WorldRwanda: How Hate Propaganda Became Organised Violence Against the Tutsi

The episode examines Rwanda’s 1994 genocide against the Tutsi, described as one of the few mass atrocities universally recognised under international law. It traces how colonial rule hardened fluid social categories into fixed Hutu and Tutsi identities. Post-independence politics then transformed those identities into a racialised hierarchy shaped by fear. Economic crisis, civil war and the Arusha peace process opened space for extremists, who used newspapers, churches and hate radio to prepare the population for violence.