Why the Silence?
Rwanda genocide survivor Paul Rusesabagina expressed his sentiments, “In 1994, during the one hundred days of the Rwanda genocide, I tried everything to get the international community to listen, to respond, to help—but nobody was ready to see, hear or, most importantly, to act.” His statement speaks the truth about the inaction of the international community throughout the genocide. During our course we have discussed genocide and the framing of genocide, and spent some time discussing the silence that surrounds genocide.
Through this discourse I will aim to answer the question “why the silence?” surrounding the 1994 Rwanda genocide, drawing from coursework covered in class as well as my online dialogue with students from Rwanda who recall the devastation of genocide. I am humbled to be a part of their dialogue and I hope that together we can come one step closer to not only answer the question but also try figure out a plan for action and implementation on the broad level for everyday citizens.These students were young children at the time of the genocide. In June 1994 I remember clearly where I was—grinning and swinging my legs from my seat in my first grade class as my teacher asked me when I was leaving on vacation to India. 6 years old and I was unaware of the mass destruction that was occurring halfway around the globe to many other 6 year old children.
Articles I-XIX from the United Nations Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide outline the acts that constitute as genocide or genocidal activities and outlines the penalties and punishments of people found guilty. As stated in Article VII—“Genocide and the other acts enumerated in article III shall not be considered as political crimes for the purpose of extradition.” These acts cannot be used to justify popular sovereignty as stated, as they have been done so in the past in order to justify previous genocides. In Article I, the Convention “confirm that genocide, whether committed in time of peace or in time of war, is a crime under international law which they undertake to prevent and to punish” (1951,1). The Convention was signed and ratified in 1948 and implemented in 1951 but four decades later the UN found themselves idle as they watched the slaughter of half a million people, after having vowed to take action and seek punishment for perpetrators of genocide.
Having briefly stated the UN stance on genocide, one would think that the international community would mobilize at any signs of preparation towards genocide as soon as they hear even a slight rustle. Sadly, this is not the case. What is it that has made us so numb to the sufferings of our fellow man? Is it because we are worlds apart and assume that such atrocities could never be committed on our soil? Or perhaps the images from the genocide are not enough to prove that genocide is occurring; preposterous as an excuse it is and nevertheless it has been used. Better yet the argument, that as humans having forsaken our brethren, we are now saturated with the images of the genocide (Sontag 21). We feel so overwhelmed by inaction and silent acceptance of unfortunate circumstances that we are too paralyzed to focus on the genocide; to even begin to wrap our minds around what another human being is suffering through. These excuses mean nothing when faced with a survivor asking where were we while they experienced a nightmare unleashed.
Much has been said on the effectiveness of photographs in capturing atrocities— “photographs may be more memorable than moving images because they are a neat slice of time, not a flow.” (Sontag 16). It has been broken down and captured for our minds to understand the enormity of the event. Yet images from Rwanda had proved insufficient for intervening in genocide. The images from Rwanda beckoned us to the atrocities being committed; it allowed a closer look of what the people were going through, something that would not have been achieved through news reports itself. As Susan Sontag writes, “To suffer is one thing; another thing is living with the photographed images of suffering…an event known through photographs certainly becomes more real than it would have been if one had never seen the photographs” (20). Having viewed the haunting images from Rwanda, the members of the international community understood that this was indeed something horrible. But acknowledging the horror and morbidity of the act does not prevent future genocidal acts nor does it do much to stop the current genocide. It is one thing to empathize with the victims through the photographs; it is another thing to take action as a result of the emotions evoked from the images.
The paralysis felt by the members of the international community makes it easier for them to deny that genocidal acts are occurring. In the initial stages of the genocide, as illustrated in the film Sometimes in April, UN officials and world leaders failed to act because they were unsure whether or not the reported death toll was accurate. The leaders and officials even went so far as to hide behind excuses such as “the number of dead or the percentage of the group eliminated was too small.” (Power 65) This begs the question, how many deaths does it take for it to be one too many? The disregard or indifference towards human life seems to loom over the phenomenon of genocide, and the Rwanda genocide was no exception. Even Raphael Lemkin, who dedicated his life to the study of prevention and punishment of genocide, had a difficult time in rallying for action among the international community. At one point he was so enraged by the indifference and lack of action being taken that he snapped, “to be unequal is not the same as to be dead” (Power 75).
