Endless Ethnic, Religious, Cultural Tension
Through this class we have learned about the many horrible atrocities that humans have somehow been able to commit. On top of learning the famous crimes against humanity that the world has commonly shamed, we have learned about the atrocities that we have committed among st ourselves that hardly go noticed. The genocide professor in the documentary we recently watched, interviewed a politician that spoke of the terrible divisions in his country, Kenya. Kenya, like many regions of the world has had ethnic, cultural and religious tensions that have held the country back, through corruption, civil war etc... We learned in this class that there isnt a clear black and white solution. Kenya and Uhuru Kenyatta are no exception.Uhuru Kenyatta the current president of Kenya and a former businessman/politician who was against the ethnic tension that has caused violence in Kenya for decades. It seems that in countries such as Kenya and Rwanda, you cannot escape the rivalries and tensions that pin politicians to choose a side in order to win the majority. When Uhuru was running for president his rival was of a different ethnic background. This ethnic tension became quite intense leading to the fear of violence to break out between the two groups. As recently as 2007, over 1,400 people were killed after tribal tensions over boiled after election results came in. Uhuru Kenyatta was investigated for supporting the violence after the election as he had strongly supported a certain candidate that increased the polar-ism. Since then his office has been accused of corruption and he has seen staff members fired and killed over their corruption allegations.
The inevitable dilemma seems to never go away. If you are too ethnically oriented, only your own people will support you and the others will react strongly. If you do not run through appealing to groups, you no one. So whats the solution?
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This is such an interesting post. We have learned about many cases where the population of a country has been so conditioned, over time, to believe in the concepts of race and ethnic superiority that the extreme and horrific culmination of these beliefs-demonstrated by events like genocides-seems inevitable to a group of people. However, as stated in Worse than War, genocide always comes down to a choice, and leaders can always choose not to commit such atrocities. That is why it is crucial for people to value the morals of their leaders above all else. Leaders who make the decision to commit genocide, choosing to kill their own people, do so (at least in part) because they value their own power far more than the human life. They know that the majority of the population has bought into ideas only meant to divide people, and they use the ignorance, as well as the fears, of the people to justify their dangerous political ideas that are not actually in the best interest of the country. People should always question the motives of a leader who intentionally increases polarization in a country. In regard to the ignorance that creates the conditions in which leaders are enabled to make these terrifying choices, I think any solution necessitates education, in a system that prioritizes morals and maintains the principles of democracy, freedom, and justice.
ReplyDeleteI agree that ethnic, racial and religious violence seems to be never-ending, if not in one part of the world then in another. Your example of Kenya and the violence caused by Uhuru's election made me think of other instances of ethnic violence, like in Rwanda. Since the tensions between Hutu and Tutsi were partially caused by Belgian imperialism, I think it wouldn't be too much to assume that colonialization may have also caused problems in Kenya. Then, on the topic of a potential solution, I think about Woodrow Wilson's belief in self-determination back after World War I. By separating ethnic groups that have bad blood between them, and giving them their own territory, there could be a greater possibility of peace.
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