“Facts dont come with points of view; facts dont do what I want them to.” (Cross-eyed and Painless, song by David Byrne and Talking Heads) We live in a world of instantaneous information, research, news, analysis and opinion. Apart from the sheer volume of what bombards us daily, it has become harder and harder to work out what is actually real, what is somewhat true, what are genuine mistakes and what are bold-faced lies. And from the other side of the equation, I learned many years ago as a foreign correspondent for Reuters News Agency that even if you do your homework and try to be as accurate, timely and balanced as you can, you will still get accused by others of making mistakes and/or being biased. For example, in the mid-1980s in New York City, I would write many articles, citing “experts” who predicted the further demise of the US currency on the multi-billion-dollar foreign exchange markets. I also wrote one particular story that exposed Jamaica’s attempts to hide its economic problems and that resulted in opposition protests in the streets of Kingston. I was “right” in both instances but I was still censured for being “biased” against both the US dollar and the Jamaican government. The most prominent current example of this “Crisis of Truth” is in relation to the Covid-19 pandemic. There are many countries, which are not reporting data accurately. Some of this is through incompetence and some through willful obfuscation and manipulation for political and other reasons. And then there is the vaccine, which continues to sprout multiple conspiracy narratives, including the ones about the “dastardly” Bill Gates who is somehow injecting microchips into the doses. Unfortunately, these unfounded claims only seem to lead to confusion, skepticism, resistance and even destruction while ignoring the reassurances of the World Health Organisation and clearly documented success stories, such as Israel’s. Closer to home here in Rwanda, there is the very controversial, evolving case of Paul Rusesabagina, who is now standing trial for nine crimes against his original homeland, having openly promoted sedition and even called for armed rebellion. Most people around the world know him as the “hero” of the 2004 Hollywood movie “Hotel Rwanda”, which, I must admit, was my first introduction to the horrors of the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsis. It was only when I moved to live here nearly two years ago that I was told in no uncertain terms by many Rwandans that Rusesabagina was no hero at all. Just a conniving, corrupt opportunist. One normally calm friend with close ties to the Kigali Genocide Memorial was furious with me when I naively inserted “Hotel Rwanda” into a resource list for foreign visitors. Another good friend told me just last week: “He is a disgrace to this country and you must tell the world.” But this is not just individual opinion or hearsay. There is ample documented evidence of Rusesabagina’s cynical deception during the Genocide, thanks to eye-witness accounts, corroborated by such people as the former Canadian Lt. Gen. Romeo Dallaire, who led the ill-fated United Nations peacekeeping force here during the Genocide. Usually fact-researching and truth-telling are the job of the global media, which I used to be part of. Unfortunately, supposedly reputable news operations and journalists do not seem to be even attempting to find out and tell the full story of Rusesabagina’s real role during the Genocide before wrongly assuming that Rusesabagina was illegally kidnapped last year and that he will not now receive a fair trial. Is this because of a lack of information? Is it laziness? Or is it just because the “Hollywood Hero Victim” versus “Evil African Dictator” makes for a much more attention-grabbing headline? One of my favourite videos is the powerful “The Danger of a Single Story” by Nigerian writer, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. Adichie strongly advocates that we, as conscious individuals, must never accept a single story about anyone or anywhere, whether leaders, politicians and journalists are doing their jobs or not. I agree and I believe that we should all make the time and effort to read, research, analyse and listen to different sources of both objective data and more subjective perspectives, even from conspiracists, who often believe they are right even if they have no proof. Then we can make the most informed conclusion or decision possible while still being ready to change our minds if new credible evidence comes to light. There is an old African proverb: “The naked truth is always better than the best-dressed lie.” And here in Rwanda, we believe: “Truth never rots.” This is the second in a new monthly series of personal columns, entitled “Letter from Kigali”. Each month, local resident and writer, Jeremy Solomons – who was born and educated in England of Jewish, Lebanese and Persian heritage and naturalised in the USA - shares a unique perspective on what is happening in Rwanda, Africa and the rest of the world. This series is modelled on the “Letter from America” radio series that UK/US journalist, Alistair Cooke, presented every week for nearly 60 years. The views expressed in this column are entirely those of the writer who can be reached at jeremy@jeremysolomons.com
