We Wish to Inform You That Tomorrow We Will Be Killed With Our Families: Picador Classic by Philip Gourevitch (2015-02-12) By texasbeerguide.com

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$10.97 shipping We Wish to Inform You That Tomorrow We Will Be Killed With Our Families: Picador Classic by Philip Gourevitch (2015-02-12)

A tough title but the subject matter deserves it. An excellent informative, well written and heart rendering book essential for anyone remotely interested in the region and how we in “the west” can get it so wrong. It’s as much about the awfulness of Rwanda’s history as it is about incorrect foreign perception and pitiful response a crisis. The book can make you sad and reflective but that aside, do go to Rwanda. Such a beautiful place and the people are lovely. We Wish to Inform You That Tomorrow We Will Be Killed With Our Families: Picador Classic by Philip Gourevitch (2015-02-12) If you could read only one book about Rwanda Genocide, it is the one. We Wish to Inform You That Tomorrow We Will Be Killed With Our Families: Picador Classic by Philip Gourevitch (2015-02-12) For me, this book was a 9/10 and I had difficulty deciding if that should be 4 stars or 5 stars. In the end I went for 5 because it really was everything it said it was but unfortunately not everything there was.

This is a first class page turner of a book which records factual events but reads like a novel. It is a mainly first hand account by an author who lived much of the history and knew many of the key players personally. He develops the story from both a political level and also from the viewpoint of ordinary people caught up in the conflict and their personal dilemmas of whether to stay and help as best they can or whether to flee for the safety of their families. The roll of the colonial powers is explained, Belgium's withdrawal from the area; Frances politicking and meddling; the roll played by neighboring countries like Zaire; the ineptitude of the UN, an impotent force for good in the world and even the Catholic Church's roll in dividing communities along ethnic lines. Hutu President Habyarimana, a draconian ruler, was nicknamed the 'invincible president' until his own people shot his plane down and then his wife subsequently tried to orchestrate events with her own group of followers. Paul Kagame, the current Tutu Rwandan President, formed a resistance group with a ragtag group of followers, which increased in strength until they finally overthrew the Hutu power structure. Now he is in a position like an archeologist that has found a fragmented pot and is trying to make a flawless reconstruction. This is somewhat of an uphill struggle but he is confident of getting there.

This is a book that said it was going to deal with the Rwandan genocide and that is what it has done in a most excellent way. What was not explained here was that the seeds of discontent between the two peoples began many years earlier in the neighboring country of Burundi. Burundi was a democratic monarchy and when the Belgian colonists left, free elections were held. At that time, even though Tutsis represented only 13% of the population they controlled the military and all the major functions of government. In the elections Hutus won 23 of the possible 33 seats in the parliament yet the King appointed a Tutsi prime minister. The Hutus felt disenfranchised and attempted a coup which was put down by the Tutsi military in what many describe as a genocide. Civil unrest was at such a level that the king fearing for his life, fled the country. After several years the situation had stabilized to the point where the former king asked if he could return to his country as a normal citizen. An agreement was brokered through Idi Amin of Uganda however within 24 hours of his return he was assassinated amidst accusations of plots to reinstate Tutsi power. Again there was genocidal activity against the Tutsis. This situation was the precursor which led to Habyarimana's authoritarian control over the Tutsis in Rwanda. It is clear from other ethnic groups around the world that people have a greater affiliation to the group than to the land where they live. For instance the Kurds think of themselves first and foremost as being Kurds, not as Turks or Iraqis or Iranians or any of the lower Caucus lands where they happen to live. So it is with the Hutus and Tutsis, the border between Burundi and Rwanda is an academic division of their communities. I thought that the book started at chapter two and there was a missing first chapter which should have set the scene to the conflict that escalated into Rwanda.

This was my main objection to the book although two other minor niggles should be mentioned. I was hoping for on the psychological motivation of what makes people who have been neighbors and colleagues for years, suddenly take up machetes and hack one another to death. What was going on in their heads and why? Secondly, there was no explanation of why the Rwandan Tutsis did not defend themselves. It was not a similar situation to the Jews in Poland where suddenly an occupying force was there from one day on the next and there was no time to take defensive action. Both groups were equally free to move about in the community so why did the Tutsis choose to be massacred instead of tooling up in preparation? Even if the Hutus had overwhelming force the Tutsis could always take one with them but they chose not to. We never found out why.

Notwithstanding these caveats “We Wish to Inform You” is still within the top one hundred non fiction books of all time and I would highly recommend it. We Wish to Inform You That Tomorrow We Will Be Killed With Our Families: Picador Classic by Philip Gourevitch (2015-02-12) A genocide that should have and could have been stopped. All it needed was someone who cared about humanity rather than taking sides and turning it in to propaganda. It's a harrowing story and a an emotional read. It does make you wonder what NATO's raison d'être is. Is it to stand and watch attrocities take place whilst denying it is actually taking place? France, Belgium, Britain, USA? Obviously Tutsi's don't count as humans. Every so often the Holocaust is mentioned in the news and the response is usually, 'never again'. Since the Holocaust, we've had Bosnia & Rwanda. Never again eh? We Wish to Inform You That Tomorrow We Will Be Killed With Our Families: Picador Classic by Philip Gourevitch (2015-02-12) The definitive account of the Rwandan genocide. I recommend this book to anyone looking for a balanced and well written account of this shameful episode of twentieth century. We Wish to Inform You That Tomorrow We Will Be Killed With Our Families: Picador Classic by Philip Gourevitch (2015-02-12)

Hard subject, but the is the best book on Rwanda. We Wish to Inform You That Tomorrow We Will Be Killed With Our Families: Picador Classic by Philip Gourevitch (2015-02-12)