I had the privilege of meeting Paul Rusesabagina today when he made a speech for my college. As an added bonus I was asked to say a few words to thank him for coming and for this I was given a seat beside him before he went on stage so that I could ask him a few questions. Afterwards, a few students and myself got to have lunch with him. The whole occasion was an amazing experience.
I wanted to post the few words I said in my thanks. So here they are:
"On behalf of the students here, as well as Humber College, we would like to thank you very much for joining us today and sharing your story Mr. Rusesabagina. Despite the title of your autobiography you are more than an ‘ordinary man’. You may be uncomfortable with being labeled a hero but what you did was beyond heroic.
In your autobiography you discuss the power of words and their role in the genocide. You say, “words are the most effective weapons of death in man’s arsenal. But they can also be powerful tools of life.” You used your words to save 1,268 people, but maybe just as importantly your sharing your words here today, and the many other speeches you do, will continue to impact the way we live our lives. Your words do have power and I am very honored that you shared them with us here today. Maybe WE can begin to reclaim those two words, “Never” , and, “Again”.
Paul, we here at Humber thank you once again, and might I add that there will always be a metaphorical banana beer here for you if and when you choose to return."
When I get a copy of the question and answer transcripts from the lunch I will post that as well. He was a very interesting man with a story that needs to be heard. "We have not yet learned from our past," he said, "and because of this we can not hope to change our future." It is on us, the people who wish to see a better future, to learn from the mistakes that have been made and do our best to rectify them for the sake of our collective future. Too much is at stake.
Monday, February 11, 2008
Meeting Paul Rusesabagina
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4 comments:
May be for you it's a privilege to meet him but for Rwando-Canadians and other people who know the truth about Rusesabagina Paul and what he did during genocide at the Hotel Milles Collines,it's a shame to Humber. We ask why you invite a genocide denier ?He protected the genocidaires in International Tribunal for Rwanda in Arusha.
Nous sommes désolés.
Rusesabagina's Real Role in Hotel Des Milles Collines
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Rwandese Canadian-Association Of Greater Toronto to sylia.kowal, (bcc:eric)
show details Feb 4
Hi Sylvia,
It was a pleasure talking with you. In short, I agree with you as far as letting students get the story from the horse's mouth as they say, but you can imagine how Canadians would react to such if a Holocaust denier like they one who was deported to Germany would be the one instead of Paul Rusesabagina.
As for looking for a balance, they is Sen.Romeo Dallaire, he can be of importance to this story. What about Gerry Caplan, a well known Research and Author of The Preventable Genocide! He is in Toronto and has very different views from Paul Rusesabagina's. Try Professor Egide Karuganga who was in the hotel and you will be surprised with misinformation and representation of the self by your visitor. Egide is at 418 832 9132 or egidek@yahoo.fr . Bring Egide to be with Mr Rusesabagina and you will be disappointment in how low Paul has played on our over 800,000 victims.
I am sending some the literature that I have and more will come later on today.
As I told, our association tries to deal with the wellness of Rwandese Canadians and friends would subscribe to our values and the big one being, being there for the Survivors of Genocide that Paul Rusesabagina does not fully believe.
John
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RUSESABAGINA'S REAL ROLE IN HOTEL DES MILLE COLLINES
The Hotel Rwanda movie enjoyed unexpected fame so did the hero of the movie, Rusesabagina. Though in the beginning the portrayed hero was humble to recognize the genocide, by the effect of megalomania, Rusesabagina misappropriated the composite characters built in him and deliberately put confusion between facts and fictions surrounding the movie, by claiming that he saved more than 1,268 people at the Mille Collines Hotel.
His claims have been rebuffed by the Genocide survivors who were in the Hotel including those portrayed in the movie. Rusesabagina did not play any role in helping people survive at the Mille Collines Hotel. He simply helped some of his friends to get to the Hotel Mille Collines.
