the hollow that is dug for those who speak no more

It is hard to learn from history.  We keep hoping that humanity is progressing and will not keep making the same mistakes but I get the feeling (given present events) that unless our noses are rubbed in our shit enough we will not learn the vital lessons that need to be learned. 

The Rwanda Massacre which happened in 1994 is recent enough not to be forgotten but as more facts emerge we will need to re-visit it anew.  The President of Rwanda, Habyarimana had been power two decades and was terrified he would not be re-elected so he decided to deliberately stir up hatred for the Tutsi minority (14%) of the population in the Hutu majority (85%).  This involved using physical attacks as well as verbal abuse.  They directed six instances of massacres of hundreds of Tutsi from Oct 1990 even before the real genocide began in earnest. 

Habyarimana transformed the youth of his party into militia known as Interahamwe and they were encouraged to use violence as were others for political purposes.  It is disheartening to note that the machetes that were used to kill so many during the terrible genocide that followed were imported in large quantities at this time from British and Chinese manufacturers.  One wonders why none of these manufacturers queried the need for 100,000 machetes in 1994? 

When President Habyarimana’s plane was shot down, on April 6, 1994, Tutsis were blamed and the massacre got under way.  Subsequently, it has been discovered (17 years later) that the weapon shot at the plane came from one of the Hutu camps.  But there was to be no mistakes in rolling out the effective killing machine that was put into place during the genocide.  Those who would have put a stop to the killing in their locality, the moderates, the wise, the respected community leaders were systematically targeted and killed.  Those involved in the killing frenzy knew that with these people in place, each would have served as a block to curtail the madness unfolding.  Remember that saying “All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing” well it would appear that the murderers knew that good men and women needed to be removed from the scene entirely!

There are depressing academic papers now published (Philip Verwimp, Massacres in Rwanda) that have graphs showing numbers killed in the genocide by firearms, and tables giving percentages killed by machetes, clubs, pick axes, burned, hanged, drowned, buried alive etc  It makes depressing reading.  So too does the planning that went into the genocide.  Not only were weapons readied, militia trained for this purpose but media was used to broadcast a daily stream of anti-Tutsi hate propaganda (Radio Televison Libre Mille Collines (RTLMC) formed in 1993) who referred to opposition as “traitors who deserve to die” and the Tutsi as “cockroaches and snakes which should be stamped out”.  Broadcasts accused Tutsis of murdering Hutu babies and of vile sexual practices.  This served to whip up hatred and fear and when the killings started for real the radio even broadcast lists of people to be killed!  They called continuously for the total extermination of Tutsis.  Why did the International community allow, in the name of press freedom, this station to continue to exist?  But of course there are other questions too, the complete inability of the International Community to respond swiftly and effectively to the massacre shames us all. The International Community cannot even claim ignorance, it knew and it did next to nothing.  Between 800,000 and one million lost their lives in the Rwanda madness.  Can I summarise the learning for me.

1.      Prejudice and hatred would appear to prepare the ground nicely for genocide

2.      Genocide starts in hundreds of killings, these are the precursors to the mass killings that follow – action is needed before things get worse

3.      Corrupt leaders hanging onto power at whatever cost in lives seems worryingly common

4.      Providing weapons/instruments to killers is not a good idea, especially in excessive numbers (could manufacturers/governments take note)

5.      Media whipping up hatred and killing and providing lists of those to be killed – should surely be against international law?

6.      The International Community used to wring its hands and claim ignorance – that excuse does no longer hold (perhaps it never did) justice must prevail

7.      Good people in every community act as strongholds/brakes of reason and sanity in crazy times (hence the need to kill as many as possible beforehand when planning genocide) and the world needs many more of these voices of reason everywhere!

PS An air plane crashed on February 12, 2009, it was the Continental Connection Flight 3407, en route from Newark, New Jersey, to New York.  On board that flight was one Alison Des Forges, senior advisor to Human Rights Watch, who was no stranger to danger, violence and loss of life on a scale that defies belief.  It is my hope that in those last terrifying moments, as the plane fell, she felt her life had achieved something.  She was the person who did more than most to bring the Rwanda massacre to the attention of the whole world.  She put her life on the line within Rwanda to try and save lives and wrote the definitive reports on what was happening and why. She did not pass empty handed in to the hollow!

    “Soon will our handful of days, our vanishing life, be gone, and we shall pass, empty-handed, into the hollow that is dug for those who speak no more; … We must gird ourselves for service, kindle love's flame, and burn away in its heat. We must loose our tongues till we set the wide world's heart afire..”

Bahá’í Writings