- 15 Sep 2014 12:47
#14465085
The main lesson is that ordinary people are not necessarily pure of mind/spirit and may allow themselves to be gripped by the madness of envy and hatred. Also, even cultural (the Tutsis and the Hutus shared the same culture) and racial similarity (they were not always phenotypically distinguishable from each other) provide no guarantee that two ethnic groups will be able to get along with each other and lay the foundation for stable societies. Sadly, the Holocaust and the Balkan conflicts of the 1990s also testify to the ease of creating dividing lines, often of an arbitrary nature.
As for French involvement – it’s very unfortunate that the French administration gave the wrong signals to the Hutu extremists, but I don’t think that there has been any evidence of French participation in the actual genocide (even Kagame hasn’t tried to advance such claims despite his government’s strained relations with the French). For all its faults (mainly its timing and the lack of mandate to capture genocide perpetrators), Opération Turquoise did save some lifes. I remember a quote from a French soldier along the lines of him being tired of being cheered on by murderers (referring to the friendly reception the French troops that were involved in the Turquoise invasion received – at least initially - by the Hutus).
@Rich, well put, I was going to say that the genocide was in part an example of the dangers of seeing oneself as the one and only victim. Some of the Hutus were able to justify their brutal acts based on the reasoning that the Tutsis could enslave them and turn them into subjects rather than citizens. In some respects, Hutus internalized the identity of downtrodden people and regarded themselves as less morally culpable (whatever atrocities they committed) than the Tutsis by definition.
Regarding Burundi – I am not too knowledgeable about the history of that country, maybe the ruling Tutsi elite enjoyed the support of a substantial proportion of Hutu (was skillful in co-opting informal Hutu community leaders), which would explain why the majority group in Burundi was not as susceptible to the Hutu power ideology. I have to say that one thing that I fail to grasp is why the Tutsi-led government of Burundi did not send troops to Rwanda while the genocide was still ongoing in order to assist the RPF.
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"Be aware of your inner ideology!"