Diaspora in UK protests against author of racist, anti Rwanda book

Those petitioning are shocked to see that the Royal African Society are providing a platform to Michela Wrong

Rwandans and friends of Rwanda in the UK have launched an online petition protesting the invitation by the Royal African Society of genocide denier Michela Wrong to talk about her new book, “Do Not Disturb,” which is an anti-Rwanda propaganda exuding racism and falsehoods.

The initiator of this campaign, Dr. Deogratius Harorimana, wrote: "We are shocked to see that the Royal African Society is providing a platform to Michela Wrong. Ms Wrong has a history of using racist and offensive language when discussing the African continent and its people."

They are calling on the Royal African Society, an organisation whose mission is to amplify African voices to create a more just, equal and interesting world, to immediately review their decision to provide Wrong a platform. They urge the Royal African Society to commit to challenging Wrong's racist and offensive views about Rwandans and Africans more widely.

Wrong's most recent work is saturated with offensive stereotypes and underpinned by her argument that in Rwanda, everyone is a liar.  She writes: "Of all the liars in Africa, I believe the people of Ruuanda are by far the most thorough.”

How can someone who claims to be a researcher make such a sweeping racist generalization? She explains her rationale using some Greek mythology. “Throughout the writing of this book, I kept thinking about Epimenides. All Cretans are liars,” says Epimenides, the Cretan. It came to mind because Rwandans kept telling me that deceiving others, being economical with the truth, was something their community reveled in, and positively prided itself upon.”

What leaves many people incensed is that she quotes former Prime Minister Agathe Uwilingiyimana, murdered by members of the Presidential Guard on April 7, 1994, to corroborate her distasteful stereotyping of Rwandans as liars. She claims that Uwilingiyimana might have told her that Rwandans are liars, and it is part of the culture. From childhood they are thought to not tell the truth, especially if it can hurt them, she alleges.

What Wrong said about late Uwilingiyimana is questionable. The former is cynical; to attribute such a lie to a person who is dead and who cannot defend herself.

She further says that Uwilingiyimana's successor (Faustin Twagiramungu) who she met in a hotel lobby in Brussels also confirmed that “in Rwanda, lying is an art form. When you as a white journalist, leave a meeting, they will be congratulating themselves: ‘We took her for a ride.’ Lying is a rule rather than the exception.”

'Do not Disturb' is a tribute to her old friend, Patrick Karegeya, who was assassinated in a hotel in Johannesburg, South Africa, on January 1, 2014. Wrong is seen on several occasions in the company of Karegeya’s wife Leah, a member of the RNC terrorist group whose leaders are based in South Africa.

The killers of Karegeya are not yet known by the South African government. Yet Wrong attributes his death to Rwanda without any shred of evidence. She has the same thinking as other diehard genocide deniers and revisionists such as Rene Lemarchand, Jason Stearns, Noel Twagiramungu, and Filip Reytjens. Genocide revisionist and denier,  Reytjens, who was a supporter of the genocidal regime of President Juvenal Habyarimana, is among those who praised Wrong's book.

Mainstream media publications in the UK and the US spread Wrong’s lies and her racist compilation of unfounded allegations and baseless attacks on the person of President Paul Kagame. The Economist, The Guardian, Times, New York Times, and others, all make Wrong’s Book Review, praising her for the wrong reason.

Writing for Los Angeles Times, Tom Zoellner, who co-authored Paul Rusesabagina’s book, An Ordinary Man, commented: “Wrong’s myth-busting book does three things. It provides a lucid readout of one of the swampiest geopolitical stories on the African continent: Rwanda’s political realignment after an invading Tutsi army took over the country from a genocidal Hutu junta in 1994 amid a high stack of innocent victims killed by both sides."

This line of thinking is full of racism, genocide revisionism and denial. It is offending to the victims of the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi and other sane peace loving world citizens.

Many people are outraged by the book and have decried the publicity it has unnecessarily generated. They condemned Wrong’s open bias against Rwanda and its leadership.

Linda Melvern, a veteran British investigative journalist who has made efforts to expose genocide deniers and their deceit deplored the fact that these media houses apply different media journalistic standards  when it comes to Africa.

She noted: “Serious allegations contained in those books could not be leveled against any leader, any government in Europe on the basis of rumors, uncorroborated evidence, hear-says, approximation and lies.”

Sila Cehreli, Professor at Marmara University in Turkey,  compared Wrong’s book to Judi Rever’s "In Praise of Blood."

She tweeted: “Ce n’est pas du Judi Rever. C’est mieux ecrit. Mais je trouve qu’il n’y a pas d’informations nouvelles dans ce livre. Cela dit, si une histoire de la naissance du RNC (ecrite du point de vue des members du RNC) vous interesse, vous pouvez lire le livre.” (It is not Judi Rever-like. It is better written. But I find that there is no new information in this book. If the history of the birth of RNC (written from the point of view of RNC members) interests you, you can read the book.”

Jonathan Salt, a British Holocaust and Genocide educator, lambasts all the British media which have given the platform to the racist and debasing war waged by Wrong against Rwanda’s leadership. He pointed out: “I cannot believe how much publicity this latest book about Rwanda is getting. And they say there is no evidence of institutional racism in the UK? All the mainstream media are pushing it, including BBC. How can you say that all Rwandans are liars?”

It is not surprising for Wrong to have written such a very racist book. She also previously wrote another book, In the Footsteps of Mr Kurtz, in which she again exposed her stereotype anti-Rwanda bias.

She said: “Africa, a continent that has never disappointed in its capacity to disappoint Hutu mothers killing their children by Tutsi fathers in Rwanda; the self-styled Emperor Bokassa ordering his cook to serve up victims’ bodies in Central African Republic; Liberia’s rebels gleefully videotaping the torture of a former president.”  All in all, Wrong’s "Do not Disturb,"  is a travesty, and its racism is overwhelming.

Rwandans and their friends are of the opinion that Wrong should not be given a red carpet. She should, instead, be held accountable and reminded that racism has no place in modern society.