800k accounted... there are thousands lost in the rivers and forests never to be accounted for, whole families extinguished. 800k is a spit on the face to us survivors
@@TreysorableThe genocidaires were not ‘rising up.’ They held exclusive control over everything, including 99% of the territory at the outset. The tutsi population didn’t just dye. The genocidaires deliberately set out to exterminate it fully and nearly succeeded. The resistance force that you mention at the end had to fight a large pro-genocide army in order to reach massacre sites and rescue some survivors. This required time (3 months overall) and great personal sacrifice.
It is also important to note that the Rwandan government has made it a policy to refer to all citizens as Rwandans rather than by their ethnic group as part of a broader effort to reduce ethnic tensions and prevent the recurrence of violence.
Rwanda is a special case. Rwandans don't have races not because of the genocide but because those so called races have no real grounds. For races to exist, people need to have borders( as in they live on separate land) , a different language at least. The colonisers created these races. It was so bad that some siblings ended up having different races. Also if your father was considered a Hutu you became a Hutu by default. Some women were asked to kill their kids and some killed them. This video doesn't cover the fact that colonisers created these races to pin Rwandans against each( divide and rule : where you create a conflict between people as decoy to extract the benefits all for yourself without them being united against you). Those races were created because colonisers couldn't break through the unity of Rwandans. It was all for a piece of bread as the saying goes in my country.
I lived in Rwanda for a while. I listened to so many testimony when I was there and it was HORRIFIC. Being Burundian (an neighbor country of rwanda) with a tied history I hope that neither Rwanda or Burundi will ever go through such times of violence and mass murder. Tutsi, Hutu or Twa doesn't mean anything we are just Rwandese and Burundians.
@@regulus9181 No, it does not. With the current government though the discrimination of Tutsis has increased. But generally that mindset is fading and younger generation are trying to get over it.
For those who are interested, there's a french novel (which had been translated in other languages since) called "Small Country" (Petit Pays) written by Gaël Faye and it tells the story of ten-years old Gaby who lives in Burundi during the Rwanda genocide with his family and witness the horror of the war coming to its country. It's beautiful and heartbreaking at the same time.
My parents survived the 1994 Tutsi genocide and I can hardly affirm the wounds have fully healed almost 30 years after. We’ve lost so many fam members and dears friends during the genocide!! The aftermath is often under estimated and almost as tragic as the the event in itself. Just a reminder of how much racial segregation and ethnic discrimination can lead up to catastrophic and tragic endings. #NEVER AGAIN😞😣
God be with you, and may your heart finds peace. I cannot begin to imagine what those terrible months, or years, were and have been like. I recall listening for news of Rwanda in '94, and feeling shame that my own government went out of its way to avoid even saying the word 'genocide', for fear we might actually have to do something about it. The world turned its back on Rwanda, and I, personally, am so very sorry. I can only pray your words, and those of people like you, will touch the hearts of those who hold bias against others, for any reason. We are all brothers and sisters, and we should love one another - not hate. I wish you well. :)
Sadly this type of division based on ethnicity and discrimination is still ongoing not just in Rwanda but other countries like in the Middle East and in Asia.
May all of ur family and friends that have died rest peacefully and I hope u find peace while u still live as I can imagine how awful that was to go through 🙏😔
Minor correction: 800,000 Tutsis were killed. About 300,000 Hutus and Twa were killed due to being considered Tutsi sympathizers. Edit: This might not be correct either. It is only one of several estimates.
@@Agent-ie3uvfyi Hotel Rwanda’s wildly inaccurate. I recommend reading accounts from people who were in the hotel, and the movie sometimes in April as it is more accurate. Hotel Rwanda as caused so much damage to the victims.
@@KillmongerX321 You have my sympathy and I get what your're saying. I only learned about the Indian Residential School System because I took an "optional" Native Studies course during high school. Why are these dark chapters in my own country's history not considered required learning? What happened to those poor kids was super messed up. 😢
@@maxleroux that’s crazy. history is written by the victors, I don’t think any nation likes admitting to atrocities they have caused. The whole subject of Slavery and civil rights was a 2 day lecture in history class lol
I think you did the right thing to turn down the real harshness of this genocide. I have read many books about Rwandan genocide and it's felt like a terrible nightmare to me.
This is like hearing my mom tell stories of the Nigerian Civil war. I mean you get it... But you don't fully understand it's horrors unless you lived it.
Just returned from Rwanda. I couldn't, for the life of me fathom these human horrors. I sped out of the memorial centre halfway through the tour. Simply incomprehensible considering what happened to kids.
Thank you for covering a horrific topic that many outside Africa don't know about and the animation was so captivating the animators must be given more credit Also Africa as a whole has learn from Rwanda about leaving behind prejudice and hatred toward each other
It was a rainny season when thousands of tutsi fled their shelters to hide in swamps so as not to be identified by their hutu neighbours , you tell me of a wannabe hero in a hotel hosting the propaganda radio fueling the genocide, rwandans are done with fatansies man. Tell that to the bourgeoisie. Actors dont become presidents. Rwanda got a real president thats why its on a development trail .
Rwanda has a gdp per capita of $850 (one of the lowest in the world) and has a severe overpopulation problem. Their on there way to become better with their current government but live still is harsh in rwanda
It is tragic when a society has become so violent, that the only way forward is some form of reconciliation, rather than conventional judicial justice. But as uncomfortable as it is, I think the story of Rwanda is such an important thought-provoking history lesson and has the potential to make us all a little bit wiser. Thank you for featuring this important chapter of history here! As a German, I consider it also an important part of the past of my own country. I am happy that we are at a point where we can discuss history openly and based on facts, rather than being trapped in a heroic view of our past. But I feel ashamed that we have done so little to mend the wounds we caused with our colonialism. Looking at our modern supply chains makes it even more clear: we have to come together as a global society and find a way to build trust and protect everyones rights. Otherwise we find ourselves in new and repeated conflicts. And for Germany, this means being more responsible, accountable, and humble. I think that would be a small price to pay for what we would win: each other.
Do you honestly believe in that, my german friend... We can openly discuss history, but the history is a bunch of lies that majority agreed for... There is no war where only 1 side is good and the second bad both are grey, this ain't a mouvie and I would sugest you Stop blaming your powerful ancestors for colonialism but start appreciating them for what they gave you a modern, powerful and rich country
Oh dear, heroic view of our past? I have never been trapped in that as a German. But I know history goes far back than the history of the past 100 years and in order to not invoke new conflicts on other things we must surrender it all to god honestly. There's countless people in Germany that support Putin's war now. And it wouldn't do anything to win each other. We need to win god's grace, Jesus love and his mercy on us as we're all sinners.
Also let's not forget the solution found being law, order, liberty, human rights, and justice. All of which are under pressure right now in the west due to various political groups believing they should have the right to judge others, and ignoring the wisdom of the past.
@@hungrymusicwolf When you are going after your neighbor with a machete, you might stop and consider what you are about to do. Not quite so drastic in the West, but we are headed that way, I agree.
@@theWZZA I am much more afraid of the subtle forms than the guys with a machete. People learn after a massacre so you only have to survive. The subtle beliefs of self-righteousness combined with a lack of humility are different. They cause a buildup of resentment and Us vs Them mentality that destroy humanitarian and democratic values. I fear those who believe themselves to be right and acting within their conscience more than the worst of criminals.
It's not insanity, it's years of divide et impera as well as propaganda. Belgians giving all the wealth and power to tribal/racial minority, leaving the majority underrepresented, speed up the impending boiling point tremendously. Dutch not moving a finger once the milk is spilled did not help.
@@megamastahthe power imbalance of Rwanda was well established before any colonization. But i hear u, marxist propaganda is very divisive and dangerous
The first time I’ve known about the Rwandan Genocide was in an HBO movie called “Sometimes in April”. I was shocked and horrified that something like this happened and that nobody from the outside world ever tried to stop it. Even to this day, I still wish we could’ve done something. 😢
Like what? Intervene? Somalia and Yugoslavia made the whole idea a bitter pill to swallow, with Libya, Syria, and now Sudan adding more reasons not to...
@@theotherohlourdespadua1131 You have a point, intervention isn't always the best course of action. In this specific case, maybe offering refuge to civilians could've helped.
If you read the Book "Left to tell" By one of the survivors, you'll cry. They were slaughtered in the churches and bodies mounted all over the street (mass graves) neighbors killed neighbors, childhood friend killed childhood friends. It's was a crazy
I watched a documentary years ago (gone now off yt) where they basically said that it started one day from a radio broadcast. People just dropped what they were doing and went outside and used machetes against neighbours . People they'd been friendly with the day before. It was horrendous
The last sequence of the graveyard was really heart trenching... Yet another nice short documentary by Ted-ed. I always wanted to know what exactly happened in Rwanda all those years ago.
I've already seen videos on this topic but still watched this one due to the signature animations and smooth narration. Great work as always... Also very cool how graphic the video was at times and how you don't stray away from the caricature drawing style
There is a Moroccan quote: "the one who knows fear will live", or "man yarif alkhaf yaish", a quote properly adapted to the entirety of Africa, which Morocco is part of. The meaning is "play it safe and careful within", but there is also another intepretation that is "if you want safe, make fear". The Rwandan genocide was born in fear, and the people perpetuated the genocide knew fears. So in order to live, they must make fear as weapon. In Africa today, people live because they still fear. But fear makes life unhappy and this resulted in more atrocities. It's only today that Rwanda has begun to leave behind fear to progress. But the rest of Africa remains a fearful continent, living within people's mind. If Africans can't abandon fear, more Rwanda moments will occur.
@@jarret5746 The actions of colonists were certainly a contributing factor, and this video briefly touched on the promotion and exploitation of ethnic division. The British used the same approach in India with Hindus and Muslims, and several European countries have used that approach in African populations.
@loki2240 Just sat that first sentence again. A contributing factor but not the direct cause. There was much division in Africa already before Colonialism was here.
Colonialism was terrible but it's not the answer to every question. Tribal violence was happening before European rule. A minority tribe ruled the majority tribe before the colonial period. The Europeans helped the minority tribe maintain their power. After the European's left the minority tribe could not maintain their dominance and that lead to this conflict.
exactly, Tutsis have been ruling the region for over 300 years, the video gives the notion that it was the european rulers who created the idea of Tutsi being rulers
I think the video also mentioned propaganda that the colonizers spread. It was the way that they instituted a system of their own in a land that was not adapted to it. The ruling classes of Africa weren't as harsh to their citizens as one were in europe (which is why we see so many french revolutions, Europe had a long issue with mistreated their lower classes). Its about how you treat people. The original ruling class didnt inforce things the was the colonizing leadership did. I see you point but theres more to it then "colonizers did it". This is an issue of economics that just so happens to have been carried one through colonization. But were it not for colonization, this issue MIGHT not have happened.
This conflict would not have happened had the Europeans not came. Tribal violence was happening, that may be so, but genocide most definitely was not happening.
What’s sad is that most of this history is forgotten even though being one of the most important event in the 90s, African history, and being the main reason for the first Congo war (African World War).
Spot on! Once I watched him in a tortured interview where he kept repeating that he will never acknowledge that there was genocide in Rwanda until the USA acknowledges that there was genocide on its own territory against Indians. I was stunned to see him repeat this conditionality like a broken record, as if the 2 histories are somehow intertwined. However, I believe your remark is more related to the troubling myth of the Noble Savage. This is highly relevant to this genocide because it strongly explains the crucial support and encouragement offered by Westerners to the genocidaires.
