Every year during these dark times, besides commemorating the lives lost, we often find ourselves fighting deniers of the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi. It is sad that to this day, we still have people, surprisingly the youth, denying the atrocities that happened in 1994. How are we expected to move forward if we reject and choose to be blind about our past? This year was particularly hard for me, because I realised that most of us (the youth) just want to claim our country when it’s rewarding. Posting ‘Never Again’ or ‘Kwibuka 28’ is a good step, but it’s more than posting on social media, our duty should be educating ourselves about our past kugirango duharanire ko bitazongera! (to ensure it never happens again). We owe this to our beautiful country, We owe this to our parents, We owe this to the survivors of the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi, We owe it to future generations, And most importantly, we owe it to the RPF soldiers who risked their lives for us to have a place we now call home. Every time you see someone on social media being offensive or rather insensitive about the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi, don’t be afraid to speak up, it’s our duty to educate these people because sadly, some of them don’t understand the magnitude of their words and the pain they inflict on the survivors. Such rhetoric is very divisive and should have no place in our beloved country. For those deniers who do it deliberately, we shouldn’t be afraid to speak up against their lies. Silence is complicity. I’d like to refer to something Gen. James Kaberebe recently said, “As long as there is the genocide ideology and denial, the fight is still ongoing. The military fight was fought and won. Today, the youth should be at the forefront in this fight against denial and revisionism.” This is a reminder to the youth that their fight is over and they fought a good fight, a heroic fight. Now it’s our turn to educate ourselves and others about our past, because if we don’t understand the reason behind commemorating our people, we cannot declare that we are actively fighting for the betterment of our country, or that the fight is over. Finally, I would like to end with a famous poem by a German pastor, Martin Niemöller. “First they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out—because I was not a socialist. Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out—because I was not a trade unionist. Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out—because I was not a Jew. Then they came for me—and there was no one left to speak for me.” It is our duty and responsibility to speak out so that what happened in 1994, NEVER HAPPENS AGAIN!