In a move to clarify the controversy surrounding Rusesabagina's portrayed heroism in the movie, a Rwandan private radio station Contact FM organized, on February 5, 2006, a show wherein Rusesabagina had agreed to debate with some survivors of the Mille Collines Hotel. At the last minute, Rusesabagina decided not to participate in the debate. In the "Crossfire" show, the survivors rebutted the "heroism" of Rusesabagina:
Pasa Mwenenganucye, a survivor who worked at the hotel recounts: "after taking the hotel keys from me, Rusesabagina started charging money from people camping in the hotel… He immediately cut off all telephone lines in the hotel leaving only one in his office for which he would charge people making calls…"
Rusesabagina is also said to have thrown out of hotel rooms people who could not afford to pay. Senator Wellars Gasamagera, also a survivor at the Hotel recalls: "He charged me Frw 180,000 (US$1,509 then) for four days in a single room I shared with 23 family members. I later decided to get out of the room and stay in the hotel corridors," the Senator said, adding that he arrived at the hotel on April 18, 1994.
After his arrival at the Hotel on 15 April 1994 in the genocide, he cut off the free phone service that was helping people to call for rescue. He only spared one phone and fax machine in his room which would be used by either his friends and relatives or the rich". He also began to reject those who could not pay the hotel.
"Rusesabagina availed rooms in the hotel to a few of Kigali's well-to-do who could afford to pay him," Senator Odette Nyiramirimo, a survivor at the Hotel who was also a personal friend to Rusesabagina revealed. Senator Odette Nyiramirimo revealed that she personally paid for her stay at the hotel. She said that she signed a cheque of US$600 from her Rwanda Commercial Bank (BCR) account, and she realized that the amount was transferred from her account to the account of the hotel after the genocide.
Rusesabagina himself in his autobiography agrees that some people signed cheques promising to pay Sabena: "Some guests of mine who were wealthy came to me with a proposal that they would sign a letter of guarantee promising to pay Sabena when the trouble was over, and I accepted this." (Paul Rusesabagina, An Ordinary Man, p. 137) If they were not asked money, why should they volunteer to sign letters promising to pay Sabena? The proposal of signing letters resulted from pressure exerted on them by Rusesabagina to pay.
At hotel Mille Collines, Rusesabagina started charging people and chasing out of rooms those who were not capable to pay. Some of those who fell victims include; Jean Pierre Muligo, Chantal Mugabushaka and Isidore Mulindahabi (all are still alive).
Mr. Christopher Shamukiga said that on the April 30, 1994 while at Hotel Mille Collines, he discovered large stocks of food and drinks in the Hotel basement. He started distributing this food to the hungry refugees. When Rusesabagina learnt of it, he summoned him to his office and charged him 500,000 Rwandan francs.
He never supplied food or drinks to the refugees at the hotel as he claims. Instead, he tried to hinder food supplies by NGO's in an attempt to sell the stock of food left in hotel and make money", says Tatien Ndolimana, a genocide survivor.
On May 18, 1994, Mr. Michel Houtart, the President of Sabena hotels instructed Rusesabagina to stop rejecting those who could not afford payment. He however refused and instead hosted those who could afford to pay. The rest were chased away.
The family of the Late Anselme Sakumi (who died during the genocide), spent over two hours outside the hotel pleading with Rusesabagina to be allowed into the Hotel. He refused them entry until someone called Muvunyi gave him a cheque as a guarantee of payment.
He also got cheques from different people, which cheques he would withdraw from Banque de Kigali - Gitarama branch as testified by Louis Kigerinyange who used to work with the bank.
Rutaganda Georges, the ICTR inmate, revealed in a testimony made in March 2005 that Rusesabagina didn't play any special role at the Mille Collines Hotel.
According to many witnesses even present in Switzerland, the survivors at the hotel were not saved by Rusesabagina. On the contrary, Rusesabagina strives to present himself as the single hero during the genocide and downplays the role of other individuals and forces in saving people. He refuses to recognize various factors that led to the survival of people in the Hotel, among others:
The Hotel Mille Collines was declared the UN protected site. In addition, the visit at the Hotel by international high ranking officials such as José Ayalala-Lasso, the then UN high commissioner in charge of human rights and Bernard Kouchner, the then French militant on humanitarian action at the hotel turned the attention of the international community on the Hotel.
The Sabena Company business interests in the Hotel, coupled with some members of the international community who occupied the Hotel were major factors which spared the Hotel from the attacks of the Interahamwe militia. The Sabena group put a lot of pressure on the extremists to spare the Hotel.
