Accounting for Horror : Post-genocide Debates in Rwanda

Peter Uvin

This book should be thought of as having three sections: First, an opinionated history of Rwanda, in which Ulvin shortcuts some highly politicized debates by simply stating his opinion as to, for example, the actual origin of the Hutu and Tutsi groups. This section continues through 1994, and is the strongest part of the book. Second, the book contains a long rumination of the complicity of nongovernmental organizations and aid groups in Rwanda's racial turmoil and genocide. This would have been a good three page discussion, here spread over about 90 pages. Finally, there is a sociological examination of the roots of the Rwandan genocide. Where Ulvin points out the weaknesses in popular theories, this is worthwhile. Unfortunately, too much reads like a college paper and contains little of value for a reader. Overall, the history section redeems the book. The book is certainly useful for those interested in Rwanda, probably less useful to those interested in racial violence generally. Leer más…

Grunfeld, Huijboom, A.

This volume is about the failure to prevent genocide in Rwanda in 1994. In particular, the research focuses on why the early warnings of an emerging genocide were not translated into early preventative action. The warnings were well documented by the most authoritative source, the Canadian U.N. peace-keeping commander General Romeo Dallaire and sent to the leading political civil servants in New York. The communications and the decisionmaking are scrutinized, i.e., who received what messages at what time, to whom the messages were forwarded and which (non-) decisions were taken in response to the alarming reports of weapon deliveries and atrocities. This book makes clear that this genocide could have been prevented. Published under the Transnational Publishers imprint. Leer más…

Richard Morrock

The twentieth century was one of the most violent periods in all of human history, with over 100 million people killed in acts of war and persecution ranging from the Herero and Namaqua Genocide in present-day Namibia during the early 1900s to the ongoing conflict in Darfur. This book provides a tightly focused view into the root causes of genocide, looking far beyond the surface into the underlying psychology of violence and oppression. The author argues that genocide does not simply occur at the hands of dictators or tyrannical despots, but rather at the hands of ordinary citizens whose unresolved pain and oppression forces them to follow a leader whose demagogy best expresses their own long-developed prejudices, emotions, and fears. Thus, the book explains how birth trauma, childhood trauma, and authoritarian education can be seen as the true root causes of genocidal periods in recent history. Leer más…

Edited And With An Introduction By Robert Skloot

In this pioneering volume, Robert Skloot brings together four plays â€" three of which are published here for the first time â€" that fearlessly explore the face of modern genocide. The scripts deal with the destruction of four targeted populations: Armenians in Lorne Shirinian's Exile in the Cradle, Cambodians in Catherine Filloux's Silence of God, Bosnian Muslims in Kitty Felde's A Patch of Earth, and Rwandan Tutsis in Erik Ehn's Maria Kizito. Taken together, these four plays erase the boundaries of theatrical realism to present stories that probe the actions of the perpetrators and the suffering of their victims. A major artistic contribution to the study of the history and effects of genocide, this collection carries on the important journey toward understanding the terror and trauma to which the modern world has so often been witness Leer más…

Timothy Paul Longman

Although Rwanda is among the most Christian countries in Africa, in the 1994 genocide, church buildings became the primary killing grounds. To explain why so many Christians participated in the violence, this book looks at the history of Christian engagement in Rwanda and then turns to a rich body of original national and local-level research to argue that Rwanda's churches have consistently allied themselves with the state and played ethnic politics. Comparing two local Presbyterian parishes in Kibuye prior to the genocide demonstrates that progressive forces were seeking to democratize the churches. Just as Hutu politicians used the genocide of Tutsi to assert political power and crush democratic reform, church leaders supported the genocide to secure their own power. The fact that Christianity inspired some Rwandans to oppose the genocide demonstrates that opposition by the churches was possible and might have hindered the violence. Leer más…

Peterson, Scott., Scott Peterson

invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers. xiii I N T R O D U C T I O N genocide-not to mention the shameful indifference, then hobbling of a ready-to-act UN Security Council by a gun-shy United States. Questions of justice-even in a continent where the idea of a war crimes tribunal and accountability is so very new-should be paramount. Failure to address this issue will mean that more Africans themselves must answer this question, as it was put by the president of Burundi in August 1994, after the slaughter of 2,000 people in a town: "How long is blood going to have to flow in this country?" he asked, attempting to deflate tensions. "What do you gain when you start killing and shedding blood? Can you drink it? Can you make bricks from it? Who has ever benefited from blood running in the streets?" 2 Spiritual journeys do not always start out as such, and mine in Africa certainly did not. Since I marched anxiously toward the front line in Eritrea in 1989-writing letters home about profound changes in my thinking-I have covered many other conflicts in Africa, the Balkans, and the Middle East. In those days as a writer, I was driven by the ambitious precedent laid down by William Faulkner in his 1950 Nobel Prize acceptance speech. An especially perceptive English teacher gave me a copy before I could fully appreciate its importance. I kept it folded in my shoulder bag... Leer más…

