As I was walking home from work last night in the cool air of May, I couldn't help but think that 15 years ago on this very night there was a genocide happening in Africa the likes of which had not been seen in the world since the Holocaust. Since returning from Uganda, I have been intensely interested in Africa's history, culture, and politics. (Followers of this blog will see that is true..in fact, I find myself more interested in Ugandan news than the local news) It was inevitable that I would find myself reading about the spring days of 1994 in Rwanda when 800,000 people were killed in 100 days. It is a regrettable part of African history and even Uganda is a player upon the stage. The Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF ) was formed in 1987 by the Tutsi refugee diaspora in Uganda . The first Tutsi refugees fled to Uganda to escape ethnic purges beginning 1959. It was from there "base" in Uganda that a majority of the RPF led their assault on the Hutu militias ending the genocide, but not after hundreds of thousands lay dead across the Rwandan countryside. Sadly, some of the only real aid that the US sent during this time was to Uganda to help dispose of the nearly 10,000 bodies that washed up on the shores of Lake Victoria after being dumped in the Nyabarongo River. This graphically tragic part of African history has many stories to tell and lessons to learn. One is left wondering how this could have happened?....why there was silence from the Western world?...what were the sociopolitical warning signs that could have served as red flags?...what could one have done? While in the bloody aftermath, President Bill Clinton and others in the US and United Nations recognized their failure to act and warned that this must never happen again, one does not have to look too far from the borders of Rwanda to see that genocide is happening again and we are left with the same questions. Are we still silent?
- Patrick
Some resources I have found interesting and compelling on the subject:
BOOK: WE WISH TO INFORM YOU THAT TOMORROW WE WILL BE KILLED WITH OUR FAMILIES by Philip Gourevitch
Written by a New York Times contributing editor who visited Rwanda shortly after the genocide, Gourevitch has written a tremendous account. Through personal stories that he collected from survivors and perpetrators alike, he brings us back to those dark days in 1994 to give an impassioned and informed account. Gourevitch takes us back to the very beginnings of the ethnic history and we see the progression of thought and action that led to nothing short of an extermination. The writing is compelling and has been called "among the best examples of the journalism of moral witness".
BOOK: LEFT TO TELL: DISCOVERING GOD AMIDST THE RWANDAN HOLOCAUST by Immaculee Ilibagiza
"In 1994, Rwandan native Ilibagiza was 22 years old and home from college to spend Easter with her devout Catholic family, when the death of Rwanda's Hutu president sparked a three-month slaughter of nearly one million ethnic Tutsis in the country. She survived by hiding in a Hutu pastor's tiny bathroom with seven other starving women for 91 cramped, terrifying days. This searing firsthand account of Ilibagiza's experience cuts two ways: her description of the evil that was perpetrated, including the brutal murders of her family members, is soul-numbingly devastating, yet the story of her unquenchable faith and connection to God throughout the ordeal uplifts and inspires. Her account of the miracles that protected her is simple and vivid. Her Catholic faith shines through, but the book will speak on a deep level to any person of faith. Ilibagiza's remarkable path to forgiving the perpetrators and releasing her anger is a beacon to others who have suffered injustice. She brings the battlefield between good and evil out of the genocide around her and into her own heart, mind and soul. This book is a precious addition to the literature that tries to make sense of humankind's seemingly bottomless depravity and counterbalancing hope in an all-powerful, loving God. " from Publisher's Weekly
FILM: HOTEL RWANDA
Hotel Rwanda is a 2004 historical drama film about the hotelier Paul Rusesabagina (played by Don Cheadle) during the Rwandan Genocide of 1994. The film, which has been called an African Schindler's List, documents Rusesabagina's acts to save the lives of his family and more than a thousand other refugees, by granting them shelter in the besieged Hôtel des Mille Collines. Directed by Irish filmmaker Terry George, the film was co-produced by US, British, Italian, and South African companies, with filming done on location in Johannesburg, South Africa and Kigali, Rwanda. As an independent film it had an initial limited release in theaters, but was nominated for multiple awards, including Academy Award nominations for Best Actor, Best Supporting Actress, and Best Original Screenplay. It continues to be one of the most-rented films on services such as Netflix, and is listed by the American Film Institute as one of the 100 most inspirational movies of all time. The makers of this tremendous story went to great lengths to recount Rusesabagina's actions during the genocide as factual and historically accurate. A moving story which leaves you with 2 questions...what would you have done?...and more importantly, what will you do?
