Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 May 2010
Commemoration is necessary, and the work of memory is indispensable.
Hutu Man, Butare, Rwanda September 8, 2001Ahabaye inkovu hadasubirana.
A wound does not heal completely.
Rwandan proverbSince taking power in July 1994, the Rwandan government has undertaken an ambitious social engineering program intended to prevent future ethnic violence in the country. Believing that the 1994 genocide grew out of problems rooted deeply in Rwandan culture, the government has implemented a series of policies to foster a unified national identity, encourage respect for rule of law, create a socially responsible citizenry, and promote a democratic political culture. The government has used trials, public addresses, commemorations and memorialization, school programs, re-education camps, and new national symbols to shape the collective memory of Rwandan history. Through these policies, the regime hopes to transform how Rwandans understand their social identities and replace them with a unified national identity. At the same time that the government is seeking to force the population to come to terms with the 1994 genocide, it has dismissed accusations of its own engagement in war crimes and human rights abuses, leading to a perception of a double standard that has created political tensions and further divided the country. Leaders of the government, which is dominated by the Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF), are driven by a strong sense of their own moral rectitude and right to rule, and a lingering distrust of the population.
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