1.CLASSIFICATION:All cultures have categories to distinguish people into “us and
them” by ethnicity, race, religion, or nationality: German and Jew, Hutu and
Tutsi.Bipolar societies that lack
mixed categories, such as Rwanda and Burundi, are the most likely to have
genocide.The main preventive measure
at this early stage is to develop universalistic institutions that transcend
ethnic or racial divisions, that actively promote tolerance and understanding,
and that promote classifications that transcend the divisions.The Catholic church could have played this
role in Rwanda, had it not been riven by the same ethnic cleavages as Rwandan
society.Promotion of a common language
in countries like Tanzania or Cote d’Ivoire has also promoted transcendent
national identity.This search for common
ground is vital to early prevention of genocide.
2.SYMBOLIZATION:We give names or other symbols to the classifications.We name people “Jews” or “Gypsies”, or distinguish
them by colors or dress; and apply them to members of groups.Classification and symbolization are
universally human and do not necessarily result in genocide unless they lead to
the next stage, dehumanization.When
combined with hatred, symbols may be forced upon unwilling members of pariah
groups: the yellow star for Jews under Nazi rule, the blue scarf for people
from the Eastern Zone in Khmer Rouge Cambodia.To combat symbolization, hate symbols can be legally forbidden
(swastikas) as can hate speech.Group
marking like gang clothing or tribal scarring can be outlawed, as well.The problem is that legal limitations will
fail if unsupported by popular cultural enforcement.Though Hutu and Tutsi were forbidden words in Burundi until the 1980’s,
code-words replaced them.If widely
supported, however, denial of symbolization can be powerful, as it was in
Denmark, when many Danes chose to wear the yellow star, depriving it of its
significance as a Nazi symbol for Jews.
3.DEHUMANIZATION:One group denies the humanity of the other group.Members of it are equated with animals,
vermin, insects or diseases.Dehumanization overcomes the normal human revulsion against murder.At this stage, hate propaganda in print and
on hate radios is used to vilify the victim group.In combating this dehumanization, incitement to genocide should
not be confused with protected speech.Genocidal societies lack constitutional protection for countervailing
speech, and should be treated differently than in democracies.Hate radio stations should be shut down, and
hate propaganda banned.Hate crimes and
atrocities should be promptly punished.
4.ORGANIZATION:Genocide is always organized, usually by the state, though
sometimes informally (Hindu mobs led by local RSS militants) or by terrorist
groups.Special army units or militias
are often trained and armed.Plans are
made for genocidal killings.To combat
this stage, membership in these militias should be outlawed.Their leaders should be denied visas for
foreign travel.The U.N. should impose
arms embargoes on governments and citizens of countries involved in genocidal
massacres, and create commissions to investigate violations.
5.POLARIZATION:Extremists drive the groups apart.Hate groups broadcast polarizing propaganda.Laws may forbid intermarriage or social
interaction.Extremist terrorism
targets moderates, intimidating and silencing the center.Prevention may mean security protection for
moderate leaders or assistance to human rights groups.Assets of extremists may be seized, and
visas denied to them.Coups d’etat by
extremists should be opposed by international sanctions.
6.IDENTIFICATION:Victims are identified and separated out because of their ethnic
or religious identity.Death lists are
drawn up.Members of victim groups are
forced to wear identifying symbols.They are often segregated into ghettoes, forced into concentration camps,
or confined to a famine-struck region and starved.At this stage, a Genocide Alert must be called.If the political will of the U.S.
Government, NATO, and the U.N. Security Council can be mobilized, armed
international intervention should be prepared, or heavy assistance to the
victim group in preparing for its self-defense.Otherwise, at least humanitarian assistance should be organized
by the U.N. and private relief groups for the inevitable tide of refugees.
7.EXTERMINATION begins, and quickly becomes
the mass killing legally called “genocide.”It is “extermination” to the killers because they do not believe their
victims to be fully human.When it is
sponsored by the state, the armed forces often work with militias to do the
killing.Sometimes the genocide results
in revenge killings by groups against each other, creating the downward
whirlpool-like cycle of bilateral genocide (as in Burundi).At this stage, only rapid and overwhelming
armed intervention can stop genocide.Real safe areas or refugee escape corridors should be established with
heavily armed international protection.The U.N. Standing High Readiness Brigade -- 5500 heavy infantry-- should be mobilized by the U.N. Security
Council if the genocide is small.For
larger interventions, a multilateral force authorized by the U.N., should
intervene.It is time for nations to
recognize that the international law of humanitarian intervention transcends
the narrow interests of individual nation states. IfNATO will not intervene directly, it should provide the airlift,
equipment, and financial means necessary for regional states to intervene with
U.N. authorization.
8.DENIAL is the eighth stage that always follows a
genocide.It is among the surest
indicators of further genocidal massacres.The perpetrators of genocide dig up the mass graves, burn the bodies,
try to cover up the evidence and intimidate the witnesses.They deny that they committed any crimes,
and often blame what happened on the victims.They block investigations of the crimes, and continue to govern until
driven from power by force, when they flee into exile.There they remain with impunity, like Pol
Pot or Idi Amin, unless they are captured and a tribunal is established to try
them.The response to denial is
punishment by an international tribunal or national courts.There the evidence is heard, and the
perpetrators punished. Tribunals like the Yugoslav or Rwanda Tribunals, a
tribunal to try the Khmer Rouge in Cambodia, or the International Criminal
Court may not deter the worst killers.But with the political will to arrest and prosecute them, some may be
brought to justice.And such courts may
deter future potential genocidists who can never again share Hitler’s
expectation of impunity when he sneered,”Who, after all, remembers the
Armenians?”
By Dr. Gregory H. Stanton, President, Genocide Watch