Transcript Genocide - Dragonwhap

The Age of Genocide
Exploring 20th century genocides
The Origins of Genocide
by Adam Jones, Ph.D.
• What motivated Raphael Lemkin to study what
he would come to call "genocide"?
• What kind of human groups did Lemkin
emphasize in his genocide framework, and
which did he tend to downplay? Why?
• What are the major features, ambiguities, and
controversial aspects of the 1948 UN Genocide
Convention?
What causes Genocide
1. Institutions of government
a. totalitarian systems
2. Context
a. Possibility sharply increases when the government is
involved in international or domestic wars
3. Motives
a. to destroy a group that is perceived as a threat to the ruling
power
b. involves the destruction of those who are hated, despised,
or conversely are envied or resented
c. pursuit of an ideological transformation of society
d. purification, or the attempt to eliminate from society
perceived alien beliefs, cultures, practices, and ethic
groups
e. economic gain
The Eight Stages of Genocide
• Genocide is a process that develops in
eight stages that are predictable but not
unchangeable.
• The later stages must be preceded by the
early stages, though earlier stages
continue to operate throughout the
process.
By Gregory H. Stanton (Originally written in 1996 at the Department of State;
presented at the Yale University Center for International and Area Studies in 1998)
Stages of genocide
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Classification
Symbolization
Dehumanization
Organization
Polarization
Preparation
Extermination
Denial
Bosnia, 1991-1995
Bosnia was part of the Ottoman (Turkish)
Empire until 1878 and then of the AustroHungarian Empire until the First World
War.
After the war it was united with other Slav
territories to form Yugoslavia, essentially
ruled and run by Serbs from the Serbian
capital, Belgrade.
Yugoslavia disintegrated in June 1991.
In 1992 in the Republic of BosniaHerzegovina, conflict between the three
main ethnic groups, the Serbs, Croats, and
Muslims, resulted in genocide committed
by the Serbs against the Muslims in Bosnia.
1) Classification
• All cultures have categories to distinguish
people into "us and them" by ethnicity,
race, religion, or nationality: German and
Jew, Hutu and Tutsi. Bipolar societies that
lack mixed categories, such as Rwanda
and Burundi, are the most likely to have
genocide.
US
THEM
Classification in the Bosnian Genocide
• Bosnian Serbs (Orthodox Christians) label
– Bosniaks (Sunni Muslims),
– Bosnian Croats (Roman Catholic Christians)
2) Symbolization
• We give names or other symbols to the classifications.
We name people "Jews" or "Gypsies", or distinguish
them by colors or dress; and apply them to members
of groups. Classification and symbolization are
universally human and do not necessarily result in
genocide unless they lead to the next stage,
dehumanization. When combined with hatred,
symbols may be forced upon unwilling members of
pariah groups.
Symbolism in the Bosnian Genocide
• Religious symbols used to distinguish Orthodox
Christians (Serbs) from Catholic Christians and
Muslims
– Posing with clerics- Serb leaders (Orthodox
Christians
– Rosary around Bosnia- Catholic Christians
– Crescent moon and star- Muslims
• Names were also used to distinguish between
the different groups
– Muslims tried to change their names to Orthodox
Christian names to avoid being singled out.
3) Dehumanization
• One group denies the humanity of the
other group. Members of it are equated
with animals, vermin, insects or diseases.
Dehumanization overcomes the normal
human revulsion against murder.
Dehumanization in Bosnian Genocide
• Serbs do not think of Bosnian Muslims as
individual humans but as Muslims
• Serbs also use
– Hate speech against Muslims
– State-controlled media to spread hate speech
and lies
4) Organization
• Genocide is always organized, usually by
the state, though sometimes informally
(Hindu mobs led by local RSS militants) or
by terrorist groups. Special army units or
militias are often trained and armed. Plans
are made for genocidal killings.
Organization in the Bosnian Genocide
• Serbian forces had control of 677
concentration camps and centers.
• Serbian military sieged Sarajevo, the
capital of Bosnia. This alone killed many.
• They also shelled, boomed, and pillaged
cities and ran through the streets killing
Muslims and Croats.
5) Polarization
• Extremists drive the groups apart. Hate
groups broadcast polarizing propaganda.
Laws may forbid intermarriage or social
interaction. Extremist terrorism targets
moderates, intimidating and silencing the
center
Polarization in the Bosnian Genocide
• Both sides used propaganda.
– Croatian President Franjo Kudjman used the
media to make the rebels (people fighting against
Serbia) rebel against and secede from Serbia.
– Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic used media
to advocate for Serbs and increase turmoil. Video
was shown of Muslims and Croats killing and
oppressing Serbs. Serbs told to rebel against
Muslims because otherwise they would be killed.
– Milosevic exhumed mass graves of Serbs killed by
the Croatian government during WWII.
6) Preparation
• Victims are identified and separated out
because of their ethnic or religious identity.
Death lists are drawn up. Members of
victim groups are forced to wear
identifying symbols. They are often
segregated into ghettoes, forced into
concentration camps, or confined to a
famine-struck region and starved.
