Genocide, mass killings, expulsions – end result of a process
Before 2023, genocide was thought to be a feature of the 20th century, which saw mass killings in Nazi-dominated Europe, Cambodia, Yugoslavia, and Rwanda. But Israel proved that it could be a 21st-century phenomenon too, by its relentless attempt to wipe out Palestinians in Gaza.
More than 58,000 people have been killed since Israel launched the assault in Gaza in October 2023. Israeli forces have also imposed blockades, pushing its 2.3 million residents to the brink of starvation.
Francesca Albanese, the UN Special Rapporteur for the occupied Palestinian territory, has said that it is time nations took concrete actions to stop Israel’s “genocide” in Gaza.
“Each state must immediately review and suspend all ties with the State of Israel … and ensure its private sector does the same,” Albanese said.
“The Israeli economy is structured to sustain the occupation that has now turned genocidal.”
The European Union is weighing various measures against Israel, which include a ban on imports from illegal Israeli settlements, an arms embargo and individual sanctions against Israeli officials who are found to be blocking a peaceful solution to the conflict.
What is genocide?
The Genocide Convention of 1948 defines it as an “intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group.” Genocides have taken place throughout history, but the 20th Century is termed as the “century of genocide.” The genocide of Armenians, the Holocaust, and the genocide in Cambodia and Rwanda fit that definition. So far, the 21st Century has seen one, namely, in Gaza perpetrated by Israel under the protection of the US, the “oldest democracy and the leader of the Free World.”
Raphael Lemkin, coined the term “genocide” in the 1940s with the Holocaust (the extermination of European Jews) in mind. Thus, genocide signified the “return of an enlightened people to barbarism.”
Dominique Maritz noted in his paper entitled: “What are the main causes of genocide?” that many scholars argued that genocide is actually a product of the “Enlightenment”, a movement in 17th, and 18th Century Europe.
Central to the “Enlightenment” movement was the use of reason to improve the human condition. It entailed the gathering and use of scientific knowledge to promote general happiness. The belief that everything, including races and social groups, could be measured, classified and arranged hierarchically got entrenched.
Men of the Enlightenment also began wanting to control nature and, by extension, people as well. This included a perverted desire to exterminate some to establish a perfect society, Maritz said.
The Enlightenment also led to social engineering by the State that aimed to promote some groups and suppress or eliminate some other groups The underlying theory was that nature ordained “the survival of the fittest.”
The desire to establish a utopia meant “designing, cultivating and weed-poisoning”. The Armenian genocide was the systematic destruction of Armenians in the Ottoman Empire during World War I. It was implemented through the mass murder of around one million Armenians in marches to the Syrian Desert and forced Islamisation. The Ottoman Empire suspected Armenians to be agents of Russia. Every Tutsi in Rwanda was accused of being part of the invading rebel army, the Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF), which consisted primarily of members of the Tutsi minority.
The Cambodian genocide was the systematic killing of Cambodians by the Khmer Rouge under the leadership of Pol Pot. It resulted in the deaths of 1.5 to 2 million people between 1975 and 1979. The Bosnian (Yugoslav) genocide took place during the Bosnian War of 1992–1995 in which more than 8,000 Bosniak (Bosnian Muslim) men and boys were killed or expelled.
Genocides spawned their own vocabulary. Armenians were termed “tubercular microbes”. Hitler spoke of the “Jewish virus”. Recently, a leading Indian politician described illegal Bangladeshi immigrants as “termites”. In Assam, Bengali-speaking Muslim migrants from Bangladesh were dubbed as “Mia, ” a pejorative term. In rural Rwanda, the chopping up of Tutsi men was called “bush clearing” and slaughtering women and children was labelled as “pulling out the roots of the bad weeds”.
Distress created by an economic decline or war could lead to genocide. Scapegoats are chosen in the process of finding a way out of distress. Hitler blamed the Jews for Germany’s defeat in World War I and the economic problems that followed. He sent 6 million Jews to the gas chambers.
War conditions people to killing on a vast scale. Victims are often portrayed as having got wealth by clever manipulation of the system which is used to justify killing a whole group.
Sometimes, there is a history of animosity towards the group that is blamed. The generally business-minded Jews were blamed for the poverty of Europeans in the 19 th Century.
Genocide could occur out of a desire by a group to politically and economically dominate another group which appears to challenge the domination. This is especially so in democracies where numbers count for attaining or retaining power. Numbers could be manipulated either subtly by the executive branch of the government or brazenly by force leading to killings and expulsions. In Myanmar, the Muslim Rohingyas were forced to flee to Bangladesh by the dominant Buddhist Bamar community. In the Indian subcontinent, millions of Hindus and Muslims were killed or forced to flee so that the majority communities could rule.
Genocide creates two social groups – the perpetrators and the victims. Both bond among themselves. The perpetrator group (and the victimised group too) is bound by a “sacred cause” complete with rituals.
Stages of Genocide
Genocide does not take place all of a sudden. It is a process, a buildup, says Dr. Gregory H. Stanton, President of “Genocide Watch”. The first stage is “symbolisation.” Names or symbols are assigned to the targeted people so that they can be easily identified.
In pre-independence Myanmar, Indians were a disliked group, and were dubbed “Kala,” a term of abuse. In Europe, Jews were identified by their beards and caps and in North India, Muslims are identified by their beards and skullcaps. Physical features of the races are also a marker of identity.
In times of tension, symbols may be forced upon groups dubbed as undesirable. The yellow star was used to identify Jews under Nazi rule.
Classification is followed by “dehumanization.” In dehumanization, one group denies the humanness of the other group. Members of the despised group are equated with animals, vermin, insects or diseases. A leading Indian politician described alleged illegal immigrants from Bangladesh as “vermin.”
Dehumanization helps people overcome the normal human revulsion against murder. If there is hate propaganda in the media, large-scale killings or genocide could result.
Genocide is always organised, usually by the state, but also by non-state groups. Prior to a genocide, there is meticulous preparation. Victims are identified and separated. Death lists are drawn up.
The next stage is “extermination.” Sometimes genocide results in revenge killings by victimized groups, creating chaos.
In the post-genocide phase, the perpetrators take to denial. They dig up mass graves, burn bodies, try to cover up other evidence, and also intimidate witnesses. They often put the blame on the victims and block investigations.
The international community has intervened at this stage. In the case of Pol Pot of Cambodia and in Yugoslavia, international tribunals were established. The International Criminal Court has been activated.
Can Genocide be Prevented?
Prevention is very difficult, and one of the main reasons is the definition of genocide, says the World Peace Foundation’s Research Director, Bridget Conley-Zilkic. She pointed out that the legal definition of genocide—which was crafted in 1948—requires “demonstration of the intent to destroy a group in whole or in part.” This is not easy.
To get a legal determination on a case of genocide, the investigator must “get inside the mindset of the perpetrator” and prove his intent to “destroy” a group, not just to “push a group out of a certain area or defeat an insurgency.” That, indeed, is a difficult task in many cases.
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