Gacaca and the Nuremberg Trials

The article I chose was: http://www.nytimes.com/2002/06/20/world/kanombe-journal-after-the-horror-truth-and-some-healing-maybe.html. In this article "Kanombe Journal; After the Horror, Truth and Some Healing, Maybe", by Marc Lacey, the focus is on gacaca, which means " justice on the grass in the Kinyarwanda language"(Lacey).

The gacaca is a trial with judges to deal out justice. "It is a process Rwandans have long used to handle petty grievances between neighbors."(Lacey). After the 1994 killings in Rwanda, it is now being used "the cases of 100,000 people charged with various offenses related to the 1994 killing frenzy"(Lacey). Most of these trials are among peers and those local to the area, with a focus is on "the everyday Hutu who brandished hoes and machetes and, following the orders of others, hacked away at their Central African countrymen". People are accusing thier neighbors and these crimes, rather than accusations from Tutsi against the Hutu.

In this article, I saw a connection with the Nuremberg Trials. Both cases involve mass killing and genocide, and the justice that was sought after those events. A major difference between the two trials is that the gacaca is a local trial, and the Nuremberg Trials involved people from many different nations. Although World War II involved more than one country, unlike the 1994 killings in Rwanda, it was not considered for Germans to put fellow Germans on trial without outside influence. Adolf Eichmann said that "It was unthinkable that I would not follow orders." I found this to be similar to a quote at the end of the article, where an inmate said "I was not a bad person but the situation I was in made me bad." Many Nazi supporters claimed that they were just following orders and what everyone else was doing. The inmate is also blaming something else for the killing he had committed. Many people were killing in 1994, and during World War II, but there is nothing to suggest that those same wouldn't be murderers if their lives and situations were different. They may of chose to live different lives, or they may of chose the same actions.

I also saw a connection to Traces of the Trade and Hidden Sorrows with the questions of reprarations they both brought up. Reprarations, justice, and education can be closely related. ''We're not just punishing people,'' Mr. Mucyo said in an interview. ''We're educating them." (Lacey). Some people have said that reprarations are about seeking justice for actions of ancestors and educating the public about the economic effects slavery had. the gacaca is not just a trial, it is a way for people to both deal with, understand, and come clean about the trajedies of 1994.