By Clarisse Kayisire Mukundente
Friday April 16, 2021. This Gratitude Friday, is special because there is a particular issue I want to address – one that, as you will see, still involves gratitude at its heart. But first, let me express my sympathies to all the families who lost their loved ones on a certain Saturday of April 16, 1994, in the genocide against the Tutsis in Rwanda. May these souls rest in peace. A friend said on social media that our hearts are the tombs where the bodies of our people lie. My friend could not have said it better.
Although the official week of mourning is over, we are still in mourning. I admire how Rwandans support each other during this time. There is a lull in the social media small talk and bickering, and even when this is broken, there is a restraint in the breakage. A normal thing in fact since it is the entire nation that is immersed in mourning and the survivors feel this support and commemorate in peace. But does everyone really commemorate in peace? Unfortunately, there are still naysayers holding out against this trend towards greater harmony.
You have certainly heard of two survivors of the genocide being mistreated and slandered by newspapers linked to the regime. I will focus today on one person: Jean-Paul Samputu. I want to approach his case from a different angle by asking you some questions, dear compatriots. How can we explain the fury being levelled at Samputu during this period of mourning? I will leave it up to you to analyze what has been written about him. It is breathtakingly stupid and baseless. And even though what he is being criticized for was true, namely being a friend of Museveni and founding a political party, there is nothing wrong with that. Doesn’t our Constitution support multiparty politics after all? And regardless of his friendship with Museveni, it is an absolutely ludicrous and bald-faced lie to imply that high-level dealings between two countries can be explained by the interpersonal relationships of an ordinary citizen.
Clearly, these stories are created from scratch with the intent to sow terror. But why? What is the crux of the matter? Samputu was invited to a show on Voice of America (VOA) with Ingabire Umuhoza Victoire in which he demonstrated his enthusiasm. Do you find that hard to believe? And yet, it’s the truth and there’s no denying it! The private messages that are currently circulating provide an undeniable proof, as do the pressure exerted on Samputu, the callouts and the insults accusing him of being a denialist. The boycott of the commemoration in the USA and the fact that elsewhere his name was removed from the list of performing singers when he was already scheduled to perform also serve as evidence, with one of his songs even being removed from YouTube. The pressure on his entourage and his family and so on… Do you think a grieving person can withstand this pressure? Let us call this out for what it is – moral torture.
I have always been fascinated by these two opposite feelings: love and hate. The first one overwhelms me. This pure unconditional love which can be summed up in one verb: Love! That’s it! All added qualifiers, subjects and complements are little more than stains on this otherwise immaculate shroud. When I encounter this feeling, all I can do is let it wash over me in grateful silence. It is for this reason that I have a boundless admiration for children and dogs.
As for hatred, it gives me goosebumps and yet it piques my curiosity. Whereas love lifts me into a state of blissful contemplation, hatred whips my brain up into a frenzy. I need to understand it, analyze it, dissect it. Contrary to love, here we must always look to the particulars. The subject, complement and adverb are of paramount importance. Who hates whom and why? When wickedness manifests itself so powerfully, I feel a visceral urge to understand what breeds such fierce hatred.
I would have preferred to be surrounded by love and not feel this need to speak up. I would have referred to spend this time in contemplation and remembrance with my loved ones. But here I am, faced with incredible hatred directed towards a survivor of the genocide in a period of mourning. Is it Ingabire Victoire, then, who is at the root of this hatred? It is always impressive to me how rage can totally take over some people. When someone inspires criminal thoughts on such a level, murderous madness may be just around the corner.
So, let’s talk about Ingabire Victoire. To all of you who have demonstrated such a visceral hatred against her that you did not hesitate to traumatize a genocide survivor just to sully her name, going as far as to hound him and harass him during this period of mourning, what exactly do you blame her for? No doubt some of you will bring up the crime of having founded a precursor party of the FDRL. But you know all too well that this explanation comes up short because the most prominent FDRL Rwarakabije-Ninja, all these Rwandans and soldiers who returned to Rwanda from the Congo forests, were FDRL and they are being let off the hook. You have two FDRL living in your midst, one of which decimated the students in Nyange, yet you brand a lady who didn’t kill anyone with the FDRL label? I know you’d prefer it if we kept our opinions to ourselves, but it has to be said: we don’t buy it. Let me be perfectly frank: I do not believe that Ingabire is involved in the FDRL, and I don’t think the charge of guilt by association stands since the FDRL is obviously not a problem for Kigali when that two high-profile FDRL members are left to their own devices.
