Abstract
The “memory wars” surrounding the 1994 Rwandan genocide present one of the most intriguing and disturbing instances of genocide evasion, obfuscation, and denial. They are also strange and contradictory, with avowed defenders of human rights including Noam Chomsky and John Pilger among the most vocal deniers. The regime that claims to have “rescued” Rwanda from genocide is itself accused of committing the crime, both in Rwanda in 1994 and subsequently in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Paul Kagame’s Rwandan Patriotic Front did indeed commit atrocities (and currently rules over an authoritarian state), yet its crimes fall far short of the systematic genocide perpetrated by Hutu-power extremists in 1994. This chapter revisits these controversies and examines what they can teach us, both about genocide in Africa’s Great Lakes region and about strategies of denial and counter-denial.
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