Wednesday, June 13, 2007

Mark Pasqualini's Reflection

In 1948 the United Nations got together and wrote an act called the Universal Declaration of Human rights. A segment of it said "Everyone is entitled to all the rights and freedoms set forth in this Declaration, without distinction of any kind, such as race, colour, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other status. Furthermore, no distinction shall be made on the basis of the political, jurisdictional or international status of the country or territory to which a person belongs, whether it be independent, trust, nonselfgoverning or under any other limitation of sovereignty." The Genocide violated this act because many people were slaughtered because of their race, ethnicity, and status. That just shows that the Act was not useful.

This event is much like the Holocaust. Hitler massacred millions of people based on their Religion. In Rwanda it was almost exactly the same. Hutu's took the lives of the Tutsis because of their ethnic beliefs. You would think the world would learn from Hitlers mistake. The genocide was in 1994 so apparently they didn't really care that what they were doing was wrong. Hitler also violated the Universal Declaration of Human Rights act as well. The Hutu went into villages and slaughtered their enemy just like how Hitler sent his enemy's to concentration camps. They were both cruel and tortured each other. In a way the Holocaust and the Rwanda Genocide were very similar.

Humanism was the idea that all individuals madder. The genocide changed that idea into something different. There was a racist aspect to the genocide so that destroyed the thought of humanism. This aspect represents anti Semitism. Anti Semitism is discrimination, hostility or prejudice directed at a religious, racial, or ethnic group. The genocide was a very Anti Semitic event that happened in history. They seduced people to believe that they are nothing and that they are of a lower class in society. They turned people with certain beliefs into nothing.

In my opinion I think the genocide should not have occurred because the people that were killed were mostly not involved in the killing of the leader. The leadership in Rwanda was far too weak and they needed help. After the three leaders were killed the Genocide was over. After that there was another horrible war because of the genocide. The genocide fell apart because of the lack of good leadership.

I feel sad for the victims of the Genocide because most of them were Innocent and just living their lives. There was really no reason at all to start a war like that and the people that died should not have. Some of the victims were tortured and raped as others had to watch their family's and friends die and suffer. If any of the victims survived they would starve to death because the Hutu would also burn their crops and all their food supply. So I do feel sad for the innocent people that died in this. The people that were killing other innocent people i don't feel bad for because they are just as bad as the Hutu's.

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