Unfortunately the genocide of Rwanda is grossly true. The reason for the massacre is a bit hard to understand when one is standing in a third person perspective. However, it was big enough for the death rate to go skyrocketing for a long time.
The effects of the killings is shocking. It wiped out a good chunk of the Rwandan populaion, not to mention the creating of the devastating scenes of death in every corner. The tactics to kill weren't clean and short. It was a battle armed with machetes that took multiple blows to finally take away the victim's last breath.
It is unbeleivable how the 'outsiders' took no action. While the murders were taking place, the outside world was debating whether the event was a genocide or just a minor tribal war. It is proposterous how no one took significant action to protect these people from manslaughter. In a Rwandan's position, it would have been heartwrenchingly frustrating: people dying around the clock, no proper refuge, and no one to run to.
At a time like this, world media would have been helpful. However, there wasn't enough information to create a big issue. This even, seems absurd. With the media not fully engrossed in the subject, it would have been hard for the world population to understand the massive scale of genocide. What the media presents is what the world knows. But with the media lacking information and not knowing what to do with the situation, it is only just that it is the same with the outside people.
Citation: links on Edline.
2 comments:
Do you think that people would have responded even if it was on the media? In 1994 there was plenty of media access to Rwanda (though many fled once things started getting really dangerous). Do you think that the problem was a lack of media coverage? Or a lack of attention to the coverage that there was?
Well maybe it was a lack of acknowledging the severity of the situation. There was information on site that President Clinton found out the scale of the massacre a little too late. He didn't know exactly what was going on and eventually had to apologize to the Rwandans for being blind to the issue. If the president had been more informed, then so would the public. If they had known the raw truth, something would have been done.
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