The genocide of 1994 in Rwanda, while South Africa was in the middle of trying to solve its problems, left a real scar on the 1990s. As the first officially declared genocide since the Holocaust, the violence in Rwanda is absolutely shocking in its precision, its scope, and its simplicity (most murders were carried out with simple machetes). The BBC has an EXCELLENT history of events of 1994 in Rwanda in commemoration of the 10th anniversary in 2004. You can click here to enlighten yourself more on the events. Although most Westerners chose to ignore the atrocities of Rwanda in 1994, Terry George brought the conflict to everyone’s attention with much boldness with his 2004 film Hotel Rwanda. If you have not yet seen this film, now is the time to watch it. You can view the trailer for it below.Tuesday, April 21, 2009
Lessons from Rwanda
The genocide of 1994 in Rwanda, while South Africa was in the middle of trying to solve its problems, left a real scar on the 1990s. As the first officially declared genocide since the Holocaust, the violence in Rwanda is absolutely shocking in its precision, its scope, and its simplicity (most murders were carried out with simple machetes). The BBC has an EXCELLENT history of events of 1994 in Rwanda in commemoration of the 10th anniversary in 2004. You can click here to enlighten yourself more on the events. Although most Westerners chose to ignore the atrocities of Rwanda in 1994, Terry George brought the conflict to everyone’s attention with much boldness with his 2004 film Hotel Rwanda. If you have not yet seen this film, now is the time to watch it. You can view the trailer for it below.
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i have seen the movie Hotel Rwanda many times and each time i watch it tugs at my heart even more. my 7th grade teacher recommended this movie to some of his students to watch. if anyone has not seen this movie i urge you to. and as far as i know it is very much accurate in what happened in rwanda in 1994.
The banners at the anniversary of the genocide saying "Never again" is something that should have been said over and over again after the Holocaust, but things like this are still happening. It also says in the report that the French were accused of training the militias and were aware that the genocide would occur. Who would know something like that and then stand back and watch it happen. This report saddens me, because I know after this class, the greed of people and of governments that just stand by and let innocent people be massacred.
I think i have Hotel Rwanda somewhere in my movie stash, if i find it ill be sure to watch it. The Rwanda, let alone the Holocaust, should have taught the world that genocide is very wrong, but now there is a genocide again happening in Sudan i believe of the massacre of Christian Bantus.
I need to watch Hotel Rwanda, but yeah it looks like i really have to now. wow, those pictures and stories about the survivers are sick and awful...one that really got me was one woman whose husband and ONE year old son was killed, and then she was gang banged and contrated AIDS. I can't even imagine her lif now, with almost nothing really to live for and ahhh thats so awful.
This is just astonishing. I really want to see the movie now. I can't help but think everytime we talk about it that it was all caused by the west, US! And this makes me even more sick thinking about all the lives that were lost because we were too greedy and wanted to keep Africa as a dependent zone.
I have seen Hotal Rwanda when it first came out and I didn't really understand it then. I'm going to watch it again and see if I can understand it better. I just don't understand how ignorant we can be of what is going on in Africa. You would think we would try and stop this but we are too good for Africa. That seems messed up to me.
"Were here as peace keepers, not peace makers"
that really shows that no one planned on fixing the problem in rwanda.
the movie Hotel Rwanda looks really good. i think it would give me a better idea of the genocide itself and see what the people went though. and the fact that this movie is based on a real event makes the movie have more meaning then before. i think im gonna add it on the list of movies i have to watch.
The genocide in Rwanda is so sad. It wasn't that long ago either. i seriously thought that the last genocide was probably the holocaust, but Rwanda? i would have never guessed! i can believe 800 thousand people died in just about 3 months.
i just asked my mom if she knew about the genocides in the past few years, she said "the one in africa?" i replied "yeah, did you know no one's doing anything?" she just told me it was all over the news... that kinda made me sad, its like nobody really knows what was happening (in rwanda) even though there are ways of stepping in and stopping it... but no. i guess people like money and power more than other people. :(
oh! my mom's a good person, i don't want her to look bad i just thought that was interesting.
Did no one come to help because it was kept hidden or was it that we didn't care since it wasn't a treat to us or are money
What the F***! I just read the Killer's story: 'Taken over by Satan. They surrounded a Church and killed innoscent people. Not to mention Hutus out numbered the tutsis. And the way he described the Tutsis already looking like their hearts have been ripped out. Then looking at "When good men do nothing" what are we thinking the UN even knew about this ahead of time and what do we do? Nothing. The Gulf War took what 100 days and we do nothing? It seems to me if the UN did anything to Rwanda they would have backed down. All I can say is we have become the "American Jesus." Unfortunately, I think we have a ways to go before the "Never again" will be come a true reality, but that is why schools are here (so we LEARN). I think I am going to watch this movie ,because it seems pretty good.
300,000 children? really? and didnt you say they did it with machetes? terrible. i think they were right to say the west let this happen. they were even more right by saying that we chose to ignore it. You think we would learn to stop these things but apparently not because its happening again today
I want to see Hotel Rwanda so bad but I'm almost afraid. I can't believe that no one went to help this country or even really taught that a genocide happened there. It seems like it happened so short ago and yet everyone had already forgotten about it.
i have to see that movie... its really sad to see the scars that they have, always having to live with that thought. i use to have a student who transfered from nigeria and i never actually took the time to talk to him. i dont see him in school anymore but if i do, i want to ask him his story.
