|
April 8, 2004
Valentina's Nightmare and Rwanda: The Weapon
Screening and discussion, 5:30 p.m. Wechsler
Theater
Four days after the slaughter of her village, Valentina,
a thirteen-year-old Tutsi girl, lay hidden among the corpses of
her family and neighbors, her machete wounds festering with infection.
Miraculously, she would survive to tell her story. Valentina's
Nightmare, by veteran BBC correspondent Fergal Keane, looks
back at the origins and the horrors of the 1994 massacre of 800,000
Tutsis by the Hutu majority in Rwanda and examines the country's
struggle for justice and reconciliation in the aftermath of the
bloody genocide. Valentina's Nightmare appeared on Frontline;
see Frontline's update: Rwanda:
After the Genocide>>
SOC Artist in Residence Bill Gentile and Joanne Levine
of Nightline present their short film Rwanda: The Weapon,
which appeared on Nightline about the use of rape as a weapon of
war during the Rwandan genocide. Following the screening, Gentile
will provide an update on the effect the Nightline piece had in
bringing about justice to for rape vicitms.
Rwanda Commemoration Project: Genocide
in Our Time
 April
7, 2004 marks ten years since the beginning of the Rwandan genocide,
when nearly a million people were killed in ninety days while the
international community largely stood by.
In response, the Center for Human Rights and Humanitarian
Law at American University Washington College of Law has launched
the Rwanda Commemoration Project: Genocide in Our Time,
an international initiative that seeks to raise awareness of this
anniversary and the important lessons of the tragic events in Rwanda.
The Project’s approach is to encourage people both to look
back at what led to the genocide in Rwanda and to look forward to
prevent looming genocide around the world today. To that extent,
the Center, with the cooperation of faculty and students, has produced
an 8-page resource booklet to encourage law schools, universities,
high schools, NGOs, community groups and religious organizations
to plan programming to mark the 10th anniversary of these heinous
acts. The booklet, hauntingly illustrated with drawings by child
survivors of the Genocide (left), provides a short background of
the Genocide and a range of ideas for commemorative actions, substantive
programs and outreach activities. Also included are a short bibliography
of books, articles, films and traveling photo exhibits, website
links and a sample day of programming.
In addition to the resources available in the booklet,
the Center’s
website has an expanded bibliography, an event planning worksheet,
a sample press release and a variety of poems, readings and other
materials to help make planning an activity as easy as possible.
Remembering Rwanda, The Rwanda
10th Anniversary Memorial Project
The first objective is of the project is commemoration:
to launch a process that culminates in the international recognition
of the genocide on its 10th anniversary in 2004. In that pursuit,
they will cooperate with those who campaign against all genocides
and welcome and actively involve other communities that have endured
great calamities in the recent past.
The second objective is documentation and education:
to help preserve the memory of the genocide by remembering its victims
and those who tried to aid its victims, and through public education
on Rwanda and other genocides.
Please visit Remembering
Rwanda for information about commemoration activities and updates
from around the world.
|
