Rwandan genocide denial
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Rwandan genocide denial is the assertion that the
Rwandan genocide The Rwandan genocide occurred between 7 April and 15 July 1994 during the Rwandan Civil War. During this period of around 100 days, members of the Tutsi minority ethnic group, as well as some moderate Hutu and Twa, were killed by armed Hutu ...
did not occur, specifically rejection of the scholarly consensus that Rwandan
Tutsis The Tutsi (), or Abatutsi (), are an ethnic group of the African Great Lakes region. They are a Bantu-speaking ethnic group and the second largest of three main ethnic groups in Rwanda and Burundi (the other two being the largest Bantu ethnic ...
were the victims of a genocide between 7 April and 15 July 1994. The perpetrators, a small minority of other Hutu, and a fringe of Western writers dispute that reality. Aspects of the genocide, such as the death toll, prior planning of the genocide, responsibility for the assassination of Juvénal Habyarimana that triggered the genocide, war crimes (considered a second genocide by some) by the
Rwandan Patriotic Front The Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF–Inkotanyi, french: Front patriotique rwandais, FPR) is the ruling political party in Rwanda. Led by President Paul Kagame, the party has governed the country since its armed wing defeated government forces, wi ...
(RPF), and whether the
International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda The International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR; french: Tribunal pénal international pour le Rwanda; rw, Urukiko Mpanabyaha Mpuzamahanga Rwashyiriweho u Rwanda) was an international court established in November 1994 by the United Nation ...
should have tried RPF leaders continue to be debated by scholars. The Tutsi death toll in the genocide as well as the number of Hutu perpetrators (to the point of
collective guilt Collective responsibility, also known as collective guilt, refers to responsibilities of organizations, groups and societies. Collective responsibility in the form of collective punishment is often used as a disciplinary measure in closed insti ...
) is inflated by the RPF government compared to estimates by scholars. People with views that differ from the government position may be accused of genocide denial, even if they accept that Tutsi were the victims of genocide. Denial of the Rwandan genocide is a crime in Rwanda, with laws against "genocide ideology" and "divisionism" used to target those who disagree with the government's official version of history and other critics of the government. Such laws have been accused of infringement on
freedom of speech Freedom of speech is a principle that supports the freedom of an individual or a community to articulate their opinions and ideas without fear of retaliation, censorship, or legal sanction. The right to freedom of expression has been recogni ...
.


United States

During the
Rwandan genocide The Rwandan genocide occurred between 7 April and 15 July 1994 during the Rwandan Civil War. During this period of around 100 days, members of the Tutsi minority ethnic group, as well as some moderate Hutu and Twa, were killed by armed Hutu ...
in 1994, US officials under Clinton administration were instructed not to refer to it as genocide, but instead say that "acts of genocide may have occurred." As early as April 1994, the government had internally referred it as genocide, but they did not publicly refer to it as such until June. On a visit to
Kigali Kigali () is the Capital (political), capital and largest city of Rwanda. It is near the nation's geographic centre in a region of rolling hills, with a series of valleys and ridges joined by steep slopes. As a primate city, Kigali has been Rwa ...
, in 1998, Clinton apologized for not referring it as genocide, and for not sending aid to
Rwanda Rwanda (; rw, u Rwanda ), officially the Republic of Rwanda, is a landlocked country in the Great Rift Valley of Central Africa, where the African Great Lakes region and Southeast Africa converge. Located a few degrees south of the Equator ...
.


''Living Marxism''

In 1995, ''
Living Marxism ''Living Marxism'' was a British magazine originally launched in 1988 as the journal of the Revolutionary Communist Party (RCP). Rebranded as ''LM'' in 1992, it ceased publication in March 2000 following a successful libel lawsuit brought by ...
'' published an article by Fiona Fox disputing the reality of the genocide:


Denial by officials

A high-ranking Tutsi and a UN official have claimed that no genocide of the Tutsi took place at all: Antoine Nyetera, who claims Tutsi royal origins, and the former UN Representative in Rwanda,
Jacques-Roger Booh-Booh Jacques-Roger Booh-Booh (born February 5, 1938) is a Cameroonian politician and diplomat. He was the Minister of External Relations of Cameroon from 1988 to 1992
, who declared that "to claim that a genocide occurred is closer to the politics of surrealism than to the truth".