You think we would learn our lesson about genocide by now. In one of the articles, it was given that "Before the genocide more than 60% of Rwandans were Catholic. " As a Catholic, I'm pretty sure that the fifth commandment is Thou shalt not kill. What happened in Rwanada was extremely against that law and caused a lot of people to turn on their faith, like Zafran Mukantwari who lost her family in the genocide and converted to Islam. Not only did this ethnic conflict hurt Rwandan religious beliefs, but it also scarred their children. "It is estimated that 80% to 85% of children at Rwanda's secondary schools have seen someone being killed. " That mentally scars anybody, let alone a child. Most of these children that experienced the genocide at earlier ages have nightmares about 'the war.' And what was really bothering was when Harula Ladd talked about some of the situations of the children; some were one of ten siblings, 8 of whom were killed in the genocide, and the other died of AIDS. Then after Ladd said that, the even more disturbing part was that this was an 'uncommon situation.' That statement shows not only the horrors of the genocide but also the widespread disease of AIDS. The children were also taught to be able to distinguish and keep those division between Hutus and Tutsis. Animosity exposed to children at a young age really doesn't give much hope for a better future. This genocide in Rwanda really should've been an international wake up call, especially for the Western world, to come in and save Africa and clean up the mess they created.
The genocide was planned out it seems and the even though the government apologized for it it doesnt make it any better. The UN knew about this and didnt do anything to prevent it. The protesters surely stated it correctly. Never Again was what their banners displayed at the anniversary and you would think that after some genocides later that we wouldn't let it happen again. Especially to those children who are suppose to be so innocent, are killed or have seen their friends and family being killed at such a young age. How can a government know about this and not feel guilty to go and put a stop to this?
Ugh. That's horrible! And the article says that not many other countries sent representative/ leaders. That's sad. =[ That movie looks good; its going on the list (I'm making a list of AP movies to rent. Hahaha.)
Sapp.
yeah i have seen this movie before i was waiting for you to mention is on Tuesday i think. but it was a sad but informing movie.and that it really happened is what is even worse,the saddest part in the whole movie is when it shows all of the dead men women and children in the street as far a you could see.
Humans suck. How can we see acts like this and then continue on with our lives and then commit more genocide. It makes you feel as though maybe the world isn't as big as it seems and how something so far away can bring sorrow to those elsewhere.
Wow, that makes me want to see the movie in an odd way. Its really sad to think that these two ethnic groups didnt have a problem with each other until the europeans interfered and then there was all out genocide. This is one instance where there nose probably should have been kept out.
I can see how you would give Humans an f in season 5. We didn't learn from the holocaust( which should have been enough)and we didnt learn from Rwanda. Though i havent seen Hotel Rwanda yet, its now up there on my "must see list"
Why are things like this still happening? Because people are ignorant and feel that if they are not directly affected by it, then it doesnt matter. Guess what, it does. I have seen Hotel Rwanda and honestly it is one of my favorite movies beacuse of the way it captures the tragedy and gets me thinking about how i can take part in helping. not only were these people killed, they were MASSACRED. meaning machetes were used, not guns. hutus and tutsi's fighting why? hmmmm European division of africa comes into play here.
stuff like this breaks my heart.
how can we continue to do genocides if we said they would never happen again after the holocaust. its like we choose not to learn any lessons from mistakes like these.
now would think the human race would have learned from their mistakes to not repeat the past,but once again we have failed ourselves.the holocaust was living proof of what people could do to eachother when motives of a government would be tested.you would think that we dare not try to repeat this but we did.and did so for egos.did the west care?no,they turned their heads-why you ask?Because its just Africa,right?wow some world we live in.
Really? I swear, history really makes me feel like an idiotic jerk as a human. You would have thought after the Holocaust, there would be no more ridiculous genocides and attacks on humans. How many of the children died? the majority, right? unbelievable...
and another movie added to my list: Hotel Rwanda
The whites living in Africa turned their backs on the problem? I have yet to see this movie but i remember hearing a couple lines when it first came out.
You would think that after the Holocaust occurred people would reject anything to do with genocide, but I guess having a deep hatred to the point of loathing another ethnicity or group of people can provide all the fuel needed for yet another genocide. So many unnecessary deaths... and for what? Power. Everything is about power. Humans are so selfish and greedy now, that they are willing to kill all these people - even children - just for power. It's sickening.
I watched Hotel Rwanda over the weekend and it was really interesting, and very sad. The Belgiums had split up the people of Rwanda into Hutu and Tutsi ethnic groups, and you can't even tell the difference! The Belgians left the Tutsis in charge and when they left the Hutus began to seek revenge. Soon they were in charge and spread propoganda all over the place. I can't believe that the peace treaty was actually signed by the president! They were so close! Then there was chaos everywhere! Paul manages to bribe Hutu forces, and when the reporters send there footage to the world he expects more help. But no one seems to care, not even the UN really. The most moving scene I think was when Paul leaves his family in order to stay in Rwanda and help the ppl who are not able to get out of the country. Before then the entire movie was about how Paul put his family before everything. As far as movies go I think it was Ok, but it served its purpose to bring this tragedy to the world's eyes.
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