Noam Chomsky is a sick person. He views genocide as tools that can be used or denied to fit his political narrative and agenda. Instead of humanitarian atrocities that needs non-partisan and humane response
Rest in Peace beautiful souls💔🙏 Gone way too soon Prayers and best wishes to them, all of their families,friends and loved ones. There will be justice!!! Best wishes to all people of Rwanda ❤
The genocide had been a long-running project. Initiated in Rwanda in 1959, it was later extended to Burundi at various times. For example, recent research shows how genocidal militiamen started killing off the Tutsi population in 1972. To prepare for their attacks they had received training from the Tanzania regime in Kagunga Forest, at a site ordinarily used for training Mozambican rebels. They attacked simultaneously in several provinces (Rumonge, Bururi, Makamba, Cankuzo, Rutana, Bujumbura, Gitega), systematically killing all Tutsi people they could find. Occasionally they also killed Hutus who didn’t want to join them or whom they suspected might be Tutsi. Some passages: In Rumonge, the first victim was a teacher whose husband, also a teacher in Nkayamba, was named Simon. The militiamen mistook her for a Tutsi even though she was Hutu. Overnight they installed a roadblock very close to the courthouse while chanting slogans in the streets: “Mai Mulele!! Death to Micombero!! Long live Hutus!!” They killed a lot of people that night. According to news reports in the daily Flash-Infor, “all Tutsi civil servants in the province were killed: District commissioners, communal administrators, the prosecutor, assistant prosecutors, doctors, accountants, 40 people in all.” Among the victims were the district commissioner of Makamba, Isidore Zidona, the police chief in Rumonge, school principals, the prosecutor of Bururi, Jean Bikamba, and Thérence Rubati, a judge in Rumonge. Also murdered were doctors including Dr. Cyprien Simbiyara and other medical personnel and teachers. Other victims in Rumonge were the Bukemba commune administrator Etienne Njayobiri and the secretary of the Uprona party, Mr. Rungarunga. The militiamen also killed an Arab named Mohamed Amdan. They had allegedly asked him for gasoline to burn down homes and he refused. This resulted in his execution together with the wife and two children of the administrator Damas Nyambere. Then the rebels attacked the police headquarters and the courthouse. They killed everyone who had taken refuge there. At the extreme south of the shoreline, Nyanza-Lac was also attacked on the same day of April 29. Around 6:30 p.m., the rebels wielding machetes and wearing palm leaves on their heads came from Rwaba where they had spent their last sessions of the “magical immunization” ritual. Let us listen in this regard to the witness who was part of this movement: “It was Saturday April 29, 1972; we were around the Rwaba River. This is where I underwent the ritual of baptism by magic water. Around 6 p.m., we left this place to carry out attacks in the center of Nyanza-Lac. We started with three targets: The police station, the marketplace, and the residence of some French people. When we arrived where the BCB bank stands today, our chief ordered us to take three directions: "Chez Daniel" where some civil servants were gathered, the police station, and where the French telecommunication technicians lived.” A witness who escaped the scene remembers it: “We were walking along the road. We saw people lined up from Rwaba running at a jog. They were repeating a song that said “Mchaka Mchaka Kill”. I thought they were soldiers on a military maneuver. They wore palm leaves on their heads and carried new machetes. It looked like a ritual. As they got closer they were chanting, Long Live Hutus!! Death to Tutsis!! They took a man from the restaurant and beheaded him. After seeing this, I fled through the bush. Once at some distance, I saw police commander Misigaro and I asked myself why he was there. He left shortly afterwards.” [Donatien Misigaro was the Hutu police chief who had sponsored the militiamen. He had all Tutsi police officers who served under his orders disarmed and executed that day!] The militiamen then massacred all the Tutsi civil servants gathered at "Daniel’s", including the administrator of Vugizo Frédéric Niyonizigiye and the assistant district commissioner, Léonidas Basumbwa. However the first person killed was a Hutu named Kebumpa because he had refused to join the militiamen. Also targeted was a Hutu administrator from Nyanza-Lac, Thomas Sayumwe, reputed to be a “friend” of President Micombero. But he managed to escape death. The rebels went to look for him at home only to find out that he had already gone in hiding. Instead they killed his child who was still in bed. They also killed a Hutu agricultural engineer, called Dative. The police force included about 10 Tutsi officers. These were all executed at nightfall around 6:30 p.m. Their chief, Donatien Misigaro, had taken away their guns which he put in storage. Also killed was Commander Mbonihankuye who had travelled there to bring the monthly pay for the police station. Afterwards, the rebels took their weapons. On Sunday 30, the massacres continued in Rumonge and Nyanza-Lac. In Rumonge, the rebels took people to the marketplace to be executed. Some people hid in the bush and others were hidden by Hutus who did not join the [genocide] movement. A witness says that his [Hutu] father-in-law hid two Tutsi girls whose father was a police commander in Rumonge and who had been killed at the start. An old Hutu man named Manyuzi hid the two wives of a Tutsi man named Gapawa. Around Rumonge, the rebels massacred any Tutsi person they encountered. In Kigwena, because many young people from this locality were involved in the [genocide] movement, they seized a Peugeot truck from the friars at Kigwena Parish for transportation. The driver Epimaque moved the rebels on the Rumonge-Nyanza-Lac road under the supervision of Magenge. He was helped by Denis Mafungufungu with his own Peugeot while flying the green-red flag of the movement. Adolphe Nyandwi brought reinforcements from the rebels towards Bujumbura. But when they arrived at Kanyosha, they were forced to turn back. In Nyanza-Lac, the rebels killed Secretary Rukanka. He was a slender Hutu. He was a victim of his physique because in their understanding anyone that tall was Tutsi. They massacred indiscriminately Tutsi men, women and children as well as Hutus who looked like them. Let us listen to a witness who was a Mulelist [the genocide militia]: “We eliminated Tutsis: Tutsi men, women and children, as well as Hutus who resembled them in appearance or size”.
Genuinely shocked at the deleting of my comments by Ted-Ed as I was pointing out that the “Rwanda Genocide” term is typically used by genocide deniers. This is because it conveniently doesn’t acknowledge that the main victims of the Genocide were Tutsis, and although Twas and Hutus (especially Muslim Hutus, many refused to kill Tutsis) were also killed, it wasn’t for their ethnicity, but for their association with Tutsis. They deserve their flowers for their courage - but only Tutsis were murdered simply for being Tutsis. This is why Rwandans refer to the genocide as the “1994 Genocide against the Tutsis in Rwanda”, and genociders typically refer to it as “Rwandan Genocide” or “Rwandan War”, as it diminishes their atrocities against the Tutsi and try to equate the RPF stopping the Genocide to their eradication efforts. It is highly likely that this wasn’t on purpose from Ted-Ed, but I am genuinely saddened to see that they keep deleting this particular comment. It is now the third time I post this point.
You may need to carefully choose the words you use and censor some words, the RUclips algorithm may be detecting this, or as a second option, Ted-Ed deletes your comments. 😬 By the way, I didn't understand a lot of things about this video. Because the words used are so foreign. :/,I don't understand why there was war, genocide. Apart from my own history, I think I should be interested in world history as well.
@@pozitifvenegatif Tough to give satisfactory explanations in this forum. But you did well to be specific about what you do not understand. If I may attempt an answer: Why there was war? Starting in *1959 and through 1990,* a lot of the Tutsi population had been killed off by the government. Half the survivors had been expelled from the country. For those decades, they had taken refuge in neighboring countries and had been prohibited by the rulers in Rwanda from ever again returning home. They saw this as a grave injustice on top of being massacred while still in country, before survivors were able to escape. The exile had been oppressive: Decades of living in refugee camps with restrictions and being periodically threatened with expulsion by the host countries. The refugees never saw this situation as acceptable. Many of them decided to help put an end to it by force because patience and pleadings had not led anywhere. Meanwhile in Rwanda, there were even Hutus who had been systematically oppressed by the anti-Tutsi regime. Among them, many joined the movement that launched a war against the regime in 1990. A quick victory would have deprived the regime the time it needed to prepare and carry out yet another genocide episode. But victory wasn’t swift as it should have been because the rulers went straight to the French government for military assistance against the attacking force. That military assistance (Operation Noroit) caused the war to drag on for several years. It was during those years (1990 - 1994) that the genocide was prepared, rehearsed and finally unleashed in 1994.
You think too much. English speakers just want a catchy phrase of a recognizable name so they just use that eventhough it's not truly accurate. It happened too long ago before the accurate term come out so nobody want or care to change it.
Over the past few years it’s become abundantly clear that the liberal wing of the Washington establishment wants to rehabilitate the Hutu power opposition to look like the humanitarian side to western eyes. This is what the west does, they play off ethnic differences to maintain control, we’re just lucky we live in an age where parts of africa are rising and america is crumbling
It's also worth noting that in 1994 Rwanda was a non-permanent member of the UN Security Council which made it more difficult for the UN to try and intervene when the Hutu government had such a powerful seat.
I don't understand how anyone could mercilessly kill so many innocent people in such cruel and unusual ways. I understand the process intellectually and historically, but i can't put myself in the headspace of someone who's willing and wanting to commit such atrocities. I remember a story my uncle told my dad (who later told me) about his time in El Salvador during the time of the death squads. He said that, when the death squads had come to his village, the only way he survived was by playing dead in a pile of bodies. I just don't understand how you could do that to people, it doesn't make any sense
This would have ended very differently if not for the Blackhawk Down incident, which caused the US to be very apprehensible about deploying soldiers in Africa. Understandable, but even more so unfortunate.
America was involved just no boots on the ground, the president america is slowly turning more and more against was actually trained in america. Just watch over the next couple years and america is gonna be back cause right beside rwanda is one of the most resource rich areas in the world and more importantly what is needed to make electric cars and new tech
I'm from Mauritius Island. I still remember all my childhood in South Africa, Rwanda, Namibia, Kenya, Congo, Nigeria, Ghana and Cameroun. My parents were Doctors Without Borders in Africa, Serena McCluskey and Henry McCluskey. One day when we were in Rwanda, some Government Officials in helicopter came to us with automatic guns and force me and my parents to get on the helicopter and flew us straight to the airport. Years later while watching two movies called "Tears Of The Sun" and "Hotel Rwanda" i knew what happened and why we were forced to get on the helicopter.
The fact the International community saw this conflict and mass murder and did nothing, sickens me. They even refused to acknowledge it, and even took away people who could massively help in resolving it. So much for a global organization meant to 'help' countries. At least they have improved now.
Yes. The international community not only ignored what was happening in Rwanda; I know the US State Dept. practically broke their heads attempting to avoid using the word 'genocide', as acknowledging the true situation would, under UN rules, compel the international community to act. There was no 'compelling interests' in Rwanda to make it worth the effort. The UN is only as effective as the countries represented care to be. It has no standing military; it relies on member states for that. And, it's to the world's shame that nothing was done, and even those UN forces that were determined to stay, were severely limited in what they could accomplish, try as they did.
@@curiousworld7912 They didn't ignore anything. They let it happen to give Kagame to seize power with his army. America was on his side at that time, so the UNO was
Yaaas!!! Ted-ED is one of my favourite RUclips channels. Keep going, with your amazing graphics, animations and information. You don’t know how many students and grandmas you’re helping.
