The 15th commemoration of the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi: Part three

Psychological preparation of the genocide After long time of propaganda against the Tutsi through the media and the ten Hutu commandments, there was further dehumanisation of the Tutsi. This was purely meant to prepare the human psyche for evil. Paremuhtu developed into a phenomenon of Hutu extremism that widened its parameters to genocidal proportions. The extremism was backed by formation of political parties, like Rwanda Democratic Movement (MDR) and CDR, which were later, used as pivotal levers of the genocide. State leaders used the adopted state of history to continue dividing Rwandans, by constantly inciting the Hutu against the Tutsi. “For example, ideologues like Leon Mugesera, Fredina Ndahimana and Jean Bsco Barayagwiza articulated, polemicised and gave ideological shape to supposed grievances of the ‘masses’ zeroing on a litany of historical grievances that helped to keep alive chauvinist emotions, through the powerful use of political myths, fiery speeches and relentless propaganda on the radio,” observes Rakiya Omar and Alex de Waal. The Tutsi were reduced to non-Rwandans through the said ‘Hamitic hypotheses’. The Hutu were praised and raised as a true race and “real Rwandans” while it was inculcated into their mind that the Tutsi should be sent to their origin, which was regarded as Ethiopia. All the hatred and division paved way for dehumanisation of the Tutsi as non-human beings. Before the genocide, the Tutsi had already been dehumanised. They were likened to vermin or snakes, rats, reptiles with long tails and ears-more specifically referred to as cockroaches. This was enough to justify the genocide ideology. Just like the Nazis, the perpetrators of the genocide claimed that they were purifying the society of vermin, and this overcame the normal human revulsion against murder.No one can feel remorse in killing a pest. In other words killing a pest (Tutsi) is not murder. In Rwanda, the dehumanisation of the Tutsi had already been a feature of genocidal massacres in 1959, 1961 and 1972. The “ten Hutu commandment” published by the Hutu- power hate newspaper in December 1990, included the injunction among others that; “the Bahutu should stop having mercy on the Batutsi”. The newspaper encouraged Habyarimana’s policy that the army should remain exclusively Hutu, and that officers were prohibited from marrying Tutsi women. Cartoons and articles in Kangura referred to the Tutsi as cockroaches and snakes; kanugura regularly expounded the myth that the Tutsi had invaded Rwanda from Ethiopia. The Tutsi were also referred to as devils that ate Hutu vital organs. The issue of marriage restrictions did not actually stop on the army officers, but went straight throughout the Hutu society. Tutsi women got married to Hutu men not because of love, but because they either wanted to ‘buy their life’ or were forced to serve as sexual tools. Tutsi were left as second classcitizens with no right to join public institutions. The only short cut for the Tutsi to buy their way to public institutions, schools, civil service or the army, was to look for a Hutu protector. This involved among others Tutsi women getting Hutu husbands. Rwanda a strong patriarchal society ‘by then’, the children of these parents could at least have some hope for the future- but this was of course disproved during the 1994 genocide. The search for protection made Tutsi women vulnerable to one of the worst forms of exploitation. That is sexual protection. They got married to Hutu men not because they ‘always’ loved them but because they wanted the said ‘benefits’. “Some of the rich members of the regime (Akazu) usually stated in public that a good car to drive is Mercedes Benz, while best liquor was whisky, and a good wife a Tutsi woman,” reflects Kayibanda Jean Marie, a survivor of the genocide. Tutsi women were derogated. The reason is that these women were depersonalised, reduced to mere objects and treated as personal property. During the genocide, Hutu husbands killed their Tutsi wives in cold blood. So they did not marry these women because they were ‘beautiful and good’ but because they wanted to ‘use them’. The same thing applied in the education system. Tutsi were not allowed to access education. “In a class our teacher used to call Tutsi to stand up every day before starting to teach. Whenever we stood up our fellow Hutu students laughed at us, as if we had committed any crime. Tutsi had no chances whatever of studying which is why you can see me today working as a tailor. My former Hutu classmates are Mayors and others are in big government jobs while I am here ‘grassing’, “laments Kirenga Paul, a survivor who was forced to leave school by extreme harassment from teachers. To make it norm, the media quickly disseminated the dehumanisation of the Tutsi. Extremists anywhere in the world, will try to spread their ideologies. It becomes easier when they have access to state machinery. The seeds of discord had been spread before ‘independence’ and entrenched in the Rwandan society. The fruits of hate campaign and ideology were hence the annihilation of Rwandans who never prescribed to the hate ideology. Now, the genocidal regime had laid a strong psychological foundation to carry out the genocide. At least the majority of the Hutu population were now convinced that the Tutsi must die. “We were told that the Tutsi were our enemies who wanted to come and kill us all. The advise they gave us to prepare to kill the Tutsi in our community. We accepted because we knew they were our enemies,” says Habiyakare Jean de Diue, an inmate in Nyanza central prison. The psyche was now convinced and ready to participate without question, in the genocide against the Tutsi. What was remaining was to coordinate it with the rest of the body to realise the overall aim to exterminate the Tutsi in whole-the genocide. mugitoni@yahoo.com