Paul Rusesabagina, the real-life hero from Hotel Rwanda, shared his story with over 600 students and faculty in the Student Union on Tuesday. He encouraged people to take action and support true reconciliation efforts in Rwanda. The UCF Global Perspectives Office hosted the forum
Controversy ensued as Rusesabagina announced to students that the 1994 Rwandan Genocide is still raging and killing up to 1,000 people per day.
"A genocide is not something that falls out of nowhere," said Rusesabagina, "neither is it something that stops out of nowhere."
He explained how the genocide has spilled over into the Democratic Republic of Congo. A report submitted in June 2009 to the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights confirms this with over 600 alleged violent incidents occurring in the DRC.
Rusesabagina was a manager of the Belgian-owned Mille Colline hotel during the 1994 Rwandan Genocide, which claimed the lives of over 800,000 Rwandese in the span of three months, which is equivalent to about 10,000 each day. The genocide was a result of rising historical tensions between Hutu and Tutsi tribes in the African Great Lakes region.
During the height of the genocide, the luxury hotel in Rwanda's capital city of Kigali transformed into a refugee camp for over 1,200 people whose lives were spared by Rusesabagina's dexterous negotiations with corrupt officials.
"The best weapons we have in our human arsenal are our words, not guns, missiles or any other firearm," said Rusesabagina.
Rusesabagina's words were put to the test when he made allegations against Rwanda's current government, which he claimed were not giving equal rights to individuals and following the same path as before the genocide.
Several native Rwandese men stood up at the end of the forum and angrily protested that Rusesabagina made donations to the FDLR, a Hutu militia group that is responsible for genocide crimes.
The native Rwandese men also distributed papers throughout the forum that said, "Hotel Rwanda remains a fiction and Paul Rusesabagina is not the man you have seen in the movie!"
Rusesabagina continued to say that he believes all sides of the genocide must be a part of the peace talks, allowing for a compromise that will honor genocide victims and family members.
"In Rwanda, there is always a winner and a loser," said Rusesabagina. "We need to all sit at the same table and make a compromise."
Rusesabagina said that in Rwanda's recent 2010 elections, Rwandan president Paul Kagame's role came into question when several journalists and politicians were put in jail or killed for speaking out against Kagame's political party, the Rwandan Patriotic Front.
Students at the forum were unaware of the controversy surrounding Rusesabagina and the current political situation in Rwanda.
"In all fairness, I didn't really know about any of this beforehand," said Alicia Koutsoulieris, a political science graduate student.
Other students found the allegations to be conspiracy theories, which is what Rose Gilbert, a native to Haiti and senior political science major, said.
"In my home country, there are many rumors like these and I think that he's telling the true story," Gilbert said.
Martin Mugisha, a Rwandese genocide survivor, felt differently. He said that Rusesabagina's version of the Hotel Rwanda story is not the true one. Mugisha was part of the group that protested Rusesabagina's allegations against Rwanda's current regime.
Rusasabagina's wife, Tatiana, was also present for the speech and ignored the allegations.
"I have hope for my country," she said. "I have hope that the next generation won't make the same mistakes."
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5 comments
To most Rwandans, he is the embodiment of the entertainment media's distorting power.Consider the following:Of all the 20+ movies on the 1994 genocide in Rwanda, Hotel Rwanda is the only one that was not filmed in Rwanda and does not feature a single Genocide survivor or Rwandan.
Every year, on heroes-day in Rwanda individuals from all walk of lives (peasants from the remotest villages as well as foreign Heads of State) are recognized for their heroic deeds in 1994. Those heroes are designated by Rwandans from various corners of the country and their are decorated in the presence of the very survivors they rescued. Very few in the US know about these individuals
In Rwanda, meanwhile, very few people knew Rusesabagina until that movie declared him a hero.Almost none of the individuals who were at the 'Hotel des Milles Colline' (Hotel Rwanda) in 1994 acknowledge his role in saving more than a thousand innocent lives. Not the survivors, not the hotel employees, not even the UN peacekeepers stationed at the Hotel.For several years, genocide survivors have been consistently requesting to debate him, to confront him on a panel and offer their versions of the facts. Some of them live right here in the US. They have been systemacilly ignored or accused of being 'RPF agents'. No one wants f the man who was decorated by George Bush to be challenged. Not even by the very genocide survivors whose stories made Rusesabagina a world celebrity.A Hollywood movie producer decided he was a hero, and everyone should revere the 'African Schindler'. Everyone should applaud a man who has built a personal fortune on a gigantic lie and has become a flag bearer for the genocide denier���s campaign .Well not Rwandans! not genocide survivors. No those of us who care! We will not let this man tarnish the names of the true heroes who risked or lost their lives to save innocent people. We will confront Paul Rusesabagina and his PR experts. And we will expose the extent of his fraud.Those who want to meet genuine heroes of the 1994 genocide just need to travel to Rwanda and ask everyday Rwandans.
To most Rwandans, he is the embodiment of the entertainment media's distorting power.Consider the following:Of all the 20+ movies on the 1994 genocide in Rwanda, Hotel Rwanda is the only one that was not filmed in Rwanda and does not feature a single Genocide survivor or Rwandan.
Every year, on heroes-day in Rwanda individuals from all walk of lives (peasants from the remotest villages as well as foreign Heads of State) are recognized for their heroic deeds in 1994. Those heroes are designated by Rwandans from various corners of the country and their are decorated in the presence of the very survivors they rescued. Very few in the US know about these individuals
In Rwanda, meanwhile, very few people knew Rusesabagina until that movie declared him a hero.Almost none of the individuals who were at the ���Hotel des Milles Colline��� (Hotel Rwanda) in 1994 acknowledge his role in saving more than a thousand innocent lives. Not the survivors, not the hotel employees, not even the UN peacekeepers stationed at the Hotel.For several years, genocide survivors have been consistently requesting to debate him, to confront him on a panel and offer their versions of the facts. Some of them live right here in the US. They have been systemacilly ignored or accused of being "RPF agents". No one wants f the man who was decorated by George Bush to be challenged. Not even by the very genocide survivors whose stories made Rusesabagina a world celebrity.A Hollywood movie producer decided he was a hero, and everyone should revere the ���African Schindler���. Everyone should applaud a man who has built a personal fortune on a gigantic lie and has become a flag bearer for the genocide denier���s campaign .Well not Rwandans! not genocide survivors. No those of us who care! We will not let this man tarnish the names of the true heroes who risked or lost their lives to save innocent people. We will confront Paul Rusesabagina and his PR experts. And we will expose the extent of his fraud.Those who want to meet genuine 1994 heroes just need to travel to Rwanda and speak to everyday Rwandans.