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Susan Thomas

LBST 2102-H93

Dr. Robert Arnold

May 12, 2011

Globalization’s Effect on Rwandan Genocide

Many students who are currently enrolled in college do not remember exact details of the

genocide that occurred in Rwanda but when future generations want to gain further knowledge of

the massacre, they will be looking at these particular students for answers. They will want to

know what that generation did to help the people who were suffering, and we, as members of this

generation will not be allowed to use ignorance as an excuse. We will be held responsible

because we were alive during the time period but we will not be able to give accurate feedback

because during the time of the incidence in Rwanda we were told it was a time of unrest.

Government officials never came right out and said that there was a blatant genocide occurring

in Rwanda but labeled it as “acts of genocide.” This statement would not have to prompt

Americans or any super power nation to come to the aid of the victims in Rwanda because their

interests did not lie in charity cases but in what would be best and most beneficial for the nation.

The movie Hotel Rwanda presents this struggle vividly during a time of violence and

mistrust for Rwandans. Paul Rusesabagina, a brave hotel manager who sought to save the lives

of the Tutsis he housed in Hôtel des Mille Collines, should tremendous courage, wit, and growth

throughout the progression of the film. The effects of globalization were prominent in the up rise

as well as the resolution of the conflict in Rwanda. Through the processes of economic and

political globalization the lives of the Rwandans were heavily impacted. Steger describes both

political and economic globalization as the intensification and expansion of specific

interrelations across the globe but I will further note how each specific process affected the lives

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of the Rwandans (Hutu or Tutsi), the role of Paul Rusesabagina, as well as the commitments,

duties, and acts of intervening demonstrated by the United Nations and other authoritative

countries.

“There has always been an inherent tension between the government’s forward-looking

reconciliation narrative, which seeks to erase ethnicity, and its backward-looking genocide

narrative, which inevitably emphasizes ethnicity” (Waldorf 104). This ideology explains how

harmful and deceitful restructuring a society and moving towards an era of globalization can

become. Territorial boundaries were drawn years ago by the Belgians who subsequently labeled

the natives as Hutu and Tutsi based on physical characteristics rather than by affiliation of class,

in which the system began. The characters in the movie described a society in which the two

ethnic groups were distinguished down to simple features like the size of their nose. It was

difficult to truly determine who were Hutu and Tutsi because the groups intermingled and

married. The racial divide was a blur but the foundations set years ago still encouraged hate

among the groups and the extremists worked effortlessly to eradicate the opposing ethnic group

and make themselves pure. The members of each group were forced to carry around cards and

papers noting their cultural background. This modern system has focused on psychological

factors to allocate who has the power and who doesn’t. This system has become so much a part

of the Rwandan culture that it provides a sense of security and consistency amongst the members

of the society. These factors brewed a conflict that resulted in mass murders and mutilations of

individuals as well as families. The Rwandans were catapulted into a situation that fostered

hatred and stimulated hostility. The mass population of Rwanda was not wealthy but they owned

radios. The radio played a crucial role in the turn of events throughout the movie. The radio

posed as the only means of communication for the surrounding area that was bordered and

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sectioned off. People were afraid to leave their areas for fear of being killed and so they listened

to the radio. This outlet fueled the anger of the rebels and reiterated the dislike of the

“cockroach” Tutsis. It controlled the morale of the nation and aided in the attack and ambush of

the convoy that was escaping the terror.

Paul also displayed a remarkable development throughout the duration of the film and

showed characteristics of resourcefulness, negotiation and ingenuity. Towards the initiation of

the film, Paul and his wife watched as a neighbor was beaten to death because he was a

suspected Tutsi. Paul’s wife, Tatiana, encouraged him to go to the man’s aid but Paul dared not

budge. Towards the end of the film Paul risked his life and family’s well-being to save the lives

of many of the captives in the Hotel. The role of Paul in Hotel Rwanda exemplified the extent to

which economic and political globalization can be positive and beneficial to society. As the

manager of a prominent hotel in the area Paul had the opportunity to build relationships with

officials who had authority and later helped him to survive. He also had access to a multitude of

Belgian currency, jewelry, and cases of beer to barter with.

