In the words of Pierre Vidal-Naquet, “To debate with someone, you have to have common ground [...] Just as I do not argue with someone who claims that the moon is a big, round Roquefort cheese. If anyone says that, I allow them the freedom to say it, but I cannot accept to argue with them. All deniers want is to be engaged in discussion, but there is no point of opening a discussion with them, it will never happen because that would mean recognizing that they constitute a historical school of thought, but they are no school of thought, they are a group of forgers.” Accordingly, I won’t be responding to Judi Rever. Her genocide denial is its own undoing. She will be offered platforms in western schools and institutions that promote forgery of African history, or debated by well-meaning activists who either do not know her intentions yet, or do not have proximity to the genocide against the Tutsi. But we Rwandans won’t allow her any of our time or attention. I have not read her book, and I won’t be responding to it. My colleague, Dr. Sila Cehreli did. She was outraged by the wanton distortion of facts, the cynical inversion of roles between victims and killers. I had warned her that it was a bad idea to pollute one’s mind with such garbage, she should have listened… But Sila and I have finally found common interest; Michela Wrong’s book: ‘Do not disturb’. We have written two texts, in French and in English. The reason we keep the texts in two separate languages is because lying journalists are mainly Anglophones and genocide deniers mainly Francophones. However, it is also a homage to fighters in France and in Belgium, who do not tire to oppose genocide denial in all its forms, most times with little means and personal dedication. In summary: Michela Wrong is a British journalist and author who has recently published a book about Rwanda titled: ‘Do Not Disturb: The Story of a Political Murder and an African Regime Gone Bad.’ Published in March 2021, the book is calumnious to the Rwandan President Paul Kagame, the ruling party, the Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF) and the Rwandan government. In it, she accuses them of orchestrating murders and attempted murders of political opponents in exile, and two of them in particular, Patrick Karegeya, former head of Rwanda’s external intelligence and Faustin Kayumba Nyamwasa, former Rwanda’s army chief of staff. She relies on testimonies of exiled Rwandan politicians, members of Uganda’s ruling party the National Resistance Movement (NRM), authors of books on Ugandan war of the early eighties, Human Rights Watch staff and European scholars and journalists, many of whom were close to the defeated regime that committed the genocide and who have not set foot in Rwanda for decades. Michela Wrong compiles all reports and allegations that have ever been levelled against the current Rwandan leadership, but she never interviews them to get their side of the story, nor does she take into account rejoinders on said allegations, like reports by the World Bank, United Nations agencies, international courts’ rulings and even United Nations resolutions. ‘Do not disturb’ is a declinist book, portraying Rwanda as a dystopian society only comparable to North Korea – where no human rights are respected, where poverty and misery are on the rise and where the Hutu population is oppressed. Throughout the book she demonstrates deep cognitive bias, claiming that the heroes in her book were the only men who could have brought about a better Rwanda, that they were ousted for their uprightness and prophecies that without them, the Rwandan government and its institution face an imminent collapse. Michela Wrong or her key informants adduce no single evidence of their claims and dismiss every report, judge or individual who contradicts them as ‘biased, liars, or victim of a collective western guilt’. Like many self-appointed ‘expert’ authors of Rwandan dystopia, it seems no Rwandan is willing to talk freely, all are cunning, untrustworthy, spies, until they meet her way to rediscover both their tongues and the virtues of truth. At several occasions, and possibly a selling point for the book, Wrong strongly criticizes the international community’s financial support to post-genocide Rwanda. To her, the guilt for not stopping the Genocide against the Tutsi shouldn’t be; the international community did nothing wrong – even though a million people were killed on their watch, for some, contribution. Michela Wrong demonstrates arrogance and racism. She refers to Africa as a ‘macho continent’, to show how Rwanda’s women emancipation policies are an accident of nature. She arrogates the right to tell the Rwandan story, but feels no need to petition Rwandans’ side: ‘This is their story’, she writes, ‘whether they like it or not’. In these texts we attempt to eviscerate Wrong’s book, her major methodological errors, her distortion of facts, open lies and well as her racist prejudice. The two texts range between 15 and 20 pages each. We realize that they are long. So Sila and I will be co-authoring a series of articles in this paper discussing the most salient themes canvassed in Wrong’s book. We have put the two texts at the disposal of those who like long reads, on my blog www.gateteviews.rw As will probably be her response, I have no problem to be called ‘Kagame’s spy or sycophant’ nor does Sila fear to be a called a ‘victim of Western guilt’, well, she is from Turkey… I would like readers to note that I have written to all western media that published spectacular praises of Michela Wrong’s book. All refused to publish an opinion from a Rwandan. I even suggested to them to accommodate my colleague Sila, but like the book itself, they wish to promote what Nigerian author Chimamanda Adichie-Ngozie calls ‘a single story’. They do not take it kindly that there is a president in Africa that is doing well. That there is a man who stopped a genocide without the help of the West. That other African delegations come to Rwanda to borrow a leaf of best practices, instead of travelling to London or Paris. That African youth love Paul Kagame instead of any of Western leaders. They hold a grudge against a people that they let die, but refused to die. A people that has risen from the ashes and continue to defy odds and prophecies of doom. But to quote the man himself, « My friends, you can tell any lie about me; you are free to do so. You can pile up tons of lies; it won’t change me, absolutely not. It won’t change this country to be what you want it to be. It doesn’t matter how many lies. That I can promise you. » - Paul Kagame. About the Authors: Me Gatete Nyiringabo Ruhumuliza is a Lawyer and independent political analyst based in Rwanda. He read Law and Political Science at the University of Pretoria. He has authored one book and co-authored two on Rwandan and African politics and Human Rights. He publishes in various newspapers and has a blog: www.gateteviews.rw Dr. Sila Cehreli is a lecturer in history at the Faculty of Political Science of the University of Marmara in Istanbul. She did her postgraduate studies at the ‘Institut dÉtudes Politiques’ in Paris and at the University of Paris I Panthéon-Sorbonne. Laureate of the Auschwitz Foundation - Jacques Rozenberg Prize in 2008, she is the author of 2 books and several articles on the Shoah and the history of international criminal justice. The journal link: https://dergipark.org.tr/tr/download/article-file/1454782
