Shake Hands with the Devil by Roméo Dallaire is the story of the Rwanda genocide in 1994 from the perspective of the Dallaire who was the head of military operations for the U.N. peacekeeping force of the time. The book is horrifyingly detailed and the last few pages when Roméo describes his own mental breakdown are quite moving, but I can't fully agree with conclusions that he makes.
He claims he would have been able to stop the genocide if given the proper amount of troops and money from developed nations and there's no doubt that's true, but one wonders to what end? The hate the Hutu's possessed for the Tutsis may have been contained for a time but would it ever have fully died? Are we to set up police states in every third world nation to prevent tribal warfare?
Another issue the book made me think of is the Wilsonian doctrine that Neo-Conservatives hold that spreading democracy will help sustain peace. Much was made in the time before the genocide began on the failures of the former warring sides to form a democratic government to stabilize the region. I fail to see how achieving this goal would have done any good as the monsters who were responsible for the genocide were some of the elected officials who were going to be installed. I guess I just don't see how, practically speaking, having government officials in place would have prevented the violence.
One final note, the current president of Rwanda, Paul Kagame, was the leader of the rebels fighting against the incumbent and extremist Rwanda government before and during the genocide. One would think the man would be a man of the people, a revolutionary, but instead Rwanda is still listed as "not free" by the human rights organization Freedom House. So in the end the people of Rwanda are still pretty much screwed.
Fantastic book, but I was left with more questions than others who seem to be convinced by Dallaire's call for a new Age of Humanity.
8 comments:
GREAT come back post husband!
I would not be able to read this book without crying and feeling really depressed for a long time. Not that that's a bad way to feel from time to time. BUT when you read to me some of the horrifying unthinkable things that this tribe (I forget which one, sorry) did to the other tribe including the woman, children, and babies I just could not wrap my mind around it. HOW can anyone do that??? HOW? It's beyond heartbreaking and beyond any word in the dictionary that would describe any evil what happened in Rwanda.
Anyway, I just love you. Sorry for being cheesy and wifey but it's true! You are glorious and the most smartest man in the world!
I see you made the switch to Beta too! Aren't the lables nice!!
I'm with your wife. I am so heart-sensitive that I literally can not read material like this. I want to--I still haven't seen Mel Gibson's The Passion (and I never will).
Just can not do it.
(I don't watch the news either)
I'm not saying that people who read this stuff are insensitive, I'm just saying that some of us are too sensitive. We can't handle it.
The accounts of the actual slaughter, while quite detailed, are also quite limited. You can read probably 98.5% of the book without reading too much gore. Much of the story is the logistical nightmares Dallaire's men faced and the political nature of the area. That type of thing.
BTW, I like reading book reviews and would love to read more of YOUR reviews on the books you've read. Just given you props, yo.
Good to see you back, your thoughts are always triggering me to think/rethink my understanding.
I haven't read this book, but I do remember reading much about it when I was in my first few years of college.
I get annoyed by the hypocrisy of it all. America nearly eliminated the entire native population of this land. Now that we have a stable country, we are standing as judge and jury for the rest of the world. It's not right.
I am not justifying what went on in Rwanda, and continues in many parts of Kenya, Uganda, Zaire, etc. I just know we will never have true peace on this earth until the end of time.
Oh. Well that's good to know. I brought your book review up to my cousin and we talked about how sensitive we are and she said that she was in a doctor's office waiting room, waiting to be seen and this woman was watching a bio-story on that woman that killed all 5 of her kids by drowning them in the bathtub. My cousin wanted to stop watching but it was like the horror of the story forced her to watch.
That's a little like I am. I was getting the newsletters about Darfur and I had to discontinue my subscription because it was too horrific. Ya know? I think it's lame. I'm left out of the loop on important issues because of it.
Yes, I'm kind of afraid to comment.
Last time I did was Nov. 2nd and Scott went away for 3 months?
There is another book out right now called "Left To Tell: Discovering God Amidst the Rwandan Holocaust." It's a really powerful spiritual memoir by a woman who survived the genocide by hiding in a bathroom with seven other women. Although the subject matter deals with the darkest evil of humanity, reading about this woman's experiences and her growth with God is also extremely inspiring and uplifting. Check it out! It might be a nice counter-point to the book you just read!
cheers
Chloe
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