I dont know about France but Belgiums were pretty brutal during their time in Africa

In fairness Jeremy, the Belgians created the whole “Tutus/Hutu divide” and the put the Tutsis in power because they thought they were “whiter” than Hutus.

Your right in regards to most of the west being guilty of depraved indifference as opposed to the actual genocidaires. For example America using the term “acts of genocide” as opposed to “genocide” to circumvent the UN mandate that demands intervention to stop genocide. But as my comment below points out, the French were complicit in it.

So who (in your opinion) is to blame for a Rwandan hacking their neighbour & their children to death?

The murderer?
Or France?

Without a doubt its the murderer. And as I said, the West doing nothing does not constitute complicity. But France armed funded and actively fought alongside Hutu extremists. France’s involvement was far more serious than the rest of the West.

Jeremy as you know from my comments on the Ukraine, I’m not in the business of hating the West. But I have done extensive research on the Rwandan genocide in college and I would consider myself fairly knowledgeable about it. And I firmly believe France played a significant role in it.

Rwanda was a kingdom with a Tutsi elite long before the Belgians arrived. They co-opted the Tutsi elite for ruling but then decided to support Hutu’s having a share in power just before they left. They caused an awful mess but the divide was already there.

Why? You’ve no interest in even trying to understand. So go do your own research if you want. I’m not wasting my time on you.

The divide was there, true enough but it was more an economic divide than ethnic. Hutus of means could become Tutsi very easily. (I could be wrong here, but couldn’t the amount of cattle one owned allow someone to become Tutsi?) In any event both Hutu and Tutsi came from the Bantu. It was the Belgians who solidified the ethnic division, using height, nose width, lightness of skin and other horrendous distinctions.

It’s naive to think that the Belgium had nothing to do with this. They created the Hutu and Tutsi categorisation – which was based on physical traits like height, nose, skin tone and also wealth – in the first place. The Belgians set up a ruling elite ‘the Tutsis’ to control the nation on their behalf. Divide and then conquer. Post independence, the Tutsis continued to oppress the Hutu majority which led to uprisings and tension that were a direct result of colonial rule and structures. This is why Belgium were at least a contributory factor in the genocide. Where France is concerned, they had vested interests in Rwanda at the time owning many businesses and land. They also had a sizeable army who could have put down the uprising quite easily but the lack of political will meant it wasn’t a priority. There’s is a sin of omission but a sin nonetheless.

Back in your box Jeremy ye airhead

France played a huge roll in this. Gosh it was horrific

Your comment tarred every citizen of Rwanda as backward and twisted. Your comment focused on a short period from one of Africa’s most beautiful countries with a people whose resilience is humbling. Not all of the country was touched by the horror. Having lived and worked in Rwanda for just short of two years I can say with some limited experience that not everyone is twisted and the country is moving on from a nightmare that is unimaginable to those of us privileged to live in the first world. Moving on is the only direction possible to avoid implosion. Those who committed murder and worse on their neighbours deserve a death befitting such barbarity, as do the domestic and foreign instigators.

Well put response. You obviously took some time with it. But this is not me “tarring” the citizens of Rwanda over the actions of a handful of insane people. This was a grab for power through genocide involving hundreds of thousands of people, which had been building up for decades. Look up the history books. One side struck before the other. The mentality of both sides is twisted. We could have easily look at the Tutsi doing the slaughtering. Look at the mentality of tribes across Africa and their treatment of each other from newborns to elderly. Massacre after massacre coming from whoever holds power at the time. Backward and twisted with little or no humanity.

I’d recommend doing some research into the psychology that is a major factor in incidents like these. People are easily controlled, especially when there is a clear divide between groups created (search for ingroups/outgroups), when there are charismatic leaders and little or no accountability for actions.

Pat, this is a genuine question. Do you believe that everyone fighting under Hitler’s regime was a bad, backward or twisted person?

Excellent post cillian

Cillian are you taking the piss? There are divides between different groups all over the world. Charismatic leaders who manipulate their people. And little accountability, from those in power to criminals on the streets. But not many of these people carry out such evil, horrific acts. Yes, people can be manipulated and controlled to a certain extent. But I believe you have to have something twisted inside you to be able to move from village to village and hack babies to death. You cannot blame a leader for such a personal barbaric act. A leader can spread a message but it’s the man with the machete in his hands who holds the power and makes the choice to bring it down on a child’s skull. Re your genuine question about Hitler, I’d say the same for both atrocities. Who is more twisted, the animals who butchered people or those who stood beside them and watched. All just following orders I suppose.

@cutsie are you just typing random words? Purple monkey dishwasher?

Sarah, they tried to wipe us out.

The Irish helped out in some genocides so we do know all about it.

Ya like the Irish in Australia. They fcuked the people in Tazzie…like over cliffs…evil