Rwanda and the New Scramble for Africa: From Tragedy to Useful Imperial Fiction (Paperback) (ISBN-13: 9781926824949)

Former UN Secretary General Boutros Boutros-Ghali declared to author Robin Philpot that "the Rwandan Genocide was 100 percent American responsiblity." Yet a more official narrative would have it that horrible Hutu g nocidaires planned and executed a satanic scheme to eliminate nearly one million Tutsis after the Rwandan presidential plane crashed in the heart of dark Africa on April 6, 1994. Where do these two contradictory narratives come from? Which is true? Robin Philpot's vast and methodical research, extensive interviews, and close analysis of events, testimony in courts, and popular writings on the subject show not only that that official narrative is false, but that it was edified to cover up the causes of the tragedy and to protect the criminals responsible for it. What's more, to make that story more believable, the storytellers have unfailingly reproduced the literary traditions, clich s, and metaphors that provided the underpinnings of slavery, the slave-trade, and colonialism. Nearly 20 years later, the facts about the Rwandan tragedy have been so distorted and the adjudicated facts ignored that Rwanda is now used everywhere to justify so-called humanitarian intervention throughout Africa (and the world). It has become a "useful imperial fiction," and for that reason, this book seeks to find out what really happened there.

Author: Robin Philpot
ISBN-10: 1926824946
ISBN-13: 9781926824949
Publisher: Baraka Books
Language: English
Published: 12/20/2013
Pages: 250
Format: Paperback
Weight: 0.95lbs
Size: 8.90h x 5.90w x 0.80d

Review Citation(s):
Foreword 02/27/2014
Choice 10/01/2014 pg. 339