Urgent Call to Rwandans - Unite, Mobilise and Organise for a
Democratic Revolution
9 May 2014 , By Theogene Rudasingwa, Source: Fahamu
President Kagame's regime is at its weakest since 1994, with little
legitimacy among Rwandans and increasingly isolated abroad. This is
the time to mobilise and organize to end the suffering of Rwandans.
But the people must overcome their seven deadly demons.
For almost all of us Rwandans, we know how much suffering we are
undergoing. We are a fearful nation. On every hill we live in fear,
anger, suspicion, and uncertain of the future. We are in jails in
Rwanda. We are in jails in Arusha, and even when are free, we cannot
go back home as free people. We are banished as refugees in every
corner of the world. We are silent for fear of persecution if we
speak. We are targets of assassination in every corner of the world.
We are in the jungles of Congo, fighting endless wars that consume
lives of young Rwandans and Congolese so that a dictator may survive
longer. We are poor, and yet being forced to give money to the
so-called Agaciro Development Fund, to a dictator who plunders and
kills Rwandans. We clap for the dictator, and while he is away, or
secretly in our hearts, we wish him dead. We are a humiliated lot,
living as second-class citizens in the country that belongs to all of
us.
The revolution is ripe, since there is enough injustice and human
suffering among us Rwandans. The harvest is plentiful. However, the
harvesters are few. Nothing important in life is ever cheap. It takes
nine months of pregnancy, painful labour and a whole lifetime to get
and raise a useful human being. Revolutions are even more costly. The
number one asset for a revolution is commitment. It cost commitment on
the part of Rwandan kings to run the show for several centuries. Even
the Belgian colonial enterprise was committed to run Rwanda for
decades. It cost commitment to bear and deliver the 1959 MDR
revolution. It cost commitment on the part of the coup-plotters to
deliver the 1973 MRND regime that lasted until 1994. It cost
commitment and sacrifice for RPF to wage and win the 1994 war.
How much commitment do Rwandans have to win the current revolution
whose core mission is to unite and heal all Rwandans? If you ask
Rwandans, they will tell you they want change immediately. A quick and
cheap solution, they will tell you. We spend enormous time on the
internet and social media trading words among us and with the
dangerous regime in Kigali. We are scattered in organizations that are
weak enough to be manipulated, intimidated or bought by the regime.
Many of us are neither hot nor cold. They have one foot in the
revolution and another in the regime that hunts them down. The Hutu
are a marginalized lot, but they dream that one day, as if by magic,
numbers will do the miracle. The Tutsi, hostages falsely believing
that Kagame represents them, are in denial, thinking that monopoly of
the army, intelligence, government and money will save the regime for
ever.
Kagame's regime is at its weakest since 1994, with little legitimacy
among Rwandans and increasingly isolated abroad. This is the time to
mobilise and organize, and shorten the agony and suffering of the
Rwandan people.
We must face and kill these seven demons that consume our commitment
to move quickly to end Kagame's brutal regime:
1. FEAR: Fear is the most powerful weapon in the hands of Kagame and
his clique. The moment Rwandans overcome fear will be the moment the
regime crumbles.
2. PROCRASTINATION: Rwandans know what to do and how to do it but they
are still trapped in believing that it will be done tomorrow. Yet a
day spent procrastinating is another day spent in misery. Laziness has
never been an asset. You reap results in direct relationship to how
much time, resources and effort you have invested in something.
3. MINDS TRAPPED IN DENIAL AND DECEPTION: There still among us who
believe we can restore the Rwandan kingdom, regimes of the past
(MDR-PARMEHUTU, and MRND) or prolong RPF for ever. The past is gone,
and gone for ever. The best we can do is to learn lessons to help us
change the present and re-invent, or re-imagine, the future in which
we leave behind the shared bad past, and build on the shared positives
in our history.
4. SELFISHNESS & GREED: The selfish Rwandans. especially most of us
the elite, tend to think that the world revolves around us and our
immediate family. We have become victims of instant gratification,
without thinking about the future of our children and grandchildren.
Yes, we still have to service the car, the mortgage, summer holiday,
and a lifestyle commensurate with our status. We still have to reserve
some of our resources to invest in our common future. Or, sadly, we
are "bought" for a plate of jobs and money. We are enticed to "come
and see" the new "Rwanda flowing with milk and honey". In our own
country, we are asked to come and see, like visitors or strangers.
Especially among the Hutu, we have become the generation of "come and
see". To come and see your property, and that if you fall on your
knees they will give back to you what belongs to you? What are we
teaching our children? That they must bow in submission if you can
only give them a job or food? Is that agaciro, our value?