Preparation in the Bosnian Genocide
• Serbs establish 677 camps and centers to keep
prisoners
– Tight living quarters
• Serbs relentlessly ran the streets and countryside killing
just about everyone.
– There is one account where they brought 200 prisoners to a 100
meter cliff and shot them, letting the remains fall off the cliff.
• Serbs had rape camps where they wanted to dilute the
Muslim and Croat blood line.
• Siege on Sarajevo
• Mass graves they made of Muslim and Croat remains.
7) Extermination
• Extermination begins, and quickly becomes the
mass killing legally called "genocide." It is
"extermination" to the killers because they do not
believe their victims to be fully human. When it is
sponsored by the state, the armed forces often
work with militias to do the killing. Sometimes the
genocide results in revenge killings by groups
against each other, creating the downward
whirlpool-like cycle of bilateral genocide (as in
Burundi).
Extermination in the Bosnian Genocide
• Ethnic Cleansing- the practice of removing or killing
people who belong to an ethnic group that is different
from the ruling group in a country or region (MerriamWebster Dictionary)
• Mass killing begins in 1992.
– The Bosnian referendum for independence took place on April 6,
1992.
– Srebrenica Massacre, July 1995.
• The Serbs attempted to exterminate the Muslims of
Bosnia, destroying hundreds of mosques and setting up
concentration camps.
• The UN’s expert commission investigating war crimes
issued a report at the end of 1994. This research
indicates the total of people dead, injured and missing to
be 200,000.
8) Denial
• Denial is the eighth stage that always follows a
genocide. It is among the surest indicators of
further genocidal massacres. The perpetrators of
genocide dig up the mass graves, burn the
bodies, try to cover up the evidence and
intimidate the witnesses. They deny that they
committed any crimes, and often blame what
happened on the victims. They block
investigations of the crimes, and continue to
govern until driven from power by force, when
they flee into exile. There they remain with
impunity, unless they are captured and a tribunal
is established to try them.
Denial of the Bosnian Genocide
• Mass graves were moved, making it very difficult to prove
what happened and to identify the bodies.
• Some war criminals were prosecuted in The Hague but others
are still at large.
• The decision by Republika Srpska, RS, prime minister Milorad
Dodik to tell a pre-election rally in Srebrenica that genocide
had never been committed there has provoked concerns over
Bosnian Serb reluctance to come to terms with the past.
– Muhamed Mesic, a genocide researcher with the Institute for the Research of
Crime against Humanity and International Law, warned that genocide denial by
a public figure had an effect on the wider community. “When the denial comes
from a president of a country, or a prime minister, then it becomes a big
problem because people trust these figures. As a consequence, their words are
accepted by their compatriots as a truth, and not pure nonsense,” he said.
• There is a widely shared opinion that Western media covered
the war in Bosnia in a superficial manner.
Genocide Tribunals
Slobodan Milosevic
• Milosevic goes on trial in 2001 at the
Hague for the following charges:
• Genocide, relating to the
massacre in Srebrenica, Bosnia
• Crimes against humanity, relating
to Bosnia, Croatia and Kosovo
• Grave breaches of the Geneva
Conventions, relating to Bosnia
and Croatia
• Violations of the laws or customs
of war, relating to Bosnia, Croatia
and Kosovo
• He dies in 2006 before his trial
concludes. He was found dead in his
cell from a heart attack (he had a
history of heart issues).
• Radovan Karadzic, the former Supreme
Commander of the Bosnian Serb Army,
was extradited to The Hague 13 years
after his indictment on genocide charges
for allegedly organizing the 1995
massacre at Srebrenica. He has been
charged with genocide, extermination,
murder, inhumane acts, and other
crimes committed against Bosnian
Muslim, Bosnian Croat, and other nonSerb civilians in Bosnia and
Herzegovina during the 1992–1995 war.
His trial ended in October 2014; a
verdict is expected in 2015.
• Ratko Mladic, accused of ordering the
Srebrenica genocide, went on trial in
2012. His trial is expected to end in
2015.
The Origins of Genocide
by Adam Jones, Ph.D.
• What motivated Raphael Lemkin to study what
he would come to call "genocide"?
• What kind of human groups did Lemkin
emphasize in his genocide framework, and
which did he tend to downplay? Why?
• What are the major features, ambiguities, and
controversial aspects of the 1948 UN Genocide
Convention?
Genocide Investigators
You will be divided into groups of 3-4.
• Each group will be assigned a case.
• As investigators, you need to determine whether
or not your case qualifies as genocide.
Task
 Access your dossiers on Dragonwhap>KP & HMWK
 Use the provided information to complete the
chart for your case.

Some are videos, so use your headphones.
 Be prepared to share your findings with the class.
In conclusion…
Individually write a short report on your
assigned case that addresses the
following….
• Does your case study align with the official definition of
genocide?
• How well does your case study align with the 8 stages of
genocide?
Write a cohesive multi-paragraph response to these
questions. Provide evidence from your research supporting
answers to both questions.