Very sad indeed. But it amazes me that when there is bloodshed in Africa its always blamed on the west & colonialism yet there is proof of inter tribal warfare and animosity way before settlers even arrived.
It literally says that this was caused by colonialism. Just like what these Europeans did to Israel and Palestine. It clearly states these people lived comfortably amongst themselves but the Europeans pit them against each other. Sounds familiar.......
I read somewhere that "History doesn't repeat itself but it often rhymes" and I have never understood this until this video. The same genocide, different circumstances, different settings and the ignorance of many self-claimed international human rights bodies are happening AS I write THIS. Even though the Rwandan genocide was before our time and we couldn't do anything to help, we can prevent the same thing happening in Gaza from getting any worse. We can raise awareness, protest, make donations, and PRESSURE our leaders to do something. The pity and sadness we feel watching this video, we can make up for by being human towards Palestinians.
This is why hate speech should not be protected under freedom of speech. Words are powerful, and have the power to indoctrinate, which can turn neighbors against each other
@@ronanregan1478 Talking bad and threatening and encouraging people to kill are not the same thing. Rwanda did the latter, that is not protected free speech to threaten to kill people.
1:04 I think the Belgians were actually right by accident here. You can find old records of Hutu becoming Tutsi after getting status and wealth and some families even held a ceremony when it happened to one of their own. So while the three groups might have been ethnic groups, it probably is closer to something between the Indian caste system (you're often born into it) and the Victorian British social class (in the sense that it was possible to get into the upper class just by getting rich). After all, if they were truly ethnic groups, it doesn't make sense for someone not born Tutsi to become Tutsi later in life. If I had to guess, in the 18th century and earlier people probably thought of a ruling class and commoners when they heard of Tutsi and Hutu rather than ethnic gorups.
Various genetic tests have shown them to be two distinct groups but by the 18th century they had already intermarried and integrated for several centuries and it became more a cultural identifier from what I have read
Nah, just realised how seeds of poison can be planted so easily in common unware people's minds(even if they initially have had good relationships) by those in power.
This is a very simplyfing presentation of what happend in 1990-1994 and further in Rwanda, you should listen to the people in Rwanda, listen, listen ...
When I was in middle school we had to pair up for a social studies assignment where we would give a presentation about a country and the selection process was drawing from a cup. We got Rwanda and the research was a wild ride 😅
The whole should know more about Rwandan Jenocide in order to learn more about this tragic and devastating history just because history is the reason that we live aside that determine our entire life and we should learn from it in order to cultivate our own in good manner . This history must leave a reason for the whole world residences to say never again Jenocide again.
I, as an Indian... Always felt sympathetic towards Africans... The entire continent was scorched and destroyed by European colonizers... I always pray for their prosperity.. Love to all Africans, from India❤
Even I felt the same...these British colonizers used the same tactics of division between Hindus and Muslims and look what bloodshed and massacre happened during partition...many families in both the sides are still left scarred...
why do u say that? it was rwuandans killing rwuandans! why blame european colonizers? did any belgian or german force hutus to kill tutsis? cant always blame the west for everything! twuanda could have turned away from european models but decided to continue
Please note that the new government of Rwanda kidnapped and tried Paul Rusesabagina, who saved over a thousand Hutu and Tutsi refugees during the genocide. Also note that when this same government invaded the Congo, suddenly over 200,000 fleeing Hutu refugees “disappeared”. I am not a revisionist, I simply want people to know that the conflict is far from being resolved, and the new dictatorial regime has been and can be just as bloody.
@@thestealth2448if you think the west has depicted Kagame as a hero, you are not paying attention. He is an authoritative figure, that what Africa needs. Tough love.
The one who save Tutsi is isn't rusesabagina just for pay him as manager searching captain Mbaye diagne nationality Senegalese He is Rwandan hero not Paul , Paul he did it as Bisness for money
I'm curious about this: I've seen that Hutus and Tutsis also are the main groups in Burundi (or that in Burundi also exists this distincion), and, since in the plane taken down by Rwandans to kill their president also the president of Burundi died. Why didn't the genocide also spread to Burundi? Or did it happen but in a lower magnitude? I find it an interesting question.
This shows that genocide plans were already in place in Rwanda (but not in Burundi) and were simply waiting for a pretext to be activated. The elimination of a president doesn’t by itself produce genocide. For example there was no genocide in 1976 when President Habyarimana neutralized President Kayibanda by starving him out.
My grandpa is a Rwandan genocide denier. I have no idea why. We live in Wales, have no connection to Rwanda and he isn't a conspiracy kind of guy in general. He has never been to Rwanda or met a Rwandan yet in his house he has pages of documents 'proving the hoax', such as a full script for the movie Hotel Rwanda with a bunch of random letters from the words highlighted showing the secret messages' from the director. He says that Paul Kagame doesn't exist and that 'every picture of bodies 'is clearly in Burundi' and has huge printouts of aerial photographs of Burundi to prove it. Not sure what he has against Rwanda but if you bring it up to him he calls you a 'Tutsi LIAR'
I was actually born during apartheid. So was my husband. We have Hotel Rwanda. I was forced to watch it when I was 16 for confirmation class. My husband was forced to watch the opening of Saving Private Ryan
What a sad sad story. The unfortunate inability to get along with one another though you are nearly and clearly very much alike: Tutsi and Hutu. God have mercy. And of course a foreign power has no idea of the local culture whatsoever. Their fault is greed. The Rwandan fault is lack of being responsible for it's action. Everyone wants to change the world, but no one is willing to change themself. So so so sad. So many lives lost.
Hutus had been enslaving, starving, sacrificing & killing all the men of Tutsi & other tribes for centuries before any Europeans entered africa. This argument goes back around 500-850 years. Hopefully it will end soon & there will be peace for all.
My mother was a missionary in Rwanda before the genocide. We were watching an old home movie showing her playing and teaching some young boys. They were also playing with a soccer ball on a Sunny day. Those two boys were murdered during the genocide. I could see the pain in my mother's eye when she was watching the film. I'm hoping one day we can live in a world where this never happens.
Excellent video but TED has a tendency to blame every African atrocity on colonialism. Colonialism was no doubt terrible but to attribute disasters to it even when there's only a vague connection minimizes it
Not one single native population anywhere in the world has fared better under colonial rule or after it than it would have if left alone, on the contrary, most have tasted bitter discord and strife at one time or another because of it. Even the creolized transplanted colonizers have come to hate it, that's how the United States and the independent nations of South America were born.
@@JorgeHernandez-lu1mi Vital facts: The Europeans were never the only ones who committed the acts of colonization & colonialism. Also colonization and colonialism did not start in the 15th century CE.
Some very important details are missing in the video about the origin of Hutu and Tutsi. You'll find the following text in one of the very first sections in the Genocide museum: Rwanda had 18 clans - the categories Hutu, Tutsi, Twa were social economic classifications within the clan - in 1932 an identity card system was introduced which classified people depending on the number of cows they had - Anyone with ten cows was called Tutsi - Anyone with less than 10 cows was called Hutu And so the division started.
@@karinasnooodles_tf that gotta do with israel? What's happening there is not a genocide and the US was right Yall r just so naive and can't believe that death in this case is inevitable A country like Israel is more than capable of killing 100s of thousand within days if killing the innocent civilians was its goal
This is now the 5th time I’m posting this. The commend was as below: Genuinely shocked at the deleting of my comments by Ted-Ed as I was pointing out that the “Rwanda Genocide” term is typically used by genocide deniers. This is because it conveniently doesn’t acknowledge that the main victims of the Genocide were Tutsis, and although Twas and Hutus (especially Muslim Hutus, many refused to kill Tutsis) were also killed, it wasn’t for their ethnicity, but for their association with Tutsis. They deserve their flowers for their courage - but only Tutsis were murdered simply for being Tutsis. This is why Rwandans refer to the genocide as the “1994 Genocide against the Tutsis in Rwanda”, and genociders typically refer to it as “Rwandan Genocide” or “Rwandan War”, as it diminishes their atrocities against the Tutsi and try to equate the RPF stopping the Genocide to their eradication efforts. It is highly likely that this wasn’t on purpose from Ted-Ed, but I am genuinely saddened to see that they keep deleting this particular comment.
@@absolutezippo7542Tf do you want a source for? We've seen it before our eyes and you'd rather believe a source made by the same people that abandoned us while we were being massacred than the REAL survivors?
@@absolutezippo7542 You can try going to Rwanda and check it out from there or check minubumwe.gov.rw and go to KWIBUKA section and learn it is that simple
I'm taken aback more by how easily a government can pit 2 friendly sides against each other, causing all this damage without suffering any casualties themselves. I know there's more to the instigation but seriously, imagine if America wanted to do that.
Literally the oldest move in the Politics Book is "decide you want This group to support you, so you teach them to hate/fear That group and then promise you'll Do Something to take human rights away from That group"
@@pluspipingThis is the exact recipe the genocidaires in Rwanda followed to the letter. Every word of it. Downright eerie! Whether we’re talking about habyara, kayibanda or, before them, harroy, perraudin, logiest.. None of them ever deviated from the formula.
This completely ignored the massive hand the French had in funding and arming the Rwandan government carrying out the genocide. Don't take my word for it. Look it up yourself. A startling truth.
@Ted-Ed thank you for a making this video to shed light on on the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi, but I am afraid some of the facts here may not need some fact-checking and updating. at 0:41, you mentioned in the video that in precolonial Rwanda, the Tutsi, Hutu, and Twa were ethnic groups. This is not correct, they were considered social classes not ethnic groups! They only became ethnic groups after the colonization. Ethnic groups have different language, culture, and history. This wasn't true for this time in history, because different cousins for example could be in either social class ( Hutu or Tutsi), but still spoke the same language, had the same culture, and were all under one king. Secondly, you mention that at 3:22 that 800 000 Rwandans were killed. It is important to make the distinction between Rwandans and exact numbers (or close to exact) of Tutsi and Hutu that were killed because the ambiguity can be seen as a form of genocide denial. Additionally, dwindling the death toll is also a subtle form of genocide denial. Official Rwandan government reports consider the death toll of the Tutsi to be close to 1 million. I would urge you to reach out to Rwandan officials in government or the Genocide Memorial in Kigali to fact check these numbers. I don't mean to discredit the animation, cause I think it is an honest attempt to telling the story, but getting the facts right is important to honoring this history especially in the wake of rampant denial of the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi. The best way to know what happened to the Rwandans is to go to Rwanda and speak to the Rwandans themselves.
Just curious, if all of them belonged to the same race, spoke the same languages & were of the same religion - how did the killers identify who is a Hutu/ Twa & who is a Tutsi to (sadly) attack?
Everyone in Rwanda had an identity card assigning them their caste (Hutu, Tutsi or Twa). Even if you could not produce your ID card, because Rwanda is a small, densely populated country, people knew each other's caste due to living side-by-side with them.
