West’s hypocrisy: You’re a 'democrat' when you serve them, a 'despot' when you serve your people

If indeed the plight of those that the west has repeatedly claimed to stand with, in different other places does matter, we would be having a much more humane international order. Not the skewed atmosphere we have today. A genocide was planned in Rwanda for years. The west’s banks were used to clear international imports of machetes. The west trained the military that carried out the genocide. And when the genocide against the Tutsi rolled in full gear, everyone played the “shocked” game. They couldn’t decide on what to term what was happening on Rwanda’s hills, all taking place in plain sight. They watched it all unfold using their satellites that hovered over Rwanda. Then they agreed, to change the narrative away from their guilt, that it was indeed a genocide targeting Tutsis. As Rwanda builds relationships with every well-meaning partner, the west sees that as not in their favour. Basically, their rule is ‘you deal with me or nobody else’. Even if staying with them keeps you begging them for help in eternity. Suddenly, the same west has changed tune; what happened in Rwanda isn’t genocide against a particular group. It is a “Rwandan genocide,” so they argue. When the so called war on terror was launched many years ago, Rwanda, which has itself suffered terrorism financed and planned from outside, stood with what appeared to be the agreed world view at the time; to defeat international terrorism. Yet, when a terror group entered Rwandan territory in 2018, killing, maiming and looting, the same quarters that Rwanda stood with, branded those terrorists as ‘human rights campaigners’. President Paul Kagame put it bluntly in his address on April 7 last year as the country commemorated the 27th anniversary of the 1994 genocide against the Tutsi. He said - “Rwandans believe that our country cannot afford to allow such dangerous games against our people to be played on our territory, ever again. When the line into violence is crossed, there is also a remedy for that.” “Most of these actors sought international relevance by killing innocent people and threatening our economy. Unfortunately, this strategy of attention-seeking has sometimes worked for them.” “You know, some of these people are out there in places where they have a lot of lessons for us, as to what is democracy, freedom, all kinds of political and civil rights. At the same time, they embrace these people, protect them, defend them, speak for them. Because, they are saying, these are people who want to civilise Rwanda and bring it closer to that level, where we are not.” The President summer it up; “There are a couple of cases where we told their hosts that they are actually criminals. They have killed, they have stolen, they have raped, they have done all kinds of things. And we have the capacity to try them. But they say no, these are critics of the leaders of Rwanda. These are people fighting for freedom, for rights of all kinds.” What is so disturbing about the whole situation is that the leader of the terrorist group, Paul Rusesabagina, admitted in YouTube videos to supporters, that indeed they attacked civilians to force government into negotiations. Yet, to the west, Rusesabagina is a human rights activist. To borrow President Kagame’s words, the cynicism and hypocrisy reflected in such bigoted narratives is breath-taking. And on our African continent, Rwanda is hardly the only target of these tactics. It is something we do not deserve, and will not accept. The characterization, of whether a genocide is taking place, has become a political tool by some sections in the west. The cases are numerous, there’s no need to enumerate them here. Democracy is another of those tools. Again, as explained by Kagame at the 28th commemoration of the genocide against the Tutsi last week, when they talk about democracy, they are actually referring to hypocrisy. Kagame summed it up perfectly: “As far as I know, there are three systems that govern the world. One is the so-called democracy. The other is what they call autocracy. The third, in between — that is silent, that is powerful — is hypocrisy. Three systems: Democracy; autocracy in between; and the most powerful — very silent, effective — and that is hypocrisy.” World affairs and the plight of a people, have been reduced to; you must do our bidding or we will baptize you a dictator, autocrat or human rights abuser. The tactic has been successfully used against some leaders. For us in Rwanda, we should hold what we have very dearly. A leader who is willing to take personal risk to stand by our national interests. We don’t have such enlighteningly courageous leaders lately.

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West’s hypocrisy: You’re a 'democrat' when you serve them, a 'despot' when you serve your people