Jan 10 2009
Rusesabagina
I just finished reading An Ordinary Man: An Autobiography by Paul Rusesabagina, the man who was the inspiration for the film “Hotel Rwanda.”
I’m still trying to get my head around what he wrote. There’s no way to imagine what he saw, felt, smelled, experienced. However, he writes so openly and simply that even the most complicated experience or thought is communicable, at least in essence.
Having worked with Burundians and a few Rwandans that have resettled as refugees in the United States, I still had little understanding of the specific stories the people I worked with had about the atrocities they witnessed from which they fled. When I read this account, I had a slightly better understanding of the politics at play in the 1994 Rwandan genocide, as well as the groupthink mentality that distorted so many so quickly. Also, just to read a personal account opened my eyes a small bit.
800,000 killed in 90 days, or so. 1,268 Tutsis and moderate Hutus were sheltered in the hotel Rusesabagina managed. Words were his weapon of choice to save those in his hotel. They are still his weapon through his book. He clearly and openly discusses the lack of responsibility and action on the parts of the UN, the U.S., Rwandans, and others.
I wonder if you could spell out the terminology “groupthink mentality” for your viewers, Leyla. Otherwise it is a timely book review.