Alison Des Forges

[rhythmaning]

Until I read her obituary in the Economist, I had never heard of Alison Des Forges.

I found the obituary very distressing, because of the story it tells of her on the phone to a friend during the Rwandan genocide:

Mrs Des Forges called her every half-hour, late into the night. She heard her describe steadily more alarming scenes—militiamen going from house to house, pulling people out and killing them. Eventually, they came to Ms Mujawamariya’s door. Mrs Des Forges told her to pass the telephone to the killers. She would pretend to be from the White House, she said, and warn them off. “No, that won’t work,” said Ms Mujawamariya. Then she added: “Please take care of my children. I don’t want you to hear this.” And she hung up.

The Economist goes on to describe Ms Des Forges work documenting genocide and war-crimes on both sides of the conflict, and elsewhere as well. It contains more, equally disturbing, details.

It is important to remember these things.

Comments

[nimoloth.livejournal.com]

Sometimes the things you read are so distressing and what can you do about them? I read an awful article in the Herald Magazine about the horrendous crimes committed against women in the Congo, which is ongoing. It was awful.

[rhythmaning.livejournal.com]

I think the powerlessness that one feels may be WHY it is so distressing.

Which is why, for me, it is important to remember.

[frankie-ecap.livejournal.com]

We are not completely powerless. We can do what you are doing - use the freedom of speech that we have, and fight to retain it. We can not only remember ourselves but bring to others' attention. We can retain our awareness and use it to make different choices in our own life. We can choose to give money to help those who need it. I'm sure there's more.

This is very little compared to what we would like to be able to do. But it is not nothing.

[rhythmaning.livejournal.com]

Indeed. :)