Throughout history, genocide has been used for the intention of destroying civilizations based on beliefs of those who consider themselves superior. Genocide has become a common ethical issue correlating to the roots of the world. This is seen in instances where people target a certain race,religion, ethnic, and other beliefs. Some examples of major genocides include The Rwandan Genocide, The Holocaust, and The Indeginous Genocide of the United States. This begs the question whether genocide is ethical and were the responses taken by world leaders to this issue of genocide effective or not?
One of the most commonly looked examples in terms of genocides is the World War II Holocaust. To put it simply during the mid early 20th century Germany’s Nazi party captured and wrongfully punished millions of Jewsish people. Most of the Jewsish people captured and harassed during this time period were mostly in areas in which German forces acquired through war. Notable punishment include public beatings, public Jewsish killings, and unequal rights. One of the major points of interest was when multiple concentration camps were given highly toxic gas killing the lives of almost if not every Jewsish person alive at that point.
The Nazi belief of Jews was rooted even before World War II. In Britannica.com, it mentions how Hitler used hatred of Jewss in order to further his power and improve upon german ranks. It states that “Hitler viewed the Jewss as racial polluters, a cancer on German society in what has been termed by Holocaust survivor and historian Saul Friedländer “redemptive anti-Semitism,” focused on redeeming Germany from its ills and ridding it of a cancer on the body politic.” This proves the point that the intended killing and torture of millions of Jewsish people were all for the rise of power and because of a difference of religion. The aftermath of the Holocaust contained major issues for Jewsish people such as mental trauma, large rehabilitation and even more.
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The impact of the Holocaust still influences current day society. Jewsish people are often ridiculed and stereotyped by those who are considered more fortunate. Most Jewsish people are now seen in groups with each other often together in major areas taking over a street. Germany has since tend to avoid the Holocaust as much as possible even to the extent of altering pages of student textbooks. A major concern that has been up for debate for many decades has been the reparation for Jewish survivors and their following generations (children) . As stated in “ JewsishVirtualLibrary” is states that “In Israel, the Knesset fiercely debated whether to accept reparations from Germany over a three day period in early January 1952. Menachem Begin and Herut Party were among the most vocal members of the opposition, who considered the reparations offer as blood money. By the end of the debate, a small majority of 61-50 succeeeded in passing the resolution to enter into direct negotiations with West Germany over specific reparations amounts. Outside the Knesset, thousands of Israeli’s protest and riot the decision, at times even pelting the plenum building with stones, leading the police to use tear gas to disperse the crowds.” This is a major issue as such a genocide from years ago is the sole reason towards some genocides today. This shows that trying to fix the past can cause genocides in the present.
Even today historians have no possible solution towards the Holocaust from deades ago. Although there isn’t any practical solutions towards the past solutions towards Jewsish people in the present are currently being debated. This however is just one of the major genocides that took place over the decades that shaped current day Earth.
The systematic cleansing of Native Americans do not just start with the founding of America, It started with the European arrival in the new world. The execution of natives occurs with the killing of culture, The taking of land, introduction of new diseases, abandonment of treaties from the Government, and of course the actual killing on the natives as well. In the first source(britannica.com), it talks about the government official act that displaced multiple Native American Tribes.“The problem lay in the Southeast, where members of what were known as the Five Civilized Tribes (Chickasaw, Choctaw, Seminole, Cherokee, and Creek) refused to trade their cultivated farms for the promise of strange land in the Indian Territory with a so-called permanent title to that land.” This shows the main demographic affected by the indian removal act. The same source would go on and say “The frontier began to be pushed aggressively westward in the years that followed, upsetting the “guaranteed” titles of the displaced tribes and further reducing their relocated holdings.” This shows the after effects of how the treaties were abandoned.
