So I read the book "Left to tell" by Immaculee Ilibagiza( i mentioned in the last blog)it was one of those books that I read in two days, I just went into a zone.I went to bed thinking about it, woke up thinking about it and during the day when I wasn't reading it , I was counting down the minutes till I could get to it again. It was an extremely graphic description of the author's experience of surviving the genocide while the rest of other siblings and the other 800, 000 fellow Rwandans( except one brother who was out of the country at school) were gruesomely murdered by the Hutu extremists over 100 days from April 6 to mid July 1994.
I am not going to recount the historical facts about the genocide, I figure that if you want to know more about it, you can find info on it all over the Internet as to why it happened and so forth.
My big issue is obviously the lack of involvement of the UN,and the countries that usually run around policing the world(you know who you are) decided to turn a blind eye to it. Canada did have a peace keeping mission going over there, led by Romeo Dallaire that was horribly underfunded and understaffed( but at least they were there which is more that we can say for the rest of them that were WAY too busy worrying about OJ Simpson, the glove and "if he did it".
My beef is also with the media and their complete lack of coverage. Oh excuse me, how could I forget, the the western world really needed to see OJ's SUV speeding away from his Brentwood California home for the hundreth time. To me, this is just another perfect example of the ongoing love affair between the government and the media.( a whole other huge topic I won't delve into right now)
I was telling my mom the other day that I feel anger directly towards the media. They get a big fat 'F" in my books for not doing their jobs, they failed us.
I was 15 at the time and as a 15 year old girl, I was of course wrapped up in my own adolescent drama, but I was also an informed youth. I was aware of my world and what was happening(or so I thought) I grew up in a family where knowledge is power, books surrounded our walls, my parents are all teachers, yet somehow I was never told about the genocide until I was 28 years old. I hold the media first and foremost responsible.
OJ brought about such a media frenzy that I bet if you asked just about anyone what they were doing on the day that OJ was found "not guilty" they would be able to tell you, same goes for when princess Diana was killed, JFK assasinated, and when 911 happened.I remember I was sitting in our high school library studying and an announcement came over the loud speakers announcing OJ's verdict. I bet you would be hard pressed to find anyone who would be able to tell you what they were doing on the day the Rwandan Genocide began or ended.(oh but only 800,00 innocent Tutsi's lost their lives).
Anyways, I will wrap it up for now, to those of you who have made it this far, I ask you to take a moment, do some research of the Rwanda genocide, give the victims of Rwanda some respect and a moment of your time to educate yourself so you can pass on this information to those you are responsible for(children, students etc...)Say a prayer in your heart for those who lost their lives and read this book "Left to Tell"
Meg
So I read the book "Left to tell" by Immaculee Ilibagiza( i mentioned in the last blog)it was one of those books that I read in two days, I just went into a zone.I went to bed thinking about it, woke up thinking about it and during the day when I wasn't reading it , I was counting down the minutes till I could get to it again. It was an extremely graphic description of the author's experience of surviving the genocide while the rest of other siblings and the other 800, 000 fellow Rwandans( except one brother who was out of the country at school) were gruesomely murdered by the Hutu extremists over 100 days from April 6 to mid July 1994.
I am not going to recount the historical facts about the genocide, I figure that if you want to know more about it, you can find info on it all over the Internet as to why it happened and so forth.
My big issue is obviously the lack of involvement of the UN,and the countries that usually run around policing the world(you know who you are) decided to turn a blind eye to it. Canada did have a peace keeping mission going over there, led by Romeo Dallaire that was horribly underfunded and understaffed( but at least they were there which is more that we can say for the rest of them that were WAY too busy worrying about OJ Simpson, the glove and "if he did it".
My beef is also with the media and their complete lack of coverage. Oh excuse me, how could I forget, the the western world really needed to see OJ's SUV speeding away from his Brentwood California home for the hundreth time. To me, this is just another perfect example of the ongoing love affair between the government and the media.( a whole other huge topic I won't delve into right now)
I was telling my mom the other day that I feel anger directly towards the media. They get a big fat 'F" in my books for not doing their jobs, they failed us.
