing their children white people stole Aboriginal people’s future. Language, tradition, knowledge, dances and spirituality could only live if passed on to their children. In breaking this circle of life white people hoped to end Aboriginal culture within a short time and get rid of ‘the Aboriginal problem’”. Although the purposes of these genocides are very different they both can be learned from and are important to history.
Since we know these genocides are over, how? How were they finished or resolved? Once the outside world realized what was going on in Rwanda with the killings, some countries tried sending forces in but had no luck on stopping the Hutus. The French sent a force to set up a safe zone but were accused of not doing enough to stop the slaughter and Rwanda’s current president has accused France of taking part in the massacre. In the article Rwanda Genocide: 100 Days of Slaughter it tells us, “The well-organised RPF, backed by Uganda's army, gradually seized more territory, until 4 July, when its forces marched into the capital, Kigali. Some two million Hutus - both civilians and some of those involved in the genocide - then fled across the border into DR Congo, at that time called Zaire, fearing revenge attacks”. However in Australia, most of the world was pretty oblivious when the Stolen Generations genocide was occurring. In 1980 the first ‘Link-Up Aboriginal Corporation’ was established which provided family tracing, reunion, and support for forcibly removed children and their families. It wasn’t until 2008 and when Australia finally apologized for the acts. These genocides ended quite differently but what is most important is that the victims get the justice they deserve.
The Stolen Generations and Rwanda genocides were both terrifying and horrible but are different in lots of ways like who the perpetrators were, what the end goal was, and how it was resolved. The analysis of the differences between these two genocides is important to learn to have a better understanding of genocides and understanding of issues that go on in our lives even today.
Every genocide is committed by a person or group of people, whether it be the government, different tribes, different races, different religions, etc. The genocide in Rwanda was started by extremists of Rwanda’s majority, Hutu. They planned to kill the minority, Tutsi, or anyone who opposed their genocidal intentions. In the article Rwanda Genocide: 100 days of slaughter, it says “About 85% of Rwandans are Hutus but the Tutsi minority has long dominated the country”. The genocide in Australia, known as the Stolen Generations began when “half-caste” children were forcibly removed …show more content…
from their homes by federal and state government. The article A Guide to Australia’s Stolen Generations explains, “In the early 20th century under the assimilation policy white Australians thought Aboriginal people would die out.
In three generations, they thought, Aboriginal genes would have been ‘bred out’ when Aboriginal people had children with white people”. An important factor to learning and understanding genocides is knowing who started it.
When it comes to genocides, there must be a reason people commit these terrible acts and a goal they have for them. It was April 6th 1994 when the plane carrying the president at the time, Juvenal Habyarimana, and his counterpart Cyprien Ntaryamira who were both Hutus, was shot down and killed everyone on board. Hutu extremists believed the Rwandan Patriotic Front was to blame and that was how the killing of the Tutsi minority began. The Hutu extremists goal for this genocide was to kill all of the Tutsi minority and anybody against the genocide. They did this by broadcasting hate propaganda telling people to “weed out the cockroaches” on radio stations and newspapers. Overall about 800,000 people were killed. The
article Rwanda Genocide: 100 days of slaughter says, “The Hutu extremists set up radio stations and newspapers which broadcast hate propaganda, urging people to ‘weed out the cockroaches’ meaning kill the Tutsis. The names of those to be killed were read out on radio. Even priests and nuns have been convicted of killing people, including some who sought shelter in churches”. The Australian government did not believe in the future of Aborigines. 1910 through 1970, children usually of mixed descent, as young as babies were stolen from their families or even stolen at birth before their mothers could see them. The children were placed in girls and boys homes, foster families, or missions and released into white society at age 18. The goal of this genocide was to end the Aboriginal culture and turn them to christianity. In the article A Guide to Australia’s Stolen Generations it explains, “In removing their children white people stole Aboriginal people’s future. Language, tradition, knowledge, dances and spirituality could only live if passed on to their children. In breaking this circle of life white people hoped to end Aboriginal culture within a short time and get rid of ‘the Aboriginal problem’”. Although the purposes of these genocides are very different they both can be learned from and are important to history.
Since we know these genocides are over, how? How were they finished or resolved? Once the outside world realized what was going on in Rwanda with the killings, some countries tried sending forces in but had no luck on stopping the Hutus. The French sent a force to set up a safe zone but were accused of not doing enough to stop the slaughter and Rwanda’s current president has accused France of taking part in the massacre. In the article Rwanda Genocide: 100 Days of Slaughter it tells us, “The well-organised RPF, backed by Uganda's army, gradually seized more territory, until 4 July, when its forces marched into the capital, Kigali. Some two million Hutus - both civilians and some of those involved in the genocide - then fled across the border into DR Congo, at that time called Zaire, fearing revenge attacks”. However in Australia, most of the world was pretty oblivious when the Stolen Generations genocide was occurring. In 1980 the first ‘Link-Up Aboriginal Corporation’ was established which provided family tracing, reunion, and support for forcibly removed children and their families. It wasn’t until 2008 and when Australia finally apologized for the acts. These genocides ended quite differently but what is most important is that the victims get the justice they deserve.
The Stolen Generations and Rwanda genocides were both terrifying and horrible but are different in lots of ways like who the perpetrators were, what the end goal was, and how it was resolved. The analysis of the differences between these two genocides is important to learn to have a better understanding of genocides and understanding of issues that go on in our lives even today.