Martin 1 Katherine Martin Professor Kati Lewis Humanities 1010 17 February 2013 The Genocide in Rwanda The Frontline

documentary Ghosts of Rwanda details the events and consequences of the 1994 genocide of Tutsis in Rwanda. The film examines the genocide through interviews, archival footage, news reports, and personal stories in order to show why genocides happen: when we dehumanize others, we dehumanize ourselves, as we allow evil to go unchecked. The documentary begins with graphic pictures depicting the victims of the genocide. These visuals show the horrors committed and set the tone of the documentary. At times voiceovers accompany images in order to emphasize the material and to limit the distraction of the viewer from the graphic scenes that appear on the screen. The documentary uses chronological order to show how quickly the killings occurred after the first attack, the response of the U.N., USA, Belgians, French, and the aftermath of the genocide. What is the reason this genocide occurred, and why were the people not protected? The video brings to light that it was known that there would be an attack on the Tutsis and moderate Hutus. General Dallaire who worked for the UN had received intel regarding this attack and had a plan to raid the arms caches of the Hutus. His response from the UN and USA was to not show hostility and simply keep out of the conflict. Through interviews, it is shown that each time an individual like Prudence Bushnell the U.S. deputy assistant secretary, or Laura Lane the consular officer of the U.S. embassy in Kigali tried to help the Rwandan people, higher government officials intervened and tied their hands

Martin 2 so that they could do nothing to help the people. The governments actions were understandable, after the black hawks that were shot down in Somalia, they were hesitant to send Americans into hostile territories, but that does not excuse the fact that they could have saved numerous innocent lives if they had acted more quickly. As the situation in Rwanda became more unstable Madeleine Albright the U.S. ambassador to the U.N. argued for the best way to evacuate U.N. personnel. The same U.N that had stated No one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment or that Everyone has the right to seek and to enjoy in other countries asylum from persecution. In Rwanda, this was not the case. The Belgian and French troops that landed were only there to get out citizens from their own countries, soldiers, and ex-patriots, they were given orders to not evacuate any Rwandan citizens. In the documentary this is seen very clearly, when the soldiers arrive at a hospital where people had been hiding for 3 days, but the soldiers only evacuated people with white skin, as the reporters are leaving gun shots are heard off camera and it is assumed that all those that were left behind were killed. How could this be allowed to happen? The politicians simply stated that the Rwandans were in a civil war and that genocide was not evident in the reports they were receiving. The film portrayed this view in the interviews of reporters who claimed that race was very big in deciding who would remain and also in the speeches given by the Clinton administration stating the term genocide could not be used as certain criteria had not been met to warrant the use of the word. The documentary ends by using archival clips and still photographs of the half-decayed corpses of the innocent victims, including small children and the politicians going through pilgrimages of contrition. A very poignant scene shows the massacre at the Nyarubuye Catholic church. There is a white statue of Jesus Christ with his hands outstretched and as the camera pans down the remains of a body are seen on the church steps with its legs spread out. This scene is very important in showing that

Martin 3 the killers had no respect for religion or in those that they were killing. The lack of respect they showed the bodies and the horrendous forms of killing they used show how the Hutu extremist viewed those who opposed them, they simply believed that the Tutsis and modern Hutus were not to be considered human. The documentary shows clips of politicians feeling sorry for what had happened, but Clinton never apologized for the incident. The interviewees were careful not to say that they were guilty of any wrongdoing, they were all following orders. Even the U.N. refused to acknowledge any wrongdoing. The documentary shows a scene of a visitors log at one of the massacre sites what was written by the U.N. that states What tragedy, it must never be repeated, the same words that echoed after World War II when the U.N. wrote the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. This lack of responsibility is very similar to what Hannah Arendt stated in Collective Responsibility. She discusses the dividing line between political (collective) responsibility and moral and/or legal (personal) guilt she also states that the banality of evil occurs when ordinary people commit unspeakable acts due to not being able to think things through. After the genocide in Rwanda no one wanted to take responsibility. There was personal guilt from those that saw firsthand accounts, but the political view was that no wrongdoing had occurred; they could not be guilty as they did not know what was going on in Rwanda. The Rwandan people were denied justice because the world did not see them as equals, they were left to fend for themselves and many lives were lost. In the aftermath of the genocide, those that had been persecuted were made to continue to live next to the same neighbors who had hunted and killed them, as there was not enough proof to show who was actually involved in the killings. The Rwandans were also denied their freedom to human rights. Their problems were trivialized in order to limit the aid that needed to be sent. The world was told that the dispute was a civil war, and by doing, so the politicians made it sound like it was a war between tribes, and therefore did not warrant interest

Martin 4 from countries that were more developed. I will end with a quote from Valentine a survivor of the massacre at Nyarubuye Catholic church, If we love one another, we couldn't do this to each other, if you love someone, you can't go and kill them. (Nadeau;Ireland)

Works Cited Arendt, Hannah. Collective Responsibility. It Begins with our Questions. Paul Allen, PhD and Jennifer Baumann, PhD. Plymouth: Hayden McNeill, 2012. 213-218. Print. Ireland, Michael. Living side-by-side in Rwanda. Assist News Service, 16 Jan. 2008. Web. 17 Feb. 2013. Nadeau, Joseph B. Rwanda Survivor Shares Message of Love. The Woonsocket Call, 13 Dec. 2010. Web. 17 Feb. 2013 United Nations General Assembly. Universal Declaration of Human Rights. It Begins with our Questions. Paul Allen, PhD and Jennifer Baumann, PhD. Plymouth: Hayden McNeill, 2012. 225-228. Print.