Kofi A Annan; Allan Thompson; International Development Research Centre (Canada)

The news media played a crucial role in the 1994 Rwanda genocide: local media fuelled the killings, while the international media either ignored or seriously misconstrued what was happening. This is the first book to explore both sides of that media equation. The book examines how local radio and print media were used as a tool of hate by encouraging neighbours to turn against each other. It also presents a critique of international media coverage of the cataclysmic events in Rwanda. Bringing together local reporters and commentators from Rwanda, high-profile Western journalists and leading media theorists, this is the only book to identify and probe the extent of the media's accountability. It also examines deliberations by the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda on the role of the media in the genocide. This book is a startling record of the dangerous negative influence that the media can have, when used as a political tool or when news organisations and journalists fail to live up to their responsibilities. The authors put forward suggestions for the future by outlining how we can avoid censorship and propaganda, and by arguing for a new responsibility in media reporting. Leer más…

Donald G. Dutton

Chronicling horrific events that brought the 20th century to witness the largest number of systematic slaughters of human beings in any century across history, this work goes beyond historic details and examines contemporary psychological means that leaders use to convince individuals to commit horrific acts in the name of a politial or military cause. Massacres in Nanking, Rwanda, El Salvador, Vietnam, and other countries are reviewed in chilling detail. But the core issue is what psychological forces are behind large- scale killing; what psychology can be used to indoctrinate normal people with a Groupthink that moves individuals to mass murder brutally and without regret, even when the victims are innocent children. Dutton shows us how individuals are convinced to commit such sadistic acts, often preceded by torture, after being indoctrinated with beliefs that the target victims are unjust, inhuman or viral, like a virus that must be destroyed or it will destroy society. Leer más…

Villia Jefremovas

Brickyards To Graveyards Examines How The Overidealized Picture Of Rwanda As The Darling Of The World Community In The 1980s Was Shattered Amidst The Genocide That Occurred A Decade Later. The Brick And Tile Industries Of Rwanda Provide A Microcosm To Examine The Transformation Of Gender, Class, And Power Relations Through The Precolonial, Colonial, And Postcolonial Periods, And Provide Insights Into The Explosive Impact Of These Changes On Rwandan Culture And Society. The Book Illustrates How These Gender, Class, And Power Relations Played Out In Times Of Economic, Political, And Demographic Crisis, And Argues That These Factors Have Not Changed Significantly Since The Rwandan Patriotic Took Power In 1994.--book Jacket. Machine Generated Contents Note: 1 Introduction-rwanda And The Field Sites 1 -- 2 Making Bricks And Roof Tiles In Rwanda: Technology And Process 21 -- 3 Making Bricks And Roof Tiles In Rwanda: Labor Organization 35 -- 4 Land Tenure, Common Property, And Labor And Power: Precolonial, Colonial, And Postcolonial Transformations 59 -- 5 Your Patron Begets You: Household Reproduction, Gender And Domestic Relations, And Access To Family Labor 79 -- 6 Loose Women, Virtuous Wives, And Timid Virgins: Class, Gender, And The Control Of Resources 97 -- 7 Brickyards Turn To Graveyards 109 --appendix A. Various Chronologies For The Rwandan Kings 127 -- Appendix B. European Contact And The German Colonial Period 129 -- Appendix C. The Belgian Colonial Period 131 --... Leer más…

Clark, Phil

Phil Clark explores the impact of the Gacaca community courts, the centrepiece of Rwanda's justice and reconciliation programme. Since 2001, the Gacaca community courts have been the centrepiece of Rwanda's justice and reconciliation programme. Nearly every adult Rwandan has participated in the trials, principally by providing eyewitness testimony concerning genocide crimes. Lawyers are banned from any official involvement, an issue that has generated sustained criticism from human rights organisations and international scepticism regarding Gacaca's efficacy. Drawing on more than six years of fieldwork in Rwanda and nearly five hundred interviews with participants in trials, this in-depth ethnographic investigation of a complex transitional justice institution explores the ways in which Rwandans interpret Gacaca. Its conclusions provide indispensable insight into post-genocide justice and reconciliation, as well as the population's views on the future of Rwanda itself Leer más…

By Jean Hatzfeld; Translated From The French By Linda Coverdale

By Jean Hatzfeld ; Translated From The French By Linda Coverdale. Includes Bibliographical References. Leer más…