I was 15 at the time and as a 15 year old girl, I was of course wrapped up in my own adolescent drama, but I was also an informed youth. I was aware of my world and what was happening(or so I thought) I grew up in a family where knowledge is power, books surrounded our walls, my parents are all teachers, yet somehow I was never told about the genocide until I was 28 years old. I hold the media first and foremost responsible.
OJ brought about such a media frenzy that I bet if you asked just about anyone what they were doing on the day that OJ was found "not guilty" they would be able to tell you, same goes for when princess Diana was killed, JFK assasinated, and when 911 happened.I remember I was sitting in our high school library studying and an announcement came over the loud speakers announcing OJ's verdict. I bet you would be hard pressed to find anyone who would be able to tell you what they were doing on the day the Rwandan Genocide began or ended.(oh but only 800,00 innocent Tutsi's lost their lives).
Anyways, I will wrap it up for now, to those of you who have made it this far, I ask you to take a moment, do some research of the Rwanda genocide, give the victims of Rwanda some respect and a moment of your time to educate yourself so you can pass on this information to those you are responsible for(children, students etc...)Say a prayer in your heart for those who lost their lives and read this book "Left to Tell"
Meg
4 comments:
I find this topic deeply disturbing. Not in a "I don't want to talk about it way", but in a "how could human beings do this to other human beings?" I, like you, was totally ignorant to this horrific part of history until the last couple of years. Of course I had heard of problems in Rwanda, but I am ashamed to say that the first I really understood what happened was when I saw the movie "Hotel Rwanda". Before that if I heard Hutu or Tutsi I wouldn't have had a clue. I find it interesting that I am the first to comment on this topic and wonder if it is because it is too disturbing for people to contemplate. There are moments when I think about such horrific atrocities, that it literally takes the breath out of my lungs and I feel so overcome with worry -mostly for my kids - and guilt- because of my ignorance. It is so easy to live our lives and not look to understand all of the crisis' that are occurring - everyday. The thing is, we are so complacent. Just like the people who went to work at WTC on 9/11. I completely agree about the failure of the media and the UN. Speak of the media, this last weekend, the headlines were of the wedding between...oh right, you already know!! (case and point) I hope that the attention Darfur is receiving will trigger more help for the innocent than the Tutsi's ever got - not that I know much about Darfur. Yet tomorrow, I will go on my merry way, going about my "very important" business, blogging about completely trivial moments in my life. I thank you Meghann for the call to perhaps examine my priorities and state of knowledge (or lack of). I just feel like what can I do? But you are totally right. Knowledge is POWER.
Kristy,
wow, thanks for your insight, yes, I too wonder if this topis is just too uncomfortable for people to reply to. I think the least we can do is educate ourselves on the issue, so what if we have to feel a little "uncomfortable". I am sure the Tutsi's only wish that is ALL they had to feel, as they stood and faced a crazed person with a masheti about to kill them.
Meg
oh ya, I wanted to point out that I am not totally blogger crazy to be doing it at 4 50 am, I was up with Cohen. Kristy, chances are you are awake at this lovely hour as well with one or both of your twins. I always think about all the parents"mainly moms" who are also doing the same thing I am in the quiet, wee hours of the morn.Funny thought. Who needs sleep, it is over rated anyway.
Sixty years ago the world powers said "Never Again" in response to the holocaust in Germany. The United Nations was created and anti-genocide laws were enacted (although the United States didn't sign on to those laws until 1988). And yet in the past 50 years there has been genocide in in Rwanda,the former Yugoslavia, Cambodia, The Tamils in Sri Lanka, not to mention the ongoing crisis in Darfur. In a perfect world the media would tell us about all these things, but I'm sure the fact the these are not traditionally western, wealthy, or white populations has a part to play. However, we are lucky enough to live in a world where information is available anytime, anywhere. It is not longer enough to rely on the media, as informed citizens of the world we have to rely on ourselves to stay informed and make a difference.
For some impressive high school students, check
www.standnow.org
or
www.standcanada.org
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