The genocidal forces, confronted by the military triumph of the Rwanda Patriotic Army (RPA), had ulterior motives in maintaining a number of Tutsis in a known site like the Hotel des Mille Collines, so that they may use them as the ransom and bargaining power for possible negotiations with the Rwandese Patriotic Front since the RPF had captives from the genocidal regime in its hands. Therefore, Tutsi were strategically maintained at the Hotel and their lives were saved for this purpose.
PAUL RUSESABAGINA'S CLOSE RELATIONSHIP WITH GENOCIDAIRES
Considering Rusesabagina's close relationship with dignitaries of the genocidal government, such as Théoneste Bagosora and Gen. Augustin Bizimungu, the circumstances in which he helped his friends should not be considered as extraordinary. In any case, he never risked his life in saving people since he was not the target of the genocide. Some people tend to believe that he should be considered like a hero because he didn't kill any body whereas he had every possibility to kill or deliver victims to the killers. Should people praise him for not having done so as if killing a Tutsi was legitimate?
Given his friendship with the genocide masterminds who, at a given extent, contributed to his fame, it is not surprising that Rusesabagina has become their advocate and that he tries to minimize the magnitude of their crimes or discharge them from the genocide.
Rusesabagina created a political party known as PDR-Ihumure which is largely composed of Hutu extremists. The top leadership of this political party is composed of people suspected for their role in the genocide or people who have relatives detained for their role in the genocide.
While traveling for public speaking events, Paul Rusesabagina always take the opportunity to meet genocide suspects to bring back confidence among them and to assure them that he will use his public speaking events to ensure that they will not be prosecuted.
Rusesabagina is a close buddy and associate to some of the cream of genocide architects, who designed the plan that was to guarantee the extermination of a section of Rwandans. Some of such genocidaires include; Georges Rutaganda, Augustin Bizimungu and Théoneste Bagosora. He admitted this himself in an interview at Borders Bookshop in North London, May 25, 2006. In his interview offered to the VOA TV, he said that he "never saw Gen. Bizimungu killing people, that he instead saw him saving people." In a conference held at the Concordia University, on 12 January 2006, he expressed his readiness to go to the ICTR to defend Gen. Augustin Bizimungu.
He has also conducted numerous meetings with members of FDLR, a group which conducted the 1994 genocide and listed among international terrorist groups. To illustrate this, one could mention the meeting held in Cape town (South Africa) in January 2007 where he promised that he will get military support for them; and the numerous affidavits he signed for genocide suspects hiding throughout the world (the most recent being on Emmanuel Munyambuga held in the United Kingdom).
Rusesabagina's political party (PDR – IHUMURE) has been actively lobbying through the media to prevent the arrest of genocide suspects. Rusesabagina has also created a network composed of political allies based in the US and Belgium whose main role is to tarnish the image of Rwanda and to distort facts in the media. This network is led by people such as Providence Rubingisa and Pio Ngilikesha, well known genocide negationists.
While traveling for public speaking events, the leader of PDR -
IHUMURE, Paul Rusesabagina always takes the opportunity to meet
genocide suspects (mainly FDLR members) to win back confidence
among them and to assure them that he will continue lobbying to avoid
their arrest and subsequent prosecution. His speeches as well as those
of his sympathizers have mainly rotated around reviving hatred of
Hutus against Tutsis like it happened slightly before the 1994 genocide.
Rusesabagina has also been meeting defense attorneys of genocide suspects held in Arusha. The most recent is a secret meeting held in Philadelphia on 11th February 2007 with Peter Erlinder, president of ICTR defense attorneys. The meeting was meant to exchange ideas on how they can lobby for the extension of the mandate of the ICTR.
He also works closely with Charles Onana and Pierre Péan, well known for their negationism and who are in close contact with all the people behind PDR – Ihumure. The motive behind their close association is to deny the preparation of the genocide, and depict genocide as a mere result of popular furor caused by the death of President Habyarimana.
RUSESABAGINA'S HIDDEN AGENDA
Today, Rusesabagina continues to take a stand for humanity as he travels the world seeking to raise money and awareness allegedly to end the suffering of the people left in Rwanda. He started the Rusesabagina Foundation purportedly to bring hope and aid to Rwandan widows and orphans.
