Friday, January 19, 2018

Rwandan Genocide documentary response

 
Shake Hands With the Devil.  This documentary sticks with you -- the idea that human life could be valued so little by so many is shocking.  One hopes that the global community can learn from horrific events, but sadly we seem to repeat them too often.

Good reference on the genocide (read this if you still have questions after watching the documentary): http://www.unitedhumanrights.org/genocide/genocide_in_rwanda.htm

SS10 students -- having watched the documentary based on the book, and learned a bit of the background to the Rwandan Genocide of 1994, what do you think?

Why do you think it happened? What might have prevented it? What could prevent it from happening again somewhere else? What do you think of Dallaire's struggle?

Leave a comment with your thoughts.


15 comments:

  1. I think it happened because people are greedy, people talking out the problem may have prevented it, look at what happened last time and be like we don't want that, Dallaire is the goat and did the best he could and it was a remarkable job
    Brody

    ReplyDelete
  2. i thought the movie was good in a way of getting the point across that this could have been prevented by a few moves by people but when people dont do proper things it can lead to people dying (lots of people dying) dallaire did his best but know one tried to help him so he was all by himself. hopefully in the future people will actually help when they are in need
    jared :)

    ReplyDelete
  3. i think it happened because there was a massive complication between all the people, it could have been prevented if they talked it out, people could prevent it from happening again by looking back at how many deaths were caused from the massacre, Dallaire did everything in his power to help the situation.

    Reif

    ReplyDelete
  4. I believe that no matter what happened someone would complain. Many people see the UN as a failure unable to do its job. Which I suppose in a way is true. while I believe that what happened in Rwanda could have been avoided I also believe that there is nothing that could have been done that would have left everyone happy in the end. Dallaire did the best that he could and I imagine that so did many of the other soldiers sent from the UN. however doing their best doesn't always mean doing what they think is the best for others. Emelia

    ReplyDelete
  5. my father was a paratrooper and peacekeeper in 2000 and in early 2001 so i was able to relate quite well with what was happening and also the also the constant stress that they go through. its a terrible thing when people can stop people from killing one another and your ordered to leave and do nothing at all. the fact that this happens all over the world is even worse. Romeo Dallaire has a quality that many people nowadays dont posses, to have a genuine care for human beings that you may not know.
    Aiden

    ReplyDelete
  6. I think the Rwanda genocide was brutal and i think that it cold have been prevented. The documentary for me was very difficult to watch and it made me feel physically ill. I can not believe all the deaths that happened there and all the traumatic things that Romeo Dallaire went through. I believe that it was amazing what Romeo Dallaire did and that it was really amazing that he could bring himself to go back there. When the troops left Rwanda I found that very cowardly and I cant believe that they actually left. ~Bailey

    ReplyDelete
  7. I think it was an overall good documentary and showed how people are treated so poorly just because they are living in poverty Calum

    ReplyDelete
  8. I think watching Shake Hands With the Devil was eye opening to how brutal humans can be and what they can be capable of. I found this hard to watch because it's hard to see how far we take situations that are preventable. I believe humans might never be fully peaceful and that more genocides will happen and more attacks and wars might happen in the near future. I think Romeo Dallaire was very brave and witnessed something that no human should ever have to see. but more than that, something no human should ever do, or have done to them.
    Danielle

    ReplyDelete
  9. i think it happened because people can't leave the past in the past and always want more and so they fought over who was the better race and who did wrong in the past. i think in other places if people talked and tried to remain equal rather than having superior races it could help prevent it from happening. I think Dallaire did the best he could and did an excellent job to save as many lives as possible. -sierra

    ReplyDelete
  10. I think what happened then and there was absolutely tragic. It was absolutely brutal and it made the peoples lives very difficult it they even lived through it. Learning about it made me think about why it happened and what reasoning was behind it. I think Romeo Dallaire was very brave and tried his best.
    Winter

    ReplyDelete
  11. I think that people were greedy, and that they could have just talked the problem away to make a resolution, So things could have been better without violence. But since it ended out the way it did Dallaire did the best he could have done and it was a pretty good job for what he could do.
    Mckenzie

    ReplyDelete
  12. I think the Tutis were raised to go up against Hutis and that conflict that built up overtime caused this to happen. What might've prevented it would be if they were taught that they were both the same and respected each other. What can prevent it from happening again is thinking about what did happen in Rwanda and learning from it that we are all equal and don't need to go up against each other. I think it would've been really upsetting and hard for Dallaire to go back to Rwanda, having all those flashbacks of gunshots and people laying dead on the side of the road.
    Claudia

    ReplyDelete
  13. The Rawanda genocide happened because people only want to look out for themselves. This could have been prevented if people hadn't been greedy and thought things through with a level head. Most likely a genocide won't happen in other places because we as a society have more knowledge from our mistakes. Dallaire is just a solider that did his job. He even came up with a plan but the United States didn't agree with this plan. So he had to helplessly watch. The solider's under his command weren't battle ready and Dallaire didn't want their lives to end in an impossible mission.
    Tyler

    ReplyDelete
  14. This is a horrific event which could have been easily prevented. It is sickening that while the Hutus people were being slaughtered,that those who could've sent aid decided not to. I am empathetic towards Dallaire and the situation he was put in. He wanted to help, yet his hands were tied. It serves as a reminder that we should keep corrupt people out of dominant positions (Tutis) and we shouldn't ignore a plea for help,as the consequences can be dire.
    -Trevor

    ReplyDelete
  15. I think that this conflict happened because people in Rwanda were raised to not like one another (the Hutis and Tutis). It could of been prevented if they would've talked to one another and solved their problems that way and if they would've treated everyone equally. If something like this happened somewhere else they could prevent it from happening by doing the same thing and have a stronger government that would've stopped any of it from happening. I think that in the Rwandan genocide Dallair struggled because he didn't have the help he needed to finish his plans but he did the best he could.
    Heidi

    ReplyDelete