(RATED PG-13 for violence, disturbing images and brief strong language)
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FILM: SOMETIMES IN APRIL
Written and directed by Raoul Peck, this movie is the first large-scale film about the 100 days of the 1994 Rwandan genocide to be shot in Rwanda, in the locations where the real-life events transpired. A chilling reminder of man's incomprehensible capacity for cruelty, Sometimes in April is an epic story of courage in the face of daunting odds, as well as an exposé of the West's inaction as nearly a million Rwandans were being killed. The plot focuses on two brothers embroiled in the 1994 conflict between the Hutu majority (who had ruled Rwanda since 1959) and the Tutsi minority who had received favored treatment when the country was ruled by Belgium. The protagonists (both Hutus) are reluctant soldier Augustin Muganza (Idris Elba), married to a Tutsi and father to three, and his brother Honoré (Oris Erhuero), a popular public figure espousing Hutu propaganda from a powerful pulpit: Radio RTLM in Rwanda. The drama is set in two periods, which unfold concurrently: In April 1994, after the Hutu Army begins a systematic slaughter of Tutsis and in April 2004, where Augustin is looking for closure and hoping to start a new life. Though a fictional story, it is wrapped around authentic events and interspersed with real news and press conference footage from that time.
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(RATED TV-MA for graphic violence, disturbing images, adult subject matter and brief language)
- Patrick
Some resources I have found interesting and compelling on the subject:
BOOK: WE WISH TO INFORM YOU THAT TOMORROW WE WILL BE KILLED WITH OUR FAMILIES by Philip GourevitchWritten by a New York Times contributing editor who visited Rwanda shortly after the genocide, Gourevitch has written a tremendous account. Through personal stories that he collected from survivors and perpetrators alike, he brings us back to those dark days in 1994 to give an impassioned and informed account. Gourevitch takes us back to the very beginnings of the ethnic history and we see the progression of thought and action that led to nothing short of an extermination. The writing is compelling and has been called "among the best examples of the journalism of moral witness".
BOOK: LEFT TO TELL: DISCOVERING GOD AMIDST THE RWANDAN HOLOCAUST by Immaculee Ilibagiza"In 1994, Rwandan native Ilibagiza was 22 years old and home from college to spend Easter with her devout Catholic family, when the death of Rwanda's Hutu president sparked a three-month slaughter of nearly one million ethnic Tutsis in the country. She survived by hiding in a Hutu pastor's tiny bathroom with seven other starving women for 91 cramped, terrifying days. This searing firsthand account of Ilibagiza's experience cuts two ways: her description of the evil that was perpetrated, including the brutal murders of her family members, is soul-numbingly devastating, yet the story of her unquenchable faith and connection to God throughout the ordeal uplifts and inspires. Her account of the miracles that protected her is simple and vivid. Her Catholic faith shines through, but the book will speak on a deep level to any person of faith. Ilibagiza's remarkable path to forgiving the perpetrators and releasing her anger is a beacon to others who have suffered injustice. She brings the battlefield between good and evil out of the genocide around her and into her own heart, mind and soul. This book is a precious addition to the literature that tries to make sense of humankind's seemingly bottomless depravity and counterbalancing hope in an all-powerful, loving God. " from Publisher's Weekly
FILM: HOTEL RWANDAHotel Rwanda is a 2004 historical drama film about the hotelier Paul Rusesabagina (played by Don Cheadle) during the Rwandan Genocide of 1994. The film, which has been called an African Schindler's List, documents Rusesabagina's acts to save the lives of his family and more than a thousand other refugees, by granting them shelter in the besieged Hôtel des Mille Collines. Directed by Irish filmmaker Terry George, the film was co-produced by US, British, Italian, and South African companies, with filming done on location in Johannesburg, South Africa and Kigali, Rwanda. As an independent film it had an initial limited release in theaters, but was nominated for multiple awards, including Academy Award nominations for Best Actor, Best Supporting Actress, and Best Original Screenplay. It continues to be one of the most-rented films on services such as Netflix, and is listed by the American Film Institute as one of the 100 most inspirational movies of all time. The makers of this tremendous story went to great lengths to recount Rusesabagina's actions during the genocide as factual and historically accurate. A moving story which leaves you with 2 questions...what would you have done?...and more importantly, what will you do?