When Hotel Rwanda was being worked on, Paul Rusesabagina promised to avail 6% of its profits to Rwandan genocide survivors. This support has not been availed up to now.
Under the guise of being a humanitarian and after amassing hefty sums of money from the movie "Hotel Rwanda", Rusesabagina swiftly changed his carrier and became a politician hoping to topple the current regime in Rwanda. He has invested in the PDR-Ihumure party, composed of genocidaires, and he is progressively portraying himself as the only choice.
The real intention behind his public speaking events is to prepare for future election campaigns in Rwanda. He has undertaken a marathon of public appearances so that the publicity surrounding him could make him the official spokesperson of the Rwandan opposition.
The movie Hotel Rwanda may have helped to raise public awareness of the Rwandan genocide, and that is a good thing. But it remains a movie nonetheless, a product of Hollywood in which some characters may be real or fictitious. We must be careful to make the distinction and not be quick to move with the wind.
It is sad that Reverend Jesse Jackson in particular and the event organizers in general would be swayed by the fray of Hollywood fame and media hype to the extent of working with and inviting an obscure individual whose acts are questionable in many respects.
We are requesting Reverend Jesse Jackson and those involved in organising this event to deny individuals like Rusesabagina an opportunity to destroy the enormous strides achieved by Rwandans so far by keeping away from their manipulations. Their dirty political tricks are clearly destructive and should be condemned in the strongest terms possible.
We fervently believe that such an individual lacks the minimum moral standing required to address any distinguished forum organized by people of international prominence. We therefore dare to hope that this will indeed no longer be the case.
Hi Norman,if you want know Mr Paul Rusesabagina take a time and read this article.
A writer in greatlakes wrote:
Basing on my research on Paul Rusessabagina which i have just sent to below, i think the man is noot a hero in the way he is portrayed, especially in the film of Hotel Rwanda.
The Hollywood-fabricated hero Paul Rusesabagina is using ethnic divisionism as a political tool designed to achieve his personal ends. He has embarked on a campaign aimed at pitting Tutsis against Hutus in order to gain more sympathizers among those opposed to the Rwandan Government. He has recently been touring the world, especially targeting gullible media groups, universities and colleges where people are not well conversant with the Rwandan history.
His message is intended to reverse the history of the 1994 Rwandan genocide by making people believe that there was a double genocide. He claims that the Tutsis also committed genocide of the Hutus and that the current Government of Rwanda is planning another genocide against the Hutus.
In an interview with Reuters in January 11, 2007, Rusesabagina said: "Actually we are not very far from another genocide ... Since 1994, Tutsis have been killing Hutus, and even now there are many who are being killed, or who simply disappear," he said. "Everything has been taken over by the Tutsi. The Hutu who are 85 percent of the population are intimidated."
Under the guise of being a humanitarian and after amassing hefty sums of money from the movie "Hotel Rwanda", Rusesabagina swiftly changed his carrier and became a politician hoping to topple the current regime in Rwanda. He has invested in the PDR-Ihumure party, composed of the opponents of Rwanda, and he is progressively portraying himself as the only choice. Most among his targeted supporters are nostalgic of Habyarimana's regime that committed genocide, and who do not recognize the current Rwandan government. To win their trust and support, Rusesabagina has to champion and be a vanguard of their ideology. That's why he builds on ethnic divisionism.
WHO IS PAUL RUSESABAGINA AND WHAT ARE HIS INTENTIONS?
Rusesabagina was portrayed as a "hero" in the movie "Hotel Rwanda", in a bid to represent composite heroic characters of some Hutus who showed their courage in saving their compatriots sometimes at the expense of their lives.
The movie enjoyed unexpected fame so did the "hero" of the movie, Rusesabagina. Though in the beginning the portrayed hero was humble to recognize the genocide, by the effect of megalomania, Rusesabagina misappropriated the composite characters built in him and deliberately put confusion between facts and fictions surrounding the movie, by claiming that he saved more than 1,268 people at the Mille Collines Hotel.
His claims have been rebuffed by the Genocide survivors who were in the Hotel including those portrayed in the movie. Rusesabagina did not play any role in helping people survive at the Mille Collines Hotel. He simply helped some of his few friends to get to the Mille Collines Hotel and later exploited the misery of the Hotel inhabitants for his personal enrichment; a motivation that still characters him today.