Herman and Peterson

In ''The Politics of Genocide'' (2010), writers
Edward S. Herman Edward Samuel Herman (April 7, 1925 – November 11, 2017) was an American economist, media scholar and social critic. Herman is known for his media criticism, in particular the propaganda model hypothesis he developed with Noam Chomsky, a fr ...
and David Peterson, while not denying the scale of the killing during the period of extreme violence of April–July 1994, questioned the distribution of the victims for those months, arguing that Hutus comprised the majority of the dead, not Tutsis. Their detractors have charged them with
genocide denial Genocide denial is the attempt to deny or minimize the scale and severity of an instance of genocide. Denial is an integral part of genocide and includes secret planning of genocide, propaganda while the genocide is going on, and destruction of ...
, accusations that have been rejected by Herman and Peterson. Their book goes much further than others who have questioned the consensus view of the genocide; it states that common knowledge is not simply partly incorrect, but is actually "a propaganda line ... that turned perpetrator and victim upside-down.". The two men are critical of fundamental aspects of the
Human Rights Watch Human Rights Watch (HRW) is an international non-governmental organization, headquartered in New York City, that conducts research and advocacy on human rights. The group pressures governments, policy makers, companies, and individual human r ...
report by Alison Des Forges, and maintain that she obfuscates the issue of who assassinated Habyarimana (they argue it was clearly the RPF) and that, contrary to the conclusions of Des Forges's report, the only well-planned regimen of massive violence perpetrated after the assassination was the RPF's invasion to drive the Hutu from power.. Herman and Peterson ultimately conclude that the RPF were "prime ''
génocidaires Génocidaires (, 'those who commit genocide') are Rwandans who are guilty of genocide due to their involvement in the mass killings which were perpetrated in Rwanda during the 1994 Rwandan genocide, in which 800,000 Rwandans, primarily Tutsis and ...
''", while the ''
Interahamwe The Interahamwe ( or ) is a Hutu paramilitary organization active in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Uganda. The Interahamwe was formed around 1990 as the youth wing of the National Republican Movement for Democracy and Development (MRND ...
'' were "the RPF's actual victims.". Their book argues that the accepted version of the events of 1994 implies Rwanda is "the first case in history in which a minority population, suffering destruction at the hands of its tormentors, drove its tormentors from power and assumed control of a country, all in the span of less than one hundred days", a narrative Herman and Peterson deem "incredible in the extreme.". Africa specialist
Gerald Caplan Gerald Lewis "Gerry" Caplan (born 8 March 1938) is a Canadian academic, public policy analyst, commentator, and political activist. He has had a varied career in academia, as a political organizer for the New Democratic Party, in advocacy around edu ...
criticized Herman and Peterson's account, charging that "why the Hutu members of the government 'couldn't possibly have planned a genocide against the Tutsi' is never remotely explained". Herman and Peterson's position on the genocide was found "deplorable" by James Wizeye, first secretary at the
Rwandan High Commission in London The High Commission of Rwanda in London is the diplomatic mission of Rwanda in the United Kingdom and also the home of the Rwanda diplomatic mission to Ireland. The High Commission is located at 120 to 122 Seymour Place, London, near to Marylebone ...
. Adam Jones has compared Herman and Peterson's approach to
Holocaust denial Holocaust denial is an antisemitic conspiracy theory that falsely asserts that the Nazi genocide of Jews, known as the Holocaust, is a myth, fabrication, or exaggeration. Holocaust deniers make one or more of the following false statements: ...
.


''Rwanda, The Untold Story''

In 2014, the BBC aired the documentary ''Rwanda's Untold Story'', which questioned the accepted historical account and included interviews with American researchers Christian Davenport and Allan C. Stam who, while not denying that a genocide took place, nevertheless state that the majority of the victims may have been Hutus. Afterwards, Rwanda's parliament approved a resolution to ban the BBC in the country.


Peter Erlinder

American lawyer Peter Erlinder, who was Lead Defence Counsel for the UN
International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda The International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR; french: Tribunal pénal international pour le Rwanda; rw, Urukiko Mpanabyaha Mpuzamahanga Rwashyiriweho u Rwanda) was an international court established in November 1994 by the United Nation ...
, questions the planning of the killing and concludes that the slaughter of the Tutsi should not be called genocide.


References


Notes


Bibliography

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Further reading

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Rwandan Genocide denial
Denial Denial, in ordinary English usage, has at least three meanings: asserting that any particular statement or allegation is not true (which might be accurate or inaccurate); the refusal of a request; and asserting that a true statement is not true. ...
Genocide denial Pseudohistory