How do you argue against facts, against history, or refuse to call a crime by its name? Simple. Disregard them. Pretend they do not exist. Or invent your own and write a parallel history. Easy when you are powerful and have a wide reach and own the means of mass dissemination. Or if you are an ignoramus, a cynic, or so arrogant you hold others in contempt and don’t give a damn. That, sadly, as Rwandans know, happens a lot, even with such horrible crimes as genocide. In 1994 they experienced the genocide against the Tutsi and for the last 28 years, its denial, revision and trivialisation. Not only from its perpetrators and their supporters and apologists – that is to be expected - but also from nations that usually pride themselves with being defenders of the sanctity of life and all kinds of rights. And it is not out of ignorance. The historical record is unambiguous, readily available and well-known. The media of some of these nations, their intelligence services, diplomats, religious missionaries and academics reported the atrocities of 1994 and warned that genocide was being committed. A United Nations tribunal determined that indeed what happened in Rwanda in 1994 was genocide and went on to convict and sentence some of its perpetrators. The United Nations went further and gave it its proper name: the genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda in 1994. But if for some reason these are not convincing enough, there is other evidence, the survivors, for instance. They are alive and are proof that the genocide happened and testament to their resilience. And they have harrowing stories to tell, gripping and chilling in their gory details impossible to fabricate and difficult to ignore. At every commemoration event for the last 28 years, President Paul Kagame puts the record straight for those who still want to alter the facts or refuse to face the crime of genocide and confront its menace. Perhaps because they do not want to face up to their moral failures or simply because they think Rwandans are not worth the bother. Rwandan officials and researchers have given extensive historical reference of preparations of genocide extending more than 30 years before 1994. At this year’s commemoration, Dr Jean Damascene Bizimana, Minister of National Unity and Civic Engagement, did that, as he has done for the last several years. He cited documented pronouncements of Belgian colonial officials and Presidents Gregoire Kayibanda and Juvenal Habyarimana, as well as press reports and works of academics. These have never been contradicted. Yet the denial goes on. Rwanda’s determination to deal with this history and restore its people’s oneness continues to be undermined. It is all deliberate. But let us assume that all these facts and historical records and references are a little on the heavy side and mentally taxing and you do not have the time or inclination to grapple with such stuff. But you have a heart! How do you fail to see the horrors of genocide? Hear the cry of the baby torn from her mother’s back and flung into a pit full of bodies? How can you not be revolted and enraged by the image of an unborn baby, ripped from her mother’s womb and thrown away as trash? How can you not feel the pain and anguish of the survivors, many of them without any remaining member of their family or other relations? How does that not touch your heart? How can you not condemn all this as inhuman and a crime? Unless, of course, you are deaf and blind and have a stone for a heart. Or have scant regard for people living in these parts of the world. Let us again say that all this is history and you rather hate living in the past, the present being more pleasant. Although it is difficult to imagine life without a past. There are still some things in the present you can surely recognise about Rwandans. You must surely recognise the courage and resilience of Rwandans in general and survivors of genocide in particular. You can give them credit for managing to do the impossible: staying alive and trying to lead normal lives, not be overwhelmed by their immense loss, emotional and physical wounds and trauma, and overcome a myriad odds stacked against them. You have to admire their incredible capacity to forgive their killers and live together with them again. You must give Rwandans credit for their ability to reweave their social and national fabric, and rebuilding their country. It should not be difficult because these things are there, visible for everyone to see. You may not like what you see, but that does not stop it from being there. It does, in fact, take more effort to refuse to see what exists and to invent excuses for your unseeing. It is also easier to associate with right and good and success. This is a choice you can defend. Aligning with wrong and evil and failure must surely be the wrong choice and impossible to defend. The plea to reason that Rwandans continue to make should not be misunderstood. They are not begging for recognition of their efforts at being a normal nation again. They are pleased with what they have achieved. Just acknowledge it. But if you find that difficult and are bent on not seeing the progress they have made in leaving the past behind and fashioning a new future for themselves, at least give them peace to go on in their chosen direction. Do not try to derail them. Let them be.