5. "THEY WILL DO IT FOR US" MENTALITY: There is a false belief among
us that somebody will do it for us. The Belgians and the French did it
for the Hutu, some say. Others say Americans and the British did it
for the Tutsi. The truth of the matter is that Belgians, French,
Americans and the British look out and fight for their interests.
Rwandans must look out for and fight for their interests first and
foremost. Nobody else will. To get friends who support your cause, you
must show that you deserve their help, you merit it and you will put
it to good use. But you must show that you are in the driver's seat.
and that no matter what, with or without their help, you will win
anyway.
6. THE "US vs THEM" MENTALITY: Rwanda is so precious that very often
we want to have it alone without the other. The other is the enemy.
The other is the problem. The other is "inyangarwanda", the
unpatriotic guys who hate Rwanda. The other killed my people. Who is
holy among us to cast the first stone? The kings? MDR-PARMEHUTU? MRND?
RPF? Hutu? Tutsi? We cannot re-invent Rwanda's past. It is shared, the
good and bad. We can, however, choose to write our future together. We
must be bold and courageous to look at each other from each other's
standpoint, and see areas where we can stand and build together, brick
by brick, one day at a time. We must begin where we live and work. We
must reach out to the other. I am in the other. The other is in me.
7. GUILT AND SHAME. We have wronged each other for too long that the
demons of guilt and shame have robbed us of self esteem. We speak in
whispers so that we are not denounced as genocidaires, interahamwe,
revisionists, those who deny genocide, terrorists, etc. On the
internet we write anonymously so that nobody discovers who we really
are. I personally know exceptionally intelligent Rwandans who cannot
speak out for fear of retribution from Kagame. One told me he could
not be on Radio Itahuka because they ( kagame et al) would connect his
organization with FDLR. Incredible! Somebody with a PHD!! We go to
places we shouldn't be to buy identity and acceptance. Now there are
people in Rwanda who say they have "Tutsi blood" to gain a foothold
withing the mafia that rules Rwanda. There are Tutsi who, I was told,
used to claim they are Hutu during past regimes. We are what we are.
Period. We should be very proud of what we are. We did not bargain
with God to be what He made of us. We are the proud sons and daughters
of the living God. We have all sinned but WE REFUSE to be held in
guilt and shame.
When Kagame taunts us with his death squads armed with cannons and
bayonets, we should stand squarely in his face, and like teenage boy
David to giant Goliath, say: "who is this philistine who defies the
armies of the living God?" . We are building a powerful army of free
Rwandans, armed with peace, truth and unity. The giant shall soon
fall.
So, Rwandans summon the courage to slay the demons of guilt and shame,
" us vs them" mentality, selfishness and greed, "they will do it for
us" mentality, fear, procrastination, denial and deception.
Nurture your commitment. Get off your b--ts and go to work. Or else
you will die in humiliation and misery, and condemn future generations
to a legacy of servitude.
We shall win!
Dr. Theogene Rudasingwa was President Paul Kagame's Chief of Staff,
Rwanda's Ambassador to the United States, and Secretary General of
Rwanda's ruling party, RPF. He is currently the Coordinator of Rwanda
National Congress (RNC) and the author of 'Healing A Nation: A
Testimony'
http://m.allafrica.com/stories/201405091945.html/?maneref=http%3A%2F%2Fmobile.newsnow.co.uk%2FA%2F711901210%3F-
--
SIBOMANA Jean Bosco
Google+: https://plus.google.com/110493390983174363421/posts
YouTube Channel: http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL9B4024D0AE764F3D
http://www.youtube.com/user/sibomanaxyz999
***Online Time:15H30-20H30, heure de Montréal.***Fuseau horaire
domestique: heure normale de la côte Est des Etats-Unis et Canada
(GMT-05:00)***
Reply via web post | • | Reply to sender | • | Reply to group | • | Start a New Topic | • | Messages in this topic (1) |
.To post a message: RwandaLibre@yahoogroups.com; .To join: RwandaLibre-subscribe@yahoogroups.com; .To unsubscribe from this group,send an email to:
RwandaLibre-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com
_____________________________________________________
More news: http://www.amakurunamateka.com ; http://www.ikangurambaga.com ; http://rwandalibre.blogspot.co.uk
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-SVP, considérer environnement avant toute impression de cet e-mail ou les pièces jointes.
======
-Please consider the environment before printing this email or any attachments.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sponsors:
http://www.rencontressansfrontieres.com
http://www.intimitesafricaines.com
http://www.foraha.net
-=-=-=--=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-==-
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: only a member of this blog may post a comment.