Paper 1: Social – Key Question



41636955397500Key Question: Can psychology help explain the actions of Hutu townsfolk, who once lived peacefully alongside their Tutsi neighbours yet hacked them to death during the genocide of 1994?Spec CheckOne key question of relevance to today’s society, discussed as a contemporary issue for society rather than an academic argument.Concepts, theories and/or research (as appropriate to the chosen key question) drawn from social psychology as used in this qualification.There are a number of newspapers stories and the highly controversial BBC documentary linked on google classroom to help with this assignment. You could also read “Over a thousand hills I walk with you” which is in the school library and watch the feature film Hotel Rwanda.These questions will help you to complete some independent research. Use the information you discover to write a short blog article - the best will be uploaded to the Portsmouth point website. In the exam you might be asked to describe your key question. This will probably be worth about 4 marks so you will also need a more “potted” version of your blog post for revision. Next step you will be required to explain what you have discovered using social psychological concepts, theories and studies so try to pick out at least some information that you think might be easy to explain using what you have learnt throughout the topic! ;)Give a brief account of the facts and figures relating to the official version of the Rwandan genocide (you could mention the catalyst for the genocide, the number of people killed, the Interahamwe, the ID cards, the radio propaganda) (4)Describe the nature of the Rwanda’s many commemorative museums and memorials (2)Describe the commemorative genocide re-enactment that took place in Kigali’s main football stadium in 2014 that left audience members overcome with grief (3)How have the perpetrators of the genocide been brought to justice in recent years, including in France in 2014? (3)What is the link between France and Rwanda? (4)What was the name of the first person tried for his war crimes in France, what crimes had he committed and what was he charged with? Why do these charges appear somewhat soft in some people’s eyes? (4)Who was Cyasa Habimana and how did he describe himself and what happened during the genocide?Who was Paul Rusesabagina?Also in 2014, the BBC aired a highly controversial documentary about the situation in Rwanda in 1994 called “The Untold Story”; why was this documentary so controversial and what was the reaction of the Rwandan government? (4)Answer SheetFollowing the death of the president of Rwanda (a Hutu), whose plane was shot down, a campaign of violence spread from the capital city of Kigali. 800,000 Tutsis and moderate Hutus were slaughtered in just 100 days at the hands of the extremist Hutu militia, known as the Interahamwe, who stationed barricades and road blocks where they checked people’s ID cards, beating and maiming any Tutsis. Messages of hatred were broadcast on radio and orders were given to Hutus to “cut down the tall trees” (meaning kill the Tutsis). Hutus were told that the Tutsis were “cockroaches, cannibals and childkillers”. Radio Television Libre des Milles Collines, the extremist propaganda station broadcast lists of names and the whereabouts of Tutsis who were hiding in churches for example.They contain the bodies of mummified Tutsis with anguished faces and contorted in pain, left in the positions where they died to remind the Rwandans of their very bloody recent history. The ex-British PM Tony Blair attended as did the ex president of South Africa amongst other dignitaries. A re-enactment took place and amny members of the audience broke down. Counsellors were stationed amongst the crowd to help people. The UN Secretary General apologized for the problems that meant he UN did not do enough to stop the genocide and together he and president Kagame lit a flame to commemorate the genocide. A special war crimes unit in the French justice system was set up in 2012. France now has the tools it needs to ensure that perpetrators of war crimes don't escape justice or find a safe haven in the country. The first trial in France opened in 2014, two decades after the genocide. Previously, the UN tribunal on the Rwanda genocide and several western countries including Belgium have brought scores of Rwandans to justice. There was also a UN International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) in Tanzania, which heard the cases of hundreds of Hutu perpetrators. The ICTR also ruled that "military commanders and civilian leaders are equally held personally responsible for human rights violations committed by their subordinates". This has been described as the first time high-ranking individuals have been called to account before an international court of law for massive violations of human rights in Africa. Also, informal local courts called “gacaca” saw 1.9 million perpetrators brought to justice over a period of about 10 years although these courts have been criticised by some human rights groups. France had close ties to the Rwandan president Juvenal Habyarimana, (Hutu) who was killed when his plane was shot down in 1994. President Francois Mitterrand of France famously is quoted as saying “In such countries, genocide is not too important.” Before the killings, French troops armed and trained the Rwandan army. During the genocide, they allegedly helped radical Hutus flee. Later, France took in a number of exiles who were allowed to live freely. President Kagame says France and Belgium did too little to save lives in the genocide and there is ongoing hostility between the two countries. In 2010, French President Nicolas Sarkozy acknowledged France had made “grave errors of judgement” with regard to the genocide, but did not issue a formal apology. French dignitaries were banned from the commemorative service in the football stadium in 2014, although ex British prime minister Tony Blair was in attendance and he has been most public in congratulating Kagame in rebuilding Rwanda so successfully, This is also highly controversial due to more recent claims that Kagame is also a war criminal responsible for the revenge killings of many Hutu refugees following the genocide.Pascal Simbikangwa who is linked to the slaughter of 500,000 people. Simbikangwa came from the same town as Hutu president, Habyarimana and was allegedly a relative. He allegedly incited the army to identify and slaughter Tutsis and was charged with arming and instructing the extremist militias and Rwandan army at roadblocks in Rwanda during the genocide. He was charged with “complicity in genocide” and “complicity in crimes against humanity”; these charges have been said to be somewhat softer than they would have been in Rwanda, where the directors of the killings are typically viewed as bearing more responsibility than the hatchet men themselves.Cyasa Habimana was a Interahamwe official and he described himself as “the tool of more powerful men”. He had been ordered to kill Hutus by an army colonel who said he would be rewarded with new tyres for his vehicle if he followed the orders to kill Tutsis.Paul Rusesabagina was the hotel manager of Hotel Mille Colline , a moderate Hutu married to a Tutsi (Tatiana Rusesabagina) who saved the lives of 1268 Tutsi by hiding them in his hotel.It calls into question the ratio of Hutus to Tutsis that were murdered and suggests that the current president Paul Kagame (Tutsi) ordered the Hutu president’s plane to be shot down and it claims that the RPF (Tutsi rebels) were responsible for killing many innocent civilian Hutus. The Rwandan government launched an inquiry into the film and concluded that “The documentary made a litany of claims and assertions that are problematic in a number of ways and which we consider to violate Rwandan law, the BBC’s own ethical guidelines and limitations to press freedom.” They accused the BBC of genocide denial which is a punishable crime in Rwanda. The BBC defended its decision to air the documentary, saying it had “a duty to investigate difficult and challenging subjects”. It added that the film made “a valuable contribution to the understanding of the tragic history of the country and the region”. ................
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