Philip Gourevitch

No hay más crueldad que en la historia de la humanidad y puedo leer sobre cualquier época, sobre cualquier parte del mundo y desgraciadamente solo veo como la historia se repite y se repite, los seres humanos somos unos animales crueles, salvajes y asesinos.

Esta la crueldad de quien asesina directamente a otro ser humano, está el salvajismo de la ignorancia que cree que una raza o etnia es mejor que otra y están los asesinos de escritorio, esos que por circunstancias políticas o show more económicas permiten genocidios o incluso los apoyan.

Este conflicto ente dos tribus Ruandeses los Hutus y los Tutsis se remonta desde el siglo IV, sin embargo, esto se agrava considerablemente cuando se convierte en colonia belga en el siglo XIX, una vez país independiente el problema era tal que culmina en un terrible genocidio llevado a cabo por los Hutus quienes en 1994 matan sistemáticamente a todo Tutsi que se encuentren por el camino, dicha matanza se cuenta en casi un millón de muertes.

Este libro nos cuenta en principio todo el tema histórico que lleva a estas dos etnias a verse enfrentadas, las razones o motivaciones que tienen para odiarse, para después narrar a voz de algunos sobrevivientes Tutsis lo que fue vivir el genocidio y cómo fue que algunos de ellos salvan la vida.

Más adelante hace un profundo análisis social y político global, es decir, en su momento, las Naciones Unidas, que fueron informadas de lo que sucedía no movió un dedo y cuando finalmente deciden intervenir, lo hacen a través de Francia, quien curiosamente entra a Ruanda a apoyar a los Hutus militarmente y también económicamente.

La ONU crea campos de refugiados básicamente en lo que era Zaire (ahora República del Congo), Tanzania, Uganda y Burundi pero la mayoría de los refugiados eran Hutus, mientras tanto los sobrevivientes Tutsis ya están formando su movimiento de Resistencia, lo que conlleva al final a poner a medio África en medio de un conflicto bélico, generando la primera y segunda guerra del Congo.

Fue muy duro leer este libro pero además me ha generado una tremenda frustración, me he sentido enojada por la posición de la comunidad internacional, en una larga entrevista a Paul Kagame, actual presidente de Ruanda y principal actor en la pacificación del país, dice entre otras cosas que no comprende porque en su momento se apoyaba a los Hutus y se hablaba de los Tutsis como los asesinos, ¿qué motivaciones ulteriores tenían para hacer algo así cuando los muertos fueron los Tutsis? Este hombre fue juzgado por la comunidad internacional por crímenes de genocidio y Lesa humanidad, situación que resulta en algo tremendamente incoherente cuando fue quien detuvo la guerra y unió a un país por demás destrozado, actualmente no puede ser detenido por portar el papel de presidente, pero una vez que deje el cargo, será encarcelado, sin embargo, por parte de los Hutus no hubo realmente detenidos, porque al final no se podía juzgar a todo un pueblo.

Una historia brutal, aquí no hay buenos, hay tanta maldad, tanta ignorancia y tanta muerte que no se puede separar a víctimas de victimarios, el peor sentimiento es el de Venganza, el de odio por crímenes cometidos, por niños asesinados, por mujeres violadas y luego asesinadas y solo por ser o pertenecer a una etnia diferente, aquellos que utilizan el odio de un pueblo para generar más odio y claro, por supuesto, para tener poder.

Creo que este libro no narra nada que no se haya visto en otras épocas o en otras guerras, al final, como he dicho, el ser humano es la peor bestia que habita este planeta desde que es llamado equivocadamente “el animal inteligente” show less

"The best reason I have come up with for looking closely into Rwanda's stories is that ignoring them makes me even more uncomfortable about existence and my place in it." (p. 19)

In 1994, nearly 1 million people were killed in the space of 90 days. According to Philip Gourevitch, a journalist with The New Yorker, "The dead of Rwanda accumulated at nearly three times the rate of Jewish dead during the Holocaust. It was the most efficient mass killing since the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and show more Nagasaki." Gourevitch made several visits to Rwanda between 1995-1998 in order to understand the 1994 genocide and its human and political aftermath. With my only source of information at the time having been the mainstream American press, it was very interesting to understand how Rwanda's colonial history set the stage for ethnic conflict. Gourevitch also clearly laid out the political dynamics both in Rwanda and its neighbors, Zaire and Uganda, and described some of the unintended consequences of western humanitarian aid. Quoting a Red Cross representative: "When humanitarian aid becomes a smoke screen to cover the political effects it actually creates, and states hide behind it, using it as a vehicle for policymaking, then we can be regarded as agents in the conflict." (p. 269)

This book is written in a literary style that makes it quite accessible. It is a difficult book to read in that it describes unbelievable acts of violence and cruelty, and casts American and European political leaders in a (deservedly) harsh light. But to me, it's important to understand "what really happened" if we have any hope of preventing such atrocities from occurring. After the Holocaust we said, "never again" ... can we say it now, and make it stick? show less

The title of the book comes from a letter written to Paston Elizaphan Ntakirutimana. In it, several Advent pastors, hiding in a hospital state, "We wish to inform you that tomorrow we will be killed with our families..." (p 42). Such a devastating cry for help...only to end in betrayal. But probably the most helpless and hopeless line in the book (for me anyway), was "I took it we were under attack, and did nothing because I had no idea what to do" (p 33). I can't imagine knowing full well show more murderers were coming for me, and yet having no idea how to save myself. Imagine having nowhere to go. Nowhere to hide. No way to protect yourself. Heartbreaking. Like macabre trick or treating, gangs went from town to town, just looking for people to massacre.
I find myself asking over and over again how neighbors, friends, relatives, business partners could rise up against their brethren. To kill over and over again with such horrific brutality. Not just an impersonal shot to the head. Not just a quick execution from a far off distance, but an up-close and personal hacking, slashing, chopping; a hand to hand combat/rape/pillage with machetes and knives, sticks and stony rage. The willingness, the eagerness to turn on people you had once worked, lived, learned or played side by side. Colleagues killed colleagues. Neighbors annihilated neighbors. Teachers assassinated their students. Friends turned one another with surprising ease. Gourevitch tries to make sense of it in We Wish to Inform You... by going back historically and analyzing the time before the genocide. His style is to think about the subject from a distance and then living with it up close. He walks around a topic to scrutinize it from every angle. His focus was to ask what really happened and how its aftermath is understood today (at the time of his writing). show less

honestly i didn't expect this book to be both so readable and so relevant. i picked it up anyway but thought it would be a slog, and that it wouldn't have much of a bearing on today. i'm so glad i did because first of all, what a comprehensive and detailed job of reporting this, from the mouths of the people who experienced the war and perpetrated the war crimes. this is excellent journalism. more than that, it shows so clearly and easily how someone (anyone) can be made to do violence and show more commit egregious acts of humiliation, terror, and assault, up to and including murder. it is a clear - so clear - stop in the roadmap to how we got to where we are now. this wasn't the beginning of the journey, but it's a stopover worth remembering and acknowledging. and to see, basically in real time, the way the people who perpetrated (and documented!) the violence justified it or made it seem less meaningful than it was, it was such a lord of the flies situation where it devolved so quickly and became something so different (violence and humiliation for the sake of it) than it (maybe) was intended to be. how easily we slip into this sort of behavior and mentality. and what a reminder of how only the people at or close to the bottom of the ladder rungs were the ones who ever were held accountable. it's good to remember, when we have such blatant autocracy and fascism happening, that george w bush should also be serving time for war crimes.

"...democratic self-rule has never been imposed upon a people by the military invasion of a foreign power..." show less