Home / Online Campus / Lessons & Units / Lesson / Can Journalism Kill? The Case of Rwandan Hate RadioCan Journalism Kill? The Case of Rwandan Hate Radio
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Scope and Sequence
Theme and Concept(s)
Time and Place
overview
This outline explores the connections between media, propaganda, and mass violence. During the Rwandan genocide, hate radio and music was used to incite violence and atrocities on a massive scale. Recent attempts at seeking justice in the aftermath of these tragedies have resulted in the first prosecutions since Nuremberg of propagandists. This lesson outline draws on resources Holocaust and Human Behavior as well as newspaper articles and websites covering these trials.
NOTE: In a recent effort to prevent a similar situation from occurring in Ivory Coast, the United Nations has intervened, calling for an end to all hate speeches against French nationals and other foreigners. According to an article published on November 16, 2004 by Reuters, "A U.N. expert on the prevention of genocide had called on the Ivory Coast authorities on Monday to condemn hate speech and put an immediate end to the messages broadcast on government-run stations, which were reminiscent of the virulent hate broadcasts that helped drive Rwanda's 1994 genocide in which 800,000 people were massacred in 100 days."November 16, 2004 U.N. Condemnation of Ivory Coast Hate Speech Analysis: Ivory Coast's hate media - BBC
On December 3rd, 2003, the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda convicted three individuals for their role in operating radio station RTLM before and during the genocide of April, 1994. For more information on this conviction, refer to the resources section of this lesson.
learning outcomes
Students will:
- Analyze the ways in which speech, and other forms of expression can incite mass violence and genocide
- Develop an understanding of the international justice system through the examination of specific cases before the Nuremberg Tribunal and the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda
- Reflect on the obligations of individuals, nations, and organizations within the context of human rights violations, mass violence and genocide
suggested grade level
Suggested for grades 7-12 (twelve - eighteen year-olds)
duration of activity
Duration of Activity: 3-5 days with the option of adding a research component.
historical context
In 1946, the judges at Nuremberg found Julius Streicher, the Nazi publisher of Der Sturmer, guilty of "inciting of the population to abuse, maltreat and slay their fellow citizens...to stir up passion, hate, violence and destruction among the people themselves aims at breaking the moral backbone even of those the invader chooses to spare." The judges sentenced him to death because "his incitement to murder and extermination at the time when Jews in the East were being killed under the most horrible conditions clearly constitutes persecution on political and racial grounds...and (therefore) a Crime against Humanity."
Forty-six years later, in 2002, prosecutors for the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda, are making connections between the Streicher case and the roles of Rwandan newspapers and radio prior to and during the 1994 genocide. In an interview with The New York Times, Stephen Rapp, the senior prosecutor on the case, said "A key question will be what kind of speech is protected and where the limits lie. It is important to draw that line. We hope the judgment will give the world some guidance." He also noted that in terms of international legal standards "there has been no decision since Nuremberg."
resources
Readings
From Holocaust and Human Behavior
- Chapter 4, The Nazis Take Power, "Targeting the Jews," "Teaching a Lesson" (both readings make references to Streicher and his work)
- Chapter 9, Judgment, "A Man of Words," "Toward International Standards," "We Were Not Supposed to Think"
"Trial Centers on Role of Press During Rwanda Massacre," The New York Times, March 3, 2002.
Background Readings
It is recommended that teachers become familiar with the events on Rwanda in 1994, and during subsequent years. The titles below can provide background information on both the genocide, and the recent efforts to bring justice to Rwanda.
- Between Vengeance and Forgiveness: Facing History after Genocide and Mass Violence by Martha Minow, available from the Facing History Resource Cente
- War Crimes: Brutality, Genocide, Terror, and the Struggle for Justice by Aryeh Neier
- Leave None to Tell the Story: Genocide in Rwanda by Alison Des Forges
- We Wish To Inform You That Tomorrow We Will Be Killed With Our Families, Philip Gourevitch
- A Problem from Hell: America and the Age of Genocide by Samantha Power
Videos
For information about these videos and others, as well as how you can borrow audio-visual resources, visit the Facing History Lending Library.
- The Triumph of Evil
- Forsaken Cries: The Story of Rwanda
- Presentation by Alison Des Forges, "In the Name of Self Defense" Facing History Program Staff retreat, November, 2001.
