This seventh day of April, 2024 marks 6 months since the Hamas attacks on Israelis and subsequent horrific cleansing of Gaza launched by Israel. The Biden administration keeps isssuing confusing, contradictory, hypocritical and ineffective statements about Israel and Palestine.
This week also marks 30 years since the start of 100 days of massacre in Rwanda with those quick to enter for their own national interests callously bystanding at the time when we were most needed.
The killings were ignited when a plane carrying then-President Juvénal Habyarimana, a Hutu, was shot down over Kigali. The Tutsis were blamed for downing the plane and killing the president. and became targets in massacres led by Hutu extremists that lasted over 100 days. Some moderate Hutus who tried to protect members of the Tutsi minority were also killed.
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Clinton, after leaving office, cited the Rwandan genocide as a failure of his administration. French President Emmanuel Macron, in a prerecorded video ahead of Sunday’s ceremonies, said that France and its allies could have stopped the genocide but lacked the will to do so. Macron’s declaration came three years after he acknowledged the “overwhelming responsibility” of France — Rwanda’s closest European ally in 1994 — for failing to stop Rwanda’s slide into the slaughter.
To get there, existing working dynamic divisions among Rwandans we're exploited by colonists.
“What’s commonly understood from historians is that the Belgians used the Tutsis (<10% of population) as proxies in ruling the country, and that’s why they became privileged,” said Lennart Wohlgemuth, a researcher and former professor at Sweden’s University of Gothenburg.
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It was really based on how many cows you had, [but] the Belgians built up differences between the two and manipulated it.
There's more history of Rwandan governments and internal conflicts at the Al Jazeera link.
Male dominance played a role, as well. Though government has been reformed with more power to women, arrogant male attempts to dominate continue..
despite these accomplishments toward gender equality, women have not necessarily achieved equal status. Women still experience high rates of domestic violence, low employment rates and low educational attainment compared with Rwandan men.
And, as my research shows, women have been largely omitted from the narratives and collective memories of the genocide. I analyzed the interviews of 175 “rescuers” – the term used for people who hid or protected those hunted during the genocide – and found that women’s recollections of the violence were being excluded at disproportionately higher rates than those of men. The interviews were originally conducted by Hollie Nyseth Nzitatira and Nicole Fox, two of the leading researchers on the aftermath of genocide in Rwanda.
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The people asked to testify at formal commemoration events are chosen by local leaders and are not always a representative sample. Women are often not asked to testify, as they are deemed too emotional. Likewise, individuals who are selected to testify often have their stories vetted to ensure their narrative aligns with that of the Rwandan governments.
Still, Rwandans acknowledge their history. They have annual commemorations and public testimony, as the reference to rescuers above suggests. Imagine making peace between victims and perpetrators of mass murder. The United Nations headquarters in New York is hosting an exhibit featuring one such story.
The story of Laurence Niyonangira, who survived the massacre and that of Xavier, her family’s killer, is at the heart of the exhibit.
This happened with many thousands. Today, Rwandans are living with that history and seeking healing of relationships between neighbors across the country.
In no country in the history of humanity have so many deaths occurred in such a short time. More than half a million people in 100 days, mostly Tutsis, but also Hutus mistaken for, or protecting, Tutsis. Most victims did not perish due to military violence, but by machetes and clubs studded with nails. It wasn’t strangers who killed or mutilated, but neighbours and acquaintances. Perpetrators and victims spoke the same language and shared the same Christian religion and culture.
The government has been promoting unity and reconciliation since 1999. In the eyes of the state, there are no longer Hutus and Tutsis; every citizen is Rwandan. But unity and reconciliation cannot be imposed, and Rwanda remains a divided, traumatised society.
How do people overcome such trauma, especially in poor nations with minimal mental healthcare? In 2005, Dutch sociotherapist Cora Dekker developed an affordable, effective method in collaboration with the diocese of Byumba of the Anglican church. This approach, originally used by qualified staff in western clinics to treat military personnel and asylum seekers, was transformed into volunteer work involving trained therapists from local African communities. In Rwanda it is known as Mvura Nkuvure: “I heal you, you heal me.” More than 64,000 Rwandans have completed the therapy.
Again, there is much more on the healing process and individual stories at the Guardian link. Please read it as you can.
Rwadans' stories are relevant for their own sakes, but also hold lessons for us Americans and Europeans. While small gestures of acknowledgement are steps, they are far from journeys to atonement, peace, reconcilliation or even coexistence necessary in a sustainable world of equitable civilization. Much of our own histories has been far from peaceful. Our leaders have led largely willing populaces into discriminatory, exploitive and repressive relationships largely for wealth mostly of a few. Many don't want to talk about our histories and how we got what we have. Some try to silence the history. They will never silence everybody. Reports of oppression will continue until equity is for each and all. Why not talk about our stories, relationships and histories for healing of our nation and world?