“It is not power that corrupts but fear.”― Aung San Suu Kyi. Aung San Suu Kyi won the Nobel peace prize for bringing about a positive change by creating peace in her country. After becoming prime minister, ironically Suu Kyi became a genocide leader. Did Suu Kyi commit this crime out of fear or power?
Genocide is the combination of fear and power. What is genocide? People know genocide as killing targeted towards a group of people, however, genocide has 10 steps to it. These steps will be introduced in a later chapter. In the coming chapters, we will touch upon the following questions; What triggers a genocide? And how do genocide leaders gain power?
Definition of Genocide
According to the Oxford dictionary, “genocide is the deliberate killing of a large number of people from a particular nation or ethnic group with the aim of destroying that nation or group”. Yet, genocide is much more, it is prejudice and disthroning towards a specified group of people.
Genocide is often misinterpreted as mass murdering. Mass murdering is killing people however, genocide is different. Mass murdering an immediate action as with genocide there are steps that have to be taken. This misconception began in the late 1900s when people thought of the holocaust as murder towards groups of people, not prejudice towards people. However, the goal of the holocaust was to deceive people into believing in Germany and to disparage people of the Jewish Faith. For example, the Holocaust was killing people from the Jewish faith and culture and dehumanizing them too. The killing might be the most remembered concept of the Holocaust, but it was the shame that is frequently brought across the religion and culture.
However, there are many ways for a genocide to be formed. Here is an example of the beginning of a genocide. The holocaust was formed over time, it began with the end of world war i. The instability in Europe made International conflict more common. At this time Germany was rising to power. Furthermore, Germany was on a surge towards world domination. However, Germany was economically and politically unstable. This instability went in Germany’s favour. In 1939 Germany Invaded Poland. This caused Great Britain and France to declare war on Germany. Marking the start of World War ii. In the next six years, there were an estimated 45-60 million murdered, including 6 million Jews. This was known as Germany’s plan marked as the ‘final solution’ now known as the holocaust.
Below you will find a graph. This graph shows the number of deaths during genocide represented worldwide. As you will see the greater number of genocide happens when a country is governed by a communist party. It is more common for genocide to be formed in communist countries. This is because communist countries keep stricter rules about their citizen's daily life.
In conclusion, genocide is the goal of eradicating a culture, by promoting
prejudice. Even if genocide is misrepresentative as mass-murdering because of the slaughtering, nothing suffices to genocide’s prejudice and shame.
Chapter 2
The Ten Stages of Genocide
Genocide is planned secretly as explained in the last chapter. Experts have come up with steps in which genocide is brought about, these steps consist of mental abuse, persuasive discrimination and lastly mass murdering. These stages were created by Gregory Stanton. Stanton is a renowned
Here are the 10 steps of genocide:
Classification: This is when the government divides people into us and them. The government uses these categories to distinguish people by their race, religion, ethnicity or nationality.
How dpDeos Genocide
Symbolization: When the government distinguishes a group of people by giving them a symbol or label. An example of this could be in the holocaust when people of the Jewish faith had to wear a yellow star on their clothes. Another example is when the Khmer Rouge made people from the East wear blue scarves. This causes discrimination and prejudice against any group that doesn’t fall under the majority.
Discrimination: A form of government that uses its political power, law and customs to deny the rights of the weaker groups. The dominant group shreds away civil rights, to consume power from the lesser group.
Dehumanization: The government equates people with animals and viruses. At this point, propaganda is spread as well as hate radio channels. This divides the groups further apart, making casual discrimination more common.
Organization: The government orders merciless organizations, such as a terrorist group, that make sure that prejudice arises causing riots and massacres. These organizations can be secret or public. An example of this is Krishaalent (the night of broken glass). This is an important part of the Holocaust. Krisshallent was the first mass murdering of the Holocaust. Nazi Soldiers disguised themselves to instigate the riots, as well as uniformed officers.
Polarization: The government distributes propaganda that commences to the populace including stereotypes upon the group/s. Furthermore, extremists divide the groups apart with more propaganda and hate crimes. In this stage more strict laws are placed, some of which can include intermarriage and social interaction.
Preparation: This is when the government relocates and evicts people. They do this by making laws about housing restrictions and taxes that are targeted to the group. Examples of this could be ghettos, concentration camps or famine-struck regions.
Persecution: The persecution stage is the most remembered part of genocide. Persecution is the beginning of the murdering, vandalism of property and tribal massacres.
Extermination: This is the widespread elimination of the community. It is described as “elimination” and not murder because the group is not recognized as human. The state sponsors the killing and armed forces often work alongside militias for the killing.
Denial. It is when the government denies that they have committed any crime. The Government burns up the mass graves and intimidated witnesses to cover up their crime. The government blames the killing on the victims and ends all investigations of genocide. If The state is convicted the case will go to overseas court.
The images below show the dehumanization towards people of the Jewish culture. These people below are not images of people but are interpretations and stereotypes of what was perceived as the Jewish race.
“It's” to blame ‘The victory over The Jew instigator of war,
for the war Bolshevism, war means and plutocracy.
liberation from Jewish
scammers.’
Chapter 3:
Genocide leaders
The definition of a genocide leader is the leader or organizer of a deliberate prejudice and murder of a group of people. One reason for this is that power causes people to act upon their fears and unresolved feelings. Another reason is fear, fear pushes people to go in a fight or flight mode. When people have power, history has shown that they will go into fight mode. However, history has also shown that all genocide leaders have experienced traumatic situations, such as an abusive childhood or war causing them to lash out. In conclusion, genocide leaders have shown that having power is the only reason they had people to listen to them.