What other blame can we lay at the feet of Ingabire? Her Gisozi declaration, made when she arrived in Rwanda, that the Hutus had also suffered their share of deaths? A word of advice, dear compatriots. Be careful here: do not blame her again for being a negationist because of this one sentence. You would come dangerously close committing a treasonous offence of “lèse-majesté” since only a month ago the President of the Republic said the very same thing. As I warned, you should mind what you say! Don’t get mad at me, think before accusing Ingabire of genocide denial and instigating a domino effect of confrontation. The only accusation that could credibly stick to this lady would be that the place and time were poorly chosen to utter these few words, but condemning her for this alone would be a gross error of judgment. At any rate, it is certainly not worth such a bloodthirsty hatred.
So what else? I often hear that Ingabire is sowing hatred. To all my compatriots, I say do not shirk away from the truth, if you are decent people worthy of your names, and do not let yourselves be filled with that vain sentiment. Instead, show me a single word, a single speech where Ingabire is breeding hatred. That is all it would take to show everyone that you are really telling the truth – and not peddling petty lies based on hatred.
And now, what should we blame her for? Should we anticipate imaginary crimes that she is going to commit? Why condemn her in advance for offences she did not even commit? I recall that she lives in Rwanda, in one of the most policed states in the world. Her very actions and movements are scrutinized, her words analyzed down to the slightest onomatopoeia to detect a language gap that would legitimize her condemnation in front of the public. It even seems to me, in fact, that the people who are always watching her for the slightest deviation from the norm or the hint of a crime are constantly disappointed that she does not lower herself to their level of insult. So, then, what is my question? Why do you absolutely want Ingabire to be violent? This reminds me of the all-too common trope of the pyromaniac firefighter. Rwandans can no longer fall into this trap.
We are a traumatized people, we have trauma, but repeating the mistakes of the past and trying to solve our problems through violence will not heal our wounds. At a certain point, repeating something over and over is no longer a mistake, it becomes a conscious decision, an act of will. So let’s pull ourselves together and let Samputu and Ingabire mourn as you and I are allowed to do. I remind you that Ingabire is also in mourning in the truest sense of the word at the moment, since her brother was killed on April 9, 1994. Do you know why he was killed? Because he was believed to be a Tutsi. Which, in concrete terms, means that he was indeed a victim of the genocide against the Tutsis of 1994. I would urge all of you to show some restraint – her brother’s blood is the same as yours.
In closing, I would invite my compatriots to ask themselves if it was worth it to indulge in their hatred for Ingabire to the point of freely attacking a survivor in mourning. As Samputu says himself, he only met a Rwandan woman on a radio show. A Rwandan, like you and me. What does this say of your so-called unity and reconciliation? I dream of a Rwanda where I see Ingabire, Kagame, Kayumba Christophe and Biruta doing politics; where Samputu, Karasira, King James and the Kigali Choir make music; where Gatanazi, Venuste Nshimiyimana, Sabin and Barore do journalism; where the young people of AERG, GAERG and Jambo Asbl, can discuss the future of the country they will one day inherit; I dream of a Rwanda where I can ask questions to all these fine people without fear of retribution.
On this Friday, my gratitude goes out to this vision of a united and reconciled Rwanda that can accommodate everyone I’ve just mentioned. Do you share that dream of mine? Regardless, I am convinced that dream will come to fruition. The dice are cast, as we can clearly see in these moments of mourning: we can feel a united Rwanda rising. The enraged outliers flirting with violence, in a manner reminiscent of what occurred during the years 1990-1994, will have to calm down. They can grumble, terrorize, pulverize, indoctrinate… Rwandans will keep their Zen-like composure, especially during this period of mourning. We are so united now that hatred will no longer separate us. It did once, and cost us over a million deaths. Public figures wanting to stoke violence and division, be they from the regime or the opposition, will no longer have their way; this time Rwandans of all ethnicities shall prevail for a united Rwanda.
Silence, respect our people and stop harassing survivors!
