The impact of the radio in the 1994 Rwandan genocide In history, there is not one problem; problems vary between specializations. Ancient history usually has too little sources, whereas contemporary history has too much. The complex factors of contemporary society make it so that writing about events feels like being a spider in a very big web. However, there are situations where one unique factor within an event has stood out. An example is the Rwandan genocide, where it is the mass media that for the first time played an important role in inciting extreme violence.1 President Habyarimana of Rwanda and Ntaryamina of Burundi were both in an airplane that crashed on the 6th of April 1994. The crash marked the start of the Rwandan genocide in which, over 100 days, one million Rwandans were killed and more than two million fled to neighboring countries. Most of the dead were Tutsis of all ages, sexes and occupations, killed by civilian Hutus.2 Many studies tried to find the reason behind the massive killing spree by civilians. The situation was extreme: in 1993, there were only two political poles from which everyone was forced to choose. Relations between the opposition parties were strained. The people of Rwanda were malnourished due to famines, desperate and vulnerable to manipulation. It is the radio that played an important part in manipulating the common people to pick up their machetes.3 The most influential radio broadcasts were of Radio-Télévision Libre des Mille Collines (RTLM). The RTLM was owned and under the control of supporters of Hutu President Habyarimana. Before he crashed, he had been struggling with his power base and he wanted to maintain his power at any cost. This cost was characterized by corruption, propaganda, networks of secret police and the persistent killing of any potential opponent. Habyarimana participated in, and sometimes chaired, the meetings of what later became known as a death squad, Réseau Zéro.4 The broadcasts of RTLM were popular, especially among young people. Soldiers throughout the country had their own radio equipment and sometimes amplified the broadcasts so that they could be heard in entire neighborhoods. People would listen to RTLM at roadblocks, in homes and in bars during breaks. Sometimes they would listen outdoors in groups as large as 100 people. On average, the ratio was one radio for every 13 people, and few other media were available during the genocide. Rwanda was a nation where the majority of the civilians were illiterate and oral tradition remained strong; therefore the radio was the most used source of information. Additionally, listeners tended to conceive the broadcasts as literally the government itself speaking. The Rwandans have faith in someone with political authority: whatever this person demands, it is as if God is demanding it. In a country with a strong tradition of hierarchy and authoritarianism, this increases the likelihood of blind obedience to the orders of officials on the radio.5 The information that RTLM provided was lopsided; the Tutsis were presented as cockroaches, whereas the Hutus were presented as the people of Christ, doing Gods work. For instance, the word interahamwe was used in many broadcasts to incite communal killing. It was not explicitly instructed how to kill Tutsis; instructions were always framed as Tutsi acts. The broadcasts would tell of Tutsis gathering guns, killing Hutu families and burning down their houses, then hiding in a church preparing for another attack. Thus, the Hutus destroyed the churches: in their mind it was kill or be killed. RTLM broadcasted dialogues; supposedly between two Tutsis who were talking about how they hate Hutus because they are slaves amongst themselves. The call to genocide sometimes referred to the Bible: Habyarimana was portrayed as Christ, and because of his death the Virgin Mary sanctioned retaliation. This is how RTLM legitimized violent acts against the Tutsis.6 The radio provided guidance and information, directed at particular audiences. They gave away positions where Tutsi refugees were hiding and instructed the local Hutu population to 'get to work': a synonym for killing. More than 300 Tutsis hiding in a mosque were killed after RTLM reported their location. Instructions were given to government staff to hand out weapons to Hutus in a specific city. The difference between Hutus and Tutsis were set by the radio: the Tutsis had a different physique, physical appearance and a cute little nose that needed to be broken.7 Still, the influence of radio cannot explain the Rwandan genocide. Without the particular circumstances during the early 1990s genocide would have been inconceivable. There still exists little social scientific analysis of radio's impact on the onset of genocide and the mobilization of genocide participants.8 However, RTLM is an important part of the framework of the Rwandan history, and thus it can help us understand the circumstances during the genocide. We cannot answer the question of the Rwandan genocide solely by pointing at the radio, but its influence certainly cannot be overlooked. 1 Scott Straus, What is the Relationship between Hate Radio and Violence? Rethinking Rwanda's "Radio Machete", in: Politics Society (2007), 609-610 2 Jamie F. Metzl, Information Intervention: When Switching Channels Isn't Enough, in: Foreign Affairs (1997), 16 3 Darryl Li, Echoes of violence: considerations on radio and genocide in Rwanda, in: Jour- nal of Genocide Research (2004) 9-10 4 Christine L. Kellow, H. Leslie Steeves, The Role of Radio in the Rwandan Genocide, in: Journal of Communication (1998) 107-114 5 Kellow, Steeves, The Role of Radio, 115-116 6 Kellow, Steeves, The Role of Radio, 119-120 7 Ibid., 121 8 Straus, What is the Relationship, 632