Immaculee Ilibagiza Analysis

She stood up to her family and gave them a strong person they could believe and rely on; she organized her family back into their normal actions. Her father then started to rally the Tutsi people who gathered for his guidance to fight against the people who attacked them, whether it is the government or the Interahamwe, which was a Hutu militia.

Hotel Rwanda tackles a recent event in history where the Hutu extremists of Rwanda initiated a terrifying campaign of genocide, massacring approximately

In the second part, Immaculée narrates her horrifying experience of the genocide. God became her father, mother, brother, her everything, in a tiny bathroom where she hid from the killers for months. When the genocide began, Immaculée’s father asked her to go to hide at the house of Pastor Mulinzi – a family friend – with her brother Vianney, and Augustin, Immaculée’s friend who was a Hutu but looked like a Tutsi. Mulinzi accepted them into his house, but when things became tough, he chased Vianney and Augustin away and kept Immaculée with five other women. Mulinzi hid them in a tiny bathroom. Every corner of his house was searched many times by the killers, the Interahamwe (youth militia trained for killing), but it seemed that God blinded them, preventing them from discovering the bathroom. The six women wished

The Rwandan Genocide also is still an existing issue which killed one million people, mostly Tutis and some Hutu’s, continues to be one of the most tragic and memorable events in the contemporary society of Africa. Specifically for those who were involved. Lucie Niyigena, a 70 year old woman who managed to survive the genocide, is still forced to face her fear everyday living beside someone who could have potentially killed a member of her family. This is just one of the still existing hardships for those forced to live it. This problem has not been changed since historical times partly because modern society has chosen not to make the change.

“The following is my story of what happened in Rwanda in 1994. It’s a story of betrayal, failure, naiveté, indifference, hatred, genocide, war, inhumanity and evil. ”

Immaculee cannot change the fact that she is Tutsis, but she makes an effort to stay alive. She runs to the house of a Hutu minister, and begs him to hide her. Fortunately

Maria Kizito and Hotel Rwanda are true accounts of two isolated events that took place in Rwanda during a genocide in 1994 where nearly one million innocent people lost their lives. Maria Kizito is a play that focuses mainly on the trial of a catholic nun, Maria Kizito, who was charged and found guilty of promoting and facilitating the murder of seven thousand refugees who sought shelter from Hutu extremist at a local convent (Kizito 178). Whereas Hotel Rwanda focuses on the life of Paul Rusesabagina, a Rwandan manager, and Hutu, at a Belgian-owned luxury hotel in Rwanda 's capital, who saved not only himself and his family but also 1,268 refugees from the same extremist. Despite their differences in location and characters, the play and the film, both develop narratives that tell the same story about how the genocide in Rwanda is a direct result of colonization, how the international community failed to intervene, and that a plane crash ignited in what was the worst genocide after the holocaust. Before analyzing how Maria Kizito and Hotel Rwanda depict Colonialism, it is important to first understand the history of Colonialism in Rwanda.

The Holocaust is something that we must never forget. Its occurrence relied only “upon the indifference of bystanders in every land” (Zukier). Even today we stand by while innocent lives are taken. The recent conflicts in Rwanda or Bosnia, or past conflicts in Cambodia, are merely three examples. Wherever genocide occurs one thing is sure to happen– individual lives become lost in massive numbers and the tolls are so large

The many tears that stream down my face cry for the generations of my kids to come. I sit here as an innocent victimized Tutsi woman, to tell you my story of the Rwandan genocide and how it impacted my people. Through many years of pain and suffering I sit here before you to relieve my anger and install my knowledge of why the Belgium through colonization only installed more love in me toward my people and hatred towards me for not being able to help my people. My name is Immaculee Ilibagiza a Tutsi woman and this is my survival, comfort story.

Because of Honre’s high ranking, they tried to use him as a vehicle to get to a hotel that was a safe haven for the Tutsi people. Unfortunately this does not work out entirely like they thought. The story line goes back to the present day, Augustine’s girlfriend says she is pregnant with a boy. This sends him back to a memory of his daughter and classmates being murdered. In their room there was a mix of Hutu and Tutsi girls. The Hutu girls were asked to come out but they all stuck together and all were killed except for the teacher and one child that survived. Back to present day, Honre tells Augustine the story about what happened to his wife and children. His kids were shot and his wife was hit in the head with a gun and then they forgot about her. And although she barely survives Honre helps by taking her. She is later taken to a church but who knew she would not be safe there. She goes out heroically as she takes the gun from a Hutu and kills herself along with

In 1994, over 800,000 Tutsis and Hutu sympathizers were slaughtered by the Interahamwe, a group of Tutsi rebel forces. The extermination lasted only one hundred days, but left a detrimental mark on Rwanda (Barz, McGovern). The Rwandan genocide transformed the inanga from an instrument of peace and tranquility to a weapon of war. Because the inanga was a distinct identifier of the Tutsi elite, it was identified as a dividing factor between the two groups. The Tutsi music and culture that the inanga represented was directly under siege by the Interahamwe, who intended to eliminate all evidence of Tutsi existence.

The movie starts with a radio announcer saying that Tutsis took Hutu land, and they are cockroaches and murderers. He states that Hutus are the majority, and that the infestation of Tutsi traitors and invaders will be squashed.

To really understand the Rwandan Genocide and the Final Solution, one must understand the background of the two exterminated peoples. The Tutsis are an ethnic group that resides in the African Great Lakes region. During the Europeans settlements in Rwanda, the colonists need an identifier to separate the population of Rwanda. Belgium settlers defined “Tutsi”

A group of Rwandan people known as the Hutu want to eliminate another Rwandan group, the Tutsi, and they get very close to succeeding. About one million Tutsi people were murdered in the Rwandan Genocide in a time span of 100 days. Hotel Rwanda is a movie about a hotel manger, Paul, that saves a thousand Tutsi people by keeping them in his hotel. He saves the refugees, mostly, by giving the Hutu rebels his money and alcohol in return for leaving the Tutsi people alone. The movie is trying to send the message that helping others is equally important as helping one’s family.

In order to protect their children both parents know what they must do. Papa who the previous night had watched Tonton Andre kill his wife, knew what would have to be done to ensure the safety of his children, he must also kill his wife. Although one cannot tell the difference between a Tutsi and Hutu without an ID card, the fighting between the two groups was dangerous to all. As Papa lands the machete on Maman’s head Monique realizes what was being hidden from her all day. “I begin to think of Maman as one of the people in the ceiling. It’s not safe for her to come down yet. She’s lying up there quietly, holding on to the rafters, just as she must have been last night when the man in the yellow trousers attacked me. She’s waiting for the right time to cry with me.”(351) Maman died to protect her people, her kids, and her husband. This shows how terrible life during the genocide was, innocent lives were taken because of religion. Maman wanted to keep her family safe and her people that were in the ceiling and that’s what makes her death symbolic. Most would run, get out as fast as they could, but she stayed and took the punishment as if it were owed to her. “When they ask you, say you’re one of them, OK?”(327)