Meredith Hamat, a member of the Legislative Assembly of Western Australia, the largest State in Australia, has praised the Rwandan community in her country for their efforts to preserve the memory of the Genocide against the Tutsi. She is one of the officials who attended the launch of a memorial for the Genocide against the Tutsi in Perth, Australia on Saturday, May 11. ALSO READ: First-ever Genocide memorial in Asia-Pacific set to be launched “Today, I know, will be a day of mixed emotions for many, [but] it is a day to celebrate the achievement of this memorial which the Rwandan community has wanted for so many years, and quite rightly, and you should be enormously proud of the work that you have done to achieve this,” she said. At the event, she was representing both Roger Cook, Western Australia's Premier, and Dr Tony Buti, Western Australia's Minister for Citizenship and Multicultural Interests. ALSO READ: The purpose of Genocide memorials: Condemning ideology, not descendants “I am someone who believes in the adage that those who don't learn from history are destined to repeat it. 30 years ago, for many of us that was in our lifetimes. And yet for many people here in Western Australia, they wouldn't know the events of what occurred in Rwanda at that time. That is not something they learnt about at the time, or it's not something they've learnt since,” she noted. “So, it is important that [the Rwandan] community continues to come together to commemorate the events of 1994, to gather at this memorial, and [...], to tell the story of the impact that has had and continues to have. Because without your commitment to telling that story and commemorating those events, the rest of the community may never learn and I think that would be a terrible, terrible outcome,” she added. ALSO READ: Genocide cannot be mentioned in isolation, without adding the targeted group Many dignitaries attended the event, held in Stirling Civic Gardens, and among them, Mark Irwin, the Mayor of the City of Stirling, MPs from the Parliament of Western Australia, and Councillors in the City of Stirling. Also in attendance were representatives from Western Australia universities, including Curtin University. Prior to the unveiling ceremony of the memorial, members of the Rwandan community in Western Australia, alongside friends of Rwanda, took part in the “Walk to Remember,” a march designed to galvanise action against genocide and mass atrocities worldwide. They later gathered at Stirling Adriatic Centre where a solemn service was held to mark the 30th commemoration of the 1994 genocide against the Tutsi. In his speech, the Rwandan High Commissioner to Australia, Jean de Dieu Uwihanganye, said hate speech and genocide denial are serious threats facing Rwanda and the World. “It is no secret that the tragedy that befell Rwanda in 1994 began with incitement to hatred, divisions, and discrimination. Left unchecked, the intensity of hatred, discrimination and genocide denial ratchets up and the resulting consequences are even deadlier,” he noted.
