From Ethnic Conflict to Genocide Individuals are mostly identified by their religion, culture, race and most importantly, their ethnicity. They would be labeled by what country or race they represent. Over the past decades, many ethnic conflicts have occurred and are still occurring in the world today due to political reasoning. When there are at least two ethnic communities called multiethnic or multisectarian, who realize they cannot form their own independent countries, they would change their geographical locations. But there is no guarantee that both ethnic groups will solve their conflicts by moving in different parts of the region. Each ethnic group competes for power, authority, resources and political independence, which lead up to deep conflicts between ethnic groups and even dehumanization. Each ethnic conflict is associated with deep emotions such as hatred, bitterness, resentment, anger and aggression. Political leaders play a significant role in identifying ethnicities. Such leaders commit violent acts for the sake of their group and victimize their followers. There are also political extremists who are only self-concerned and tend to disregard others’ lives through horrific actions. According to political psychologists, extremists have a variety of personal characteristics. They are not mentally sick. They are insane and are capable of evil behavior because they do not have any empathy for anybody. In Milgram’s experiment on power of authority, personality does play a major role. The results showed the psychological patterns by proving that the only people who were obedient to authority were the ones who were high in authoritarianism. In addition to Milgram’s research, extremists would join groups rather than taking individual actions. Groups tend to be more social; violence is done willingly, easily and makes it possible by not taking on the individual responsibility. There are several case illustrations of ethnic conflicts. One such case is of Nigeria which has been divided thirty-six times in order to meet the ethnic demands because of the three main ethnic groups who make up two thirds of Nigeria’s population, “the Hausa/Fulani (who are Muslim), the Yoruba (who are Christian and Muslims), and the Ibo (who are Christian). Within these three groups there are many subdivisions, so that, as a whole, Nigeria has more than 248 distinct ethnic groups.” (Cottam, M., Dietz-Uhler, B., Mastors E., & Preston, T.) (2010). The country is suffering from poverty, political instability and ethnic repression. After Nigeria had received its independence from Britain, ethnic conflict increased. In the early years prior to receiving independence, British people considered the Ibo group to be the most inferior however after Ibo groups economic position improved, the British peoples perception changed. As the Ibo became, “ strongly nationalistic, desiring a role in the existing national institutions. The Ibos also tended to be very entrepreneurial and moved into Hausa and Yoruba regions. Their economic success, as well as their desire for greater participation and political power, was perceived as threatening to other groups.” (Cottam, M., Dietz-Uhler, B., Mastors E., & Preston, T.) (2010). When the Ibo group grew stronger and tried taking over the government, ethnic clashes between the different groups started to follow. In the year 1967, a civil war between the Ibos, the British colonizers, and the Nigerian government happened which, “lasted for 3 years, ended in a loss for the Ibos and claimed the lives of over million people, mostly Ibos.” (Cottam, M., Dietz-Uhler, B., Mastors E., & Preston, T.) (2010). The ethnic conflicts are still on going because the people can’t seem to find a simple alternative. Bosnia also has three main ethnic groups. Bosnia faced a major dilemma when one of the three groups fell apart by attempting independence. Bosnia was ethnically cleansing by dehumanization of other ethnic groups and over 200,000 lives were claimed in this war. In the case of the Maya of Guatemala, there were two groups struggling with the ethnic identities. The militants did the dehumanization of the Mayan and Over 150,000 people were killed in the “dirty war”. Currently, the Mayan communities are alive again because of the government changes and the conflict resolution is in process. Similarly, ethnic conflicts are also discussed in Kenya and in Iraq over division of groups, ethnic identities and political systems by being dominant and gaining the power of authority, thousands were killed and separated. Genocide means to eliminate by mass killing part, whole, ethnic, racial or religious groups from the earth’s surface. In genocide cases such as Rwanda, Holocaust and Darfur, “normal” people established conditions. Political extremist groups planned these extreme genocides. Genocides also occurred in Turkey and in Cambodia, where millions of people died. The Holocaust is considered the greatest genocide in history, which occurred during World War II because of extreme hatred towards Jews from the Nazis, however, “the genocide in Rwanda, which took the lives of around 1 million, occurred in the space of 3 months from April to June 1994, which is a kill ratio five times greater per day than during the Holocaust.” (Cottam, M., Dietz-Uhler, B., Mastors E., & Preston, T.)