- Presentation by Samantha Power, "A Problem from Hell," Facing History Program Staff retreat, November, 2001.
Websites
The following sites can be used as research tools for this lesson outline and/or extended activities.
Background on Rwanda Hate Radio and the Echoes of Nazi Propaganda
activity
1.Introduce this activity by reviewing basic information about Julius Streicher and Der Sturmer. The reading "Targeting the Jews" or the web links listed above can provide this important background. Transition to the reading "A Man of Words" from Holocaust and Human Behavior and think-pair-share in response to the following question:
Although Streicher was not a government official, he was punished for using words and images to turn citizen against citizen. Can words or images be used as weapons? Can they turn neighbor against neighbor? Should Streicher have been held responsible for using words and images this way?
2. In small groups, have students consider what might the Nuremberg judges have meant when they wrote that "his incitement to murder and extermination at the time when Jews in the East were being killed under the most horrible conditions clearly constitutes persecution on political and racial grounds"? Why does timing and context matter here to the judges? Have small groups report back to class, and debrief student reaction to the questions of timing and context.
3. Introduce the historical case study of Rwanda, and the role of the media in inciting genocide. For more context on Rwanda, the genocide, and the role of the press, review the following websites:
- a chronology of the historical events leading up to 1994, from Valentina's Nightmare, a website focusing on the Rwandan Genocide
- a chronology of the events of 1994 from the Triumph of Evil
Clips from the documentary Triumph of Evil, as well as footage from Alison Des Forges's talk with Facing History staff, can provide additional background information. (Des Forges, a consultant for Human Rights Watch, is the author of Leave None to Tell the Story: Genocide in Rwanda, and she is offering expert testimony at the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda).
4. Have students to read Trial Centers on Role of Press During Rwandan Massacre, adapted from The New York Times, March 3, 2002. Ask students to write down their initial reactions to this article in their notebooks or journals.
For a deeper investigation into the role of media during the genocide, students could read Hate Media in Rwanda, transcript of remarks delivered by Alison Des Forges, senior advisor of Human Rights Watch and author of Leave None to Tell the Story,at a 2004 conference on the media and the Rwanda genocide at Carlton University in Ontario, Canada.
5. Divide the class into small groups in order to more closely examine the question "Can Journalism Kill?" Each group should receive copies of the radio broadcasts and political cartoon created and disseminated during the height of the genocide in Rwanda. All citations are from Leave None to Tell the Story: Genocide in Rwanda by Alison Des Forges. Additionally, include the following key information about media in Rwanda in 1994:
- Inexpensive FM radios were widely available through Rwanda before and during the events of 1994
- In some areas, the government distributed radios free of charge to remote areas.
- It was customary for people without radios to listen in bars, restaurants, or with their neighbors
(Leave None to Tell the Story: Genocide in Rwanda, Alison Des Forges, pp. 65-72)
Have students examine and analyze the materials below, focusing a several key questions. They will report back to the whole class following their meeting.
- What might have been the goal in creating these materials?
- What messages about the Tutsi were communicated by these broadcasts and the cartoon?
- Considering that many of these messages were sent by government agencies, what impact would they have had on both Tutsi and Hutu?
During April, 1994, RTLM (Radio Television Libre Des Millie Collines) broadcaster Georges Ruggiu, a Belgian, alerted his listeners to the location of victims:
around the hill ... in the woods, suspect movements of people have been observed... People of Rugonga, of Kanongo, by the gas station, pay attention, go to ... check out that woods, go ensure security and that the inyenzi (cockroaches ) have not gotten in there. (Des Forges, p, 208)
In a 1994 interview with Radio Rwanda, the respected son of a former Rwandan president told his listeners, incorrectly, that the Tutsi intended to massacre the Hutu. The result was to incite Hutu to begin the genocide against the Tutsi:
They (the Tutsi) are going to exterminate, exterminate, exterminate, exterminate (ugutsembatsemba-tsembatsemba)... They are going to exterminate you until they are the only ones left in this country, so that power which their fathers kept for four hundred years they can keep for a thousand years. (Des Forges, p. 227)
In mid April, 1994, at the height of the genocide, the Rwandan Ministry of Defense identified the Tutsi as the objective of the killing. The Ministry instructed Hutu to...
