INFORMING YOU I'M INFORMED

Gourevitch speaks about the U.N.'s frustratingly paternalistic view of the Rwandan court system:

"The Rwandan government regarded the UN's decision to keep its resources [evidence] to itself as an insult. The very existence of the UN court [International Criminal Tribunal] implied that the Rwandan judiciary was incapable of reaching just verdicts, and seemed to dismiss in advance any trials that Rwanda might hold as beneath international standards."
--We wish to inform you that tomorrow we will be killed with our families

I think it's wise to remember that this type of bullshit goes on in the U.S. as well. Take a look at this website, Native American Legal Update. According to the Indian Civil Rights Act, tribal courts can only imprison offenders for up to one year, or fine them $5000, or both. What I remember from my tribal law class is that anything beyond that must go through the state or federal system, which has an extremely high turnover rate, meaning most of the cases never even make it into court. There's also something about tribal courts only having jurisdiction over tribal members. Meaning: Ringo Starr goes onto the rez, kills someone, he cannot be persecuted by the court! That's bonkers!!! Seriously.

A quick review of "We wish..." The subject is the Rwandan genocide, and Gourevitch's take is a moral one. How are foreign nations complicit with the build-up of a Hutu-Tutsi rivalry? And more devastatingly, how did foreign nations continue to prolong the genocide by providing the resources to sustain fugitives?

It gets off on a rough start because of the overwhelming amount of names and information dropped. It also veers from the personal--first person accounts from genocide survivors with philosophical inputs from Gourevitch-- to fact-heavy political accounts. The juxtapositions can be jarring, especially when Gourevitch interprets detail to microscopic amounts. Know that it gets better and that the pieces come together. Gourevitch is a welcome narrator and because what matters here, as in all memoirs and histories, is that the prose is strong enough to sustain any self-serving or leisurely asides en route to the story arc.

The last third of the book is the most fascinating, for it focuses on the aftermath of a genocide. The point is-- the genocide isn't a thing of the past. It continues to deeply effect its citizens, its relationships with neighboring countries, and the rebuilding of a nation. It's also the section that focuses most on Rwanda itself -- for most of the book, Rwandans are featured, foreign countries are featured, but Rwanda the country, aside from physical descriptions, is not well represented. In the final leg, Gourevitch's Rwanda finally emerges and its voice is General Kagame: well-spoken, realistic, and aware. Kagame makes sporadic appearances throughout, but here he has room to breathe and expand on the future. Fascinating, sobering stuff.

Also, I thought I would point out that Gourevitch has one of those faces that look different from every angle! I couldn't really tell which pictures of him were actually him. Kinda weird. Check it:

Am I right or am I right? It's like, dashing journalist, mugshot, and disheveled, balding yuppie. I would have never guessed he had such pointy teeth underneath.

xo, tiffany