Suchergebnisse

This study deals with the phenomenon of genocide denialism, and in particular how it operates in the context of the genocide against the Tutsi. The term genocide denialism denotes that we are not dealing with a single act or type of (genocide) denial but with a more elaborate process of denial that involves a variety of denialist and denial-like acts that are part of the process of genocide. From this study it becomes clear that the process of genocide thrives on a more elaborate denial dynamic than recognized in expert literature until now. This study consists of three parts. The first theoretical part analyses what the elements of denial and genocide entail and how they are (inter)related. The exploration results in a typology of genocide denialism. This model clarifies the different functions denial performs throughout the process of genocide. It furthermore explains how actors engage in denial and on which rhetorical devices speech acts of denial rely. The second part of the study focuses on denial in practice and it analyses how denial operates in the particular case of the genocide against the Tutsi. The analysis reveals a complex denial dynamic: not only those who perpetrated the genocide are involved in its denial, but also certain Western scholars, journalists, lawyers, etc. The latter were originally not involved in the genocide but recycle (elements of) the denial discourse of the perpetrators. The study addresses the implications of such recycling and discusses whether these actors actually have become involved in the genocidal process. This sheds light on the complex relationship between genocide and denial. The insights gained throughout the first two parts of this study have significant implications for many other actors that through their actions engage with the flow of meaning concerning the specific events in Rwanda or genocide in general. The final part of this study critically reflects on the actions of a variety of actors and their significance in terms of genocide denialism. These actors include scholars from various fields, human rights organisations, the ICTR, and the government of Rwanda. On a more fundamental level this study critically highlights how the revisionist scientific climate, in which knowledge and truth claims are constantly questioned, is favourable to genocide denialism and how the post-modern turn in academia has exacerbated this climate. Ultimately, this study reveals that the phenomenon of genocide denial involves more than perpetrators denying their genocidal crimes and the scope of actors and actions relevant in terms of genocide denialism is much broader than generally assumed.

Accounts of international criminal courts have tended to consist of reflections on abstract legal texts, on judgements and trial transcripts. Genocide Never Sleeps, based on ethnographic research at the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR), provides an alternative account, describing a messy, flawed human process in which legal practitioners faced with novel challenges sought to reconfigure long-standing habits and opinions while maintaining a commitment to 'justice'. From the challenges of simultaneous translation to collaborating with colleagues from different legal traditions, legal practitioners were forced to scrutinise that which normally remains assumed in domestic law. By providing an account of this process, Genocide Never Sleeps not only provides a unique insight into the exceptional nature of the ad hoc, improvised ICTR and the day-to-day practice of international criminal justice, but also holds up for fresh inspection much that is naturalised and assumed in unexceptional, domestic legal processes.

Der Band vereinigt Texte, die der Autor seit 1996 zur politischen Situation der Region der Großen Seen geschrieben hat. Der Ursprung aller Konflikte dort sei seit der Dekolonisierung ethnischer Natur, diese beträfen die "Tutsi-Frage". Der Autor interpretiert die Krise der Region, die militärischen Interventionen der verschiedenen Länder aus Tutsi-(Banyamulenge)Perspektive und argumentiert aus Sicht der Front Patriotique Rwandais (FPR), die nach dem Genozid die Macht übernommen hat. Auch mit Blick auf die Intervention Rwandas im Ost-Kongo (Kivu) schreibt er (S. 15) "... la guerre est parfois un recours obligé pour créer les conditions permissives de la vie? Les soubresauts politico-militaires en cours dans la région des Grands Lacs sont de ce point de vue des douleurs d'enfantement qui augurent d'une ère nouvelle paisible pour tous." (DÜI-Sbd)

The literature pointing out that ethnic groups are a social construction has a particular salience in discussion of identity in both East and Central Africa. As numerous authors have noted, there are in fact few linguistic, phenotypical, or social differences between Hutu and Tutsi. Indeed, as all acknowledge, there has been substantial intermarriage, particularly in Rwanda. Nevertheless, as recent events in Rwanda and Burundi illustrate, the presumably 'socially constructed' differences between Hutu and Tutsi have become a legitimated reason for murdering one's neighbours. But although cited as the cause of the civil war by virtually every Rwandan, as well as the Western and Tanzanian press, I am also impressed by the fact that at different times and places being 'Tutsi' means very different things. My own observations in the Benaco refugee camp for 'Hutu' illustrate how quickly and drastically such seemingly 'fixed' identities can change.

