We Wish to Inform You That Tomorrow We Will be Killed With Our Families: Stories from Rwanda

This book gives a fascinating insight into the Rwandan genocide and associated subjects like the questionable motives & destructive actions of international aid organisations & the UN (and Western governments), the broader conflict in the region in the 1990s and the social and political development of Rwanda itself. The scope of the book is broader than the genocide itself but far from being a meandering detour the post-genocide story of the camps- the Hutu extremist groups reforming in exile and the eventual return is a compelling one in itself and without it any account of the Rwandan genocide is incomplete. Not quite as necessary is the coverage of the relief organisations but I think the issues the author has highlighted are very worthwhile considering. We're used to thinking of relief organisations as infallible, benevolent and also neutral actors in disaster situations and we also take their knowledge of the situation as Gospel, yet accepting the authors views as correct, the various NGOs collectively and their staff individually were creating a very dangerous situation and had a wholly inadequate understanding of what was happening around them. Arguably they were in the process of underwriting and unwittingly facilitating a second genocide before military intervention came. Though it's an allegation not made explicitly, the author hints at a financial motive (not personal corruption I might add) to the various aid agencies continuing their work, describing the work more than once as "lucrative". Also the policies of various Western governments and the UN, whether by design or effect, were heavily pro-Hutu, even following the genocide and this is deservedly highlighted in the book. These aspects are not absolutely necessary to the narrative of the genocide itself but they're certainly not superfluous given the wider scope of the book and I think to be properly informed of the genocide you should be aware of this element of the story. I was surprised to read the criticism of the book detailed on its' Wikipedia page and I fundamentally disagree with it. While not going into a huge amount of detail of the act of genocide itself the book gives a detailed account of the political and social history of Rwanda taking complexities and nuances into account and identifies the trends that led to the genocide. I agree with the author that it's not simplistic to identify as principle villains those who destroyed a society by inducing the majority to hack hundreds and thousands of their neighbours and friends to death with machetes, even in a region as bloody as this. The author generally does take positions on many issues surrounding the conflict, whether you agree with him or not that is to be appreciated in an age when journalists (then, like now) are determined to find the middle ground on many stories even when the narrative that results is clearly ridiculous and itself biased. No doubt the fact the author takes positions will itself be described as "biased" by some but the author makes a very strong case for each of his positions and his own thoughts are not hidden in biased language or questionable assertions. The reader can make up their own mind on the authors views. The author does not delve deeply into the specific details of the killing as a whole, as he points out it was designed to look spontaneous, but you do get a sense of the sheer terror felt by the victims through the many people he interviews. Their accounts are harrowing and the accounts of the violence are bad enough but what I found most shocking was how devious many ostensibly respectable turned out to be. Their duplicity, especially when it came to old friends and neighbours, is difficult to accept on a human level. For example there is the account of a massacre in which it's alleged a preacher encouraged his co-religionist Tutsis, many known to him, to shelter in a particular Church compound before he returned with machete wielding gangs to murder them. This is a truly excellent book, my worst criticism of it would be that some sentences aren't well written and lead to confusion, and I'm glad I read it, it has engendered in me a much greater interest in this part of the world and serves as a jumping off point for many other subjects; 19th century colonialism, pre-European African society, the ongoing conflict that has claimed millions of lives and more broadly subjects like psychology and sociological areas like tribalism, social structure and so on.

