Revisting Hotel Rwanda: genocide ideology, reconciliation, and rescuers

Article Review

University of Sarajevo Direction:Sociology Student: Muamer Malievi Lecturer: Dr. Smail eki Course: History of wars and genocide

Sarajevo, april 2011

Article review: Revisiting Hotel Rwanda History of wars and genocide

BACKGROUND/INTRODUCTI ON
Despite that, I have a personal interest in writing about this topic. I was always fascinated with the African continent, and as a sociologist science student I found it necessary to remind which tragic history this continent had in the past 100 or more years (colonization and decolonization). The story of Africa and Rwanda is the worlds deadliest after WW II. It is a story, also, about us. It is a war/genocide the world forgot about. The Rwanda Genocide shows the failure of the West - its abetting, ignoring and allowing Rwandas Genocide. This story happened in the full light of international media, with the full knowledge of the UN and Western governments. It happened in the same time, while there was an ongoing genocide in our country. The destiny which our homeland and Rwanda share is almost the same. The fighting against negationism and genocide ideology is something I see on a regular daily basis. As of this reasons I hope I can give a good contribution in reviewing this article and giving my own critical comment about this issue and comment the most interesting points for me and give a conclusion as my personal evaluation regarding this topic.

http://www.suite101.com/content/social-and-political-divisi on-in-rwanda-after-the-genocide-a293965

Article review: Revisiting Hotel Rwanda History of wars and genocide

BRIEF ARTICLE SUMMARY

This is not an article for people who encounter themselves for the first time with this topic. The reason is that the article is not focused on the historical background of the conflict and the act of genocide, but more about the period which came after. The questions I asked myself during the interesting about this : how to ensure coexistence between Hutu and Tutsi (the main ethnical groups) after such high level of violence? Or even how to rebuild a state and a nation after such devastating times? W hat can the Government do? And those are exactly the questions which the author also tries to find. He gives only a few, but very sharp and precise comments of his own view. He is more conducted in reporting what the authorities did in the past 15 years to obtain a normal life and reconciliation in Rwanda. He clarifies that in the very beginning of the article when he says:
This article examines the tensions between the Rwandan governments discourse on reconciliation and its fight against negationism. It shows how the governments campaign against negationism has taken shapefrom the law against divisionism in 2001 to recent accusations of genocide ideology. The article also explores the treatment of Hutu rescuers at the national level.

The introduction portrays the authors own experience during his visit of the famous Hotel des Mille Collines. The hotel is also very often referred as the Hotel Rwanda, a famous place not only because of the (same named) movie. The manager of the hotel during the genocide, Paul Rusesabagina, is an important figure in the article. Even in the introduction he is mentioned as a person who did the way from the most famous rescuer to become a genocide ideologist. This is of course in the eyes of the Rwandan government, the main actor of this article. However, in the beginning W aldorf, raises up the question if the laws and policies against genocide ideology go too far. It is a question, which we can find and examine during the whole article. The first section gives the historical background of the conflict. In a few sentences history is described with numbers numbers of killers, days, victims, suspects. In my research about the topic I found it interesting to read about the historical ethnical differentiations between the Hutu and Tutsi, a phenomenon not mentioned in the article. I will come back to this later. The article moves on the post-conflict period. The writer outlines the main approaches used by the Rwandan government to achieve reconciliation, highlighting some of the major obstacles faced by these institutions. As a positive example of the peace process is given the National Unity and Reconciliation Commission (NURC), a governmental organization which had been running solidarity camps for all university-students, demobilized soldiers and even released

Article review: Revisiting Hotel Rwanda History of wars and genocide

genocidaires (a term used for the genocide executors). Not directly said, but as a negative effort is taken the governmental decision of criminalizing the usage of ethnical terms Hutu and Tutsi. This law did not succeed to eliminate the ethnic discourse discussions within an average Rwandan. The terminology plays a major role for the Rwandan authorities. Since the war ended - they re-established, formed new, and banned some terms regarding the genocide. An ordinary Rwandan still continues to use the familiar terms. After giving the first signs of the reconciliation process the writer starts to describe the main threats of it: negationism, divisionism and genocide ideology. All three separated. All three still making fear within this African state. A special paragraph is given to the governments campaign against these threats. It describes the laws issued by the state. An interesting point was the explanation how this laws and, in general the course of the government, are giving a negative impact on the Hutu rescuers (like Paul Rusesabagina). To conclude, the author gives his point of view in the end. He states that Rwandas laws are too broadly drafted and thus open to political manipulation. The campaign has had several negative consequences, yet he underlines that it is not easy to deal with such a difficult past, like in the case of Rwanda.

