Genocide: historical contexts and contemporary definitions

Genocide

Discussing Genocide

Genocide. The word brings to mind thoughts of places as far away as Sudan and Darfur and as close as Germany and the Holocaust. They bring to mind images of family members hiding in bathrooms, horrific torture and execution. But while Genocide has existed for thousands of years, there has only been an English word for it since 1944. The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum defines genocide as "violent crimes committed against groups with the intent to destroy the existence of the group." The museum states that the term was coined by a Polish-Jewish lawyer, Raphael Lemkin, who was trying to find a word for the "Nazi policies of systematic murder, including the destruction of the European Jews." He could not find one, so he created genocide by combining the Greek word for "race or tribe" with the Latin word for killing (United States Holocaust Memorial Museum). The Holocaust, then, became to first genocide to be given the term, although it was not the first genocide, and it would not be the last. With the colonization of the Americas came the genocide of native groups by the Europeans, and, today, parts of Africa are still devastated by genocide.

Genocide is now an international crime, thanks to Lemkin, but that does not mean it is prevented with any more vigor. In probably one of the most publicized genocides since the Holocaust, the Hutu government of Rwanda attempted to eliminate its Tutsi rivals. The conflict was a long-standing one. Over 600 years ago, the Tutsis, a small, warrior-like tribe, invaded the land of the Hutus and proceeded to conquer the larger group (Cable News Network). During the colonial period, the dominance of the Tutsis was reinforced by the colonizing Europeans, who allowed Tutsi leaders to rule by proxy for the European kings and queens. This historical conflict finally exploded in 1994, when the civil war and genocide began. As Hutus and Tutsis, betrayed by the national ID cards that they were required to carry as a remnant of colonial times, killed each other relentlessly, the United States stood by and said nothing. Former President Bill Clinton "stood by" while what Power calls "the fastest, most efficient killing spree of the twentieth century" ravaged families in Africa. In 1998, he would issue an apology for the inactivity (Power). Indeed, his refusal to call the genocide by the term that Lemkin designated for the violence just 50 years prior was met with international scorn.

The Darfur crisis is another, more recent, exhibit of genocide. In this case, a military group called the Janjaweed has engaged in the execution and displacement of many black Africans. This time, the United States did not hesitate to use the term, but the incident brought forward a controversy regarding genocide as a legal term and when it can and cannot be used (British Broadcasting Corporation).