There is some archetypical physical differnces but those are not 100 % accurate, far from that. Other than that, people know each other in Rwanda. No need for ID to know who is Tutsi, who is Hutu
I was 4yrs old when this happened. I was too young to understand what was going on so as I got older I made sure to research and educate myself. I'm so heartbroken! This would have never happened if it wasn't for white colonialism. Rwanda was living in peace before the Europeans invaded and took over. I love my Rwandan brothers and sisters and may God continue to protect and watch over those lost in heaven. ❤
I've just been reading about Afghanistan in the 90's. While all the tribes in Afghanistan had received assistance from the US to resist the Soviet Union, it was the Taliban in the south that decided it could perform a bloody campaign to take over the whole country and Pakistan decided to assist them in doing it. It was a massacre that rivaled the Bosnian wars. The non-Taliban tribes formed a government and resisted the Taliban twice before Kabul finally fell. It is really really tiring to hear people constantly blame England and the United States for all the world's conflicts. Countries like Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Iran and China are assisting these conflicts all the time. It's just rarely gets reported until it's over.
Hutus and Tutsi might have been created (as separate ethnicities) by the European powers. It wasn’t really an ethnic division in the first place more so a class division. They’re genetically similar and the difference in “features” would be that the Tutsis were taller and fairer in complexion due to nutrition and less work in the fields as the upper class.
Europeans didn't invent ethnicity. They have just always existed. People from all around the world can detect racial and ethnic differences of other people around the world.
@@benstallone6784 They formalized a contientenal conception of race. Premodern people had much different ways of conceptualizing ancestry, nationality, and heritage. Yes modern "scientific" racism grew out of certain preexisting tendencies, but it very much developed into its own specific thing. Its simply become so pervasive people have a hard time imagining anything different.
It already existed. The Tutsi were already the ruling class of the area that included Rwanda and the Hutu the working class majority. I argue that European notions of race reinforces the Tutsi's claim that they are destined to rule over the Hutu. It's no different from Arab-descended Egyptians claiming they have the right to rule over Sudan or the Boers have a right to rule over the natives. Take note, colonialism doesn't always mean the invaders administer the places they conquer, more often than not the local ruling class collaborated with them to a win-win situation where the invaders get to add more territory to their domain and the local elites get to keep their position and wealth...
@@theotherohlourdespadua1131 why then identity cards? Did you know that the colonial chiefs used to measure people's noses, heights, etc.. and for what?
1 question: in that the neighbouring 'twin' country of 🇧🇮Burundi that had same colonial history & exactly the same demographic makeup (83% Hutu, 15% Tutsi & 1% Twa) - why did Burundi manage to successfully avoid any kind of civil wars or genocide that 🇷🇼Rwanda had to face with post-independence?
Burundi did have a civil war (1993-2005) and a genocide in 1972 called the Ikza after their independence in 1962. Around 100,000-300,000 people were killed during the genocide. The ethnic violence during the civil war in 1993 led to around 116,000 deaths.
The fundamental reason is the fact that in those countries, genocide is not a bottom-up phenomenon, but a top-down undertaking. There was genocide in Rwanda starting in 1959 largely because an archbishop named Perraudin was at the helm of the all-powerful Catholic Church in Rwanda. He mobilized the rest of the colonial establishment and composed the genocide manifesto to be printed out on his presses and distributed in 1957. He then recruited local henchmen among his Hutu employees, especially his own Secretary by the name of Kayibanda, and others. From there the genocide party named “Parmehutu” (meaning _‘Hutus only; no Tutsis allowed’)_ was set up with a local face. It was at the forefront of genocidal campaigns and was placed in power at independence in 1962, with Kayibanda as president. On the other hand, there was no genocide in Burundi in the 1950s because there was no Perraudin there. Instead, the genocide practice took root in Rwanda over several years in the 1950s and 1960s. It was ultimately exported to Burundi only in 1965. That’s when the Parmehutu regime invited to Rwanda some crooked Burundian politicians who were led by one Paul Mirerekano. Together they fomented the very 1st genocide campaign in Burundi, which they launched on October 19th, 1965. Starting on this date, they systematically killed all the people they accused of being Tutsis in central Burundi, mainly using a militia force specially trained for that purpose and named _“The Mirerekano Youth.”_ That’s how the odious practice was extended from Rwanda to Burundi from that year on. Several episodes of it would follow over subsequent decades.
@TED-Ed please please please, refer to the genocide as “The genocide perpetrated against the Tutsi” as that is the official title that the UN and the Rwandan government and its people use. Thank you 🙏🏾
@InvaderRym-tv8yw Human Accomplishment: The Pursuit of Excellence in the arts and sciences Are you attempting to poke a hole in my argument? Gonna ask me to clarify something? I should implore you that I was top of my debate club in high school. So good luck with that. 90% of human accomplishment occurred in West Europe
This video has certain phrasing that is really weird. Such as ignoring the Hutu/Tutsi conflict pre colonialism (altho colonialism definitely made it much much worse), or saying the Genocide was so they "stayed in power", ignoring the Genocide was planned for months through the creation of militias and shipment and distribution of machetes with the very well timed assassination of the president (most likely by his wife and her extremist political party). Or the execution of moderates in office inmediately after, or how the government was so hyper focused on genocide the RPF literally just steamrolled through the coutry. The genocide wasnt just a political power grab, it was a singular focus of extermination resulting from racism and hatred.
I have a rwandan friend, she's a young women in her mid 20s so she wasn't born during the genocide but her parents lived through it. I remember asking her whether she was hutu or tutsi, and she looked uncomfortable by the question and told me she didn't know, although I think she knew but just didn't want to answer.
This is video is very informative. You explained very well in a short time. I've read about it in a magazine. Please can you make a video about Bangladesh liberation war of 1971? I'll be very grateful to you, Ted ed.
@@MrHowhot Thanks but I think they just described the Indo pak war of 1971 which started in December. But the then East Pakistan was already at war with west Pakistan which started in 26 March.
It was the law of the land at that time. The state had never regarded it as a crime. Not doing it was the crime. That’s how a genocidal state is, regrettably.
They literally dropped what they were doing one day and after hearing a call on the radio, got machetes and started butchering neighbours . Women, chikdren, friends. It was pure e vil. There used to be a documentary where they interviewed survivors. Kids literally climbed under likes of dismembered bodies to play dead.
For your own information, It is completely wrong to say 800,000 Tutsis were killed, it is 1,000,074+ Tutsis who were killed in 1994. otherwise is considered genocide denial. The second thing is, 300,000 weren't killed for being Tutsi sympathizers as many have mentioned above, that's a way of genocide denial.
There were not as many Tutsis in the country at that time .... Population was around 7 500 000 people and Tutsi were like 10 to 15 % of the population ... So if you do the math ... c
To clarify, the 800,000 casualties mentioned at minute 3:19 in this video were specifically Tutsi.
ok 👌
800k accounted... there are thousands lost in the rivers and forests never to be accounted for, whole families extinguished. 800k is a spit on the face to us survivors
make one about whats happining in GAZA
How did so many Tutsi die when the Hutu were the ones in the majority rising up, but the invading army was Tutsi?
@@TreysorableThe genocidaires were not ‘rising up.’ They held exclusive control over everything, including 99% of the territory at the outset. The tutsi population didn’t just dye. The genocidaires deliberately set out to exterminate it fully and nearly succeeded. The resistance force that you mention at the end had to fight a large pro-genocide army in order to reach massacre sites and rescue some survivors. This required time (3 months overall) and great personal sacrifice.
It is also important to note that the Rwandan government has made it a policy to refer to all citizens as Rwandans rather than by their ethnic group as part of a broader effort to reduce ethnic tensions and prevent the recurrence of violence.
It's important to note that all governments are treasonous and are more guilty than those they claim to persecute.
This is what I wished Nigeria would do. Our ethnicity divides us when it should be our greatest strength.
Still in many countries putting your Ethnic or Tribal group on Censuses and applications and ID is required. Can't we all just be HUMAN after all 🤔
Rwanda is a special case. Rwandans don't have races not because of the genocide but because those so called races have no real grounds. For races to exist, people need to have borders( as in they live on separate land) , a different language at least.
The colonisers created these races. It was so bad that some siblings ended up having different races. Also if your father was considered a Hutu you became a Hutu by default. Some women were asked to kill their kids and some killed them.
This video doesn't cover the fact that colonisers created these races to pin Rwandans against each( divide and rule : where you create a conflict between people as decoy to extract the benefits all for yourself without them being united against you).
Those races were created because colonisers couldn't break through the unity of Rwandans. It was all for a piece of bread as the saying goes in my country.
This is exactly what Cyprus needs.... They are not Greek nor Turkish.
I lived in Rwanda for a while. I listened to so many testimony when I was there and it was HORRIFIC. Being Burundian (an neighbor country of rwanda) with a tied history I hope that neither Rwanda or Burundi will ever go through such times of violence and mass murder. Tutsi, Hutu or Twa doesn't mean anything we are just Rwandese and Burundians.
I am Rwandan
Does the Burundi government still require NGOs to report in their official papers all of their employees' tribes?
Didn’t the same happen in Burundi on a smaller scale? Or am I mistaken?
@@malegria9641
Yes, it's lesser known.
@@regulus9181 No, it does not. With the current government though the discrimination of Tutsis has increased. But generally that mindset is fading and younger generation are trying to get over it.
For those who are interested, there's a french novel (which had been translated in other languages since) called "Small Country" (Petit Pays) written by Gaël Faye and it tells the story of ten-years old Gaby who lives in Burundi during the Rwanda genocide with his family and witness the horror of the war coming to its country. It's beautiful and heartbreaking at the same time.
There's also the Don Cheadle movie, Hotel Rwanda
@9709Nick that movie is insanely inaccurate and more fiction than non fiction. Highly recommend shooting Dogs instead.
@@9709Nickthat’s no movie of reference. They’d rather listen to survivors’ stories
The french were the ppl most responsible for it
@@Bell_plejdo568p No they were not.
My parents survived the 1994 Tutsi genocide and I can hardly affirm the wounds have fully healed almost 30 years after. We’ve lost so many fam members and dears friends during the genocide!! The aftermath is often under estimated and almost as tragic as the the event in itself. Just a reminder of how much racial segregation and ethnic discrimination can lead up to catastrophic and tragic endings. #NEVER AGAIN😞😣
God be with you, and may your heart finds peace. I cannot begin to imagine what those terrible months, or years, were and have been like. I recall listening for news of Rwanda in '94, and feeling shame that my own government went out of its way to avoid even saying the word 'genocide', for fear we might actually have to do something about it. The world turned its back on Rwanda, and I, personally, am so very sorry. I can only pray your words, and those of people like you, will touch the hearts of those who hold bias against others, for any reason. We are all brothers and sisters, and we should love one another - not hate. I wish you well. :)
Sadly this type of division based on ethnicity and discrimination is still ongoing not just in Rwanda but other countries like in the Middle East and in Asia.
@@itsblitz4437 Very true. Even the West is not immune from this terrible way of looking at the 'other'.
May all of ur family and friends that have died rest peacefully and I hope u find peace while u still live as I can imagine how awful that was to go through 🙏😔
@@curiousworld7912 so true.
Minor correction: 800,000 Tutsis were killed. About 300,000 Hutus and Twa were killed due to being considered Tutsi sympathizers.
Edit: This might not be correct either. It is only one of several estimates.
Thanks for sharing, it's so important to understand those number to see the true power of drestuction human kind has
Hotel Rwanda is one of my favorite movies of all time 🎉🎥
@@Agent-ie3uvfyi Hotel Rwanda’s wildly inaccurate. I recommend reading accounts from people who were in the hotel, and the movie sometimes in April as it is more accurate. Hotel Rwanda as caused so much damage to the victims.