CRITICAL REFLECTIONS AND COMMENTS

In this part I will state m y opinion about the authors research. I already gave some comments in the previous sections, but in the next rows I will concentrate only on that. I have to admit that after a few readings on the article I realized that I agree with almost all things said by the writer. That is not a surprise as I already stated that the author gives a general report, and that his comments are mostly reserved for the small conclusion part. Instead of criticizing, I will just emphasize the things which I found important and give a personal point of view. Also, I will mention some things for future researches, not said in the article. I felt on m y own skin, that national reconciliation is a vague and messy process. There are always at least two trues. It is very hard to find the balance between justice and healing, retribution and forgiveness, remembering and moving on. In Rwandas case we must emphasize that the conflict was much different than any other we deal with. As I read in some article, it is not only the genocidal character but also the overwhelming receptivity, the speed, the brutality etc. Rwandas government faced with this and a still very strong anti-Tutsi community (within its own borders, in DR Congo and even within exile groups in Europe) does not have an easy job to deal with.

Article review: Revisiting Hotel Rwanda History of wars and genocide

The author stated in the article different examples of legal mechanisms. But he did not define the most well known the United Nations International Tribunal for Rwanda. The disappointment about this institution is very big. The ICTRs characteristics are a huge bureaucracy, incompetence and its very poor results (only 10 convictions in the first ten years of work). All in all, in its 16 years of work it reached only 50 trials2, which is not efficient at all if we know that the ICTRs has a multi million annual budget. The failure of this institution deepened the negative perception of the Rwandans for the United Nations, which they have from the end of the war. The historical timeline is also important if we want to understand the problem. I mentioned the period of the Belgium colonization. The first types of ethnical identification came with an administrative reform of the Belgium colonizers. Belgian ethnologists analyzed (measured skulls, etc.) thousands of Rwandans on analogous racial criteria, such as which would be used later by the Nazis3. The Belgiums picked the Tutsi as the more European part of the population, as their skins were a bit lighter. That's how the story started. But, to come back to the main actor of this article Rwanda's government. The article mentions the efforts of the authorities. Indeed, the government of Rwanda has since 1994 instituted a number of programs, mechanisms, processes and institutions to handle reconciliation. An interesting example are the initiated traditional Gacaca courts which try to trial those responsible for crimes committed during the genocide, and to decongest the prison system. Because of how ethnicity was used previously, the new constitution of Rwanda adopted through consensus that no political party can have more than 50% of cabinet. The government promotes sports as a key avenue through which Rwandans meet and share excitement. Those are, of course, not all positive efforts given by the authorities. On the other side, the list of things which are inefficient is much longer. As stated in the article there are several reasons, but I will evaluate only the biggest. The Rwandan government did something which is in football called an own-goal. It is a term used to describe when a player a goal which is registered against his team. Denying the fact that Hutu saved Tutsi and denying the war crimes of the RPF (Rwandan Patriotic Front) made the Rwandan government look very poor in international frameworks. Of course there is a huge difference between the war crimes committed by the RPF and the genocide act of the Hutu. But this act made the Hutu guilty in a collective way. The constitution of Rwanda sees only Tutsi as the survivors and victims. The logic that goes is that the genocide was only aimed at Tutsi. Forgetting about the thousands of
2 3

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Criminal_Tribunal_for_Rwanda http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Rwanda#Colonial_era

Article review: Revisiting Hotel Rwanda History of wars and genocide

killed Hutu who tried to save their neighbors or who simply did not want to participate in the killings, is very dangerous for the future of Rwanda. The accusation of the world famous Hutu rescuer is a shame of the leading RPF. And as we are already speaking about the political system, there is no doubt in that the Rwandan government is moving slowly into autocracy. Paul Kagame, the president who was reelected for a new 7 year period, removed in the recent years all his political enemies. Second, Kagame's ruling party has shown no inclination to democratize, now or later. In fact, there is even less political pluralism, media freedom, and independent civil society today than there was during the 2003 elections4. To make a conclusion of this part - Rwanda definitely needs more support from the International Community. The major mistakes by the International Community were by not insisting on the persecution of RFP crimes, by its complacency in the face of an increasingly authoritarian regime. Of course, we cannot forget about the shameful role of the IC in the events in 1994.

CONCLUSION
The conclusion of the article is the most accurate part of this article. I will give mine conclusion in the same context as the author. Fifteen years may seem long, but loss of loved ones often causes a lifetime of sorrow. Sometimes people never smile again, coping as best they can by avoiding the sharply pointed memories. They continue not forgetting, but not dwelling upon, father or mother, kindly aunts and uncles, children who did not grow up. There is geopolitical theory that countries have a personality, just like individuals. Rwanda sounds like someone who is hurt and wounded. The conclusion sends the message that there should be much more effort from the government. A very radical stance of the political leaders is stopping Rwanda in achieving its real goals in reconciliation and peace. Regarding the article, I can say that this is an article which combines history, personal experience and a broad political analysis. This article should be literature for anyone who is interested in the particular case of Rwanda, but also for peace building processes.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/lars-waldorf/rwandas-renaissance-goes_b_680393.html

Article review: Revisiting Hotel Rwanda History of wars and genocide

REFERENCES
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/7981964.stm http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Rwanda#Colonial_era http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Rusesabagina http://www.huffingtonpost.com/lars-waldorf/rwandas-renaissance-goes_b_680393.html http://www.suite101.com/content/social-and-political-division-in-rwanda-after-the-genocidea293965

Lessons from Rwanda The UN and the prevention of Genocide PDF document