This post will be me going by The UN’s definition of genocide defined after the holocaust and the ten stages of genocide to prove once and for all that the Uchiha Massacre was a genocide carried out by the state.
“In the present Convention, genocide means any of the following acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group, as such:
Killing members of the group;
Causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group;
Deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part;
Imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group;
Forcibly transferring children of the group to another group.”
https://www.un.org/en/genocideprevention/genocide.shtml
This is the definition of genocide as stated by the united nations. Right away, the Uchiha massacre tics all of the boxes.
The most obvious is killing members of the group during the event itself. the Slaughter of men, women, children, the elderly, and civilians is a textbook example of genocide. Shisui’s attempted murder is another good example, which also falls under the “causing serious mental and bodily harm” thing, you know, considering he committed suicide right after.
Itachi’s mind rape of Sasuke with his genjutsu also falls under the second category.
The third category is a bit more subtle. But considering the uchiha were such strong front line fighters its not a stretch they were forced to fight more often than other clans, and therefore put in more danger that led to less children. And considering most of the hospital was Senju influenced, I wouldn’t be surprised if they were getting sub-optimal care.
The fourth one is evident as well. Itachi’s transfer to root is very obvious. Danzo and Co. removed him from ANBU and into their super secret child soldier slave club. They brainwashed him and the little jingoistic fascist idiot ate it up. To an extent, the Uchiha children in the Konoha academy also qualify to a degree, seeing as the academy was senju controlled, and they learned Pro-konoha propaganda.
1. CLASSIFICATION: All cultures have this. Us vs them. White and black. Polish and English. Catholic and Buddhist. Uchiha and Senju. At this stage the best course of action would be to make common ground institutions where the separate member can interact.
2. SYMBOLIZATION: This is done through names and symbols. The Jewish people were called “Jews” and forced to wear the yellow star of David. In Naruto, many people begin to fear the Uchiha, and all Uchiha police officers are required to wear the Uniform with the clan symbol on it. In a fit of misguided-Konoha brainwashed fueled rage, Itachi throws his kunai into a wall painted with the Uchiha crest to show his hatred for the clan-cracking the symbol.
3. DISCRIMINATION: The Senju dominated village holds power over the Uchiha clan. The uchiha are barred from the Senju run academy created by Tobirama and aren’t allowed to work there to influence the children. They are kept from the hospital, and denied entry to the elite ANBU black opps until much later. The Uchiha clan is put in charge of the police force by Tobirama in a supposed act of goodwill, who then uses it to spy on them in unfound suspicion. The Police headquarters are located far away from Konoha’s population centers. And being part of the force means they need to stay neutral in politics or be called corrupt officers-effectively denying them the political power they were promised as the founders of the village.
4. DEHUMANIZATION: Many of the Uchiha clan are called demons, and monsters for their shinobi prowess. State-sanctioned propaganda in the form of the “curse of hatred” is endorsed by Tobirama and his students. The curse of hatred being of course that the Uchiha are born genetically evil at heart. (By the way, saying someone is genetically evil is, uh, Terrible. Hitler’s whole final solution depended on believing the Jewish people where GENETICALLY bad!”
6. POLARIZATION: Here, extremists drive the group apart. This being Danzo and the other elders. Moderates of both groups, who are most likely to stop the genocide are targeted. Shishi being killed and Hiruzen not being informed of Danzo’s plans are prime examples. International travel can also be denied to them, which harkens to all the Uchiha being called back to the village before the massacre, and being stuck in the village in the police force.
7. PREPARATION: The village leaders plan “the final solution” or here called the massacre/extermination. The population of the village is indoctrinated with fear. The oppressed group is forcibly moved into Ghetto’s. This is seen when the village enforced a population transfer of the Uchiha to the edge of the village.(By the way, a population transfer is considered a war crime because it ALWAYS leads to genocide) Weapons and armies are put together to carry out the genocide. Here, that would be Danzo’s root but more importantly, ITACHI. Many governments do not want to be pinned with the blame of the genocide and recruit third parties to carry it out for them-and Itachi was practically begging to be used. Real life examples of this would be the Janjaweed who were a milita in Sudan who supposedly operated separately of the government to carry out the genocide in Darfur.
8. PERSECUTION: The Uchiha are separated from the rest of the village. They aren’t given missions, and the populace refuses to work with the police force.At this point a genocide is imminent.
9. EXTERMINATION : It is called extermination because the exterminators don’t believe the people they are killing are human. In a single night Obito and Itachi murder the clan. Everyone, men, women, children, even those who had no idea about the coup, are killed. At this point nothing but drastic military action can stop the killing.
10. DENIAL: This is the final stage of genocide and is always a sure indicator another genocide will occur down the road, which is why genocides always must be addressed with truth, honesty and justice in the after math. When the Third Hokage helps cover it up, when Danzo removes the bodies, steals their eyes, and hides the evidence, when Itachi told Naruto to keep the secret to “uphold the uchiha reputation” or some B.S, when Naruto actually BELIEVED that horseshit, and when both Naruto and Kakashi in their hokageship continued to cover it up!(this can be seen when Sarada looks up her clan in the konoha library and is unable to access much information)
This tenth stage is so important. It almost always ensures genocide will happen again. Holocaust deniers, people who say the American Indians were never persecuted, those who deny the Armenian genocide ever happened are all actively taking part in the tenth stage of genocide and are just as guilty as the people who carried out the massacre in the first place.
In conclusion: The Uchiha massacre was a genocide, Itachi is a punk bitch pillock, and Sasuke Uchiha did nothing wrong, ever.
