Remembering the Genocide in Rwanda

Realms of Memory

In Memory and Justice in Post-Genocide Rwanda,Tim Longman argues that the memory of the genocide has been instrumentalized by the long-ruling Rwandan Patriot Front or RPF. By casting itself as the selfless liberator of the Tusti minority, the RPF has used the genocide to mask its own crimes, abuses of power, and political ambitions. Showcasing the horrors of the genocide at commemorative sites helps the RPF to justify its own brand of authoritarian rule. Suspicious and distrustful of both the Hutu majority and Tutsi minority, the RPF’s top down approach to governance has failed to move the country beyond its deeply rooted ethnic divisions.