😢
@@Agent-ie3uvHotel Rwanda is not accurate.
This brings back memories. When I was in high school, we watched Hotel Rwanda (2004) a few times in class to learn about this tragic genocide.
Imagine being the only African student in class… the ignorance of my fellow classmates really was in full display
@@KillmongerX321 You have my sympathy and I get what your're saying. I only learned about the Indian Residential School System because I took an "optional" Native Studies course during high school. Why are these dark chapters in my own country's history not considered required learning? What happened to those poor kids was super messed up. 😢
@@maxleroux that’s crazy. history is written by the victors, I don’t think any nation likes admitting to atrocities they have caused. The whole subject of Slavery and civil rights was a 2 day lecture in history class lol
I was in Middle School, when I saw it.
@@KillmongerX321 We studied slavery longer than that when I was in school in the 1990s.
I think you did the right thing to turn down the real harshness of this genocide. I have read many books about Rwandan genocide and it's felt like a terrible nightmare to me.
Even those books cannot truly grasp the horror of the Rwandan Genocide.
This is like hearing my mom tell stories of the Nigerian Civil war. I mean you get it... But you don't fully understand it's horrors unless you lived it.
@@bartsfartandshart very true.
Wild how they were able to blame colonization for it
that was the causation if they were never colonized and forced to operate off of ethnicity none of this wouldve happened@@zzz-nu2re
Going to the Genocide Museum in Rwanda is still one of the hardest things I’ve ever done in my life. Please read the accounts from survivors. Kwibuka.
Just returned from Rwanda. I couldn't, for the life of me fathom these human horrors. I sped out of the memorial centre halfway through the tour. Simply incomprehensible considering what happened to kids.
Thank you for covering a horrific topic that many outside Africa don't know about and the animation was so captivating the animators must be given more credit
Also Africa as a whole has learn from Rwanda about leaving behind prejudice and hatred toward each other
Africa hasn't learned much, that's wishful thinking.
Some of the Tutsis survived by hiding in a hotel, run by Paul Rusesabagina. The film, Hotel Rwanda, depicted this starring Don Cheadle
It's not accurate though
It was a rainny season when thousands of tutsi fled their shelters to hide in swamps so as not to be identified by their hutu neighbours , you tell me of a wannabe hero in a hotel hosting the propaganda radio fueling the genocide, rwandans are done with fatansies man. Tell that to the bourgeoisie. Actors dont become presidents. Rwanda got a real president thats why its on a development trail .
Its amazing how much Rwanda has progressed since those horrible times.
Ha
Rwanda has a gdp per capita of $850 (one of the lowest in the world) and has a severe overpopulation problem. Their on there way to become better with their current government but live still is harsh in rwanda
I mean, they arent doing genoside but still isnt very good.
@@msmit3669At least it's getting better.
They trying to be like singapore today, but I highly doubt it.
I like how the animation style is so simple, but can also look bloody whenever scenes of massacre are shown.
wait I don't wanna be that guy but damn I never Got these much likes 😙
It is tragic when a society has become so violent, that the only way forward is some form of reconciliation, rather than conventional judicial justice. But as uncomfortable as it is, I think the story of Rwanda is such an important thought-provoking history lesson and has the potential to make us all a little bit wiser. Thank you for featuring this important chapter of history here!
As a German, I consider it also an important part of the past of my own country. I am happy that we are at a point where we can discuss history openly and based on facts, rather than being trapped in a heroic view of our past. But I feel ashamed that we have done so little to mend the wounds we caused with our colonialism. Looking at our modern supply chains makes it even more clear: we have to come together as a global society and find a way to build trust and protect everyones rights. Otherwise we find ourselves in new and repeated conflicts. And for Germany, this means being more responsible, accountable, and humble. I think that would be a small price to pay for what we would win: each other.
Do you honestly believe in that, my german friend...
We can openly discuss history, but the history is a bunch of lies that majority agreed for...
There is no war where only 1 side is good and the second bad both are grey, this ain't a mouvie and I would sugest you
Stop blaming your powerful ancestors for colonialism but start appreciating them for what they gave you a modern, powerful and rich country
@@yomama6761 Yes, I do believe what I wrote. I am not dangerously oblivious due to blind scepticism.
What a lovely heartfelt comment ❤ we really do need to win each other 😌
I think yours' is a well-put statement. :)
Oh dear, heroic view of our past? I have never been trapped in that as a German. But I know history goes far back than the history of the past 100 years and in order to not invoke new conflicts on other things we must surrender it all to god honestly. There's countless people in Germany that support Putin's war now. And it wouldn't do anything to win each other. We need to win god's grace, Jesus love and his mercy on us as we're all sinners.
It is also important to connect the events in Rwanda to what was happening in Congo for years prior. And afterwards. The conflict continues in Congo.
Humans are capable of acts of mass insanity, let that not be forgotten.
Also let's not forget the solution found being law, order, liberty, human rights, and justice. All of which are under pressure right now in the west due to various political groups believing they should have the right to judge others, and ignoring the wisdom of the past.
@@hungrymusicwolf When you are going after your neighbor with a machete, you might stop and consider what you are about to do. Not quite so drastic in the West, but we are headed that way, I agree.
@@theWZZA I am much more afraid of the subtle forms than the guys with a machete. People learn after a massacre so you only have to survive. The subtle beliefs of self-righteousness combined with a lack of humility are different. They cause a buildup of resentment and Us vs Them mentality that destroy humanitarian and democratic values.
I fear those who believe themselves to be right and acting within their conscience more than the worst of criminals.
It's not insanity, it's years of divide et impera as well as propaganda. Belgians giving all the wealth and power to tribal/racial minority, leaving the majority underrepresented, speed up the impending boiling point tremendously. Dutch not moving a finger once the milk is spilled did not help.
@@megamastahthe power imbalance of Rwanda was well established before any colonization. But i hear u, marxist propaganda is very divisive and dangerous
The first time I’ve known about the Rwandan Genocide was in an HBO movie called “Sometimes in April”. I was shocked and horrified that something like this happened and that nobody from the outside world ever tried to stop it. Even to this day, I still wish we could’ve done something. 😢
It’s much more accurate than Hotel Rwanda. Great but heartbreaking movie.
Like what? Intervene? Somalia and Yugoslavia made the whole idea a bitter pill to swallow, with Libya, Syria, and now Sudan adding more reasons not to...
@@theotherohlourdespadua1131 You have a point, intervention isn't always the best course of action. In this specific case, maybe offering refuge to civilians could've helped.
An intervention would have left the country like Somalia or Iraq
Whoever intervenes will end up taking the blunt of the blame
If you read the Book "Left to tell" By one of the survivors, you'll cry. They were slaughtered in the churches and bodies mounted all over the street (mass graves) neighbors killed neighbors, childhood friend killed childhood friends. It's was a crazy
I watched a documentary years ago (gone now off yt) where they basically said that it started one day from a radio broadcast. People just dropped what they were doing and went outside and used machetes against neighbours . People they'd been friendly with the day before. It was horrendous
The last sequence of the graveyard was really heart trenching... Yet another nice short documentary by Ted-ed. I always wanted to know what exactly happened in Rwanda all those years ago.
I've already seen videos on this topic but still watched this one due to the signature animations and smooth narration. Great work as always... Also very cool how graphic the video was at times and how you don't stray away from the caricature drawing style
There is a Moroccan quote: "the one who knows fear will live", or "man yarif alkhaf yaish", a quote properly adapted to the entirety of Africa, which Morocco is part of. The meaning is "play it safe and careful within", but there is also another intepretation that is "if you want safe, make fear". The Rwandan genocide was born in fear, and the people perpetuated the genocide knew fears. So in order to live, they must make fear as weapon.
In Africa today, people live because they still fear. But fear makes life unhappy and this resulted in more atrocities. It's only today that Rwanda has begun to leave behind fear to progress. But the rest of Africa remains a fearful continent, living within people's mind. If Africans can't abandon fear, more Rwanda moments will occur.
Easy to suggest that they should abandon fear when you're not living in as dreadful poverty.
As a Somali, I agree with this comment
لي خاف نجا li khaf nja
So why is morocco supporting ISIS?
I remember watching hotel Rwanda/shooting dogs and was shocked to see this was based of a true story and another consequence of colonialism
Yep those colonists really made them kill eachother.
@@jarret5746 The actions of colonists were certainly a contributing factor, and this video briefly touched on the promotion and exploitation of ethnic division. The British used the same approach in India with Hindus and Muslims, and several European countries have used that approach in African populations.
The tribe's existed before and after European rule. This was a existing problem that the Europeans took advantage of.
@loki2240 Just sat that first sentence again. A contributing factor but not the direct cause. There was much division in Africa already before Colonialism was here.
Where's the hotel located
Those trials must have been so messy, I can't imagine having to deal with those numbers
It’s so sad how this all played out. But what’s even worse is that many of the victims were small children
Colonialism was terrible but it's not the answer to every question. Tribal violence was happening before European rule. A minority tribe ruled the majority tribe before the colonial period. The Europeans helped the minority tribe maintain their power. After the European's left the minority tribe could not maintain their dominance and that lead to this conflict.
exactly, Tutsis have been ruling the region for over 300 years, the video gives the notion that it was the european rulers who created the idea of Tutsi being rulers
thanks for the info
@@thiagosousanascliberals and wokists
I think the video also mentioned propaganda that the colonizers spread. It was the way that they instituted a system of their own in a land that was not adapted to it. The ruling classes of Africa weren't as harsh to their citizens as one were in europe (which is why we see so many french revolutions, Europe had a long issue with mistreated their lower classes). Its about how you treat people. The original ruling class didnt inforce things the was the colonizing leadership did. I see you point but theres more to it then "colonizers did it". This is an issue of economics that just so happens to have been carried one through colonization. But were it not for colonization, this issue MIGHT not have happened.
This conflict would not have happened had the Europeans not came. Tribal violence was happening, that may be so, but genocide most definitely was not happening.
What’s sad is that most of this history is forgotten even though being one of the most important event in the 90s, African history, and being the main reason for the first Congo war (African World War).
Noam Chomsky in Rwanda during the Genocide: Why are these good-natured Hutus hacking the air and why is the air bleeding?
Spot on! Once I watched him in a tortured interview where he kept repeating that he will never acknowledge that there was genocide in Rwanda until the USA acknowledges that there was genocide on its own territory against Indians. I was stunned to see him repeat this conditionality like a broken record, as if the 2 histories are somehow intertwined.
However, I believe your remark is more related to the troubling myth of the Noble Savage. This is highly relevant to this genocide because it strongly explains the crucial support and encouragement offered by Westerners to the genocidaires.
Noam Chomsky is a sick person. He views genocide as tools that can be used or denied to fit his political narrative and agenda. Instead of humanitarian atrocities that needs non-partisan and humane response
Rest in Peace beautiful souls💔🙏 Gone way too soon Prayers and best wishes to them, all of their families,friends and loved ones. There will be justice!!! Best wishes to all people of Rwanda ❤
The genocide had been a long-running project. Initiated in Rwanda in 1959, it was later extended to Burundi at various times. For example, recent research shows how genocidal militiamen started killing off the Tutsi population in 1972. To prepare for their attacks they had received training from the Tanzania regime in Kagunga Forest, at a site ordinarily used for training Mozambican rebels. They attacked simultaneously in several provinces (Rumonge, Bururi, Makamba, Cankuzo, Rutana, Bujumbura, Gitega), systematically killing all Tutsi people they could find. Occasionally they also killed Hutus who didn’t want to join them or whom they suspected might be Tutsi.
