Season of Blood is one journalist's passionate take on the genocide that occurred in Rwanda at the end of the twentieth century. Like the Armenian genocide of the same century, its classification as an actual genocide was something that many were slow to accept. Fergal Keane hopes to abolish any existing rumors that what occurred in Rwanda was not indeed genocide. He condemns the international community for not having stepped in and stopped the tragedy when "there was ample evidence that the Hutu extremists were planning to wipe the Tutsis off the face of the earth" (124). It is not terribly difficult to discern this man's thesis, the main point that he meant to drive home when writing this tragic account of a shameful event in the history of mankind. In fact, his not-so-subtle point is stated in the concluding paragraphs of this book: "It is time to support the new government. Only with well-targeted and supervised aid and advice can the world earn the moral right to influence Rwanda's new rulers for the good. Having done virtually nothing to stop one of the worst acts of mass murder in recent history, the United States, the European Community and the UN must assist the Kigali government" (190).
However, it is the not-so-obvious thesis of this book that chills the reader to the very core, the sobering fact that the genocide held such historical parallels that it could have been prevented or, at the very least, stopped before it exploded to such extremes. As human beings made painfully aware of our own blunders in history, we should have noticed the signs of impeding tragedy and took action in the face of fear.
[...] It is for this reason, for our “shameful abandonment” (190) of a country so in need, that Keane says we must assist the present-day government in Rwanda. Such an account as Keane's begs the question, where does the true evil of man lay? In the hearts of those who directly caused the torture and death of thousands, or in the rest of the world who could turn their heads and allow such a tragedy to unfold? BIBLIOGRAPHY Season of Blood: A Rwandan Journey. Fergal Keane. 1995. [...]
[...] Keane drew the link to the Holocaust by dubbing the Tutsis “black Aryans” (13). The Tutsis were tall and able-bodied, the Hutus “short and stocky” (15). Keane, however, is quick to support the theory that these physical distinctions may be no more than “fanciful nonsense” (15). The signs of an impeding disaster were all there. We should have recognized them and mobilized to prevent the genocide. In stead, the world sat idly and shook their heads, sending the media to capture footage of the massacres. [...]
[...] Season of Blood: A Rwandan Journey Season of Blood is one journalist's passionate take on the genocide that occurred in Rwanda at the end of the twentieth century. Like the Armenian genocide of the same century, its classification as an actual genocide was something that many were slow to accept. Fergal Keane hopes to abolish any existing rumors that what occurred in Rwanda was not indeed genocide. He condemns the international community for not having stepped in and stopped the tragedy when “there was ample evidence that the Hutu extremists were planning to wipe the Tutsis off the face of the earth” (124). [...]
[...] “Every Rwandan citizen was obliged to carry the card, which stated his name and ethnic identity, i.e. Tutsi, Hutu, or (17). Tutsis were believed to be members of a privileged upper class, and the Hutus were viewed as inferior, subordinates who had no hope to escape the class into which they had been born. This whole process of categorizing the citizens of Rwanda by ethnic background was an unclear, complex, and corrupt one indeed. For example, depending on ones wealth and material possession, it was possible to actually change ones ethnic category. [...]
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