While there is plenty of blame to go around for the lack of action during the 100 days of genocide in Rwanda, the silence does nothing to help the survivors who have had to rebuild their lives following the atrocities. For us who have never lived in a war ravaged country or had to face violence as a daily part our lives— ours is a comforting and luxurious lifestyle. We could never fully comprehend what happened in Rwanda despite the images and news reports. Through films such as Sometimes in April, a more powerful emotive response can be evoked. The scenes of the carnage, human corpses, and acts of heroism are compelling. That emotive response, I am sad to point out, is a temporary effect. That is simply the nature of humans and ultimately the paradox to our minds; how much pain and suffering we can endure individually yet how little we understand when it happens to our neighbor.
In talking to the students who survived the Rwanda genocide, they offered me insight as to why the world kept silent. Why the world had forsaken these young children as their mothers, fathers, sisters, brothers, friends and every other part of their world were snatched from them as the 100 days of killing progressed. I had many questions for the students, one of them questioning how the survivors felt about those in the international community who kept quiet because they believed themselves powerless in stopping the genocide. The students had much to provide. I was moved by the responses, one in particular from Anne Marie Nyiransanga who observed, “According to my point of view the silence in Rwanda after the Genocide in 1994 is due to the painful hearts of the survivors and the shamefulness of those who have killed those innocence.” Her statement indicates a sense of willingness to put the past behind them, so that those who survived can move forward, and those who committed crimes wish to forget by putting the guilt away. Another student Ndahimana Cyprien wrote, “Rwanda is silent because of many factors: During 1994 genocide, developed countries did not help people who were killed. The UN, French and the African union did nothing in that period. As a result they miss what to do, say about what happened in Rwanda.” This speaks to the inaction of the international community, but more importantly those members of the free world who had the power to stop. The French had the military power to stop, the UN had the power to punish and hold accountable the perpetrators as soon as they received the confirmed reports of the mass killings. Angered by French involvement in the preparation, Mr. Damas Ntirenganya writes, “some of those counties were involved in that killings. France and Rwandans who were preparing that massacre did not give the opportunity the UN dispatchers of checking what was going on that period due to France has a great role in UN security council. And US as a master of the world did not know what was behind the cooperation between both presidents of Rwanda and France in that period.” It is a shame that while countries such as France that had signed the Convention had tried to skew the truth given their status within the UN in order to not reflect a negative image.
There is no easy answer that I can provide the survivors. A number of reasons resulted in the silence surrounding Rwanda. Political and economic motives all detracted from the main purpose of stopping genocide. Our collective silence as members of the international community as we silently gazed on while people were killed based on their ethnicity is unacceptable. I believe that the silence ends when the individual decides to raise their voice and question others and themselves why they have kept silent and why they continue to keep silent. The strength of an individual is very influential, and many in the international community do not realize their individual power. One by one, as individuals raise their voices affirming that no longer will they keep silent, then only can genocide begin to be prevented and stopped. The silence serves to condone genocide. We must realize this and do our part in condemning genocidal acts.
From April until mid-July of 1994, the killings in Rwanda continued. For those who survived the 100 days, it must have seemed like an eternity. At that time I had been counting down the days until my trip when I could get free toys from the airlines and free gifts from my relatives in India. I am older now, and I feel responsible to take my part in educating my fellow classmates and colleagues and just as my perspective on genocide has been expanded, I hope to do the same to others and help give their voice back to the survivors.
WORKS CITED
“A Thousand Voices Journal.” Forum.athousandvoicesjournal.com. 2011. Web
“Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide” UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights. 1951. 1-3. Print
Sometimes in April. 2006. Film
Sontag, Susan. “On Photography.” New York. 16-21. Print
Power, Samantha. A Problem from Hell: America and the Age of Genocide. New York: Perennial, 2002. Print