In a move to clarify the controversy surrounding Rusesabagina's portrayed heroism in the movie, a Rwandan private radio station Contact FM organized, on February 5, 2006, a show wherein Rusesabagina had agreed to debate with some survivors of the Mille Collines Hotel. At the last minute, Rusesabagina decided not to participate in the debate. In the "Crossfire" show, the survivors rebutted the "heroism" of Rusesabagina:
o Pasa Mwenenganucye, a survivor who worked at the hotel recounts: "after taking the hotel keys from me, Rusesabagina started charging money from people camping in the hotel... He immediately cut off all telephone lines in the hotel leaving only one in his office for which he would charge people making calls..."
o Rusesabagina is also said to have thrown out of hotel rooms people who could not afford to pay. Senator Wellars Gasamagera, also a survivor at the Hotel recalls: " He charged me Frw 180,000 (US$1,509 then) for four days in a single room I shared with 23 family members. I later decided to get out of the room and stay in the hotel corridors," the Senator said, adding that he arrived at the hotel on April 18, 1994.
After his arrival at the Hotel on 15 April 1994 during the genocide, Rusesabagina cut off the free phone service that was helping people to call for rescue. He only spared one phone and fax machine in his room which would be used by either his friends and relatives or the rich". He also began to throw out those who could not pay the hotel.
o "Rusesabagina availed rooms in the hotel to a few of Kigali's well-to-do who could afford to pay him," Senator Odette Nyiramirimo, a survivor at the Hotel who was also a personal friend to Rusesabagina revealed.
o Senator Odette Nyiramirimo revealed that she personally paid for her stay at the hotel. She said that she signed a cheque of US$600 from her Rwanda Commercial Bank (BCR) account, and she realized that the amount was transferred from her account to the account of the hotel after genocide.
o Rusesabagina himself in his autobiography agrees that some people signed cheques promising to pay Sabena (owner of the Hotel): "Some guests of mine who were wealthy came to me with a proposal that they would sign a letter of guarantee promising to pay Sabena when the trouble was over, and I accepted this." (Paul Rusesabagina, An Ordinary Man, p. 137)
o If they were not asked money, why should they volunteer to sign letters promising to pay Sabena? The proposal of signing letters resulted from pressure exerted on them by Rusesabagina to pay in cash.
Rusesabagina rebuffs all the facts surrounding his role at the Hotel Mille Collines, and considers them as mere allegations concocted by the Rwandan Government. He disregards doubt over his claims shown by other individuals.
o Rutaganda Georges, the ICTR inmate and Rusesabagina's close confidant and business associate during the genocide as depicted in "Hotel Rwanda", revealed in a testimony made in March 2005 that Rusesabagina didn't play any special role at the Mille Collines Hotel.
o Linda Melvern, a British investigative researcher, in her correspondence of May 23, 2006 to The New Times, confirmed the above factors that led to the survival of people in the Hotel and commented on the content of Rusesabagina's book, "An Ordinary Man": "The version of events described in this book [An Ordinary Man] and concerning the genocide in Kigali seems to deviate from the facts as I have researched them. I do not understand the claim that Paul Rusesabagina was responsible for saving the lives of those Rwandans trapped at Hotel des Mille Collines". Linda Melvern is an investigative researcher who published books on the 1994 genocide, including A People Betrayed, and Conspiracy to Murder. (For her comments, see the following link: http://allafrica.com/stories/200605300531.html.
Rusesabagina has adopted a new strategy to evade criticism. Short of arguments over his alleged heroism, he has now adopted a new strategy, whereby he presents himself as "an ordinary man", a tendency that could be interpreted by someone who does not know his real personality and ambitions as a proof of "modesty". But the way he explains his being "an ordinary man" reveals how much he sticks on the characters given to him in the movie and should be seen as a disguised claim of heroism. As matter of fact, in his interview offered to the VOA TV on the 14th June 2006, Rusesabagina said that he is "an ordinary man who did extraordinary things in extraordinary circumstances."
