1. The documentary explains what happened during the Rwandan Civil War. It questions Paul Kagame’s role as general of the Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF) during the war and his presidency that has followed. He has been portrayed as the president who saved Rwanda from genocide and destruction particularly in the west. He has also been supported by former president’s Bill Clinton and Tony Blair who is an unpaid advisor of the President. Since his presidency academics have conducted research into the presidential plane crash that killed the outgoing president and started the genocide of Hutus in Rwanda with evidence showing that his actions as army leader shot down the plane. The documentary also shows that his forces were responsible for the genocide of 80% of the million that died during the war. The Tutsi’s many of whom were refugees and were subjugated under previous governments were seen as the victims and therefore the war was justified. The truth is that the Hutus were the victims of mass genocide. The west has the wrong perception of a president that was seen as unifying the country with democracy. The truth is that any disagreement with the president and questions about corrupt elections has resulted in his detractors having to flee to other countries to avoid persecution. 2. The main argument is that the UN and Western powers have wrongly portrayed the President and they have given legitimacy to his government while ignoring the evidence that has become available. The lesson is to be very critical of what we are viewing from the media and western powers in times of war. One of the academics that were responsible for research in the documentary believed researchers were not being told the correct information and that the government’s version of events was repeated everywhere. They found that most Tutsi’s were already dead or fled before Paul Kagame and the RPF entered the country. These means that there was an invasion instead of what the rest of the world believed. Many believed he stopped the genocide of Tutsi’s only, instead of committing genocide. There are also eyewitness accounts of an RPF that made no distinction between killing innocent civilians and guilty Hutus. One of the academics stated “what the world believes and what really happened are quiet different”. The researchers were accused of genocide denial and had to leave the country which is another reason to believe that the facts have been distorted about the President’s role in the war. 3. Dehumanization has been happening to many African Americans’ incarcerated in prisons in America for mandatory sentences involving drug possession. Many of the public believe that such individuals are guilty and have free will over their drug addiction that has lead to their convictions. Instead many individuals’ drug addicts in prison are result of the war on drugs. The war is seen by many as stopping drug abusers and making the country safer by putting addicts in prison. There is evidence to show that a market exists for prisons and prison labour that government policy that is favourable towards rehabilitation and minorities. Many African Americans live in areas that lack employment and family support born into a generation that are unable to support themselves except through crime. The drug laws are also discriminatory, African Americans use 13 percent of crack and 90 percent are defendants with a case to do with the drug. This is because there is a distinction between crack cocaine and powdered cocaine which have essentially the same ingredients. Crack is the drug predominantly used by poor African Americans and penalties for crack are much harsher than powder that is mostly used by whites. . If Dehumanizing means depriving liberty of human qualities or attributes; divest of individuality than putting people that are already discriminated against in prison for minor drug crimes that deprives them freedom and the rights that other citizens enjoy is a certain example of it.
Works Cited
Dictionary.com. Dictionary.com. n.d. 5th December 2014.
Rwanda's Untold Story Documentary. Dir. BBC. 2014.
The House that I Live In. Dir. Eugene, Jarecki. 2013.
