Abby Rowland

Period 1
12/16/15
The words genocide and community dont sound right in a sentence together. No one
tends to relate the two. Yet the definition of community is a feeling of fellowship with others, as
a result of sharing common attitudes, interests, and goals. Philip Gourevitch, in his book, We
Wish to Inform You That Tomorrow We Will Be Killed with Our Families, very firmly argues that
genocide could not be carried out without that feeling of fellowship that the definition of
community describes. Gourevitch says, using the 1994 Rwandan Genocide as his example, that
genocide is an exercise in community building, since it brings people of a similar mindset
together to achieve a common goal. Genocide builds communities because it is an activity that
brings people together as either killers or victims, but on a larger scale it also tears communities
apart by creating a large divide between those killing and those being killed.
Genocide, in a zoomed-in sense, builds a feeling of community because it gives each
group, the ones carrying out the genocide and the ones who are subject to its violence, a common
trait. For the killers, its the sense of hate or revenge that connects them. For the victims, it's the
fear and the target on their backs. Without the shared goal of eradicating their enemy, the people
killing arent organized or motivated enough to carry out their plans. The common hatred that it
takes to attempt to eliminate an entire group of people "binds leader and people in a hermetic
utopian embrace," Gourevitch says. Take the genocide in Rwanda. It required that Hutus be
absolutely invested in their leader, who was calling on them to kill all the Tutsis, and in each
other (95). The Hutus, who make up the majority ethnic group of Rwanda, found such a relatable
trait in their hatred of the Tutsis, who make up the minority ethnic group of Rwanda, that they
formed a community bonded by their goal. The attacking Hutus literally called themselves
interahamwe, which means "those who attack together" (Gourevitch 93). As for those who are

victims- the Tutsis in the case of Rwanda- they turn to each other out of a common interest to
stay alive. Paul Rusesabagina, the manager of the Htel des Mille Collines at the time of the
Rwandan Genocide, took Tutsi refugees into his hotel and never left, in an attempt to protect his
fellow people (Gourevitch 140). Targets of genocide have to run from a common enemy, and it is
very difficult to do if it's every man for himself. They don't have much of a choice but to come
together and help each other. Being a community is how the victims at least attempt to survive.
Genocide does bring people of similar mindsets together into small, tightly knit
communities, but if the lens zooms out, it will reveal that those small groups were once one big
community, and are now completely separate from each other because of genocide. In Rwanda,
the Hutus and Tutsis had all been Rwandans, and that was their community. But when the Hutus
wanted power from the Tutsis and started slaughtering them that community was shattered.
There definitely was not a feeling of fellowship among all Rwandans anymore. Another jarring
example of this is Nazi Germany. The Nazis formed a group based on shared values and beliefs,
as did the Jews. However, before Hitler and his supporters launched their war against the Jews,
everyone in Germany had been more or less one big community. There was no huge separation.
The genocide that took place under Hitler split a society right down the middle. This can't be
called community building, because it took people of a common mindset, and turned half of
them against the other half. It was the destruction of a community.
Gourevitch was very much correct in saying that genocide is an exercise in community
building, because it would be hard to beat the deep connection people have with each other and
with their leaders when intense hatred is involved. Similarly, it wouldnt be easy to top the
closeness victims of genocide feel because of the fear instilled in them. These intense emotions
create small communities that rely deeply on each other. However, taking a step back and

looking at the big picture reveals that in order to build these small communities, genocide first
has to rip apart a bigger one. It is not an either/or situation. Genocide doesnt just build or
destroy communities; it does both. It rearranges them.