Considering Rusesabagina's close relationship with dignitaries of the genocidal government, such as Théoneste Bagosora and Gen. Augustin Bizimungu, the circumstances in which he helped his friends should not be considered as extraordinary. In any case, he never risked his life in saving any body since he was not the target of the genocide. Some people tend to believe that he should be considered like a hero because he didn't kill any body whereas he had every possibility to kill or deliver victims to the killers. Should people praise him for not having done so as if killing a Tutsi was legitimate?
PAUL RUSESABAGINA AS A SPOKESPERSON OF NEGATIONISTS AND REVISIONISTS
Paul Rusesabagina has at present taken on the role of an authorized puppet and spokesperson for the negationists and revisionists of the 1994 genocide. From the time when he attained his new found "fame" as a "hero" from the producers of the movie Hotel Rwanda to whom he sold an incorrect story, Rusesabagina has launched an unrelenting attack on the Government of Rwanda and the RPF party at all forums he has had the opportunity to address.
He has maintained a hateful propaganda full of falsehoods and misinformation directed against the government of Rwanda, by raising all sorts of allegations and fabrications aimed at undermining the RPF party.
The biggest and worst problem of Rusesabagina's propaganda against the Government of Rwanda is that he is building on ethnic divisionism. This is a very serious issue that nobody should be allowed to play with. Unfortunately, it is the slave card played by those responsible of the genocide. It is awful that Rusesabagina turns out today gratifying himself as a humanitarian, yet it is on record that he worked, and still works intimately with the perpetrators of genocide.
According to Rusesabagina himself, he is a close buddy and associate to the genocide architects, who designed the plan that was to guarantee the extermination of the Tutsis. Some of such genocidaires include; Georges Rutaganda, Augustin Bizimungu and Théoneste Bagosora. He admitted this himself in an interview at Borders Bookshop in North London, May 25, 2006. Even in his auto-biography, "An Ordinary Man", he admits that he was friendly to them.
Given his personal friendship with the genocide masterminders who, to a given extent, contributed to his fame, it is not surprising that Rusesabagina has become their advocate and that he tries to minimize the magnitude of their crimes or discharge them from the genocide. In his interview offered to the VOA TV, he said that he "never saw Gen. Bizimungu killing people, that he instead saw him saving people." In a conference held at the Concordia University, on 12 January 2006, he expressed his readiness to go to the ICTR to defend Gen. Augustin Bizimungu. Surely is this the savior of the 1,268 survivors?
RUSESABAGINA AS A PROMOTER OF REVISIONIST AND NEGATIONIST THEORIES
Rusesabagina deliberately ignores the fact that UN and various international organizations confirmed that the 1994 genocide targeted the Tutsis, that it is the former Government that prepared and executed the genocide and that it is the RPA forces that halted it. On the contrary, he attempts to criminalize those who halted the genocide and exonerate those who committed it. He presents RPF as having had a share of responsibility in the Rwandan tragedy. He is promoting the theory of "double genocide" to protect his genocidal friends as he cleanses himself to sainthood and portrays himself as above all Rwandans.
He accuses President Kagame of being behind the shooting down of the aircraft carrying President Juvenal Habyarimana, and assumes that he is the triggerman of the Rwandan genocide of 1994 and the architect of the genocide after 1994. He rules out all responsibility of Habyarimana's regime in the genocide and criminalizes the RPF forces that halted the genocide. This is clear evidence that he clears the genocide perpetrators of their responsibility in the preparation and execution of the Rwandan genocide, harboring at the same time the ideology of genocide and divisionism.
RUSESABAGINA'S HIDDEN AGENDA
While Rusesabagina has his rights to invest in politics, he has no right to use the Rwandan genocide as a capital to achieve his political agenda. It is unfortunate that Rusesabagina uses celebrity he took from the movie "Hotel Rwanda" to conduct a propaganda designed to defend genocide perpetrators and to reverse historical facts for the sake of his political ambitions.
He has taken on rhetoric clearly designed to blackmail the Rwandan Government and the RPF party, while strategically positioning himself as the only credible alternative key figure in Rwanda. This is intended to help him win public sympathy. However, this is all a very fruitless and unproductive venture, since Rwandans can no longer be taken for a drive by the likes of Paul Rusesabagina.
It is unfortunate that some of media groups and members of the international community have not yet understood the role individuals of the kind can play in propagating genocide. It is unfortunate that despite Rusesabagina's hate messages, some universities and associations are still giving him the opportunity to poison the brains of their people by hosting him, while they should be denouncing his dirty genocide-ridden propaganda.
