The eight stages of genocide (1996) are the steps that every genocide goes through. Gregory Stanton, who had studied the genocide in Cambodia for the American State Department, noticed this when he saw the genocide in Rwanda unfold in just the same way. He wrote up his findings shortly afterwards in 1996 and now, before our eyes, the genocide in Darfur is following the very same steps in the very same order:
- Classification: the division into us and them. This is extremely common in human society. While it is not a sign that genocide is on the way, genocide would be impossible without an us and a them.
- Symbolization: words or symbols are applied to the them: the yellow star that Jews had to wear under Hitler, skin colour, classifications put on ID cards. Again, this is common and is not a sign of genocide, but genocide cannot proceed unless there is some sure way to tell people apart.
- Dehumanization: the them become pariahs: they are seen as less than human, as animals or a kind of disease. The Tutsis in Rwanda were called cockroaches before they were killed by the thousands. Killing them was no longer murder – it was just ridding the country of something bad. Dehumanizing words, like “gook” and “nigger”, belong to this step. Unlike the first two steps, dehumanization is not common! It is the first sick step on the road to genocide.
- Organization: To kill people in large numbers you need organization: leaders, followers, a chain of command, duties, meetings, guns, training, hate speeches. Sometimes it is the government that does this, but often it is a paramilitary group that seems to be acting on its own (but which the government is either secretly helping or at least turning a blind eye towards). The killing might start at this stage, but not on a huge scale. Examples: the SS in Nazi Germany, the Ku Klux Klan in America, the janjaweed in Darfur.
- Polarization: The first people killed in any genocide are not the pariahs themselves but those in the mainstream who speak up for them. The voices in the middle are silenced through threats, arrests or even killings. Now the message of hate goes unchallenged.
- Preparation: the pariahs are often separated from the rest of the country – into ghettos, camps, reservations or some undesirable part of the country. Their property is taken from them (they are not coming back!). This step leaves them defenceless.
- Extermination: the mass killings, the genocide proper.
- Denial: The leaders of the genocide downplay it or tell complete lies and say there never was a genocide. As long as they are in denial the killings can go on.
America has gone through all eight steps with Native Americans, arguably up to step 6 with Japanese-Americans and at least as far as step 4 with blacks. Now you know why “nigger” is a bad word.
Stanton says that genocide is preventable by stopping it at one of the early stages.