Powerful ideas from top nonfiction
Try Blinkist to get the key ideas from 7,000+ bestselling nonfiction titles and podcasts. Listen or read in just 15 minutes.
Start your free trial
Blink 3 of 8 - The 5 AM Club
by Robin Sharma
Listen to the Intro
A People Betrayed summary
Linda Melvern
The Role of the West in Rwanda's Genocide
27 mins
Table of Contents
A People Betrayed
Summary of 10 key ideas
Audio & text in the Blinkist app
Key idea 1 of 10
The racial classification of Hutu and Tutsi was calcified by European colonial practices.
In 1894, exactly 100 years before the Rwandan genocide, King Rwabugiri of Rwanda received German Count Gustav Adolf von Götzen. Unbeknownst to Rwabugiri, his domain had been “given” to Germany ten years earlier at the Berlin Conference, which carved up Africa for colonization by European powers.
At the time, the mountainous, lush, and beautiful land of Rwanda was known in Europe as the “Switzerland of Africa.” It was a complex society with an intricate social order, rich oral history, and highly cultured court featuring poets, magicians, wine-stewards, and cattle-namers.
King Rwabugiri was a military genius. Military conquest was a priority to the state, and Rwabugiri’s armies traveled widely with vast cattle herds. It was in his armies that the designation between Hutu and Tutsi first emerged. The elites in charge of the cattle were tall and thin, with angular features; they started to be known as Tutsi. Their servants, who were generally shorter with rounder faces, were called Hutu.
Visiting Europeans, searching for justification as to why Rwandan culture should be so advanced, developed the theory that the Tutsi, a so-called “superior race,” had migrated from the Horn of Africa and had come to dominate the “inferior” Hutu. It was impossible for Europeans to imagine black Africans developing so refined a society without outside influence.
In the early twentieth century, as Germany became mired in World War I, the Belgians came to dominate the region. In 1933, the Belgian administration ordered a census to classify the population by ethnicity. Each individual was carefully measured and assigned an identity. This census introduced the idea that ethnicity could be determined based on physical appearance. And ethnicity guaranteed certain rights – under the Belgians, only Tutsi had access to education, administrative training, and government jobs.
Belgian rule was harsh, involving forced labor, beatings, and exploitation of the peasant population, which it designated as Hutu. Many of these peasants were conscripted for labor in the diamond mines in the neighboring Congo River Basin. It was these oppressive conditions that brought about the cohesion of the Hutu group – and, for the first time, the idea of a pure Hutu nation.
A manifesto in 1957, written with the help of a Belgian priest working in Rwanda, called for Hutu emancipation and the rule of the majority. Widespread rural anger encouraged an emerging Hutu nationalism.
The overwhelming popularity of the manifesto laid bare an alarming fact: the Hutu majority now believed the European narrative that the Tutsi were foreign invaders who had enslaved and exploited them.
Want to see all full key ideas from A People Betrayed?
Key ideas in A People Betrayed
More knowledge in less time
Read or listen
Get the key ideas from nonfiction bestsellers in minutes, not hours.
Find your next read
Get book lists curated by experts and personalized recommendations.
Shortcasts New
We’ve teamed up with podcast creators to bring you key insights from podcasts.
What is A People Betrayed about?
A People Betrayed (2000) is a masterful, in-depth look at the international community’s failure to intervene in one of the greatest humanitarian catastrophes since the Holocaust. Through selfish and racist policies, the UN and its Security Council dithered and denied its way through three months of genocidal slaughter. As a direct result of their inaction, an estimated one million civilians were brutally murdered.
Who should read A People Betrayed?
- Anyone interested in how policy translates from boardroom to battlefield
- History buffs interested in the chilling after-effects of colonialism in Africa
- People who suspect there’s a dark side to the new world order
Categories with A People Betrayed
Books like A People Betrayed
People ❤️ Blinkist
Sven O.
It's highly addictive to get core insights on personally relevant topics without repetition or triviality. Added to that the apps ability to suggest kindred interests opens up a foundation of knowledge.
Thi Viet Quynh N.
Great app. Good selection of book summaries you can read or listen to while commuting. Instead of scrolling through your social media news feed, this is a much better way to spend your spare time in my opinion.
Jonathan A.
Life changing. The concept of being able to grasp a book's main point in such a short time truly opens multiple opportunities to grow every area of your life at a faster rate.
Renee D.
Great app. Addicting. Perfect for wait times, morning coffee, evening before bed. Extremely well written, thorough, easy to use.
People also liked
Start growing with Blinkist now
28 Million
Downloads on all platforms
4.7 Stars
Average ratings on iOS and Google Play
91%
Of Blinkist members create a better reading habit*
*Based on survey data from Blinkist customers