To continue on with the acts against Native American.The next source(npr.org) talks about the boarding schools Native Americans were forced to go to schools to abandon their culture. “’It was hurting her, too. It was hurting me to see that,’ Westerman says. ‘I’ll never forget. All the mothers were crying.’ The experience of separation that was common in most genocides. The same source went on to say “For the government, it was a possible solution to the so-called Indian problem.” THe government had targeted one enthinic group and that is what the quote had shown.The final source(history.com) talks about the boarding schools Native Americans were forced to go to Schools to abandon their culture.“From the time Europeans arrived on American shores, the frontier—the edge territory between white man’s civilization and the untamed natural world—became a shared space of vast, clashing differences that led the U.S. government to authorize over 1,500 wars, attacks and raids on Indians”. This is showing The actual killing. The same source would go on to say “Even more fundamentally, indigenous people were just too different: Their skin was dark. Their languages were foreign. And their world views and spiritual beliefs were beyond most white men’s comprehension.” The ethnic differences between Native Americans and White Europeans.
That Native Americans have consistent been subject to the non consensual change in the killing of native american culture. It is the combination of physical, psychological and verbal abuse. The first americans are also still systematically targeted as they are in one of the lowest social standing and though the united states government is not declaring war on them anymore, they still are segregated society clinging on to whatever remains of their lost culture. In conclusion, the persecuted don’t get a happy ending as those who have persecuted them are widely celebrated($20 bill and columbus monuments) and never called to answer for their crimes.
Before the Europeans, Rwanda was a fully developed society and the two tribes, Hutus and Tutsis lived alongside each other for 500+ years. The Tutsis were often herders and the Hutus were farmers and this all changed when Belgium colonized Rwanda. By stating Belgium and also talking about the Rwandan Genocide, most would think that the Belgium people killed of people in Rwanda. However, that is not the case because instead of actually killing the Africans that were living there, they created differences between the Tutsis and Hutus. In other words, the Belgium government is responsible for creating the circumstances that caused their to be tension between the Hutus and Tutsis. Belgium gave power to the Tutsi because they appeared more “european” and acted more noble and intelligent. As tensions grew between the Tutsis and Hutus, the Hutus decided to go to war and started to kill off the Tutsis in the country.
The Rwandan Genocide doesn’t follow the norms of a regular genocide. Belgium created tension between the two native groups that were in the country of Rwanda. Both Germany and Belgium turned the traditional Hutu-Tutsi relationship into a class system. The minority Tutsi (14%) are favored over the Hutus (85%) and given privileges and western-style education. The Belgians used the Tutsi minority to enforce their rule. Belgium gave special privileges to the Tutsi like giving “Admission to schools to prepare for government jobs” The Tutsis decided to decolonize from Belgium, being the big instigator that they are, Belgium decided to give power to the Hutus. Belgium was aware that the Hutus and Tutsis already don’t like each other so by giving power to the Hutus, the Hutus win municipal elections organized by Belgian colonial rulers. Belgium got back at the Tutsis for trying to decolonize and this lead to many more conflicts between these two ethnic groups and ended with more than 800,000 people dead.
Even though Rwanda lost over 800,000 people during the 1994 genocide, Rwanda’s global income ranking has improved from the seventh poorest in 2000 to the twentieth in 2015. This is due to the government’s commitment to strong governance and the principles of market economy and openness. Even though more than 60 percent still live in extreme poverty, Rwanda has reduced the percentage of people living below the poverty line from 57 percent in 2005 to 45 percent in 2010. Rwanda is still poor but it is on its way to being financially stable but that doesn’t take away from the fact that people died because of an imbalance of power. This gets into ethics and was it worth the deaths of 800,000 Tutsis.
In conclusion, the Rwandan genocide, the Holocaust, and the Indeginous genocide of the United States are all examples of mass murder that dealt with the killing of people for ethical reasons. With each solution, comes someone who will be permanently damaged in society. We should look back at these genocides and pose a better future for society. Learn from the past in order to protect the future. We can only shape so much of the future, but it could be enough to save a life, race, population, or even an entire country.