(RATED PG-13 for violence, disturbing images and brief strong language)
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FILM: SOMETIMES IN APRILWritten and directed by Raoul Peck, this movie is the first large-scale film about the 100 days of the 1994 Rwandan genocide to be shot in Rwanda, in the locations where the real-life events transpired. A chilling reminder of man's incomprehensible capacity for cruelty, Sometimes in April is an epic story of courage in the face of daunting odds, as well as an exposé of the West's inaction as nearly a million Rwandans were being killed. The plot focuses on two brothers embroiled in the 1994 conflict between the Hutu majority (who had ruled Rwanda since 1959) and the Tutsi minority who had received favored treatment when the country was ruled by Belgium. The protagonists (both Hutus) are reluctant soldier Augustin Muganza (Idris Elba), married to a Tutsi and father to three, and his brother Honoré (Oris Erhuero), a popular public figure espousing Hutu propaganda from a powerful pulpit: Radio RTLM in Rwanda. The drama is set in two periods, which unfold concurrently: In April 1994, after the Hutu Army begins a systematic slaughter of Tutsis and in April 2004, where Augustin is looking for closure and hoping to start a new life. Though a fictional story, it is wrapped around authentic events and interspersed with real news and press conference footage from that time.
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(RATED TV-MA for graphic violence, disturbing images, adult subject matter and brief language)
FILM: BEYOND THE GATES (aka SHOOTING DOGS)The most recent and arguably the most emotionally powerful of the films pertaining to the 1994 genocide. The film was made with the help of survivors and filmed in the very locales where the story takes place giving it an unbeleivably realistic feel. "A powerfully moving rendering of the horrific genocide that occurred in Rwanda in 1994, Beyond the Gates is the story of the Ecole Technique Officielle (ETO), a school run by Europeans and protected by the forces of the United Nations. Overseen by a spiritual, world-weary Catholic priest Father Christopher (John Hurt) and taught by an idealistic, naive young teacher Joe (Hugh Dancy), students and refugees alike perceive the ETO to be a safe haven of learning and love, where backgrounds and circumstances matter little and where humanitarian efforts are positively affecting the lives of the Rwandan people. When tensions between the Hutu and Tsutsi people of Rwanda escalate, father Christopher, teacher Joe, and Capitaine Delon (Dominique Horwitz), commander of the United Nation forces based at the ETO, find themselves thrust into the role of protecting a huge mass of Tsutsi refugees from certain massacre at the hands of the incensed Hutu population. Constrained by orders from the U.N. to "monitor" rather than "enforce" the peace in Rwanda, U.N. military forces are powerless to act against the mounting violence outside the school's gates and it quickly becomes evident to Father Christopher and Joe that they and the Rwandans depending on their protection are in extreme danger. In the end, both men are forced to choose between their humanitarian resolve and the preservation of their very lives. A microcosm of the extensive genocide that was carried out throughout Rwanda from April through June in 1994, the story of the ETO highlights to the larger world the ineffective and arguably destructive role that the Western World played in the Rwandan genocide. The film's immense power stems from stellar performances by John Hurt, Hugh Dancy, and Claire-Hope Ashitey (Marie) as well as exceptional writing by David Wolstencroft and impassioned story telling by director Michael Caton-Jones. Filming on location in Rwanda adds an added layer of authenticity to the film as does the inclusion of Rwandan survivors in various on- and off-screen roles. " - AMAZON REVIEWS
(Rated R for strong violence and disturbing images)
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