We are back with a different kind of #SlowNews this week! A zoom in on 4 individual topics that have been covered in the news these past few weeks:
- Trump’s decision to recognize Israeli sovereignty over the Golan Heights – a very controversial move;
- Cyclone Idai in Mozambique, Zimbabwe & Malawi – disaster preparedness in Sub-Sahara Africa;
- #Kwibuka25 – a quarter century after the Genocide against the Tutsi 1994 in Rwanda (starting at min. 13:15);
- Referendums – a debate in times of Brexit.
To talk about the Genocide against the Tutsi 1994 in Rwanda and the commemoration period ‘Kwibuka’ is personally very important for me. As a member of the international community but at the same being deeply connected to the country I thankfully am able to call home, I try to use my platforms to stand up against denial and revisionism.
I will never stop learning about Rwanda’s history myself and hence do not claim completeness for what I tried to summarize in this podcast. As I said at the end of my part in this podcast, education is key – and so is listening to survivors.
I therefore made a short list of recommendations to read, watch, and follow online:
Books (Testimonies) by survivors:
- “Not My Time To Die” by Yolande Mukagasana
- “Left to Tell: Discovering God amidst the Rwandan Holocaust” by Immaculée Ilibagiza
- “If only we had listened” by Immaculée Ilibagiza
- Children’s book: “That Child is Me” by Claver Irakoze
Books by foreign authors:
- “A People Betrayed” by Linda Melvern
- “We wish to inform you that tomorrow we’ll be killed with our families” by Philip Gourevitch
- “A Sunday by the Pool in Kigali” by Gil Couremanche
- “Silent Accomplice” by Andrew Wallis on France’s role in the Genocide against the Tutsi
- “Un dimanche à Kigali” by Robert Favrea
- “Shaking Hands with the Devil: The Failure of Humanity in Rwanda” by Roméo Dallaire, former general in the UN Mission in Rwanda in 1994
Short Films:
- “Kwibuka – Remember, Unite, Renew”
- “Not on my Watch”
- “Words that Kill”
- “Our Future Lost”
- “Ubumuntu – Rescuers”
- “Dreams of the Future”
Documentaries:
- “Kinyarwanda”
- “The Faces we lost” by Piotr Cieplak
Movies:
- “Sometimes in April” by Raoul Peck
- “Shooting Dogs” by Michael Caton-Jones
Recommendation:
Lately, many Rwandans share their stories on Twitter under #Kwibuka25, which is in general an important # for information on the Genocide against the Tutsi and the Commemoration.
Also follow on Twitter these accounts (and many personal handles that will show up under #Kwibuka25) to learn more: @Ibuka_Rwanda; @GAERGRwanda; @AERGFAMILY; @Avega_Agahozo_; @GenArchiveRw; @KwibukaRwanda; @RwandaRemembers; @Aegis_Trust; @NARwanda; @stvoicesofhope; @survivorsfund; @urumuriuk; @Kigali_Memorial
In this podcast I was responsible for topic 3: #Kwibuka25.
This episode of the #SlowNews podcast was first published on April 12, 2019 on Planet Mundus.
We have some weeks of Easter Break before us now – but stay tuned, we’ll be coming back with a special edition of #SlowNews as we currently work on an in-depth episode about refugees trying to return home. Thank you for listening.