Some passages:
In Rumonge, the first victim was a teacher whose husband, also a teacher in Nkayamba, was named Simon. The militiamen mistook her for a Tutsi even though she was Hutu.
Overnight they installed a roadblock very close to the courthouse while chanting slogans in the streets: “Mai Mulele!! Death to Micombero!! Long live Hutus!!” They killed a lot of people that night.
According to news reports in the daily Flash-Infor, “all Tutsi civil servants in the province were killed: District commissioners, communal administrators, the prosecutor, assistant prosecutors, doctors, accountants, 40 people in all.”
Among the victims were the district commissioner of Makamba, Isidore Zidona, the police chief in Rumonge, school principals, the prosecutor of Bururi, Jean Bikamba, and Thérence Rubati, a judge in Rumonge. Also murdered were doctors including Dr. Cyprien Simbiyara and other medical personnel and teachers. Other victims in Rumonge were the Bukemba commune administrator Etienne Njayobiri and the secretary of the Uprona party, Mr. Rungarunga.
The militiamen also killed an Arab named Mohamed Amdan. They had allegedly asked him for gasoline to burn down homes and he refused. This resulted in his execution together with the wife and two children of the administrator Damas Nyambere. Then the rebels attacked the police headquarters and the courthouse. They killed everyone who had taken refuge there.
At the extreme south of the shoreline, Nyanza-Lac was also attacked on the same day of April 29. Around 6:30 p.m., the rebels wielding machetes and wearing palm leaves on their heads came from Rwaba where they had spent their last sessions of the “magical immunization” ritual. Let us listen in this regard to the witness who was part of this movement:
“It was Saturday April 29, 1972; we were around the Rwaba River. This is where I underwent the ritual of baptism by magic water. Around 6 p.m., we left this place to carry out attacks in the center of Nyanza-Lac. We started with three targets: The police station, the marketplace, and the residence of some French people. When we arrived where the BCB bank stands today, our chief ordered us to take three directions: "Chez Daniel" where some civil servants were gathered, the police station, and where the French telecommunication technicians lived.”
A witness who escaped the scene remembers it:
“We were walking along the road. We saw people lined up from Rwaba running at a jog. They were repeating a song that said “Mchaka Mchaka Kill”. I thought they were soldiers on a military maneuver. They wore palm leaves on their heads and carried new machetes. It looked like a ritual.
As they got closer they were chanting, Long Live Hutus!! Death to Tutsis!! They took a man from the restaurant and beheaded him. After seeing this, I fled through the bush. Once at some distance, I saw police commander Misigaro and I asked myself why he was there. He left shortly afterwards.” [Donatien Misigaro was the Hutu police chief who had sponsored the militiamen. He had all Tutsi police officers who served under his orders disarmed and executed that day!]
The militiamen then massacred all the Tutsi civil servants gathered at "Daniel’s", including the administrator of Vugizo Frédéric Niyonizigiye and the assistant district commissioner, Léonidas Basumbwa. However the first person killed was a Hutu named Kebumpa because he had refused to join the militiamen.
Also targeted was a Hutu administrator from Nyanza-Lac, Thomas Sayumwe, reputed to be a “friend” of President Micombero. But he managed to escape death. The rebels went to look for him at home only to find out that he had already gone in hiding. Instead they killed his child who was still in bed. They also killed a Hutu agricultural engineer, called Dative.
The police force included about 10 Tutsi officers. These were all executed at nightfall around 6:30 p.m. Their chief, Donatien Misigaro, had taken away their guns which he put in storage. Also killed was Commander Mbonihankuye who had travelled there to bring the monthly pay for the police station. Afterwards, the rebels took their weapons.
On Sunday 30, the massacres continued in Rumonge and Nyanza-Lac. In Rumonge, the rebels took people to the marketplace to be executed. Some people hid in the bush and others were hidden by Hutus who did not join the [genocide] movement. A witness says that his [Hutu] father-in-law hid two Tutsi girls whose father was a police commander in Rumonge and who had been killed at the start. An old Hutu man named Manyuzi hid the two wives of a Tutsi man named Gapawa.
Around Rumonge, the rebels massacred any Tutsi person they encountered. In Kigwena, because many young people from this locality were involved in the [genocide] movement, they seized a Peugeot truck from the friars at Kigwena Parish for transportation. The driver Epimaque moved the rebels on the Rumonge-Nyanza-Lac road under the supervision of Magenge.
He was helped by Denis Mafungufungu with his own Peugeot while flying the green-red flag of the movement. Adolphe Nyandwi brought reinforcements from the rebels towards Bujumbura. But when they arrived at Kanyosha, they were forced to turn back.
In Nyanza-Lac, the rebels killed Secretary Rukanka. He was a slender Hutu. He was a victim of his physique because in their understanding anyone that tall was Tutsi. They massacred indiscriminately Tutsi men, women and children as well as Hutus who looked like them. Let us listen to a witness who was a Mulelist [the genocide militia]: “We eliminated Tutsis: Tutsi men, women and children, as well as Hutus who resembled them in appearance or size”.
The french and the belgins were the most responsible for it
@@Bell_plejdo568pNo The Hutus take your responsibility for your vicious actions, your name comes with a negative connotation ever since.
@@Bell_plejdo568p🤡
What the United Nations did doing absolutely nothing when this happened is reeally GREAT!😃
This organization is the BEST!
The UN is completely useless
@@KayTheAmericanPatriot Just remember, USA is a key founder and supplier.
@@laithmughrabi8990 That's a good thing
You meant good for nothing
The UN has always been useless
Genuinely shocked at the deleting of my comments by Ted-Ed as I was pointing out that the “Rwanda Genocide” term is typically used by genocide deniers. This is because it conveniently doesn’t acknowledge that the main victims of the Genocide were Tutsis, and although Twas and Hutus (especially Muslim Hutus, many refused to kill Tutsis) were also killed, it wasn’t for their ethnicity, but for their association with Tutsis. They deserve their flowers for their courage - but only Tutsis were murdered simply for being Tutsis. This is why Rwandans refer to the genocide as the “1994 Genocide against the Tutsis in Rwanda”, and genociders typically refer to it as “Rwandan Genocide” or “Rwandan War”, as it diminishes their atrocities against the Tutsi and try to equate the RPF stopping the Genocide to their eradication efforts.
It is highly likely that this wasn’t on purpose from Ted-Ed, but I am genuinely saddened to see that they keep deleting this particular comment. It is now the third time I post this point.
You may need to carefully choose the words you use and censor some words, the RUclips algorithm may be detecting this, or as a second option, Ted-Ed deletes your comments. 😬
By the way, I didn't understand a lot of things about this video. Because the words used are so foreign. :/,I don't understand why there was war, genocide. Apart from my own history, I think I should be interested in world history as well.
@@pozitifvenegatif Tough to give satisfactory explanations in this forum. But you did well to be specific about what you do not understand. If I may attempt an answer:
Why there was war? Starting in *1959 and through 1990,* a lot of the Tutsi population had been killed off by the government. Half the survivors had been expelled from the country. For those decades, they had taken refuge in neighboring countries and had been prohibited by the rulers in Rwanda from ever again returning home. They saw this as a grave injustice on top of being massacred while still in country, before survivors were able to escape. The exile had been oppressive: Decades of living in refugee camps with restrictions and being periodically threatened with expulsion by the host countries.
The refugees never saw this situation as acceptable. Many of them decided to help put an end to it by force because patience and pleadings had not led anywhere. Meanwhile in Rwanda, there were even Hutus who had been systematically oppressed by the anti-Tutsi regime. Among them, many joined the movement that launched a war against the regime in 1990.
A quick victory would have deprived the regime the time it needed to prepare and carry out yet another genocide episode. But victory wasn’t swift as it should have been because the rulers went straight to the French government for military assistance against the attacking force. That military assistance (Operation Noroit) caused the war to drag on for several years. It was during those years (1990 - 1994) that the genocide was prepared, rehearsed and finally unleashed in 1994.
You think too much. English speakers just want a catchy phrase of a recognizable name so they just use that eventhough it's not truly accurate. It happened too long ago before the accurate term come out so nobody want or care to change it.
@@rutonde You have explained very clearly. I owe you thanks. 💫
Over the past few years it’s become abundantly clear that the liberal wing of the Washington establishment wants to rehabilitate the Hutu power opposition to look like the humanitarian side to western eyes. This is what the west does, they play off ethnic differences to maintain control, we’re just lucky we live in an age where parts of africa are rising and america is crumbling
It's also worth noting that in 1994 Rwanda was a non-permanent member of the UN Security Council which made it more difficult for the UN to try and intervene when the Hutu government had such a powerful seat.
I don't understand how anyone could mercilessly kill so many innocent people in such cruel and unusual ways. I understand the process intellectually and historically, but i can't put myself in the headspace of someone who's willing and wanting to commit such atrocities. I remember a story my uncle told my dad (who later told me) about his time in El Salvador during the time of the death squads. He said that, when the death squads had come to his village, the only way he survived was by playing dead in a pile of bodies. I just don't understand how you could do that to people, it doesn't make any sense
Try not eating for a couple weeks. "Society is only 9 meals away from anarchy"
Forgive but never forget. Leaving the past behind is easier said than done.
Don't know why they teach history. No one seems to be learning from it. History repeats itself.
I find it fascinating that the UN didn't acknowledge or stop the situation but was there quickly to punish
at that time rawanda was a non-permanent member of the UNSC
This would have ended very differently if not for the Blackhawk Down incident, which caused the US to be very apprehensible about deploying soldiers in Africa. Understandable, but even more so unfortunate.
Blackhawk down could have prevented so much tragedy, in Rwanda, in Congo, in Chechnya…
America was involved just no boots on the ground, the president america is slowly turning more and more against was actually trained in america. Just watch over the next couple years and america is gonna be back cause right beside rwanda is one of the most resource rich areas in the world and more importantly what is needed to make electric cars and new tech
There are more than US military forces out there that could have intervened. UN peacekeepers, pan African and European countries among others.
This just scratched the surface. The full story is horrific
I'm from Mauritius Island. I still remember all my childhood in South Africa, Rwanda, Namibia, Kenya, Congo, Nigeria, Ghana and Cameroun. My parents were Doctors Without Borders in Africa, Serena McCluskey and Henry McCluskey. One day when we were in Rwanda, some Government Officials in helicopter came to us with automatic guns and force me and my parents to get on the helicopter and flew us straight to the airport. Years later while watching two movies called "Tears Of The Sun" and "Hotel Rwanda" i knew what happened and why we were forced to get on the helicopter.
I love how detailed this video is you made my childhood thank you you made school easy and fun
I'm a Rwandan and in the genocide I lost my grandparents and aunt. It was terrifying 😔😔
True story
The fact the International community saw this conflict and mass murder and did nothing, sickens me. They even refused to acknowledge it, and even took away people who could massively help in resolving it. So much for a global organization meant to 'help' countries. At least they have improved now.
