Many States in Africa have the issues of ethnic and class cleavages escalating that resulted in very harsh warfare. Not many governments of African states that had these events in history that lead to mass deaths and population and/or citizen rate decrease influenced the violence. Two ethnic groups made a large mark in African history in this outcry, the Hutu’s and the Tusti’s. The two native tribes were some of the first inhibitors of the areas they were utmost popular in and had history that led to horrific measures. Nationalism and colonialism had their own affects and came into play with African states official government role.
Elites appearance was made known in the African state societies due to their privilege and location. This had an effect on how government leaders thought, made decisions and passed laws. The role African states had in political issues that addressed ethnic and class cleavages was a constant struggle of power dynamics. Nationalism can be defined as, a loyalty and/or devotion to a nation. Nationalism can be a large problem even though the definition makes the term sound just a person taking pride in what country they are from or live in.
Nationalism cannot occur is the citizens of the nation are being victims of prejudice, racism and abuse. These horrifying events that were occurring towards the people of African states clearly represented the ethnic and class issues that were arising from the 1950’s. The African governments in all states are mostly responsible for this epidemic that occurred and worsened over the time of stabilizing governments during and after gaining independence. Some states had community leaders that took on the role as if they were an elected official.
Although, only a few of the leaders in general both in government and community leaders were successful in the ideologies, theories and motions they proposed and carried out. Many leaders that held government positions throughout African states were bias, due to many of the public issues and needs being about racist and ethnic power struggles. World War II had an effect on not only the primary countries involved, but gave the whole world a new lens on how to approach and if racism is morally correct and also to what extent.
After World War II the transformation of labor began. Prior before World War II many strikes had taken place in job areas such as the railroad and mining positions. This started once was known as a time where the line between upper class or wealthy people and the lower class or poor people was vastly larger. These labor positions such as working at a railroad or in a mine were not jobs that required slight effort. The jobs have been often dangerous, paid little in addition to a large amount of physical effort. Developmental colonialism was a part in a response to narrowing grounds on which a convincing case could be made for the exercise of the state power over people who were “ different”. ” ( PAGE 37 COOPER) European leaders would not get the chance to quietly think through their doubts in their African population. This occurred partly because the governments that created these positions thought of them as a job that a single male does to get by with some money. But that wasn’t the reality of it, even if it was just a single male in these positions, the wage wasn’t enough to live off of.
Many of the men they were hiring were in fact married and some of their wives had come with them to relocate for working positions. The governments started to get more disorganized and realistic to the needs of the current citizens being affected by their governments ruling and decisions. Racism was prominent in this time era throughout Africa. Therefore, this has been just one of many factors leading up to a time period where an overall revolution was needed and was in the process of slowly beginning.
In South Africa there were elections held that were strictly “white only” in the electoral system. In this particular sight in Africa alone, serious debates that were occurring over matters and, issues that were faced in colonial Africa, including discussions on whether African that were not only living in isolated tribes had become a potential part of a largely urban and partly industrial economy. Keep in mind that no one who was directly affected in the matter and/or topic of the debate was actually involved in the debate.
It has been said at this time, many parts in Africa consisted of black people living in a white man’s world. If the racism issues that were enforced by the governments wasn’t big enough of a problem ethnic issues began to increase throughout Africa and led to a road of very violent consequences. Ethnic is defined as the Umbrella term that is used strongly in these issues. The issues extend further than the word and definition of ethnicity. This is partly because people can identify who they are ethnically by their religion, appearance or, heritage/ tribal affiliation in Africa.
The two main terms to describe the tribal affiliation at this time was “Hutu” or “Tutsi”, there almost was no in between. Hutu’s have their own history, they inhabited Africa before the Tutsi tribe. The Hutu have always been the majority of the population since they inhabited Africa in the first century. Even today the Hutu make up about 85% of the population in Burundi and 84% in Rwanda. (Galloway 2010) The Hutu speak Kinyarwanda, French and Swahili, particularly around the borders of Tanzania. The majority religion they worship is Christianity.
The Hutu’s believe in Imaana, the belief that he was a god that had human qualities, but was reserved and unengaged with people, as well. Another belief they have is abazima, the belief was, abazima if angry, can bring bad luck to those who have made him angry. Therefore with this belief, gifts are offered and produced for forgiveness. One tradition the tribe has is the groom’s family when getting married must pay the wife’s family. Often this payment consists of goats, cows or beer. One the day of the marriage the bride will be covered in herbs and mile to symbolize that she is pure on her wedding day.