Immaculée Ilibagiza, Steve Erwin

Immaculee Ilibagiza grew up in a country she loved, surrounded by a family she cherished. But in 1994 her idyllic world was ripped apart as Rwanda descended into a bloody genocide. Immaculee’s family was brutally murdered during a killing spree that lasted three months and claimed the lives of nearly a million Rwandans. Incredibly, Immaculee survived the slaughter. For 91 days, she and seven other women huddled silently together in the cramped bathroom of a local pastor while hundreds of machete-wielding killers hunted for them. It was during those endless hours of unspeakable terror that Immaculee discovered the power of prayer, eventually shedding her fear of death and forging a profound and lasting relationship with God. She emerged from her bathroom hideout having discovered the meaning of truly unconditional love—a love so strong she was able seek out and forgive her family’s killers. The triumphant story of this remarkable young woman’s journey through the darkness of genocide will inspire anyone whose life has been touched by fear, suffering, and loss.This is Immaculee’s first book. Leer más…

By Catherine Claire Larson

From The Publisher: Inspired By The Award-winning Film Of The Same Name. If You Were Told That A Murderer Was To Be Released Into Your Neighborhood, How Would You Feel? But What If It Weren't Only One, But Thousands? Could There Be A Common Roadmap To Reconciliation? Could There Be A Shared Future After Unthinkable Evil? If Forgiveness Is Possible After The Slaughter Of Nearly A Million In A Hundred Days In Rwanda, Then Today, More Than Ever, We Owe It To Humanity To Explore How One Country Is Addressing Perceptual, Social-psychological, And Spiritual Dimensions To Achieve A More Lasting Peace. If Forgiveness Is Possible After Genocide, Then Perhaps There Is Hope For The Comparably Smaller Rifts That Plague Our Relationships, Our Communities, And Our Nation. Based On Personal Interviews And Thorough Research, As We Forgive Returns To The Boundary Lines Of Genocide's Wounds And Traces The Route Of Reconciliation In The Lives Of Rwandans-victims, Widows, Orphans, And Perpetrators-whose Past And Future Intersect. We Find In These Stories How Suffering, Memory, And Identity Set Up Roadblocks To Forgiveness, While Mediation, Truth-telling, Restitution, And Interdependence Create Bridges To Healing. As We Forgive Explores The Pain, The Mystery, And The Hope Through Seven Compelling Stories Of Those Who Have Made This Journey Toward Reconciliation. The Result Is A Narrative That Breathes With Humanity And Is As Haunting As It Is Hopeful. Chronology Of Events -- Prelude: Secrets... Leer más…

Alison Liebhafsky Des Forges; Human Rights Watch (Organization); Fédération Internationale Des Droits De L'homme

Leave None to Tell the Story: Genocide in Rwanda Leer más…

Clea Koff

"In 1994, Rwanda was the scene of the first acts since World War II to be legally defined as genocide. Two years later, Clea Koff, a twenty-three-year-old forensic anthropologist, left the safe confines of a lab in Berkeley, California, to serve as one of sixteen scientists chosen by the United Nations to unearth the physical evidence of the Rwandan genocide. Over the next four years, Koff's grueling investigations took her across geography synonymous with some of the worst crimes of the twentieth century. The Bone Woman is Koff's unflinching, riveting account of her seven UN missions to Bosnia, Croatia, Kosovo, and Rwanda, as she shares what she saw, how it affected her, who was prosecuted based on evidence she found, and what she learned about the world. Yet even as she recounts the hellish nature of her work and the heartbreak of the survivors, she imbues her story with purpose, humanity, and a sense of justice. A tale of science in service of human rights, The Bone Woman is, even more profoundly, a story of hope and enduring moral principles"--Publisher Leer más…

Michael N. Barnett

Why was the UN a bystander during the Rwandan genocide? Do its sins of omission leave it morally responsible for the hundreds of thousands of dead? Michael Barnett, who worked at the U.S. Mission to the United Nations from 1993 to 1994, covered Rwanda for much of the genocide. Based on his first-hand experiences, archival work, and interviews with many key participants, he reconstructs the history of the UN’s involvement in Rwanda. In the weeks leading up to the genocide, the author documents, the UN was increasingly aware or had good reason to suspect that Rwanda was a site of crimes against humanity. Yet it failed to act. Barnett argues that its indifference was driven not by incompetence or cynicism but rather by reasoned choices cradled by moral considerations. Employing a novel approach to ethics in practice and in relationship to international organizations, Barnett offers an unsettling possibility: the UN culture recast the ethical commitments of well-intentioned individuals, arresting any duty to aid at the outset of the genocide. Barnett argues that the UN bears some moral responsibility for the genocide. Particularly disturbing is his observation that not only did the UN violate its moral responsibilities, but also that many in New York believed that they were "doing the right thing" as they did so. Barnett addresses the ways in which the Rwandan genocide raises a warning about this age of humanitarianism and concludes by asking whether it is possible to... Leer más…