One of the genocide leaders, Aung Sun Suu Kyi wrote this famous quote. “It isn’t power that corrupts, but fear”. This means that power makes people heard, but fear makes people act in horrible ways.
Looking at Aung San Suu Kyi and Hitler, they are almost opposites but they’re more similar than people think. For instance, Hitler and Aung San Suu Kyi both had a certain charisma. Their powerful approach is what made their country believe them as much as they did. However, Hitler and Suu Kyi had different approaches to their charisma. Hitler rescued Germany at its lowest point, in a way he came across as a hero. On the other hand, Suu Kyi’s charisma came from her knowledge and reputation for bringing about a democratic change. Suu Kyi had won a Nobel Peace Prize for helping Myanmar. Although there is a controversy on whether Aung San Suu Kyi should have her Nobel Peace Prize be taken away. Reasons for that are that she is no longer seen as a symbol of hope by Amnesty, the charity that is in control of the Nobel prize.
Another difference is their motive. Hitler’s motive was to take Germany out of the Great Depression. Aung Sann Suu Kyi’s motive was the democracy of her country.
There are significant differences between Hitler and Aung San Suu Kyi. Hitler had an abusive childhood. Three of his four siblings died due to diphtheria and his mother mourned over them his whole childhood. However, his only sibling that lived had a hunched back, which caused his father to distance himself from her. Aung San Suu Kyi on the other hand had a loving family. Her father was in charge of the military uprising of Myanmar. One of Suu Kyi’s brothers died as a child, drowning in a swimming pool.
Later on, he had a dream to be a famous artist. However, he did not have his father’s support as he pushed him to be a businessman. After Hitler’s dad died, Hitler followed his dream and became an artist. His happiness was only short-term. Within a few weeks, his beloved mother died, throwing Hitler into complete distress.
A few years later, Germany’s great depression was raging and Hitler saw a great opportunity. He could promote Germany to its, former glory. But, he dug Germany into an even deeper hole. Hitler saw an opportunity to win the war, however, proved wrong.
“My faceless neighbour spoke up:
“Don’t be deluded. Hitler has made it clear that he will annihilate all Jews exact purpose of the clock strikes twelve.”
I exploded:
“What do you care what he said? Would you want us to consider him a prophet?
His cold eyes stared at me. At last, he said,
“I have more faith in Hitler than in anyone else. He alone has kept his promises, all his promises, to the Jewish people.”
― Elie Wiesel
This quote shows how much faith Hitler’s followers had in him because he never broke his promises. In conclusion, genocide leaders use charisma and power to create a genocide. They do this by gaining power in difficult times.
Chapter 4 :
Genocide leaders are not the only people who are affected by genocide. Genocides have long-term health conditions; these conditions can range from PTSD to anxiety. As early as the twentieth-century genocide has caused people to suffer in immeasurable ways. Thus, genocides have forced researchers from a range of disciplines, including epidemiologists, historians, political scientists, psychologists, anthropologists, demographers and many more, to understand the effect of genocide. Furthermore, predict and prevent further genocide. To sum up, everything that has been stated so far, Genocides have had a tremendous effect on the world, because of this there are conflicting views on whether it has a long term effect or none.
However this isn’t all, genocides have also left a reputation on countries. Germany for example has been rebuilding their reputation for decades after the holocaust. Germany is trying to reach out to all victims of the Holocaust. In its efforts, Germany has given 89 billion dollars to the survivors. For the first time, West Germany has pleaded guilty to killing Jews in camps.
In the Holocaust, Germany and their Confederates were known as the antagonist however, most of Germany was opposed to the Nazis. The USA and their Allies were known as the protagonists, but most of the people serving in the army were anti-sematic. The victims of the holocaust were the people of the Jewish culture
Another example of genocide is the Cambodian Genocide. This genocide was targeted at people who had access to education. In the genocide, 40% of teachers and students were killed. Because of this Cambodia had been set back on education. Another factor was the dramatic increase in poverty, making their GPA even lower. However, Cambodia is now taking action on education. According to Tyler Headley, a research assistant in NYU “The education minister of Cambodia has increased the teacher’s salary in hopes of a recovery in education.”
Sadly, some genocides just forever leave a negative impact. For example, the Bosnian genocide was known for child soldiers. These children would be taken from their homes and be forced to fight. Here is a quote from one of the child soldiers “Nobody won the war. We are all suffering, we are all sick, mentally and physically. Those who lost someone endure pain and emptiness. Nothing can cure us. I feel so miserable. In moments like this, I feel like committing suicide, because I'm missing people I want to be with. The only way I can reunite with them is in the next world. I simply can't bear this anymore.” This quote shows how even 20 years after a genocide how it can infect generations to come.
Genocide survivors have had a tremendous impact on society.
In conclusion, genocide is mental and physical pain directed towards a group of people. Nations struggle when genocide strikes, genocides are real events that make our life somewhat unsure. After a Genocide, communities try to achieve reconciliation. An example of reconciliation can include, donating money and supplies to the victims of genocide. Genocide is unpredictable and life-changing. When a genocide strikes people are corrupted by fear. However, to achieve reconciliation, we have to make a change.
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