...do patrols, as they are used to doing, in their neighborhoods. They must close ranks, remember how to use their usual tools (ie weapons) and defend themselves... I would also ask that each neighborhood try to organize itself to do communal work to clear the brush, to search houses, .. to search the marshes of the area to be sure there that no inyenzi (cockroaches) have slipped in to hide themselves there... so they should cut the brush, search the drains and ditches, put up barriers, choosing reliable people to do this, who have what they need, so that nothing can escape them. (Des Forges, p. 249)
In a similar fashion, a witness from Rutobwe, Rwanda, described the impact of the anti-Tutsi propaganda radio broadcasts:
...by spreading rumors, they made a large part of the population of afraid of the RPF (Rwanda Patriotic Front). I remember once I was speaking with one of my students and I told him 'you're crazy to say that all Tutsi are armed RPF' Even though he said these things, I really didn't believe that he was serious. 'Did you ever seea RPF soldier?' I asked him. But he was serious. They cultivated fear. (Des Forges, p. 372)
On April 12, Radio Rwanda began broadcasting warnings to the country, calling for Hutu to defend themselves from the Tutsi:
Soldiers, gendarmes (National Police) and all Rwandans have decided to fight their common enemy and all have identified him. The enemy is still the same. He is the one who had always been trying to return the monarch, who was overthrown... The Ministry of Defense asks Rwandans, soldiers, and gendarmes the following: citizens: are asked to act together, carry out patrols, and fight the enemy.
One witness recalled: 'they talked only about uniting together saying we had to fight the enemy. In the streets of Kigali, people were singing a little song that told it all:
Our enemy is one
We know him
It is the Tutsi
1991 Cartoon, Pogrom justified as a form of self-defense; "Run, a Tutsi is going to exterminate the Hutus".
follow-up activities
There are several ways to expand this lesson outline into other assignments and/or activities.
1. Have students research the current status of trials pending in front of the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda, either directly through its official site, or through online news media.
2. Students could compare how hate speech has been handled in the United States, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and the Genocide Convention. In terms of free speech, for example, students might look at the case Collin v. Smith regarding the American Nazi Party's right to march through a Jewish neighborhood in Skokie, Illinois.
3. Introduce the idea of a trial. The defendants could be the administration and broadcasters of the Rwandan radio stations described in the reading below. Create the following groups for the trial: a prosecution team, a defense team, and a team of international judges. Provide each group with time to plan their cases. The prosecution's perspective should focus on why the Rwandan media should be held accountable for genocide and for inciting genocide. The defense's perspective should focus on freedom speech for the press and intellectual freedom. The judges will need to consider "where the limits lie" regarding what speech should be protected. Therefore, judges should be contemplating these issues, the arguments they expect to hear and the directions they are leaning. They might conference to share their votes prior to the hearing so that they have a sense of the direction the court is leaning.
Mock Trial Procedure (note: this is a simplified version of existing trial procedures. If time is available, students should be encouraged to research the actual procedure in use in the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda.
- The prosecution should offer a statement, then the defense. All teams should then have a chance to make notes. The prosecution should create a rebuttal statement or a statement that continues their case. The defense should do the same. Set a time limit for each team to make their statements. Then, each team should present their statements. Again, the teams should break for each to make notes.
- Each team should appear before the judges for questioning by the judges (place a time limit on this). After another break, each team should plan their summations
- Each team should offer their summations. The judges will then meet to write their decisions. While the judges are writing their decisions, the prosecution and defense teams should journal on their cases and what they heard.
- The judges submit their decision. The ICTR relies upon majority decisions.
assessments
A concluding essay or journal assignment could focus on the trial, verdict, and sentencing of Streicher. Streicher was indicted on two counts by the Nuremberg tribunal: crimes against peace and crimes against humanity. He was acquitted of the first charge, but convicted of the second, and sentenced to die by hanging. Click here to read excerpts from the Nuremberg indictments and verdict.
Based upon their experience in the mock trial, and their understanding of the role of media in inciting genocide, students could write persuasive essays in which they either agreed or disagreed with Streicher's fate at Nuremberg. It would be important, however, to have students consider the historical distinctions between the Rwandan genocide and the Holocaust. Was justice accomplished at Nuremberg by convicting and executing Streicher? Does this establish a workable precedent for the current Rwanda tribunal? Was Streicher's verdict and sentence consistent with other defendants? Click here to see a summary of major defendants and their sentences.
contributor(s):
Karen Murphy and Howard Lurie, Facing History and Ourselves
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