(2010). The genocide in Darfur is taking place today in the region of Sudan. When people do not do anything to defend others they are referred to as bystanders. People often fail to respond sometimes by ignorance or expecting others to take action, which can result in death whereas the brave ones who step up to take action and save others are called altruists. There are many ethnic conflicts occurring in the world today, such as the Kashmir Conflict between India and Pakistan, where each country is still fighting over the area of Kashmir since the year 1947. Another current and most recent conflict happening in the world today dates back to July 1st, 2012, when a fourteen-minute video on Anti-Islam titled “Innocence of Muslims” was posted on YouTube. According to BBC News, the video did not attract much attention at first but when it was, “picked up by various Arab TV stations, with religious Egyptian TV channel al-Nas' presenter Sheikh Khalad Abdalla broadcasting scenes on 8 September. A clip from his show, dubbed into Arabic, was posted online and within days had been viewed by hundreds of thousands of people.” (BBC). When the video was brought to Muslims’ attention, thousands went out to protest against it. The video was banned; even the YouTube site was blocked in most of the Islamic countries such as Egypt, Libya, Pakistan and Saudi Arabia. BBC says that the video showed the depicting image of Prophet Muhammad in a cartoonish way, and it “appears to depict Islam as a religion of violence and hate, and its Prophet Muhammad as a foolish and power-hungry man.” (BBC). Majority of the Muslims were very offended by this act and protested in rage. Poor and amateur actors made this cartoonish movie. It was a very low budget film but it was internationally recognized negatively among Muslim nations because of the absurd message it was delivering. The video showed hatred towards the religion of Islam, the second biggest religion in the world. Due to the making of this Anti-Islam film, many innocent Muslims were killed and injured due to large amounts of violent protests. For example in Pakistan, protestors burned down the shops, cars, movie theaters and commercial buildings and in the process killing innocent bystanders. Middle-Eastern Muslim population is angered towards the Western U.S.A. for producing such a movie, however they should not be mad at the nation as a whole it self but instead hold the producer accountable. This ethnic conflict between the Middle East and Western U.S.A. is due to the hate that some people hold against each ethnicity. As discussed earlier, ethnic conflicts can easily erupt when the other group perceives a threat. The outcome can be very brutal. There are many other ethnic conflicts that still exist within and across countries on various reasons from religion to political issues. The current ethnic conflict about the Anti-Islam video can be related to the case illustration of “Ethnicity and Sectarianism in Iraq” in terms of religious sectarian identity. Muslims feel humiliated across the globe because of the film. All Muslims share a common belief, which is questioned by the making of the film. My personal reflection on ethnic conflicts is that I do recognize how these conflicts are formed and how resolution is so complicated. I think that most of the ethnic conflicts are based on controversial topics such as politics, race and religion occurring among people of different ethnicities. And I do see how individuals with dissimilar ethnicities form different groups and fight for the wrong reasons and will not let anyone stand in their way even if they have to kill thousands of innocent people. Psychology does play a major role in these ethnic personalities. I also think that most of the conflicts are occurring in countries that face poverty and illiteracy. Poverty is a crucial factor in this matter. Countries like Nigeria, Iraq or Kenya are politically instable. It is not easy to form an independent country based on your ethnic group but there should be an alternative to this crisis. I am also a Muslim and was also personally offended by the Anti-Islam video and I don’t blame Muslims in the Middle-East for being offended but I don’t condone the rage fuelled protests leading to thousands of innocent deaths among people who share the same country, they are killing each other and destroying their own country in the process by protesting violently. I understand they are angry with the filmmaker who is responsible for creating cartoonish depictions of Prophet Muhammad, which is against Islamic belief to draw or depict the prophet in any way or form but there should be a better way to handle these types of situations rather than extreme hatred and violence. I personally am very strictly against all types of violence, especially ethnic conflicts. Lastly, I firmly believe that we need more altruists than political extremists to help reduce ethnic conflicts.

Work Cited

BBC News. (2012). Q&A: anti-Islam film. BBC News Middle East. Retrieved from http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-19606155

Cottam, M., Dietz-Uhler, B., Mastors E., & Preston, T. (2010). From ethnic conflict to genocide. Introduction to Political Psychology. Psychology Press