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Sub-Lt. David Riberakurora, alias Dadlov

3 months ago

1/2 Listening to #EKwebe's tone—which reflects my own past understanding—one might conclude that he is right. He is partially correct, for #UNARists are #Tutsis like other #Tutsis. The great difference, however, is that #UNARists were the privileged monarchist Tutsis, mainly members of the #Nyiginya and #Abega clans, whose ancestors occupied positions of power and received tribute (redevances) primarily from #Hutus, but also from ordinary Tutsis. Yes, ordinary #Tutsis also paid tribute. Many of them were as poor as #Hutus, but they were generally spared the heaviest forms of compulsory labour, such as building houses or performing physical service for the monarchist elite. My own father, a #Hutu, had a #Tutsi friend who kept his two or three cows. He fled with them to Zaire, & to this day we do not know what became of him. He was most likely killed by cholera, like many #Hutus. Indeed, many ordinary Tutsis fled to #Zaïre alongside #Hutus. These #UNARists represent, in my opinion, the greatest political tragedy Rwanda has experienced. Can we honestly examine this? Suppose Fred #Rwigyema had not been killed. Would he have acted differently from @PaulKagame ? Many people assume so. I am not convinced. Rwigyema was also a #UNARist. To argue that he would never have done what Kagame later did is, in my view, to misunderstand what #UNARism—and later the @rpfinkotanyi as a political system. Their ideology, as I understand it, is one of supremacy: the belief that they stand above everyone else in Rwanda. In fact, if #Rwanda derives from #Kwaanda ("to conquer"), then they have embraced the mentality of conquistadors. But, in my opinion, this raises an obvious question: what exactly did they conquer? Did they ever extend their authority beyond #Kukirenge cya #Ruganzu, near #Shyorongi? Was it not the #Belgian colonial administration that incorporated #Bushiru, #Bugoyi, #Busozo, and #Mureera into the Rwandan kingdom during the 1920s? Do you now understand why I do not regard them as conquistadors? In the north, Hutu kingdoms resisted their expansion. The Abasinga of Rukara, Nyamakwa, the king of Bushiru, and others prevented them from establishing their authority there. Coming back to my main point, they appear to believe that they are an extraordinary people—set apart from everyone else. Their worldview is just like thatof #Raskolnikov's theory of the "extraordinary man" in Fyodor #Dostoevsky 's #CrimeandPunishment . Raskolnikov argues that humanity is divided into two categories: the ordinary, who must obey existing laws and live in submission, and the extraordinary, who possess an inner right to transgress moral and legal boundaries whenever they believe they serve a higher historical purpose. Whether one accepts or rejects this philosophy, it offers a powerful framework for understanding political ideologies that view themselves as historically exceptional & therefore entitled to place themselves above ordinary moral constraints. The belief that one belongs to an "extraordinary" category can become a dangerous justification for domination, violence, and the suspension of ethical limits in the name of a supposedly greater historical mission. Imagine, for a moment, the allegation that Hutus were killed from #Byumba all the way to #ONATRA in #Kinshasa simply to maintain political power. This suggests a willingness to sacrifice an entire population for the sake of retaining authority. To understand them, read 34 page of Noirs Fureurs Blancs Menteur « Les notables de la Cour du mwami furent les premiers à protester contre les revendications des Hutus. Ils déclarèrent sans détours qu'ils n'avaient pas à partager le pouvoir avec les Hutus, que ces derniers n'étaient pas leurs frères, mais plutôt leurs esclaves. L'opinion de ces notables fut résumée dans un document signé par onze serviteurs du roi,les Abagaragu cumi na babiri b'Ibwami, dans lequel ils retracèrent l'histoire de la formation de l'État rwandais et son évolution