Rwandan Genocide
April 18, 2005 8:31 AM Subscribe
Eleven years ago this month a genocide of horrific proportions nearly destroyed a country. We must never forget.
Q:What is the most significant thing to understand about the 1994 genocide in Rwanda?
A: In Rwanda, in the course of 100 days in the spring and early summer of 1994, 800,000 people were put to death in the most unambiguous case of state-sponsored genocide in an attempt to exterminate a category of humanity, a people, since the Nazi Holocaust of the Jews of Europe.
... What distinguishes Rwanda is a clear, programmatic effort to eliminate everybody in the Tutsi minority group because they were Tutsis. The logic was to kill everybody. Not to allow anybody to get away. Not to allow anybody to continue. And the logic, as Rwandans call it, the genocidal logic, was very much akin to that of an ideology very similar to that of the Nazism vis-à-vis the Jews in Europe, which is all of them must be gotten rid of to purify in a sense the people. There's a utopian element in genocide that's perplexing. But it is an effort to create community in the most strict sense of "us versus them," by literally eliminating them and bonding all of us in complicity, in the course of that elimination. The idea was that all Hutus should participate in killing of Tutsis. And there have been cases of mass political murder, there have been cases of massacres and genocidal massacres, but never a country and a society so completely and totally convulsed by an effort at pure, unambiguous genocide since the end of World War II, since the passage of the Genocide Convention by the United Nations in the aftermath of the Holocaust.
-From Q&A with Philip Gourevitch, author of We Wish to Inform you that Tomorrow We will be Killed with our Families.
posted by vacapinta at 8:55 AM on April 18, 2005
A: In Rwanda, in the course of 100 days in the spring and early summer of 1994, 800,000 people were put to death in the most unambiguous case of state-sponsored genocide in an attempt to exterminate a category of humanity, a people, since the Nazi Holocaust of the Jews of Europe.
... What distinguishes Rwanda is a clear, programmatic effort to eliminate everybody in the Tutsi minority group because they were Tutsis. The logic was to kill everybody. Not to allow anybody to get away. Not to allow anybody to continue. And the logic, as Rwandans call it, the genocidal logic, was very much akin to that of an ideology very similar to that of the Nazism vis-à-vis the Jews in Europe, which is all of them must be gotten rid of to purify in a sense the people. There's a utopian element in genocide that's perplexing. But it is an effort to create community in the most strict sense of "us versus them," by literally eliminating them and bonding all of us in complicity, in the course of that elimination. The idea was that all Hutus should participate in killing of Tutsis. And there have been cases of mass political murder, there have been cases of massacres and genocidal massacres, but never a country and a society so completely and totally convulsed by an effort at pure, unambiguous genocide since the end of World War II, since the passage of the Genocide Convention by the United Nations in the aftermath of the Holocaust.
-From Q&A with Philip Gourevitch, author of We Wish to Inform you that Tomorrow We will be Killed with our Families.
posted by vacapinta at 8:55 AM on April 18, 2005
The movie was just released on DVD around here at least. Worthwhile viewing.
posted by scheptech at 9:06 AM on April 18, 2005
posted by scheptech at 9:06 AM on April 18, 2005
We must never forget.
already forgotten. has it been 11 years already? gosh, it seems just like last week that no one was giving a damn about africans senselessly slaughtering each other like cattle.
posted by three blind mice at 9:12 AM on April 18, 2005
already forgotten. has it been 11 years already? gosh, it seems just like last week that no one was giving a damn about africans senselessly slaughtering each other like cattle.
posted by three blind mice at 9:12 AM on April 18, 2005
I'd recommend Shake Hands With The Devil: The Failure of Humanity in Rwanda for anyone looking to read up on this.
(And Scaryshrink you should know better. "Never forget" only applies to Americans and Europeans being killed. /sarcasm)
posted by shawnj at 9:25 AM on April 18, 2005
(And Scaryshrink you should know better. "Never forget" only applies to Americans and Europeans being killed. /sarcasm)
posted by shawnj at 9:25 AM on April 18, 2005
We must never forget.
Don't think we have since my brother is performing a 6month mission in the region.
posted by thomcatspike at 10:47 AM on April 18, 2005
Don't think we have since my brother is performing a 6month mission in the region.
posted by thomcatspike at 10:47 AM on April 18, 2005
I saw Hotel Rwanda a few days ago, it's quite an amazing movie. I didn't really know how to feel after watching it.
posted by borkingchikapa at 11:14 AM on April 18, 2005
posted by borkingchikapa at 11:14 AM on April 18, 2005
gosh, it seems just like last week that no one was giving a damn about africans senselessly slaughtering each other like cattle.
Nonsense. We're just waiting until the slaughter is complete (or nearly so) before wringing our hands about it and making big speeches.
posted by clevershark at 11:30 AM on April 18, 2005
Nonsense. We're just waiting until the slaughter is complete (or nearly so) before wringing our hands about it and making big speeches.
posted by clevershark at 11:30 AM on April 18, 2005
Thank you for post and good comment vacapinta. I am young and naive but putting efforts to educate myself.
* Avoiding fun optical illusions post and researching event further.
posted by ReggieNoble2 at 1:43 PM on April 18, 2005
* Avoiding fun optical illusions post and researching event further.
posted by ReggieNoble2 at 1:43 PM on April 18, 2005
Now, if we could just exterminate the hutus as well... ;-P
posted by mischief at 2:14 PM on April 18, 2005
posted by mischief at 2:14 PM on April 18, 2005
Now, if we could just exterminate the hutus as well... ;-P
What the hell does that mean?
posted by borkingchikapa at 2:18 PM on April 18, 2005
What the hell does that mean?
posted by borkingchikapa at 2:18 PM on April 18, 2005
borking... don't feed the troll.
posted by AspectRatio at 2:22 PM on April 18, 2005
posted by AspectRatio at 2:22 PM on April 18, 2005
an interview with the real Hotel Rwanda guy (with links to active orgs in Rwanda nowadays)
posted by amberglow at 8:17 PM on April 18, 2005
posted by amberglow at 8:17 PM on April 18, 2005
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posted by zeoslap at 8:35 AM on April 18, 2005