Philip Gourevitch Essay
Essay Preview: Philip Gourevitch Essay
Report this essay
Philip Gourevitchs book is the closest we have so far to a Rwandan account of the genocide because a lot of it consists of Rwandan voices talking. He has a good ear and a good eye and has had the time to follow the stories through. He tracked down Pastor Ntakirutimana and his son Dr Gerard in America and finds them fearful, denying that they did anything wrong, or if they did, claiming it was in self-defence. Mostly they talk about chaos. Gourevitch lets them have their say. In 350 pages, Gourevitch investigates the painful challenge of human evil, the kind that becomes endorsed by the leaders so that it tragically becomes grippeed by typical, every day people. He doesnt
have any quick solutions but he does however, dig brilliantly into possible causes of the genocide that hit Rwanda in April 1994. Using the oral history of many eye witnesses, Gourevitch weaves story telling and history, especially the role of the Belgians in dividing and conquering by giving special privileges to the Tutsis, resulting in incredible resentment in the hearts of the Hutus who are 85% of Rwandas population.
In the introduction, Philip Gourevitch writes, “Ð the government had adopted a new policy, according to which everyone in the countrys Hutu majority group was called upon to murder everyone in the Tutsi minority [they] imagined that by exterminating the Tutsi people they could make the world a better place…” (6)
Imagining the world in different lights was a huge part of a Rwandans life. This could be the very reason Rwanda faced/faces the struggles they do. Words dont do justice explains Gourevitch, “the word genocide and the images of the nameless and numberless dead left too much to the imaginationÐ…” (16). It is more important to know exactly how Rwandans understood what had happened in their country, and how they were dealing with its repercussions. Gourevitch does this by providing examples from history that details the understanding of not only society as a whole, but that also of individuals. On page 20, Joseph, a Rwandan man who was giving Gourevtich a ride through the countryside, spoke of his perception of his country. He quickly refuted the authors claim of Rwanda being a Ðbeautiful country. He argues, “Ð… Beautiful? this country is empty!!” (20). A few pages later Gourevitch converses with Francois Xavier Nkurunziza, a Kigali lawyer. Nkurunziza explains a very interesting concept which displays attitudes of Rwandan society,
Conformity is very deep, very developed hereÐ… In Rwandan history, everyone obeys authority. People revere power, and there isnt enough education. You take a poor, ignorant population, and give them arms and say, ÐIts Yours Kill. Theyll obey. The peasants, who were paid or forced to kill, were looking up to people of higher socio-economic standing to see how to behave. So the people of influence, or the big financiers, are often the big men in the genocide. They may think that they didnt kill because they didnt take life with their own hands, but the people were looking to them for their orders. And, in Rwanda, an order can be given very quietly. (23)
This passage enlightens the reader by explaining how Rwandans revered their authorities. Because of this explanation, one can see the reason for which the Rwandans acted in such manners. They were not doing it out of sheer inhumanity, but mainly because in search of a figure-head and a leader, they were vulnerable to the commands of merciless men of power. The concept here is very simple, yet of great importance: The Rwandans did what they