Hutus vs. Tutsis by Murray N. Rothbard

Hutus vs.=20 Tutsis

by Murray=20 N. Rothbard
by Murray = N.=20 Rothbard

DIGG=20 THIS

=20

This essay originally = appeared=20 in the June 1994 issue of The=20 Rothbard-Rockwell Report.

The=20 mass butchery in Rwanda provides several important and = instructive=20 lessons to the American people, lessons which =96 surprise, = surprise!=20 =96 are emphatically not being pointed out by our = beloved=20 media.

In=20 the first place, we see starkly revealed the idiocy of the = New World=20 Order and the attempt of our global social democrats to = impose=20 "democracy," multiculturalism and multiethnicity on the = entire=20 world. The blue-helmeted troops of the United Nations, = mainly French=20 and Belgians as a legacy of Belgian imperialism in Rwanda = and=20 neighboring Burundi, have had to stand by helplessly while = the=20 massacre proceeded, and some of them were even cut down in = the=20 crossfire. So, what next, Slick Willie? Shall it be the = usual=20 American "solution": air strikes against Hutu and/or Tutsi, = or maybe=20 send in a few hundred thousand ground troops to establish = "free=20 elections" and "human rights" in Rwanda and Burundi?=20 Lotsaluck.

In=20 dealing with crime, liberals like to concentrate on "root = causes"=20 rather than on crime, whereas conservatives want to zap the=20 criminals. The two concerns are not really mutually = exclusive,=20 however; the real problem is that the liberals are = concentrating on=20 the wrong "root causes." That is, on "poverty" or = "child=20 abuse" instead of a rotten immoral character and the factors = that=20 may give rise to such a character, e.g., lack of respect for = private=20 property, unwillingness to work, and emphasis on short-run = "kicks"=20 instead of forethought about the future. In the Rwanda = massacres,=20 liberals are again unwilling to face the root causes: = clashing=20 tribes in a fairly small territorial area.

Contrary to myth = about the=20 "overpopulated" Third World, African density is generally = very low=20 compared to the rest of the world. The reasons are not = difficult to=20 figure out: if there is little or no capital equipment or = economic=20 development, the African land area will only support a small = population. Before the European imperialism of the = nineteenth=20 century, then, various African tribes had a considerable = amount of=20 room to roam around in, without getting in each other's = hair.=20 European imperialism, however, =96 British, French, German, = Belgian,=20 Portuguese =96 carved out and conquered land areas, creating = various=20 phony "countries," with total disregard for the integrity of = the=20 various tribes, most of whom, as in the Balkans, the = Caucasus, and=20 nearly everywhere else, have little or nothing in common and = hate=20 each other's guts. European imperialism, however, = artificially=20 incorporated various clashing tribes into one "country," = and, on the=20 other hand, split up the same tribes imposing artificial = "borders"=20 within their territory. Setting the stage, of course, = inevitably,=20 for bitter conflicts and warfare after the imperialists = pulled out=20 after World War II. The manner of pulling out made things = worse: for=20 the retiring European empires turned over these "countries" = to=20 Marxoid bureaucratic elites who had been detribalized and = had been=20 educated =96 or better, "trained" =96 in the = Marxist-dominated elite=20 universities of the imperial capitals: London, Paris, = Brussels, or=20 Lisbon.

The=20 ethno-racial clashes between African tribes have been = particularly=20 murderous in Rwanda and Burundi because these two small = areas are=20 the densest in Africa. Rwanda, for example, has about seven = million=20 people in an area the size of Vermont =96 not a lot by = Western=20 European standards, but very dense for Africa. In this = relatively=20 small area there have lived for centuries, side by side and = at each=20 other's throats, two very different racial tribes: the Hutu = and=20 Tutsi. The Tutsi are familiar to all those who saw the grand = epic=20 movie, King=20 Solomon's Mines (the 1950 version with Stewart = Granger and=20 Deborah Kerr); they are a tall, slender, graceful, = noble-looking=20 tribe, there called the Watusi. The Tutsi are an Ethiopid, = Nilotic=20 people. The Hutu, on the other hand, are short, squat Bantu, = a=20 closer approximation to what used to be called "Negro" in = America.=20 "Negroes" are now called "black," but the problem here is = that the=20 skin color of both the Tutsi and the Hutu are much the same. = The=20 real issue, as in most other cases, is not skin color but = various=20 character traits of different population groups.

The crucial point is that, in both Rwanda = and=20 Burundi, Hutus and Tutsis have coexisted for centuries; the = Tutsi=20 are about 15 percent of the total population, the Hutu about = 85=20 percent. And yet consistently, over the centuries, the Tutsi = have=20 totally dominated, and even enserfed, the Hutu. How are we = to=20 explain this consistent pattern of domination by a small = minority?=20 Could it be =96 dare I say it =96 that along with being = taller, slimmer,=20 more graceful and noble-looking, the Tutsi are far more=20 i-n-t-e-l-l-i-g-e-n-t than the Hutu? And yet what else = explains this=20 overriding fact? Note: as a libertarian, I neither advocate = nor=20 condone the centuries-old pattern of domination by Tutsi = over Hutu.=20 I would love to see them coexist peacefully, participating = in a=20 division of labor joined together by a free market. But = there is not=20 a chance of a whoop in Hell for such a coexistence to take = place. Or=20 do you think that the UN or the U.S. or NATO or some other=20 super-coercive force, should march into Rwanda and Burundi = with=20 millions of highly armed troops to impose a "free market" on = these=20 people, or even, God forbid, social democracy? Again, lotsa=20 luck.

Speaking of armies = and=20 intelligence, it is a remarkable fact that the current race = war was=20 touched off by the assassination of the two Hutu presidents = of=20 Rwanda and Burundi, who were flying in a plane over the = Rwanda=20 capital =96 and that this assassination was perpetrated by a = Tutsi=20 rocket fired from the ground, blowing up the plane. Now here = we have=20 a fascinating high-tech innovation in assassination theory = and=20 practice.

Usually, heads of = state are=20 killed by rifle or revolver; or, sometimes by a bomb placed = in a=20 plane. But to assassinate by rocket! Wow! Looking at the = recent=20 exploits of our trillion-dollar Pentagon: dropping dud bombs = on a=20 Serbian truck, and shooting down our own helicopters over = northern=20 Iraq, maybe we should cut the military budget a lot more, = and import=20 some Tutsi engineers!

Murray N.=20 Rothbard (1926=961995) was the author of Man,=20 Economy, and State, Conceived=20 in Liberty, What=20 Has Government Done to Our Money, For a = New=20 Liberty, The=20 Case Against the Fed, and many other books = and=20 articles. He was also = the editor=20 =96 with Lew Rockwell =96 of The=20 Rothbard-Rockwell Report, and academic vice president = of the=20 Ludwig von Mises Institute.

Murray=20 Rothbard Archives =