How the Factors of Social Cohesion Can Hinder It – Social Cohesion (Senior 4 General and Religious Studies) | Ganzaa

Social Cohesion

Lessons

Senior 4 · General and Religious Studies

Social Cohesion

4 lessons

Lesson 3 of 4

How the Factors of Social Cohesion Can Hinder It

25 min

The paradox of 1994

Before 1994, Rwandans spoke one language, shared one culture, lived on the same hills, married across families and prayed in the same churches and mosques. Almost every factor of social cohesion from Lesson 2 was present. Yet the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi took the lives of more than one million people in about one hundred days. How can a society that shares so much be torn apart?

Part of the answer is that the factors which bind a society can be turned. A shared language carries hate as easily as news. A shared history can be told as a story of enemies. A survivor, Germaine Tuyisenge Müller, nine years old in 1994, described it to the United Nations' Africa Renewal in June 2025:

"Looking back, I can see that the hate was everywhere. But it didn't scream. It whispered." ... "From magazines to radio stations, the Tutsi population was constantly portrayed as a threat. 'It was on repeat,' Germaine says. 'People were being educated to hate each other.'"

Definition

Divisionism: deliberately presenting one group of citizens as opposed to another, so as to set them against each other. Article 10 of Rwanda's Constitution commits the State to its "eradication".

Exclusive identity: an identity defined by who is kept out ("we are the real people of this country, they are not"). It is the opposite of the inclusive identity of Lesson 1.

Hate speech: "any kind of communication in speech, writing or behaviour, that attacks or uses pejorative or discriminatory language with reference to a person or a group on the basis of who they are" (United Nations Strategy and Plan of Action on Hate Speech, 2019).

Propaganda: one-sided messages repeated in order to shape what people believe and do. Example: magazines and radio stations that portrayed the Tutsi as a threat before 1994.

Nepotism: giving jobs, contracts or favours to relatives and friends instead of to the most qualified. Regionalism: favouring people from one's own region.

Every factor has two edges

The table takes the pillars of Figure 3 (Lesson 2) one at a time and shows the edge that cuts the other way.

Factor	Builds cohesion when ...	Hinders cohesion when ...	Example
Identity	it includes everyone (inclusive)	it is used to mark who does not belong (exclusive)	NURC (2020) records that the Belgian colonial administration introduced identity cards "bearing one's ethnic 'identity'", and that identity then "became a political tool"
History and memory	the past is told truthfully and shared	history is distorted to justify hatred, or a genocide is denied	In NURC's 2020 survey, genocide denial and revisionism was the hindering factor named most often outside the main three (7.10% of 12,600 respondents)
Language and media	everyone can follow public life	the same language carries hate speech to everyone at once	Magazines and radio stations before 1994 (UN Africa Renewal, 2025)
Religion	it teaches love of neighbour and the equal worth of all	leaders bless exclusion, keep silent, or protect wrongdoers	On 5 October 2026 the Minister of National Unity criticised religious bodies that still protect people who took part in the Genocide, and praised ADEPR for removing such pastors from ministry (MINUBUMWE)
Justice and law	the law treats everyone equally	laws or courts favour one group, or crimes go unpunished	NURC (2020): after independence the First and Second Republics excluded "one component of the population" from social, economic and political rights
Opportunity and welfare	jobs and services are shared fairly	they go to relatives, a region or a group	NURC (2020) describes "a history full of divisionism, nepotism, and genocide"
Strong group ties	families and clubs support their members	loyalty to the group outweighs fairness to outsiders	Clannism, regionalism, gangs

The table shows something important for the 1994 case. NURC's report notes that Rwanda's clans each contained Hutu, Tutsi and Twa, and that identity became "a political tool to be used whenever politicians believed it was politically convenient". The divisions were built by people, which means people can also take them apart.

Figure 4: how a factor of cohesion is turned into a weapon, step by step. This is a teaching model drawn by Ganzaa, not a legal or historical classification. The lower a society goes, the harder it is to climb back, so act early.

A case from outside Africa: walls between Christians

In Belfast, Northern Ireland, walls called "peace lines" separate mainly Catholic, Irish nationalist neighbourhoods from mainly Protestant, British unionist ones. The first walls of the conflict known as "the Troubles" went up in 1969, and peace lines in Northern Ireland now total more than 32 kilometres. Both communities speak English and both are Christian. Religion here worked less as a set of beliefs than as a badge of political identity: which country you belong to, and whose side you are on. A shared faith did not stop the division, because faith had been tied to an exclusive identity.

Warning

Blame the hand, not the tool. Do not write that "religion caused the conflict" or that "radio caused the genocide". A language, a faith or a medium cannot choose anything. People chose to use them to divide, and they are responsible. Also avoid the claim that the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi grew from "ancient tribal hatred": that story hides the planning, the propaganda and the political choices recorded in this lesson, and NURC's evidence shows that the divisions were politically constructed.

