I was reading in the paper a few days ago about a new movie out called Hotel Rwanda. This movie is based on the genocide that occured in Rwanda 10 years ago. As I was reading about it, I was amazed, not of just the absolute horror of what happened, but the fact that I never heard of the million people that were slaughtered in just 100 days. It was a GENOCIDE, and I never heard about it. Here's a link if none of you have heard of it either. Rwanda Genocide Have any of you heard about this? Was there any coverage of this in other countries? We learn about Hitler and the Nazi fascists in school, why do we not learn about the Tutsis and the Hutus? This kind of thing happens all the time in Africa and we never hear about it, is any one else outraged like me?

The reason that they don't teach about this in most schools is because it occurred in that awkward period of between five and twenty-five years ago, when an event ceases to be a current affair and has not yet reached the point of becoming History. Only if you are around and up-to-date with the news when such things happen are you likely to know about them, and many of us were children when the Rwandan genocide occurred.

Also, I'd heard about it through various mentions on some current affairs programs on arts channels and in some of the better newspapers, so it might just be a matter of chance that you haven't heard of this.

Hmm... well that is quite possible, but I was 8 when it happened and all I got to watch was the news and public broadcasting and I think I would remember asking, "Mom, why are all those people's heads getting cut off with machettes?" My favorite programs were those featuring open-heart surgeries and such so I do doubt it would have gone unnoticed. I remember protesting against a nuclear plant being put in 10 miles from my house when I was 3. I didn't COMPLETELY know why I was there, but I knew what nuclear was and I knew it wasn't good for animals or people. I was very concerned for the fishies I believe, but that is something else entirely. Also, in my school, we learned about Desert Storm and plenty of stuff that happened during the 90's, the Rwanda genocide was never mentioned, but I learned plenty about the Gaza Strip.

Asenyth - when I first read your post I was somewhat amazed that you hadn't heard of the civil was in Rwanda. I would have thought that everyone had at least heard about it... then I realised that we only hear what we are told, we only see and read what we are shown. Which begs the question how does the news affect us and do we get affected differently from different sources?

So rather than hyjack your thread I thought I'd start one of my own on this matter...

I must assume you are not from America? Now that the movie has come out, LOTS of people are asking why there was no media coverage, and thus this thread.

You also have to take into account the age factor - on the whole people under the age of 16 generally don't pay that much attention to world events, or just don't quite get the implications of it.

Before I get flamed, that is a VERY wide generalisation. I understand that people under that age DO pay attention. God knows that half the important stuff that happened in my early teens I'd be hard pressed to remember.

Snugglebum? I'm 19 and very very much concerned about these things if you had read one of my above posts, you would know that. I am not taking too much offense, but I just want you to know I think that it was poor media coverage that I did not hear about this until now, I am an activist. These are the things that I care about. And it wasn't a civil war by definition, Overfriendly. It was a genocide. If the extermination of the Jews and Gypsies in Germany was a civil war, most coutries would have stayed out of it. I think a genocide deserves a lot more attention than just "hearing about it." I think it should be a major world event. A million people died and no one really seems to care and I think that is a travesty that needs to be reconciled by all countries. There are monuments for the Jewish people everywhere you go, but you don't see any for the Rwandians. My problem here is how no one has seemed to make a big deal about this anywhere in the world. Hearing about it is not enough, it is a MUCH BIGGER DEAL than that, I figured some of you would agree. Why is it people are concerned with Hussein so much when it is much worse in Africa. I will venture to say that most of the world apparently does not consider Africans people. In just this event a million people died in a little over 3 months. And it was brutal brutal murder. Hitler was more humane than just cutting people's heads off and EVERYONE knows about that, but not about Rwanda. I just can't seem to drive my point hard enough here. I am just so appalled. Ugh... responses?

Yup, I'm from the UK... which leads me to a question (for anyone from the US), how valid is the following statement?

In the US National News means your State news, International News means the News across America (and in times of War / Conflict - stories that significantly involve America abroad).


Very good point Snuggs, though both Asenyth and I can certainly remember events of a political / current affaris nature from when we were 8 years old - from Asenyth learning about Dessert Storm to what was happening in Gaza... Which begs the question, why Gulf War I and not Rwanda? Was it (as I suspect) because of a lack of US involvement?

I do agree with your generalisation though I'd go further and up (if not totally remove) the age limit to say 20... or am I being ungenerous?

He he, was it a storm of Jell-O and pudding? Sorry, I have to joke when talking about serious matters.

