How can people from different cultures get along?
The violence in Rwanda between the Hutu and the Tutsi tribes goes back to the colonial period. In 1916, Belgians arrived in Rwanda in an attempt to colonize. During that time, Tutsis were considered to be superior to the Hutus, and that allowed them to acquire better jobs and education. After years of anger in 1959, a series of riots broke out leaving over 20,000 Tutsis dead and the rest of the tribe fled to nearby countries. In 1962 Belgium gave up their power and allowed Rwanda its independence, the Hutus took that to their advantage and replaced the Belgians’ power. In nearby Uganda, the Tutsis that fled from the riots in 1959 formed a group known as the Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF), led by Paul Kagame who was a Tutsi. This group’s main goal was to overthrow Juvenal Habyarimana, Rwanda’s president and was a Hutu, and protect their right to return home. In 1994 Habyarimana’s plane was shot down, blaming the Tutsis, which was the start to the genocide. In a three month time period, over 800,000 Tutsis were murdered.
People from different cultures can get along by realizing how their problem occurred and who's the real enemy in this situation. The real enemy will be the Belgians when arriving in Rwanda to colonize. Self-awareness is the ability to recognize oneself as an individual separate from the environment and other individuals. Hutus were already separate from other individuals after Tutsis were known to be the more superior group. By initiating the genocide in 1994, Hutus showed an example of ethnocentrism. Ethnocentrism is the tendency to think that our own culture is superior to other cultures (page 5). If the Hutus and Tutsis were able to form some peace agreement again and settle their differences, they can be a powerful country
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-13431486
Martin, J. M., and T. K. Nakayama. Intercultural Communication in Contexts. McGraw- Hill, 2010.
