Another important circumstance in the emergence of genocide is increasing social
fragmentation: the emergence of new or growth in prominence of old social cleavages
in society. Many academics such as Verdeja (2002) have argued that increasing gaps
between social groups, such as ethnic and religious populations, immigrants, and economic classes, is a ‘necessary but not sufficient’ factor in genocide’s occurrence. 54
The exploitation of social cleavages such as these features prominently in all three
case studies. The violence in Rwanda famously stemmed from the divide between the
Tutsi and Hutu populations. Although it is acknowledged that the difference between
these groups was primarily economic, as they lacked real difference linguistically,
ethnically, or culturally, a clear social cleavage in Rwandan society had existed for centuries and had been used by colonial powers to divide and control. 55 The Tutsi
population had historically dominated Rwanda’s wealth and monarchy, and so the
modern Rwandan society which was controlled by the Hutu majority feared a return to being subjugated by the minority. 56 Thus, when the end of Hutu one-party rule
beckoned, those in power began using the media to paint all Tutsis as enemies of the
state who were aligned with the guerilla groups threatening the government – this
unsurprisingly led to increased hostility between Hutu and Tutsi as citizens returned to viewing individuals with disdain or hatred based purely on social cleavage. 57
Similarly, the Khmer Rouge attempted to exploit the social and ethnic divides between
groups in Cambodia when they gained power. Radio broadcasts after the fall of Phnom
Penh saw the government declare the revolution "a new and brilliant page of history for our race”, deliberately focusing on Khmer nationalism and excluding others. 58
They furthered this idea by labelling members of the population as ‘old people’ and
‘new people’. These ‘old people’, including religious minorities such as Buddhists,
54 Verdeja, p. 38. 55 Strauss, Order of Genocide , p. 20. 56 Strauss, Order of Genocide , p. 23. 57 Strauss, Order of Genocide , p. 27. 58 Ben Kiernan, The Pol Pot Regime: Race, Power, and Genocide in Cambodia under the Khmer Rouge, 1975-1979 (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2008), p. 2.
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