Ben Gera

Globalization and Genocide

Genocide - the deliberate and systematic extermination of a national, racial, political, or cultural group.

Glob⋅al⋅izeverb (used with object), -ized, -iz⋅ing - to

extend to other or all parts of the globe

Some Important Terms for You to Know

The Rwandan GenocideIn 1994, Hutu political moderates conducted a mass killing of hundreds of thousands of Tutsis. In about 100 days, the Hutu Power movement eradicated close to one million people. This specific genocide is the MOST EFFICIENT mass killing ever conducted. On the evening of April 6, 1994, a surface-to-air missile hit the plane that was carrying Rwandan President Juvenal Habyarimana and Burundian presidnet Cyprien Ntaryamira.

What comes to mind as you look at this image?

Cold-Blooded Murder is what came to the minds of a Hutu couple…

“In Rwanda in the 1990s, a Tutsi woman, who had already seen seven members of her immediate family shot or hacked to death, begged a kindly Hutu couple to hide her twenty-month-old son from roaming death squads. The couple took the boy in, then killed him.” (Chua, 163)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PC6LAUu33DI

Globalization’s Connection to the Rwandan Genocide

In 1897, German missionaries arrived in Rwanda.

In 1916, Belgians took over Rwanda and started to favor the Tutsis, who were lanky and had a more pale complexion, over the Hutu , who were shorter, blacker, and had wider noses.

The Belgians created the distinct line between the Hutu and the Tutsi. They created the myth that the Tutsi were intelligent and civilized while the Hutu were barbaric.

Globalization’s Connection Continued…

Armenians are marched to a nearby prison in Mezireh by armed Turkish soldiers. Kharpert, Armenia, Ottoman Empire in April 1915.

Armenian Genocide

The Ottoman Turks planned to exterminate the race of Armenians in their country. The plan to “systematically destroy a race” is referred to as being genocidal.

Background of Armenian Genocide

The genocide is known to have used massacres and forced marches under unbearable conditions in order to facilitate maximum Armenian deaths.

Historians regard April 24, 1915 to be the official start of the Armenian genocide. On that day, the Turks arrested some 250 Armenian officials and intellectuals. The Turkish intention was to make sure there would be no organized rebellion.

Background Continued…

At the end of the genocidal campaign, dead Armenians numbered between 1 and 1.5 million.

Result?

Hundreds of years ago, the European Christians came to the Ottoman Empire in hopes of trading for valuable material.

The European Christians enjoyed working with the Armenians (WHO WERE ALSO CHRISTIAN). The Armenians became succesfsul merchants and enjoyed the economic benefits of wealth.

Globalization’s Effect on the Armenian Genocide

“Armenian success was associated with foreign influences, based in part on the Armenian importation of Western technologies. The prominence of Armenians as agents and brokers for European interests… seemed to confirm the picture of Christians not pulling together with the Muslim population in the interests of the state on whose territory they dwelled.” (Bloxham, 29)

Quote:

In June… Turks ordered the Armenians of the city to prepare for the trek to the interior on July 1. The proclamation assured Armenians of the right to reclaim their goods at the conclusion of the war.” (Payaslian, 60)

Globalization’s Effect Continued…

What comes to mind?

“About six Turkish soldiers stood behind the girls. They had whips and each had a gun. They were shouting, “Dance. Slut.” The girls’ clothes were now turning red. Some of them were half-naked; others tried to hold their clothes together. They began to fall down and when they did they were whipped until they stood and continued their dance. Each crack of the whip and more of their clothing came off.” (Balakian, 216)

What comes to mind?

Witnessed during the Armenian Genocide….

 “As the women began to collapse in burning heaps, oozing and black, the smell of burnt flesh made me sick. I fainted and your mother’s brother Haroutiun found me and took me home.” (Balakian, 217)

"Who, after all, talks nowadays of the annihilation of the Armenians?“

- Adolf Hitler

Even until today, the Turkish government

refuses to acknowledge the

massacres as genocidal.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MPgg-_s-crU

| WASHINGTON (AP) — A U.S. congressional panel defied President Bush on Wednesday and approved a measure to recognize the Armenian massacres as genocidal.

House panel approves Armenian genocide resolution Updated 10/11/2007 3:16 AM 

Only in 2007 did the United States pass a resolution to recognize the massacres as a genocide.

What about the United States of America?

Bergen-Belson Concentration Camp

My Savta Tamar’s Jewish-Holocaust Relics

Something Positive…

Chua, Amy. World On Fire. United States of America: Random House, Inc., 2003.      Print.

Gerard, Prunier. The Rwanda Crisis: History of a Genocide. Hong Kong: Columbia      University Press, 1995. Print.

Balakian, Peter. Black Dog of Fate. United States of America: Bantam Doubleday      Dell Publishing Group, Inc., 1997. Print.

Hovannisian, Richard G., Donald Bloxham, and Simon Payaslian. Looking Backward,      Moving Forward. New Brunswick, New Jersey: Transaction Publishers, 2003.      Print.

www.essex.ac.uk/.../armenia/default.html education.crs.org/wyd/rwanda/about.cfm www.webmd.com/.../diapering-a-baby-9/slideshow

Bibliography

Thanks for Listening!