“Apparently Forgotten Wars”. (Digital) Genocide, Information and the Construction of the Other in Postmodern Conflicts

Abstract

Abstract This paper proposes a problematic reconstruction of the relationship between ethnic conflict, racial hatred, and media, focusing on the analysis of information flows and the social construction of the Other, as a public enemy, in war contexts. Through a socio-historical approach, analyzing sources offered by the press and international literature, we will examine the genocide that took place in Rwanda in 1994, where about one million people lost their lives in only 100 days. This case study is still particularly interesting today as an example of a timeless conflict, or rather of a 'forgotten (ethnic) war’ This expression refers to those conflicts that have profoundly marked humanity but have not received enough attention from the mass media. This is often the case for economic reasons, intrinsic to the information economy, as well as cultural issues and, to some extent, also because of the dependence of the media on the agenda dictated by politicians, who often choose to promote conflicts when there are special interests at stake. Digital technologies have, however, partially limited the effects of this “forgetting.” Interconnection and digitization processes can sometimes transform the violent past into public memory, into pieces of shared history, so that the same mistakes are never made again.