Name: The 10 Stages of Genocide
Uploaded: 2025-07-21T18:46:19.000Z
Duration: 5 min 16 s
Description: Thousands of YouTube videos with English-Chinese subtitles! Now you can learn to understand native speakers, expand your vocabulary, and improve your pronunciation...

When living conditions worsen and the economy fails, people try to find reasons for their troubles.

This is when political extremists can become popular, as they blame certain groups of people and promise that by getting rid of them, society's problems will go away.

Transition words & phrases

This can lead to the deliberate elimination of those who are different because of their race, religion, sexuality or disability, a phenomenon known as genocide.

Genocide The ten stages of genocide are a framework for understanding how crimes against humanity happen, so we can spot early warning signs and potentially prevent them.

Extremists divide people into separate groups based on their different characteristics.

This often happens to create an us-versus-them mentality or to find someone to blame for social problems.

This involves assigning symbols or names to members of the other group.

The goal here is to split the society and make it clear who belongs to who.

The dominant group uses its power to deny others certain rights or privileges.

Particular new laws may limit the freedom of the marginalized ones.

Instances of bullying increase and the societal divide widens.

The targeted group is portrayed as less than human, often compared to animals or diseases.

Stripping away the human qualities of a person makes it easier to justify violence against them.

This stage can involve violent mobs that are tolerated by the ruling class or even the creation of state-sponsored militias.

In some instances, perpetrators now carefully start to plan the next steps of the genocide.

Extremists now demonize the targeted group and try to fully divide society by demanding that everyone must take a side.

Moderators who want to reduce the tensions are often identified as enemies and silenced.

They may identify victims by name or number, find where they live, and acquire weapons or build facilities to aid their efforts.

The targeted group is systematically subjected to harassment, displacement, or other forms of abuse.

Often all of that happens under the disguise of security measures.

The culprits view their victims as less than human, believing they are cleansing the world of an undesirable element, and in doing so justify the use of disproportionate violence.

Those responsible for the cruelty deny their crimes, destroy evidence, blame the victims, and attempt to rewrite history justifying their actions as necessary for the greater good.

This is why in the aftermath of genocide, the criminals must be made accountable and the trauma must be addressed.

Then the survivors may heal and society can attempt to reunite.

Note that the ten stages may not occur linearly.

Dr. Gregory Stanton, who observed the phenomenon, suggested preventative measures to battle each stage, even though he believed that ultimately only an international intervention can stop such a disaster.

In Germany, Cambodia, Rwanda, and other places, help from outside often arrived too late for too many, which is why Stanton also founded Genocide Watch, a non-profit to help prevent the next tragedy from unfolding.

Is knowledge enough to prevent genocidal events?

And if not, what other measures can we take to avoid the next human catastrophe?

Share your thoughts in the comments below.

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The 10 Stages of Genocide

phenomenon

deliberate

simultaneously

trauma