Tutsi’s history is slightly different by enlarge, they have always been the minority part of the population. Today only accounting for 15% of the population. They gained power over the Hutu through trading and lending their cattle. This gave the Tutsi power and loyalty from the Hutu. The Tutsi speak Kinyarwanda and French like the Hutu, but the minority of the Tutsi speak English. The Tutsi are predominantly Christian and believe in Imaana. (Galloway 2010) Although they have a dissimilar interpretation of what Imaana is.
The Tutsi believe that Imanna is a God with the ability to grant wealth and fertility. A belief that is also common for Tutsis’ is Abazima, spirits of the dead that can carry messages and bad luck to the human world from the spirit world. Fortune tellers are a common theme for Tutsis. The conflicts between these two ethnic groups have been very intense throughout the years. The first interaction between the two was with the German Government who controlled the area from the late 19th century to the end of world war one. However, the Belgium government began to favor the Tutsi minority.
In 1933 the Belgium government began to require that all citizens under their rule were to carry identification cards. “Part of German East Africa from 1894 to 1918, Rwanda came under the League of Nations mandate of Belgium after World War I, along with neighboring Burundi. ” (History Channel Source) Then moving forward from that the first Tutsis’ entered the government then shortly after the Hutu over threw the Tutsi in the government positions, causing 160,000 people to flee to surrounding countries. Power bouncing between the Hutus and Tutsis were a constant struggle and battle.
Therefore, the position that both ethnic groups played in the government in the African states was a major factor in the times to come. In 1988 after declaring independence in 1962, there was a break out between the Tutsi dominated army, Tutsi hardliners and the Hutu opposition in Burundi. Because of this violent break out, there is an estimated amount of 150,000 people killed in the violence and tens of thousands that fled to surrounding countries. “In 1991 Buyoyo approved of a constitution that would create a multi ethnic government, a parliament and a president.
This gave rise to the first elected Hutu President, Melchior Ndadye from the FRODEBU (Front for Democracy in Burundi) party. In October of 1993 President Ndadye was assassinated by members of a faction of the Tutsi dominated armed forces. ” (Galloway 2010). The constant struggle for a powerful, safe, and stable government was one of the biggest issues African states faced during this time period. (Freyer n. d. ) It was about time that the ethnic issues were addressed, especially when they were in need of having a constitution to help regulate the struggles each ethnic group faced.
At this point in history the identification cards had a factor in deaths that were occurring because the cards had declared what the person’s ethnic group was. Then the struggles between the two ethnic classes didn’t stop there. One of the worst times in history known as the Rwandan genocide occurred in 1994. When a plane was shot down carrying the Habyarimana and Burundi’s president Cyprien Ntaryamira was shot down over Kigali, leaving no survivors on April sixth, Hutu militia groups set up road blocks and began slaughtering Tutsi’s.
In about 100 days 800,000 people were killed, mostly Tutsi minorities. Government sponsored radio stations were calling upon Rwandan citizens to “murder their neighbors”. As well as many troops were bursting into people’s homes, taking children, killing the father and raping the women. It is thought that 200,000 people participated in the perpetration of the Rwandan Genocide. (United Human Rights Council 2015) The economy began to crash, property and natural resources ruined and/or taken, and sickness, such as HIV or AIDS occurred that began taking people’s lives, as well. United Human Rights Council 2015)
This caused a tripling effect of people running to surrounding countries to refugee camps to escape death. The economy crashing had an effect on the class image and treatment. Government officials were viewed as elites as well as government troops and members of the Hutu militia. Ironically even though the Belgium government favored the Tutsi’s and were the source that required people to carry identification cards, word “Tutsi” on your identification card spelled out a death sentence.
In conclusion the ethnic and class cleavage were prominent issues occurring in Africa and resulted in harsh ways. Many people were killed simply because of what an identification card said or who they once talked to or worked with. African states had a humongous role in all of the events that led to ethnic and class issues. The governments were unstable to begin with and were not prepared for a public outcry to happen. (United Human Rights Council 2015)Newspapers around the country and the continent were broadcasting the horrific measures that were taken and how slow that each government and/or African State was reacting.
Some scholars say it is fair to say that the government of the African States were too weak to take on the ethnic challenges that were occurring. Some however, it could argue that the African states did not understand fully the consequences of not reacting properly and depending on international organization to rescue their land and citizens. Fortunately, today African states are more stable and have learned from their extensive past of ethnic issues and class cleavages.