And now that I have calmed down a **little** bit, I will say that people around my age simply do not seem to care about anything going on in the world. I am not one of these people though and I almost cried when lumped in with that lot. I remember watching my little black and white televison and seeing lots of sand and people in camoflauge. I remember when President George H. Bush said "No new taxes!" (I didn't believe him.) Certain things just don't get covered in America. I mean, we're dealing with a two party political system and those two parties are not only next to eachother on the political spectrum, but the closest to the middle. There is something called a Libertarian here as well which is a cross between a Republican and a Democrat, but they don't get much notice (although 'Ahhnold' is one, and Jessie Ventura oddly). Most people here somehow think that Communists and Fascists are nearly the same thing and if they drew a political spectrum, they would put them together. This all scares me, but I'm different then those people, please treat me with respect as I have none for those people. And a lot of the ignorance is in teens and early 20's, but it really does go through at least 30% of everyone in this very naiive country, so yes, you ARE being generous in the age bracket. Things are a little different in my section of the country though. I live in Massachusetts. We're very liberal in this state, and we're pretty much the only one. This is the state where the Pilgrims landed (Plymouth, very uncreative though, that's where they left from) and the state where the American Revolution started. I actually read about Rwanda in a weekly free newspaper called 'The Phenoix' which is a local Boston paper. I didn't see anything about it posted on the web. I hope this gives a little more understanding to my anger. I live in the US, I can't help it, although I did join a movement for New England to cecede from the union. I also asked if I could move to England in a different thread. My anger is at the country that did not seem that it was necessary to cover the news in Rwanda or Sudan or anywhere this type of thing happens all the time. I am simply not like the rest of America and I am not a typical American, otherwise I would not be angry. Notice how there isn't any Americans posting here? Yeah, they don't care. I'm rambling now and I'll stop, just please help me educate this sick little ignorant country, it's so hard to do it alone.

I doubt you heard about it because history texts find things that happened close to the present taboo. My history book didn't even mention Ngo dem Diem's persecution of bhuddists before the Vietnam War. They only stated that he was "An unpopular ruler".
I think some of the people who do remember some thing don't want the younger generation to even find out about them.
There are a few books that argue the impotency of history texts. They argue that they only contain material that heroifies americans, And serve little purpose to history, because history is supposed to be everything that happens, especially things like genocide.
One book I would recommend would be "Lies my teacher told me" by James Lowen. I might be wrong on the authors name, so correct me if I am.

Nah, it's not valid at all. National news is across all of America, and International news is the whole world. We actually do get things that don't directly involve America in the newspapers.

And Oi! Asenyth! Happens there are a few Americans posting here, me being one, and Medae, and plenty others.

Check out here also the horror is continuing as the local combatants are fighting over the valuable local resources with yet more tragidy for the local inhabitants. And by local the numbers are still in hundreds of thousands if not millions

My post wasn't meant to 'lump' you in with that lot at all. Your original post proves that you care a whole hell of a lot about world affairs.

[quote=Twitching,Jan 7 2005, 12:33 AM]
[quote=Overfriendly_Kitten,Jan 6 2005, 06:20 PM]
And Oi! Asenyth! Happens there are a few Americans posting here, me being one, and Medae, and plenty others.

[/quote]

I didn't mean posting on these forums in general, I meant on this particular topic. And in your post you just talked about how we get news coverage from all over and that there are Americans here. What about Rwanda? And we may get some foreign news but we have a tendency to think that the US is the entire world. For example we call the final baseball game in the major league of the season the 'World Series' even though it is a USA only event.

I'd heard about it before, but I didn't really learn about it in any real depth until this summer, when I watched the documentary "Ghosts of Rwanda." (dunno when it came out, but I don't think it was too recently) In that movie, it showed at least some media coverage (on the main American broadcasting networks) about the genocide. Now, obviously, this coverage was just various excerpts taken out to make points in the documentary, so it might not have gotten the full attention of the news and really just appeared in snippits every now and then, but somehow I doubt it.... I mean, it was obviously a major event (I was too young then to understand/remember people talking about it, but I had heard about it a few times since then), so I doubt the networks just wouldn't cover it cause it'd make the Clinton administration look very, very bad or some other reason.

I'd like to add to gerbilfromhell's point. While very biased and often lacking, American news organizations did cover Rwanda fairly well. Fairly well being enough for me to have detailed memories of articles/shows and remembering talking to people about it. I'm an American and 23 now. I guess I was a little older, but I remember reading things in the newspaper and seeing pictures of people with scars from being slashed with machetes. The numbers of people being killed were mentioned a few times, as well as the concern/horror that it wasn't being stopped. I specifically remember bringing it up to my mother, about horrifying it was and asking her why it wasn't being stopped.

My parents only subscribe to American news, so it would have been things like Newsweek, Time, our newspaper or the evening news programs.

Anyway, I'm glad they made that movie. Moolaade is another very important film about Africa and I'd love to see that shown nationally as well, just to get people talking/thinking about all these issues and how to prevent them.

I'm 22 and I remember quite clearly the Rwandan genocide being covered in the media, talking about it in current events at school and the like.

I remember that one of the reasons the genocide started was because of radio announcers who were inciting the people to start killing their neighbours and I remember being shocked that just the radio and not even a government policy or a real person could make people do this. It reminded me a bit of a few years of the Rwandan genocide.