Ramon- Rwanda

Allow me to begin with stating the role of the West in this conflict. The West began this conflict early in the 20^th Century when Belgium invaded Rwanda for territory and resources. Rwanda gained their freedom back over time, but Belgium still remained within the people of Rwanda. When Belgians colonized Rwanda, Belgians moved to Rwanda and spawned a Creole type of mix of Belgian and Native Rwandans. Thus, a new sub category culture of Africans was created. The Tutsis were taller and light skinned than the Hutus due to Belgian blood. At least, so I’ve learned. However, the question still remains of why the West did not step in well enough to stop the genocide in Rwanda. My answer: The West simply did not care about Africa. Of course the West knew about Africa’s valuable resources. However, the West was already surviving without accessing these resources to begin with.

We now turn to Paul Russesabinga of Hotel Rwanda. Paul is a wealthy Hutu who is the manager of a hotel in genocide-torn Rwanda. Paul’s main worry was not the success of his exquisite hotel. He was most concerned about the protection of his Tutsi wife. Paul’s story in a way mirrors that of Schindler. Schindler’s main motive in saving the Jews was to make money, but that motive turned to a desire to help those being persecuted. Paul’s motive was to protect his family. However, word soon was spread that he was protecting Tutsis at his hotel. All of a sudden, his family became quite large.

There are two characters in Murambi: Book of Bones I would like to discuss; Dr. Joseph Karekezi and Faustin Gasana. Both of these characters are antagonistic in the novel. When we look at the mind of the Hutu murderers, we should look at their aims and motives. Many of the higher-up Hutus, such as Dr. Karekezi and Gasana have distinct political motives in this genocide. Lets be clear, the breakout of the immediate conflict was an assassination of the Hutu President. Gasana, like many other Hutus, believed that the Tutsis were to blame for the Prime Minister’s plane crash. I have my own theories that the Prime Minister was merely a scapegoat for the Hutus to have a reason to eliminate the Tutsis from Rwanda. Dr. Karekezi attempted to play both sides of the fence during this conflict. He wanted to stand up for the rights of the Tutsis, but he also supported the Hutus with supplies and other necessities to follow through with the extermination of the “cockroaches.”