Yes. The international community not only ignored what was happening in Rwanda; I know the US State Dept. practically broke their heads attempting to avoid using the word 'genocide', as acknowledging the true situation would, under UN rules, compel the international community to act. There was no 'compelling interests' in Rwanda to make it worth the effort. The UN is only as effective as the countries represented care to be. It has no standing military; it relies on member states for that. And, it's to the world's shame that nothing was done, and even those UN forces that were determined to stay, were severely limited in what they could accomplish, try as they did.
@@curiousworld7912 They didn't ignore anything. They let it happen to give Kagame to seize power with his army. America was on his side at that time, so the UNO was
@@Sp7033 Solo tu hai centrato il problema !
This is insightful in many ways. We learn a lot of meaningful lessons in these kinds of topics.
You have to do one now about Rwanda's incredible development of the last 20 years.
I'm a public health nerd and I'm always hearing about the accomplishments of Rwanda's scientists and policymakers!
Yaaas!!! Ted-ED is one of my favourite RUclips channels. Keep going, with your amazing graphics, animations and information. You don’t know how many students and grandmas you’re helping.
Very sad indeed.
But it amazes me that when there is bloodshed in Africa its always blamed on the west & colonialism yet there is proof of inter tribal warfare and animosity way before settlers even arrived.
It literally says that this was caused by colonialism. Just like what these Europeans did to Israel and Palestine. It clearly states these people lived comfortably amongst themselves but the Europeans pit them against each other. Sounds familiar.......
@@daughterofisrael671 why are there tribes out there untouched by civilization still practicing cannibalism on their adversaries?
I read somewhere that "History doesn't repeat itself but it often rhymes" and I have never understood this until this video. The same genocide, different circumstances, different settings and the ignorance of many self-claimed international human rights bodies are happening AS I write THIS. Even though the Rwandan genocide was before our time and we couldn't do anything to help, we can prevent the same thing happening in Gaza from getting any worse. We can raise awareness, protest, make donations, and PRESSURE our leaders to do something. The pity and sadness we feel watching this video, we can make up for by being human towards Palestinians.
"The only thing that we learn from history is that we learn nothing from history"
-George Hegel
This is why hate speech should not be protected under freedom of speech. Words are powerful, and have the power to indoctrinate, which can turn neighbors against each other
What is hate speech?
Free speech often becomes hate speech
@candorsspot2775 talking bad about a certain group of people which can lead to well genocide.
@@ronanregan1478 Talking bad and threatening and encouraging people to kill are not the same thing. Rwanda did the latter, that is not protected free speech to threaten to kill people.
@@candorsspot2775 but they used hate speech/propaganda to indoctrinate those people to act on violence. That's what I meant to say.
I’ve never been this early to a TedEd before :)
Yo
They upload weekly so it was bound to happen
This is one of the saddest parts of history
1:04 I think the Belgians were actually right by accident here. You can find old records of Hutu becoming Tutsi after getting status and wealth and some families even held a ceremony when it happened to one of their own. So while the three groups might have been ethnic groups, it probably is closer to something between the Indian caste system (you're often born into it) and the Victorian British social class (in the sense that it was possible to get into the upper class just by getting rich). After all, if they were truly ethnic groups, it doesn't make sense for someone not born Tutsi to become Tutsi later in life. If I had to guess, in the 18th century and earlier people probably thought of a ruling class and commoners when they heard of Tutsi and Hutu rather than ethnic gorups.
Various genetic tests have shown them to be two distinct groups but by the 18th century they had already intermarried and integrated for several centuries and it became more a cultural identifier from what I have read
Nah, just realised how seeds of poison can be planted so easily in common unware people's minds(even if they initially have had good relationships) by those in power.
Noticing something in the west yet?
Now Rwanda 🇷🇼 is the hope of Africa 🌍 and the whole world ❤❤❤😢 Hallelujah 🙏💥💥🕊️🕊️🕊️
No it's not, they are funding a genocide in Congo
Very important to share this,
Thank you 🙏
This is a very simplyfing presentation of what happend in 1990-1994 and further in Rwanda, you should listen to the people in Rwanda, listen, listen ...
When I was in middle school we had to pair up for a social studies assignment where we would give a presentation about a country and the selection process was drawing from a cup. We got Rwanda and the research was a wild ride 😅
The whole should know more about Rwandan Jenocide in order to learn more about this tragic and devastating history just because history is the reason that we live aside that determine our entire life and we should learn from it in order to cultivate our own in good manner . This history must leave a reason for the whole world residences to say never again Jenocide again.
I, as an Indian... Always felt sympathetic towards Africans... The entire continent was scorched and destroyed by European colonizers... I always pray for their prosperity..
Love to all Africans, from India❤
Even I felt the same...these British colonizers used the same tactics of division between Hindus and Muslims and look what bloodshed and massacre happened during partition...many families in both the sides are still left scarred...
@SnoopyDoofiefr
why do u say that? it was rwuandans killing rwuandans! why blame european colonizers? did any belgian or german force hutus to kill tutsis? cant always blame the west for everything! twuanda could have turned away from european models but decided to continue
🙏🙏💪
The continent of Africa was no stranger to colonization or colonialism before the 15th century CE. Those colonizers were never just Europeans.
Please note that the new government of Rwanda kidnapped and tried Paul Rusesabagina, who saved over a thousand Hutu and Tutsi refugees during the genocide. Also note that when this same government invaded the Congo, suddenly over 200,000 fleeing Hutu refugees “disappeared”.
I am not a revisionist, I simply want people to know that the conflict is far from being resolved, and the new dictatorial regime has been and can be just as bloody.
Paul isn’t exactly the hero the west has depicted him as
@@thestealth2448if you think the west has depicted Kagame as a hero, you are not paying attention. He is an authoritative figure, that what Africa needs. Tough love.
@@lookatyou5809 mass killing other africans to get wealth and power , I'm not sure thats really what Africa need ...
The one who save Tutsi is isn't rusesabagina just for pay him as manager searching captain Mbaye diagne nationality Senegalese He is Rwandan hero not Paul , Paul he did it as Bisness for money
I'm curious about this: I've seen that Hutus and Tutsis also are the main groups in Burundi (or that in Burundi also exists this distincion), and, since in the plane taken down by Rwandans to kill their president also the president of Burundi died. Why didn't the genocide also spread to Burundi? Or did it happen but in a lower magnitude? I find it an interesting question.
This shows that genocide plans were already in place in Rwanda (but not in Burundi) and were simply waiting for a pretext to be activated. The elimination of a president doesn’t by itself produce genocide. For example there was no genocide in 1976 when President Habyarimana neutralized President Kayibanda by starving him out.
A lot of killings happenned as well
My grandpa is a Rwandan genocide denier. I have no idea why. We live in Wales, have no connection to Rwanda and he isn't a conspiracy kind of guy in general. He has never been to Rwanda or met a Rwandan yet in his house he has pages of documents 'proving the hoax', such as a full script for the movie Hotel Rwanda with a bunch of random letters from the words highlighted showing the secret messages' from the director. He says that Paul Kagame doesn't exist and that 'every picture of bodies 'is clearly in Burundi' and has huge printouts of aerial photographs of Burundi to prove it. Not sure what he has against Rwanda but if you bring it up to him he calls you a 'Tutsi LIAR'
Didn’t expect to see this here. 😂
wtf? is this real?
Took me until the last third to realise its a copypasta lmao
Lol?
@@apaths yes, lol
Sometimes I can't sleep and find myself looking for uplifting stories
Here’s a great Irish proverb:
“If two neighbors are fighting, there’s an Englishman that has visited one of them yesterday”.
The animator has done a good job
I was actually born during apartheid. So was my husband. We have Hotel Rwanda. I was forced to watch it when I was 16 for confirmation class. My husband was forced to watch the opening of Saving Private Ryan
And
The ending shot with the graveyard was heartbreaking.
What a sad sad story. The unfortunate inability to get along with one another though you are nearly and clearly very much alike: Tutsi and Hutu. God have mercy. And of course a foreign power has no idea of the local culture whatsoever. Their fault is greed. The Rwandan fault is lack of being responsible for it's action. Everyone wants to change the world, but no one is willing to change themself. So so so sad. So many lives lost.
Hutus had been enslaving, starving, sacrificing & killing all the men of Tutsi & other tribes for centuries before any Europeans entered africa.
This argument goes back around 500-850 years.
Hopefully it will end soon & there will be peace for all.
Wrong and what you said has no history backing
3:10 *Sarcastic-Surprise**
My mother was a missionary in Rwanda before the genocide. We were watching an old home movie showing her playing and teaching some young boys. They were also playing with a soccer ball on a Sunny day. Those two boys were murdered during the genocide. I could see the pain in my mother's eye when she was watching the film. I'm hoping one day we can live in a world where this never happens.
Excellent video but TED has a tendency to blame every African atrocity on colonialism. Colonialism was no doubt terrible but to attribute disasters to it even when there's only a vague connection minimizes it
Honestly Ted Ed went from unbiased education to hard left leaning propaganda pointing fingers
Not one single native population anywhere in the world has fared better under colonial rule or after it than it would have if left alone, on the contrary, most have tasted bitter discord and strife at one time or another because of it. Even the creolized transplanted colonizers have come to hate it, that's how the United States and the independent nations of South America were born.
Someone finally said it
@@JorgeHernandez-lu1mi Vital facts: The Europeans were never the only ones who committed the acts of colonization & colonialism. Also colonization and colonialism did not start in the 15th century CE.
The continent of Africa was no stranger to colonization or colonialism before the 15th century CE & those acts weren't just committed by Europeans
Some very important details are missing in the video about the origin of Hutu and Tutsi. You'll find the following text in one of the very first sections in the Genocide museum:
Rwanda had 18 clans
- the categories Hutu, Tutsi, Twa were social economic classifications within the clan
- in 1932 an identity card system was introduced which classified people depending on the number of cows they had
- Anyone with ten cows was called Tutsi
- Anyone with less than 10 cows was called Hutu
And so the division started.
Ah yes, the United Nations - see genocide when there is none, doesn't see genocide when there is
The US with Israel😂😂
@@karinasnooodles_tf that gotta do with israel? What's happening there is not a genocide and the US was right
Yall r just so naive and can't believe that death in this case is inevitable
A country like Israel is more than capable of killing 100s of thousand within days if killing the innocent civilians was its goal
This is now the 5th time I’m posting this. The commend was as below: Genuinely shocked at the deleting of my comments by Ted-Ed as I was pointing out that the “Rwanda Genocide” term is typically used by genocide deniers. This is because it conveniently doesn’t acknowledge that the main victims of the Genocide were Tutsis, and although Twas and Hutus (especially Muslim Hutus, many refused to kill Tutsis) were also killed, it wasn’t for their ethnicity, but for their association with Tutsis. They deserve their flowers for their courage - but only Tutsis were murdered simply for being Tutsis. This is why Rwandans refer to the genocide as the “1994 Genocide against the Tutsis in Rwanda”, and genociders typically refer to it as “Rwandan Genocide” or “Rwandan War”, as it diminishes their atrocities against the Tutsi and try to equate the RPF stopping the Genocide to their eradication efforts.
It is highly likely that this wasn’t on purpose from Ted-Ed, but I am genuinely saddened to see that they keep deleting this particular comment.
They shouldn't what you're saying is true.
Do you have any sources for this? I just genuinely want to know. It would be helpful.