"For us, genocide was the gas chamber - what happened in Germany. We were not able to realize that with the machete you can create a genocide."- Boutros Boutros Ghali. Gourevitch weaves a work of nonfiction in this title that one is almost tempted to view as fiction. Such is the magnitude of horrors presented. Sadly, each and every piece of information from this Rwandan genocide is documented. Gourevitch explores in gory details the events of 1994 as well as the precursor building up of hostilities during and subsequent to Belgian colonial rule. What you will learn over the course of this book will chill you; each detail is more gruesome than the last. Gourevitch presents this in a clear, concise manner, providing optimal impact. What really struck me, however, about this work was that it is NOT wholly a scholarly, detached study of the crime. It is the story of the individuals who lived through the event, as well as of those who did not. Most striking, to me, was a passage in the opening pages of the book. Gourevitch, newly landed in Rwanda, is walking with an officer of the Rwandan army. This officer accidentally steps on a skull poking through the ground. Gourevitch is disgusted, ready to denounce the man, until he feels a crunch beneath his feet. He too has trodden upon a skull, as the hillside is littered with remains. The Hutu/Tutsi relationship was never particularly warlike. It was only upon the establishment of colonial rule, the subjugation of the majority Hutu, and the subsequent Belgian shift to support these Hutu, that created the tensions that led to the genocide in the power vacuum of post-independence. Rwanda was a tinderbox at this point, as Hutu extremists took to the airwaves, calling upon all to turn upon their Tutsi neighbors with, often, machetes. Once these extremists shot down the president's aircraft, their path was clear, as they knew help for victims would not emanate from Romeo Dallaire's already besieged UN forces (despite his best efforts) or the United States (conflict-wary following Somalia). Murder, thus, was easy in many respects. Gourevitch tells the tale of cold-blood murder, of the failure of the international community to live up to the Genocide Convention and its own humanity, but, most importantly, of the men and women who struggled for their lives in 1994. The cry of "never again" following the Holocaust may have been a false promise, but, through works such as these, we can all attempt to promise, individually, "never again," one individual at a time.

I have various views of this book. First, it is a very important account of one of the great tragedies of our time. It upsets me that we still only speak of this tragedy without enough specificity. It is too often just a conversation about the million killed in Rwanda without enough focus on who did the killing. It wasn't just a tribe against another. It was people hacking others to death. This book gets us to some of those individuals - both those murdered and those murdering - and that is the chief reason to appreciate the book and thank Mr. Gourevitch for it. However, I wish there some images in the book beyond the couple of maps. Yes, Mr. Gourevitch is a fine writer and helps us see with words. But this kind of genocide cries out for photographic documentation. Maybe there isn't any that is appropriate for the book. But I feel the lack just the same. Finally, this is an important document of the Rwandan terror, but it isn't the final story. It isn't the complete story. That has yet to be written. But I found reading this book a strange sort of nightmare. Everything seems real and it has its own frightening impetus, but it is like a dream where you want things to stop but it won't. It is horrifying and even worse because it all happened to real people and in our time. And notice how everyone runs from accountability. It seems like everyone wants to pretend someone else did it and when you find someone who actually can't run away from involvement they want to pretend it was some awful force that made people unavoidably crazy and should therefore be forgotten. What hogwash. Thanks to Mr. Gourevitch for getting these stories in print for us. I hope we burn these stories in our memory.

1994年のルワンダでの大虐殺についての本です。植民地時代から， 1997年頃までの大虐殺後の混乱（政治的混乱やキャンプやその他で の小規模な虐殺）が続くルワンダと周辺国の情勢について、一通り の知識を得ることができます。 特に，印象的であったのでは，難民ミャンプを支援する援助団体が， ルワンダから逃れてきた犯罪者を結果的に支援することになり，事 件後の混乱を長引かせてしまっていたことです。こういったことは， 我々が持つ「難民」という言葉からはイメージしにくい状態で，新 聞記事で難民ミャンプといわれても，中に武装したグループが力を 付けていったとは絶対に分からないでしょう。この本では，その辺 りのこともうまく描かれており，具来的なリポートならではです。 しかし，この地域は，これからどうなっていくのか。 かつては日本や欧米でも内乱やら虐殺事件等の歴史を経て，現在の なんとか安定した社会を形作ってきたのだと思いますが，アフリカ では今がその安定化した社会への過程なのだろうか？

I have been interested in the Rwandan genocide because my Barnard anthropology prof, Miss McLellan told her class in 1960, that there would be a blood bath there. She had done field work in Rwanda several years earlier. Also, I heard Romeo Dallaire speak when he came to Yellowknife about 10 years ago. This book was fascinating to read. The author has gone to great lengths to tell a very in-depth story. I feel so much better informed about this topic now that I have read his history of the genocide.

Must read to understand the hard realities of the world. Should be read by everyone to ensure it doesnt happen again, anywhere in the world

This is a necessary and harrowing book. It will break your heart and your mind. But it is essential reading. A horrific genocide which we must NEVER forget. Shame on every country who twiddled their thumbs while people were slaughtered. Bless the souls of those who perished. And all strength to the relatives and friends who survived.

Really good book