Romèo Dallaire
Tonight, I watched the documentary, Shake Hands with the Devil, which combines elements of Romèo Dallaire's book describing the Rwandan genocide and his journey back to Rwanda in 2004 for the 10th anniversary of the genocide.
I truly have a limitless amount of respect for this man.
A BBC interview that talks about what happened in Rwanda and delves into PTSD.
When I first read Shake Hands with the Devil: The Failure of Humanity in Rwanda last summer, I was struck by two things: Dallaire's complete honesty surrounding everything that he experienced and the fact that he felt no need to vindicate himself. It was the singularly most moving thing that I have ever read, in that it alternates between total detachment as he describes military procedure and UN resolutions, and complete gut-wrenching horror, to the point where you aren't even tempted to cry because it wouldn't do what he describes justice (I recall setting the book down at one point because my stomach was beginning to roll). It isn't just the failure of humanity that he is depicting, it is the complete and utter lack of it, in both the Interahamwe and the international governments that turned a blind eye to (or, in some cases, supported) genocide.
The documentary portrayed all these things, with the addition of stunning (and horrible) visuals to accompany the words. What he says is, like most truths, painful, uncomfortable, and incomprehensible, I think, to anyone who has not witnessed a similar situation, but the message is, in the end, hopeful.
And, really, if someone who has, in his own words, shaken hands with the devil can still find some cause for it, who am I to argue?
I truly have a limitless amount of respect for this man.
A BBC interview that talks about what happened in Rwanda and delves into PTSD.
When I first read Shake Hands with the Devil: The Failure of Humanity in Rwanda last summer, I was struck by two things: Dallaire's complete honesty surrounding everything that he experienced and the fact that he felt no need to vindicate himself. It was the singularly most moving thing that I have ever read, in that it alternates between total detachment as he describes military procedure and UN resolutions, and complete gut-wrenching horror, to the point where you aren't even tempted to cry because it wouldn't do what he describes justice (I recall setting the book down at one point because my stomach was beginning to roll). It isn't just the failure of humanity that he is depicting, it is the complete and utter lack of it, in both the Interahamwe and the international governments that turned a blind eye to (or, in some cases, supported) genocide.
The documentary portrayed all these things, with the addition of stunning (and horrible) visuals to accompany the words. What he says is, like most truths, painful, uncomfortable, and incomprehensible, I think, to anyone who has not witnessed a similar situation, but the message is, in the end, hopeful.
And, really, if someone who has, in his own words, shaken hands with the devil can still find some cause for it, who am I to argue?