https://www.genocidewatch.com/tenstages
The ten stages of genocide:
(not necessarily in sequential order or discrete stages. Perhaps even as sub-cycles of selected stages)
stage one: Classification
The differences between people are not respected. There’s
a division of ‘us’ and ‘them’, which can be carried out using
stereotypes, or excluding people who are perceived to be different.
stage two: Symbolisation
This is a visual manifestation of hatred. Jews in Nazi occupied
Europe were forced to wear the yellow Star of David. In Cambodia the Khmer Rouge forced people from the Eastern
Zone to wear blue scarves. From 1992, in north-west Bosnia, all non-Serbian citizens were forced to wear white armbands.
stage three: Discrimination
The dominant group denies civil rights or even citizenship to identified groups. The 1935 Nuremberg Laws stripped Jews of
their German citizenship, made it illegal for them to do many jobs or to marry German non-Jews.
stage four: Dehumanisation
Those perceived as ‘different’ are treated with no form of human rights or personal dignity. During the Genocide in Rwanda, Tutsis were referred to as ‘cockroaches’; the Nazis referred to Jews as ‘vermin’.
stage five: Organisation
Genocides are always planned. Regimes of hatred often train
those who go on to carry out the destruction of a people. The
Sudanese Government supports and arms the Janjaweed (Arab militia) in Darfur to carry out the violence and killings.
stage six: Polarisation
Propaganda begins to be spread by hate groups. The Nazis used the newspaper Der Stürmer to spread and incite messages of hate about Jewish people.
stage seven: Preparation
Perpetrators plan the genocide. They often use euphemisms such as the Nazi’s phrase ‘The Final Solution’ to cloak their intentions. Acts of genocide are disguised as self-defence if there is an ongoing armed conflict or civil war, such as
in Bosnia.
stage eight: Persecution
Victims are identified because of their ethnicity or religion and
death lists are drawn up. People are sometimes segregated into ghettos, deported or starved and property is often expropriated. Genocidal massacres begin.
stage nine: Extermination
The hate group murders their identified victims in a deliberate
and systematic campaign of violence. Millions of lives have been destroyed or changed beyond recognition through genocide.
stage ten: Denial
The perpetrators or later generations deny the existence
of any crime. Evidence is destroyed and witnesses are intimidated. There has been an increase in Holocaust denial
online in recent years.
Genocide never just happens. There is always a set of circumstances which occur or which are created to build the climate in which genocide can take place.
These stages may occur simultaneously or in a different order.
Based on research by Dr Gregory H Stanton:
genocidewatch.com