This study, written collaboratively with a native Rwandan author, briefly recalls the historical reality from a Rwandan perspective and addresses the consequences of the Genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda. Furthermore, the way the Western world was a passive spectator to the economic, political and social pillage and Genocide that occurred in the last part of the 20th Century, that was, in 1994, is discussed. How is reconciliation fostered in the communities across Rwanda? In particular, the sites and communities where massacres were held? Strong community ties and community being central to social work practice is observed in most East African countries, with no exception to Rwanda. While social work pedagogy is something new and possibly introduced by Western idiom, the tradition of welfare and mutual caring (would have been/ has been part) of the Kinyarwanda culture, language, and manner of living. What factors have worked for reconciliation, reconstruction of the society? How were people made to understand violence, and what did they replace it with? How is the post-genocide moral narrative shaped? The traditional indigenous processes that have been utilised, including the Gacaca, unique court process, are briefly discussed. How do people implant hate into people? By the same token, how do people put peace and love into people? These are a few questions that were central to this study throughout.

This study, written collaboratively with a native Rwandan author, briefly recalls the historical reality from a Rwandan perspective and addresses the consequences of the Genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda. Furthermore, the way the Western world was a passive spectator to the economic, political and social pillage and Genocide that occurred in the last part of the 20th Century, that was, in 1994, is discussed.
How is reconciliation fostered in the communities across Rwanda? In particular, the sites and communities where massacres were held? Strong community ties and community being central to social work practice is observed in most East African countries, with no exception to Rwanda. While social work pedagogy is something new and possibly introduced by Western idiom, the tradition of welfare and mutual caring (would have been/ has been part) of the Kinyarwanda culture, language, and manner of living. What factors have worked for reconciliation, reconstruction of the society? How were people made to understand violence, and what did they replace it with? How is the post-genocide moral narrative shaped? The traditional indigenous processes that have been utilised, including the Gacaca, unique court process, are briefly discussed. How do people implant hate into people? By the same token, how do people put peace and love into people? These are a few questions that were central to this study throughout.

La 4e de couverture indique : "D'avril à juillet 1994, entre 800 000 et 1 million de Tutsi sont exterminés au Rwanda. Le dernier génocide du XXe siècle ne s'inscrit pourtant pas dans une histoire séculaire d'antagonisme ethnique. Il est le produit d'un racisme importé des sciences coloniales et réapproprié par une partie des acteurs politiques rwandais et de la population. Cet ananlyse l'émergence et les évolutions de ce racisme, et la manière dont il conduisit au génocide et fut mis en actes par les pratiques de violence. Il montre ainsi que l'extermination des Tutsi, quoique n'étant pas inéluctable, ne fut ni un accident ni une réaction spontanée. En évoquant aussi bien les tueries au plus près de leurs conditions d'exécution que le rôle des acteurs de l'État et de la communauté internationale, tout particulièrement l'ONU et la France, l'auteur inscrit cet événement au coeur de notre XXe siècle et des enjeux contemporains. L'analyse des questrions mémorielles et judiciaires, et de la sortie du génocide, permet de comprendre que ses conséquences se font ressortir aujourd'hui encore dans tous les aspects de la vie sociale."

Examines the international responses to the ethnic conflicts in Burundi and Rwanda from 1993-1997 and their overspill into Zaire. Concludes that the external reaction was impotent and incoherent, and urges a number of changes in response by the international community.