In having viewed Hotel Rwanda several years ago before I was old enough to really understand the complexity of what was occurring in Rwanda, I was very taken aback when I watched it again to see the lack of effort put forth on behalf of the UN forces. While it is obvious that the UN was present and trying to control the conflict, it is also now clear to me the extent that other Western powers were completely oblivious. In the article by Charles Murigande, he explains that indifference from the international community is nothing new to Rwanda. In fact, he quotes Jean Paul Sartre and Bertrand Russell on the earlier killings of Tutsis in the 1960's as, "the most barbaric crimes committed in the world since the holocaust of Jews." To think that there was well documented evidence of such atrocious crimes occurring and in the case of the 1990's genocide, anticipated to occur, and no external forces acted, is such a harsh reality to address.
In the novel, we see Cornelius Uvimana returning to Rwanda to deal with the destruction that was left. In the story, Cornelius must pick up the pieces of both his dismembered family and society. In Diop's book, he combines human experience with historical events and journalistic-style reporting to create a unique perspective on what occurred in Rwanda. There is also discussion in the novel about how once the media finds out about what is happening they will certainly step in. In returning to Murigande's essay, it is disheartening to learn that the characters whose eyes we view the genocide through, were so mislead and ultimately forgotten. When reading stories from the Holocaust of WWII, it is evident that many of the victims had very little understanding of what was to come, and similarly the international community had even less awareness of exactly what was occurring. However, in the case of the genocide in Rwanda, this was an event that was precipitated by previous killings, many warnings from credible sources, and broad awareness on a global scale. Like Murigande said, "silence and indifference in the face of such horrific crimes only emboldens the killers and makes even worse crimes possible." By not taking direct and forceful action the global community permitted this genocide to occur and ultimately all other systematic murders.
Otto - Comment on SHaw's Blog: Permitting Genocide
ReplyDeleteI, too, watched this film as a younger child and did not fully understand the extent to which the horrifying killing in the Rwandan genocide. Seeing it again, and after this semester, I was able to see and understand more the effects of the past, and how little it takes to make people indifferent to the suffering of others. People merely watched a soccer tournament rather than help another human. Cornelius stayed away from his home for twenty five years, not really doing much to help the war effort like his friends were, and when he went back he immediately felt shame because of everything he missed, as well as guilty because he knew that even a little help could have made a difference. He realizes just how bad it was and there is emphasis in both the film and novel on the backwards thinking and indifference of outsiders towards the Rwandan genocide.
In fact, while we know a good deal about it now, when the genocide was occurring, most people were watching the World Cup, or hearing about other events. There was almost a total news blackout about Rwanda for the first few months of the genocide. It was actually only in 1998, four years after the event that President Clinton finally said he was sorry the West had not done anything to stop the carnage.
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