Stereotypes About Rwanda

Introduction

A Stereotype is belief about a particular class of people. It states expectation a person have about any person of a certain category. Kinds of expectation can change; it can be for example, an expectation about a class characteristic. 

The stereotype most people or countries have about my country is on the topic of the genocide of tutsi they have this belief that it was just a battle between the tribes of Rwanda due to a misunderstanding between them. I deny this stereotype strongly because of these reasons.

On the 7th of April 1994, the small east African country of Rwanda erupted into one of the most deadly and intimate genocides the modern world had ever witnessed. Whilst the western world stood by and watched in just 100 days over 10000,000 Rwandans out of a total population of 7 million, were systematically murdered in the most brutal and violent of ways. Those who were targeted made up the country’s minority ethnic group the Tutsis, and moderates from the majority group, the Hutus.

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For many, the legacy of Rwanda is a monstrous example of extreme pent up ethnic tensions that has its roots in European colonialism. In contrast, I will argue that the events not just of 1994 but also the unrest that proceeded it, arose from a highly complex culmination of long-standing historical tensions between ethnic groups that long pre-dated colonialism. In conjunction, a set of short-term triggers including foreign intervention, civil war, famine, state terrorism and ultimately the assassination of President Habyarimana also contributed to the outburst of genocide in 1994.

Rwanda has a highly complex history that is largely overlooked in popular discussions surrounding the genocide. In the west, most knowledge of the genocide is journalistic or comes from blockbuster hits such as Hotel Rwanda. Whist elements of such films hold some truth, they provide no context and have a tendency to depict the genocide as separate from events that came beforehand, and of Rwanda’s turbulent history in general. Perhaps this is done through naivety or because in some disturbing way it makes the topic more enthralling and perplexing. However, despite these stereotypes, when analysed within the framework of Rwanda’s greater history, the genocide is not that out of place.

One of the biggest misconceptions in regards to the 1994 genocide is that it was unexpected and occurred spontaneously in a previously harmonious country. However, beginning with the Hutu Revolution in 1959, violence between Hutus and Tutsis became increasingly common and continuous whereas in the past it was episodic and sporadic.

Conclusion

The Rwandan genocide was initiated and fueled by a deep-rooted Hutu fear that the progress made in Rwanda by the Hutus would be reversed. These hutu extremists had a plan of executing all the tutsi in Rwanda in greed of sharing their motherland with tutsis. I finish by saying that this stereotype about Rwanda is false and we will keep fighting it to the end.