@@absolutezippo7542 any rwandan knows this
@@absolutezippo7542Tf do you want a source for? We've seen it before our eyes and you'd rather believe a source made by the same people that abandoned us while we were being massacred than the REAL survivors?
@@absolutezippo7542 You can try going to Rwanda and check it out from there or check minubumwe.gov.rw and go to KWIBUKA section and learn it is that simple
I'm taken aback more by how easily a government can pit 2 friendly sides against each other, causing all this damage without suffering any casualties themselves.
I know there's more to the instigation but seriously, imagine if America wanted to do that.
_"imagine if America wanted to do that"_
*uhhhhhhh*
yeah imagine that
The CIA says hi.
Literally the oldest move in the Politics Book is "decide you want This group to support you, so you teach them to hate/fear That group and then promise you'll Do Something to take human rights away from That group"
@@pluspipingThis is the exact recipe the genocidaires in Rwanda followed to the letter. Every word of it. Downright eerie! Whether we’re talking about habyara, kayibanda or, before them, harroy, perraudin, logiest.. None of them ever deviated from the formula.
I first learned about this in book Walking the Nile with Levison Wood. It's also a life filmed documentary for Channel 4, I think.
This completely ignored the massive hand the French had in funding and arming the Rwandan government carrying out the genocide.
Don't take my word for it. Look it up yourself. A startling truth.
@Ted-Ed thank you for a making this video to shed light on on the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi, but I am afraid some of the facts here may not need some fact-checking and updating. at 0:41, you mentioned in the video that in precolonial Rwanda, the Tutsi, Hutu, and Twa were ethnic groups. This is not correct, they were considered social classes not ethnic groups! They only became ethnic groups after the colonization. Ethnic groups have different language, culture, and history. This wasn't true for this time in history, because different cousins for example could be in either social class ( Hutu or Tutsi), but still spoke the same language, had the same culture, and were all under one king.
Secondly, you mention that at 3:22 that 800 000 Rwandans were killed. It is important to make the distinction between Rwandans and exact numbers (or close to exact) of Tutsi and Hutu that were killed because the ambiguity can be seen as a form of genocide denial. Additionally, dwindling the death toll is also a subtle form of genocide denial. Official Rwandan government reports consider the death toll of the Tutsi to be close to 1 million. I would urge you to reach out to Rwandan officials in government or the Genocide Memorial in Kigali to fact check these numbers.
I don't mean to discredit the animation, cause I think it is an honest attempt to telling the story, but getting the facts right is important to honoring this history especially in the wake of rampant denial of the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi. The best way to know what happened to the Rwandans is to go to Rwanda and speak to the Rwandans themselves.
There are a few things I wish I made up in my head, but the stories from this genocide is something that still horofies me so many years later.
Just curious, if all of them belonged to the same race, spoke the same languages & were of the same religion - how did the killers identify who is a Hutu/ Twa & who is a Tutsi to (sadly) attack?
Everyone in Rwanda had an identity card assigning them their caste (Hutu, Tutsi or Twa). Even if you could not produce your ID card, because Rwanda is a small, densely populated country, people knew each other's caste due to living side-by-side with them.
There is some archetypical physical differnces but those are not 100 % accurate, far from that. Other than that, people know each other in Rwanda. No need for ID to know who is Tutsi, who is Hutu
I was 4yrs old when this happened. I was too young to understand what was going on so as I got older I made sure to research and educate myself. I'm so heartbroken! This would have never happened if it wasn't for white colonialism. Rwanda was living in peace before the Europeans invaded and took over. I love my Rwandan brothers and sisters and may God continue to protect and watch over those lost in heaven. ❤
I've just been reading about Afghanistan in the 90's. While all the tribes in Afghanistan had received assistance from the US to resist the Soviet Union, it was the Taliban in the south that decided it could perform a bloody campaign to take over the whole country and Pakistan decided to assist them in doing it. It was a massacre that rivaled the Bosnian wars. The non-Taliban tribes formed a government and resisted the Taliban twice before Kabul finally fell.
It is really really tiring to hear people constantly blame England and the United States for all the world's conflicts. Countries like Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Iran and China are assisting these conflicts all the time. It's just rarely gets reported until it's over.
I came to know about this when I saw the movie “ Hotel Rwanda”
Hutus and Tutsi might have been created (as separate ethnicities) by the European powers. It wasn’t really an ethnic division in the first place more so a class division. They’re genetically similar and the difference in “features” would be that the Tutsis were taller and fairer in complexion due to nutrition and less work in the fields as the upper class.
Europeans didn't invent ethnicity. They have just always existed. People from all around the world can detect racial and ethnic differences of other people around the world.
@@benstallone6784 They formalized a contientenal conception of race.
Premodern people had much different ways of conceptualizing ancestry, nationality, and heritage.
Yes modern "scientific" racism grew out of certain preexisting tendencies, but it very much developed into its own specific thing. Its simply become so pervasive people have a hard time imagining anything different.
It already existed. The Tutsi were already the ruling class of the area that included Rwanda and the Hutu the working class majority. I argue that European notions of race reinforces the Tutsi's claim that they are destined to rule over the Hutu. It's no different from Arab-descended Egyptians claiming they have the right to rule over Sudan or the Boers have a right to rule over the natives. Take note, colonialism doesn't always mean the invaders administer the places they conquer, more often than not the local ruling class collaborated with them to a win-win situation where the invaders get to add more territory to their domain and the local elites get to keep their position and wealth...
@@theotherohlourdespadua1131 why then identity cards? Did you know that the colonial chiefs used to measure people's noses, heights, etc.. and for what?
@@benstallone6784 what brought them there in the first place, because it seems they did nothing, yet it was everything
The international community's failure to intervene swiftly will never be forgotten
how do u guys manage to upload about something that i literally wanted to do my research on?
Confirmation bias.
Qn. Terms and conditions
Ans. PRIVACY
1 question: in that the neighbouring 'twin' country of 🇧🇮Burundi that had same colonial history & exactly the same demographic makeup (83% Hutu, 15% Tutsi & 1% Twa) - why did Burundi manage to successfully avoid any kind of civil wars or genocide that 🇷🇼Rwanda had to face with post-independence?
Burundi did have a civil war (1993-2005) and a genocide in 1972 called the Ikza after their independence in 1962. Around 100,000-300,000 people were killed during the genocide. The ethnic violence during the civil war in 1993 led to around 116,000 deaths.
@@Merrick_why it is less known if it same as systematic kllingzs? I'm interested if there's a video about that
@@Agent-ie3uv It's unfortunately overshadowed by the Rwandan Genocide due to the sheer brutality and swiftness of the Rwandan Genocide.
Uuuuh…have you paid attention to Burundian news in the past 30 years? Including right now?
The fundamental reason is the fact that in those countries, genocide is not a bottom-up phenomenon, but a top-down undertaking.
There was genocide in Rwanda starting in 1959 largely because an archbishop named Perraudin was at the helm of the all-powerful Catholic Church in Rwanda. He mobilized the rest of the colonial establishment and composed the genocide manifesto to be printed out on his presses and distributed in 1957.
He then recruited local henchmen among his Hutu employees, especially his own Secretary by the name of Kayibanda, and others. From there the genocide party named “Parmehutu” (meaning _‘Hutus only; no Tutsis allowed’)_ was set up with a local face. It was at the forefront of genocidal campaigns and was placed in power at independence in 1962, with Kayibanda as president.
On the other hand, there was no genocide in Burundi in the 1950s because there was no Perraudin there.
Instead, the genocide practice took root in Rwanda over several years in the 1950s and 1960s. It was ultimately exported to Burundi only in 1965. That’s when the Parmehutu regime invited to Rwanda some crooked Burundian politicians who were led by one Paul Mirerekano. Together they fomented the very 1st genocide campaign in Burundi, which they launched on October 19th, 1965.
Starting on this date, they systematically killed all the people they accused of being Tutsis in central Burundi, mainly using a militia force specially trained for that purpose and named _“The Mirerekano Youth.”_
That’s how the odious practice was extended from Rwanda to Burundi from that year on. Several episodes of it would follow over subsequent decades.
@TED-Ed please please please, refer to the genocide as “The genocide perpetrated against the Tutsi” as that is the official title that the UN and the Rwandan government and its people use. Thank you 🙏🏾
Would you consider dropping me an email? I M a researcher working with the Rwandan diaspora and would very much appreciate speaking with you.
As a Somali it pains me to hear about how my fellow Cushitic Tutsi brothers & sisters suffered so much during this turbulent period.
off course the problem is never of the people themselves....
"the problem starts where every problem starts.... Europeans.."
@@Flabber65Skill issue
Your ancestors never did anything significant
@InvaderRym-tv8yw Invent literally everything significant
@InvaderRym-tv8yw Human Accomplishment: The Pursuit of Excellence in the arts and sciences
Are you attempting to poke a hole in my argument? Gonna ask me to clarify something? I should implore you that I was top of my debate club in high school. So good luck with that.
90% of human accomplishment occurred in West Europe
Honestly that traditional and modern courts hybrid system sounds like it was a good idea that worked pretty well all things considered.
This video has certain phrasing that is really weird. Such as ignoring the Hutu/Tutsi conflict pre colonialism (altho colonialism definitely made it much much worse), or saying the Genocide was so they "stayed in power", ignoring the Genocide was planned for months through the creation of militias and shipment and distribution of machetes with the very well timed assassination of the president (most likely by his wife and her extremist political party). Or the execution of moderates in office inmediately after, or how the government was so hyper focused on genocide the RPF literally just steamrolled through the coutry. The genocide wasnt just a political power grab, it was a singular focus of extermination resulting from racism and hatred.
Ted ed the episode is excellent
I have a rwandan friend, she's a young women in her mid 20s so she wasn't born during the genocide but her parents lived through it. I remember asking her whether she was hutu or tutsi, and she looked uncomfortable by the question and told me she didn't know, although I think she knew but just didn't want to answer.
The way you’ve presented it, this is more so the legacy of tribalism and not colonialism
This is video is very informative. You explained very well in a short time. I've read about it in a magazine. Please can you make a video about Bangladesh liberation war of 1971? I'll be very grateful to you, Ted ed.
The operations room/The Intel report just did that.
@@MrHowhot Thanks but I think they just described the Indo pak war of 1971 which started in December. But the then East Pakistan was already at war with west Pakistan which started in 26 March.
this is Absolutely HORRIFYING
there was a man who killed his neighbor and when he asked why he did it he said, "because everyone else was doing it"
It was the law of the land at that time. The state had never regarded it as a crime. Not doing it was the crime. That’s how a genocidal state is, regrettably.
They literally dropped what they were doing one day and after hearing a call on the radio, got machetes and started butchering neighbours . Women, chikdren, friends. It was pure e vil. There used to be a documentary where they interviewed survivors. Kids literally climbed under likes of dismembered bodies to play dead.
For your own information, It is completely wrong to say 800,000 Tutsis were killed, it is 1,000,074+ Tutsis who were killed in 1994. otherwise is considered genocide denial. The second thing is, 300,000 weren't killed for being Tutsi sympathizers as many have mentioned above, that's a way of genocide denial.
There were not as many Tutsis in the country at that time .... Population was around 7 500 000 people and Tutsi were like 10 to 15 % of the population ... So if you do the math ... c
You are the one who sounds like a genocidal denier, denying that hutus were targeted
If you ever needed proof of how utterly useless the UN is; Rwanda is a good example.