Tip

Ask "who gains?" When a factor of cohesion is being turned against it, ask who benefits from the division: a politician who wants votes, a group that wants jobs or land, a leader who wants to avoid blame. The answer usually shows you where to act.

Important

Discuss. Your class WhatsApp group shares a "joke" that mocks people from one region of the country. Several classmates reply with laughing emojis. Using Figure 4, explain which step this is, and decide what you would do. Consider at least two possible actions and their likely effects.

United Nations: "Hate Speech and the Consequences Explained", about 6 minutes. Alice Wairimu Nderitu, the UN Special Adviser on the Prevention of Genocide, explains how hate speech leads to violence. Watch for what the video says about new technologies and social media, and match it to step 3 of Figure 4.

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Practice

Define divisionism and hate speech.
Explain how a shared language, which normally promotes cohesion, can be used to hinder it.
Using the table, choose two factors and explain how each was turned against social cohesion in Rwanda before 1994.
Put the steps of Figure 4 in order and, for steps 3 and 4, give one action that could stop the slide.
Explain why the peace lines of Belfast show that a shared religion does not guarantee cohesion.
"The 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi was caused by ancient hatred between groups." Using evidence from this lesson, explain why this statement is wrong.
Evaluate the claim: "Strong family and clan loyalty always strengthens social cohesion."

Show answersHide answers

Divisionism: deliberately presenting one group of citizens as opposed to another, so as to set them against each other. Hate speech (UN, 2019): any communication in speech, writing or behaviour that attacks or uses pejorative or discriminatory language about a person or group on the basis of who they are.
Because everyone understands it, a message in the shared language reaches the whole population at once. If the message is hate speech or propaganda, the shared language spreads hate as efficiently as it spreads news. Before 1994, magazines and radio stations repeated that the Tutsi were a threat.
For example: identity: colonial identity cards recorded a category, and politicians later used identity as "a political tool"; justice and opportunity: the First and Second Republics excluded "one component of the population" from rights; history: the past was retold as a story of enemies.
A shared factor; reframed into "us" and "them"; repeated until normal; built into rules; violence. Step 3: speak out, check facts, refuse to share hateful messages, punish hate speech. Step 4: equal laws, independent courts, open admission to schools and jobs.
Both communities are Christian and speak English, yet walls more than 32 km long in total separate them. Religion was tied to political identity (nationalist or unionist), so it marked sides instead of uniting believers.
NURC (2020) shows that Rwanda's clans each contained Hutu, Tutsi and Twa and that divisions were built by politics: colonial identity cards, then governments that excluded one part of the population, then propaganda. A planned crime with leaders and propaganda is not "ancient hatred"; the phrase hides who chose to divide and why.
Not always. Loyalty supports members and builds bonding trust. But when loyalty outweighs fairness to outsiders it becomes clannism, nepotism or regionalism: jobs and favours go to "our people", others feel excluded, and trust across groups falls. Loyalty strengthens cohesion only when it sits inside fairness to all.

Quick check

Put the steps by which a shared factor is turned against cohesion in order, first step first.

Tap the cards in the right order.

Key points

Each factor of cohesion has two edges: identity, memory, language, religion, law and opportunity can all be turned to divide.
In Rwanda, divisions were politically constructed: colonial identity cards, exclusion after independence and propaganda before 1994 (NURC, 2020; UN Africa Renewal, 2025).
The slide runs: shared, reframed, repeated, built into rules, violence. Every step can be stopped, and earlier is easier.
Blame the people who used the tool, not the tool; reject the myth of "ancient hatred".

Sources and credits

It was just words until it wasn't: A survivor's call to counter hate speech before it's too late, Franck Kuwonu, Africa Renewal, United Nations, 18 June 2025: quoted.
What is hate speech?, United Nations: the definition from the UN Strategy and Plan of Action on Hate Speech, quoted.
Rwanda Reconciliation Barometer 2020, National Unity and Reconciliation Commission: background (section 1.1), conceptual framework and Figure 1 of the summary, quoted.
Amadini ahishira abakoze Jenoside yaburiwe, ADEPR ishimirwa kwambura ubushumba abayigizemo uruhare, MINUBUMWE news, October 2026: summarised in English by Ganzaa.
Constitution of the Republic of Rwanda, Ministry of Justice: Article 10.
Peace lines, Wikipedia contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0: the date of the first walls of the Troubles (1969) and the total length (more than 32 km); adapted by Ganzaa.
Photo: Cupar Way peace line wall, Belfast, Robert Eva, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
Video: "Hate Speech and the Consequences Explained", United Nations, embedded from YouTube.

Written by Ganzaa: Figure 4, the two-edges table, the analysis and the exercises.

This lesson adapts CC BY-SA material and is shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.

1The paradox of 1994

2Every factor has two edges

3A case from outside Africa: walls between Christians

The paradox of 1994

Every factor has two edges

A case from outside Africa: walls between Christians