The writer is a Researcher in
Great Lakes Region
PS: For me he participate in genocide , he didn't help the peoples in difficulties but he did the opposite. Why he collecetd money from refugees?He didn't even give water to refugees . The refugees who didn't have money they drunk water from swimming pool of the hotel .That's not humanity.
If you want know a lot about that guy ,contact the survivors who lived wive him. Invite senator Odette Nyiramimo or senator Wellars Gasamagera, or Egide Karuranga,professor in Quebec .
I will appreciate if you approve my comments.Please dont't delete it.
Thank you.
I have read through the comments made by John and his anonymous accomplices and I am extremely aggravated if not disappointed. Terry George the co-director of Hotel Rwanda has refuted all this claims in his well written letter to the Washington post dated May, 10 2006. Its tittle- Smearing a Hero
Sad Revisionism Over 'Hotel Rwanda' (see http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/05/09/AR2006050901242.html
In his personally written column, Terry George is an eye opener to the evils of KIgali regime, their blatant lies and there struggle to distort history. But facts can only be ignored for so long.
In brief, Terry George did meet with Paul Kagame, his wife and his cabinet sat with them as they watched the movie. After the movie, Paul Kagame is reportedly to have leaned on him and thanked him for exposing the horrors of genocide. In fact Hotel Rwanda was screened in Kigali's biggest stadium with an audience of 10,000. Neither did Mr. Kagame of any members of his cabinet condemn his work, instead they showered him with praise.
So when did they (Kigali's regime) start realizing that Paul Rusesabagina was not a Hero.
It all started on a cold morning of Heroes day, when President Paul Kagame (during his speech) loudly condemned heros made by hollywood in apparent reference to Paul Rusesabagina.
The Kigali regime is increasingly becoming authoritarian and intolerant to pluralism. They act with brutality to anyone who poses a challenge to their status quo. Paul Rusesabagina happens to be the only Hutu who can challenge the mono-ethnic rule because of his international repute and his innocence as far as genocide is concerned. He has refused to sell the Kigali version of the story. This is the version that demonizes or hutu as genocide perpetrators while sanctifying the Tutsi- treating them like angels. The truth is, The RPF (the rival militant group during the genocide) committed heinous crimes that have been well documented. Human Rights watch and other international organizations have asked that members of the RPF face justice for the crimes they committed.
This is the version of the story that angers Kigali the most. Its a thorn in the flesh for them. But far/ how long can they go with their lies is still to be seen.
Rusesabagina's main call for Rwanda is the establishment of an independent truth and reconciliation commission. The government of Rwanda sharply disagrees. claiming that significant progress has been made towards reconciling the people of Rwanda. Yet their cheer leading media always reports about the existence of genocide ideology and hutu rebels, a clear indication that reconciliation is far from being achieved.
Well the anonymous writes and John may disagree but Paul Rusesabagina remains a hero to many. He did what many have not done, and are not doing. I wish people in Rwanda will emulate him and stop making politics out of a noble act. So much talking and little action.
As for the Canadian professors, we dont need academics to explain an act of humanity. There are so many canadian/ Rwandans who dont subscribe to their version of the story. In deed, there are many Mille colline survivors who give testament to Paul Rusesabagina's work. Thank you
I am attaching Terr George's letter to the Washington Post. Be informed and make your own judgement. Information is power
Smearing a Hero
Sad Revisionism Over 'Hotel Rwanda'
By Terry George
Wednesday, May 10, 2006; Page A25
Paul Rusesabagina, the real-life hero of the movie "Hotel Rwanda," is being denounced by some in his country as a traitor and a criminal. Perhaps he helped bring some of this abuse on himself, but none of it is deserved. As director and producer of the film, I'd like to explain.
To make a film of a true story you must compress timelines, create composite characters and dramatize emotions. When it came to making "Hotel Rwanda" -- the story of how Paul Rusesabagina saved the lives of hundreds of people who took shelter from the 1994 genocide in the hotel he managed -- I was obsessed with getting it right. The Rwandan episode was a slaughter of unimaginable horror and magnitude, yet I firmly believed I had found a story that showed that even in the midst of such horror the human capacity for good can triumph.
