American Tribalism: Road to Rwanda Redux

by @zizii2

I have been spooked these last 10 days by the insanity that erupted here in the US since the Paris terrorist attacks. I wanted to give words to my thoughts. But I froze. Then I rediscovered this piece I began writing in April 2013, but had abandoned for being too alarmist! If only I knew….

Here is the piece completed with a few edits…

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Rwanda: A Haunting Lesson

April 6 marked the (21st) anniversary of the launch of the genocidal nightmare in the central African country of Rwanda that ended 100 days later with 800,000 people dead, and a nation scarred deeply. That was 11.4% of the total population of 7 million. Nearly three-quarters of those massacred were Tutsis who comprised 14% of the entire population.

The word “anniversary” seems inappropriate because although it is technically a neutral term it still invokes positive associations and anticipation. No one should anticipate a genocide nor look forward to marking milestones in its aftermath. Yet mark, we must. The lessons are not simply framed in dog-eared history tomes or award winning films about a bygone tragedy. The lessons are here. With us. Today.

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In societies wracked by mass economic, social and political faultlines the signs are always there for a Rwanda Redux, or a Srebrenica. Hate Radio. Divide and conquer. Nihilism. Opportunistic politicians and cultural loudmouths. Group resentment. Grievance. Silence and apathy from the majority population. Now, all of these do not a genocide trigger. But they exist to be manipulated if conditions ripen.

“The Rwandan genocide resulted from the conscious choice of the elite to promote hatred and fear to keep itself in power. This small, privileged group first set the majority against the minority to counter a growing political opposition within Rwanda. Then, faced with RPF success on the battlefield and at the negotiating table, these few power holders transformed the strategy of ethnic division into genocide. They believed that the extermination campaign would reinstate the solidarity of the Hutu under their leadership and help them win the war, or at least improve their chances of negotiating a favorable peace. They seized control of the state and used its authority to carry out the massacre. (UnitedHumanRights.Org)”

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Memo to Pres. Clinton: Who are you calling a “wuss”?

by @zizii2

MEMO TO PRESIDENT CLINTON: WHO ARE YOU CALLING A “WUSS“?

President Bill Clinton,

Your recent statements about Pres. Barack Obama regarding military action in Syria have gotten my dander up. And so I break my own rule about only focusing my blogging energies on defeating Republicans.

Just what is it, Mr. Clinton, about this President, Obama, that makes you hover around his presidency like an insufferable helicopter parent? That last word is what it is, right? You see him as a minor who requires your supervision, no? Just as in 2007/2008  you called him inexperienced , and angrily told the Late Senator Kennedy that in your “days, Obama would be fetching you coffee”, you just can’t give him space to govern in his own right, right? You see yourself as his chaperon? Armchair quarterback ?

In the first month of the 1st term, as the economy was imploding and Pres Obama was carefully calibrating his words to both provide the unvarnished truth about the dire state of the economy but simultaneously reassure us that we would be able to make it out of the doldrums, you marched onto GMA and other stations to undercut him. You sat there and admonished the President for relaying too gloomy a picture about the economy. You wanted him to lie to us. Sugarcoat the reality of the financial crisis?  Why? Because you cynically thought we couldn’t handle the truth?

You poured cold water on the healthcare law’s chances of being upheld by the Supreme Court last year.

You wrote a book accusing President Obama of being “weak” in the wake of the debt ceiling debacle in 2011, when he decided to focus like a laser on income inequality. You lambasted him for turning into an “occupy Wall street” class warrior.