Paul faced the dilemma of being Hutu and married to a Tutsi; breeding mixed children.

He understood that he couldn’t escape the war zone without outside help therefore he relied on

others to buy just one more day of survival until they could escape. One of the men who Paul

traded with received a batch of machetes from China. The Chinese weren’t aware that they were

supplying mass killings but the effects of economic globalization provided these rebels with

weapons. Although it was strengthening the trade between the two countries there was an

underlying problem. “Representing the Rwandan genocide is a question of asserting the

possibility of representation between the visibility of genocide and the invisibility of Western-led

globalization. In an era of falsification, in which a simple declarative “truth” is no longer

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available—if indeed it ever was—that task is by no means simple” (Mirzoeff 89) Paul had an

understanding that the technological and economic advances he shared with the Western world

as well as with the Europeans meant nothing in his time of turmoil. He knew that wasn’t an easy

task for the other countries to remove them from warfare and so he began to use his system of

networks that he had accumulated throughout his profession. He became general manager of the

hotel and was able to exert authority over his co-workers and quickly turn the hotel into a place

that supplied the fugitives with a sense of hope. He also encouraged them to call everyone that

they knew as well such as family in other parts of the world because that was their only way of

escaping. By utilizing the effects of globalization, Paul was able to take a negative and stressful

situation and turn it into a successful transmission of people who were under attack to a place in

which they can be reunited with family and exported to a safer place.

Finally, the last groups that played a key role in the events of the Rwandan genocide were

the United Nations and countries such as France and the United States, who had enough military

force to intervene and possibly limit the number of deaths which occurred from the genocide.

The lack of intervention from these nations led Rwandans to fend for themselves and to live in

fear. Chloe Veltman states:

“Early on in the movie, Westerners are evacuated from Rwanda. Aid is blocked. Peacekeeping

forces and journalists pull out. The outside (occidental) world disappears almost completely form

view as the hotel and its inhabitants struggle to survive without the help of mediating forces. It is

precisely from this pervading sense of lack that Hotel Rwanda derives its power. With its gaping

holes and loaded silences, George’s film is a commanding critique of the Western world’s

absence from the scene of the crime” (202)

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Even the director of the film not only tries to directly show the lack of intervention by some of

the world’s super power nation but through film techniques and metaphors, indirectly displays

the void. As mentioned previously, if what happened in Rwanda was classified as genocide, it

would be the responsibility of these nations to intervene. The United Nations were there to

provide a sense of security, comfort, and protection but by being unarmed, proved themselves

irrelevant. They knew of the horrific acts of violence being committed in Rwanda, yet they were

not able to muster up enough anger within the other countries to do something about all of the

killing. In recent times there has been much regret for not calling the murders of thousands in

Rwanda genocide and as a nation, America has learned from the past mistake and has played a

different role in other countries now when dealing with conflict. The officials of the west are still

faced with the problem of intervening in a situation that doesn’t help the USA economically or

politically but at what point does that become more important than saving lives?

In conclusion, economic and political globalization played key roles in the ultimate

welfare of the citizens of Rwanda before, during, and after the genocide occurred. The citizens

of Rwanda and Paul Rusesabagina each were positively and negatively affected by the effects of

globalization. Throughout the process of moving towards a more centralized world I hope the

large nations will consider that we can become more united and interconnected without

necessarily changing the structure of a society because that only breeds conflict. It may not be an

easy task but in the future the territorial and racial boundaries will blur and we will learn to

effectively deal with conflict and adapt to the change.

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Works Cited

Veltman, Chloe. Rev. of Hotel Rwanda [Tv] by Terry George. 330.7484 (2005): 202. Print.

Mirzoeff, Nicholas. "Invisible Again: Rwanda and Representation after Genocide." African Arts 38.3 (2005): 36-39, 86-91, 96. Print.

Waldorf, Lars. "Revisiting Hotel Rwanda: genocide ideology, reconciliation, and rescuers." Journal of Genocide Research 11.1 (2009): 101-125. Historical Abstracts. EBSCO. Web. 11 May 2011.

Steger, Manfred B. Globalization: A Very Short Introduction. Oxford University Press, 2009.Print.