Paul Rusesabagina (By Chris Pizzello -- Associated Press)
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VOICES ON GENOCIDE PREVENTION
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Before making the film, I grilled Rusesabagina and read all I could about his experience. I traveled to Brussels and Rwanda, and I met survivors from his hotel, some of whom still worked there. No one contradicted his story.
When the film was released, Rusesabagina was acknowledged as a hero not just by ordinary people across the United States and Europe but also by diplomats, politicians, journalists and Rwandan officials in diplomatic posts here. Rwandan expatriates gave testimony to the veracity of the film, as did people who had been in the hotel and who tearfully acknowledged Rusesabagina's role.
Last May I had the chance to meet Rwandan President Paul Kagame in Rwanda. I sat beside him as he and his wife and most of Rwanda's parliament watched the movie. Afterward he leaned over to me and said the film had done much good around the world in exposing the horrors of the genocide. The next evening, I screened the film at Amahoro Stadium for some 10,000 people. It was the most emotional screening I have ever been at. I spent close to an hour afterward accepting thanks and congratulations.
But there was one empty seat at both screenings -- the one reserved for Paul Rusesabagina. Two days before, as I waited for him to join me at the boarding gate in Brussels for the flight to Kigali, he called to say he had decided not to travel to Rwanda. On his speaking tours around the United States and Europe, he had begun to criticize Kagame's government, saying that the last election in Rwanda, in which Kagame received 90.5 percent of the vote, was not democratic and that true peace would come to Rwanda only when it had an inclusive government. Because of his criticism, Rusesabagina said, he had been advised that it would not be safe for him. I could not persuade him to come.
Last fall his fears were borne out when Rwandan journalists and politicians began a smear campaign against him. On Oct. 28 a reporter for the Rwandan daily newspaper the New Times ran a long story on the "true nature" of Rusesabagina, which quoted a former receptionist at the hotel as saying that he had saved only his few friends, and that he had charged people to stay in the rooms (a fact we had highlighted and explained in the film). Buried at the end of the piece was probably the true fear of the Rwandan authorities: that Rusesabagina planned to form a political party.
The newspaper attacks on Rusesabagina have steadily escalated. In November he received the Presidential Medal of Freedom from President Bush. Six days later a New Times editorial said he would "go down in the annals of history as a man who sold the soul of the Rwandan Genocide to amass medals."
In February Kagame joined the campaign -- cryptically at first. In a speech at Amahoro Stadium to mark National Heroes Day, Kagame said Rwanda's heroes are not made in America, Europe or in Asia; cinema or film stars have no place on the list of national heroes. He went on to make several veiled comments about "a manufactured hero."
A few days later Rwandan Radio ran a two-hour live talk show about Rusesabagina. The speakers included genocide survivors and, sadly, some old friends of Rusesabagina's. Francois Xavier Ngarambe, the president of Ibuka, the umbrella body of genocide survivors' associations, ended the show by claiming: "He has hijacked heroism. He is trading with the genocide. He should be charged."
I called Rusesabagina in Brussels to discuss what was going on. He said he saw the smear campaign as confirmation of his previous fears and of his reservations about the Kagame regime. His new autobiography, "An Ordinary Man," will only make things worse, as in his last chapter he writes, "Rwanda is today a nation governed by and for the benefit of a small group of elite Tutsis. . . . Those few Hutus who have been elevated to high-ranking posts are usually empty suits without any real authority of their own. They are known locally as Hutus de service or Hutus for hire."
On April 6, the 12th anniversary of the genocide, Kagame launched his first attack on Rusesabagina, saying, "He should try his talents elsewhere and not climb on the falsehood of being a hero, because it's totally false." I pray that this situation can be resolved. The millions who saw "Hotel Rwanda" and received its message of hope ought to know that they were not duped.
I understand Paul Rusesabagina's desire to foster inclusiveness in Rwanda. I understand, as well, Kagame's legitimate fear that the country has suffered too much, too recently, to allow divisions to be fostered. There are many politicians here and abroad who could mediate this clash. "Hotel Rwanda 2" is a sequel I never want to make.
Terry George was co-writer, director and producer of the film "Hotel Rwanda."
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