J. J. Carney

Between 1920 And 1994, The Catholic Church Was Rwanda's Most Dominant Social And Religious Institution. In Recent Years, The Church Has Been Critiqued For Its Perceived Complicity In The Ethnic Discourse And Political Corruption That Culminated With The 1994 Genocide. In Analyzing The Contested Legacy Of Catholicism In Rwanda, Rwanda Before The Genocide Focuses On A Critical Decade, From 1952 To 1962, When Hutu And Tutsi Identities Became Politicized, Essentialized, And Associated With Political Violence. This Study--the First English-language Church History On Rwanda In Over 30 Years--examines The Reactions Of Catholic Leaders Such As The Swiss White Father André Perraudin And Aloys Bigirumwami, Rwanda's First Indigenous Bishop. It Evaluates Catholic Leaders' Controversial Responses To Ethnic Violence During The Revolutionary Changes Of 1959-62 And After Rwanda's Ethnic Massacres In 1963-64, 1973, And The Early 1990s. In Seeking To Provide Deeper Insight Into The Many-threaded Roots Of The Rwandan Genocide, Rwanda Before The Genocide Offers Constructive Lessons For Christian Ecclesiology And Social Ethics In Africa And Beyond. -- Publisher's Description. Contested Categories: A Brief History Of Hutu And Tutsi -- Building A Catholic Kingdom In Central Africa, 1900-1950 -- Success Breeds Restlessness, 1950-1955 -- The Irruption Of Hutu-tutsi Tensions, 1956-1959 -- The Catholic Church & Political Revolution In Rwanda, 1959-1962 -- The Catholic Church & Postcolonial Ethnic... Leer más…

Mamdani, Mahmood

"When we captured Kigali, we thought we would face criminals in the state; instead, we faced a criminal population." So a political commissar in the Rwanda Patriotic Front reflected after the 1994 massacre of as many as one million Tutsis in Rwanda. Underlying his statement is the realization that, though ordered by a minority of state functionaries, the slaughter was performed by hundreds of thousands of ordinary citizens, including even judges, human rights activists, and doctors, nurses, priests, friends, and spouses of the victims. Indeed, it is its very popularity that makes the Rwandan genocide so unthinkable. This book makes it thinkable. Rejecting easy explanations of the genocide as a mysterious evil force that was bizarrely unleashed, one of Africa's best-known intellectuals situates the tragedy in its proper context. He coaxes to the surface the historical, geographical, and political forces that made it possible for so many Hutu to turn so brutally on their neighbors. He finds answers in the nature of political identities generated during colonialism, in the failures of the nationalist revolution to transcend these identities, and in regional demographic and political currents that reach well beyond Rwanda. In so doing, Mahmood Mamdani usefully broadens understandings of citizenship and political identity in postcolonial Africa. There have been few attempts to explain the Rwandan horror, and none has succeeded so well as this one. Mamdani's analysis provides... Leer más…

Kagamé, Paul; Soudan, François

Bill Gates, Bill Clinton, Tony Blair, Ben Affleck, Natalie Portman, the CEOs of Starbucks and Visa, Howard G. Buffett, Robert de Niro, Susan Rice, Don Cheadle, and many other celebrities are amongst his most fervent admirers. For them, Paul Kagame is the man who produced the Rwandan Miracle. The one who was able to make a people and a nation rise from the ashes of the last genocide of the twentieth century. But this former refugee, once a warlord by necessity, who then became the president of a country that he endeavors to lead down the path of economic emergence with an iron hand, also has fierce enemies who consider him to be a sort of African Machiavelli. His opponents, human rights organizations in particular, criticize him for favoring development over democracy. Saint or demon, virtuous liberator or dictator: rarely has a head of state been as controversial as he. Twenty years after the genocide of the Tutsis from Rwanda, causing one million deaths in one hundred days in the Land of a Thousand Hills, Paul Kagame candidly reveals himself for the very first time. François Soudan is the managing editor of __Jeune Afrique__, a leading news weekly based in Paris, and has authored biographies of Nelson Mandela and Muammar el-Qaddafi. Soudan has traveled to Rwanda on numerous occasions over the past twenty years. His interviews with Paul Kagame took place in Kigali between December 2013 and March 2014. Leer más…