International
EU Members of Parliament Undress for Rusesabagina, Reveal Nakedness to Natives
On the 5th of October 2021, an overwhelming majority of the
European Parliament adopted a resolution in support of Paul Rusesabagina, which
condemned his conviction for terrorism-related charges by the Rwandan High
Court Chamber for International and Cross-Border Crimes and called for his
immediate release.
In this regard, just like Donald Trump’s incoherent outbursts
during his tenure, the EU Parliament’s blunder (that is, its unreserved support
for a convicted terrorist whose
guilt has always been self-evident) is an early Christmas present
for Africans at large and Rwandans in particular: it destroys a crucial pillar
on which the west’s ability to control and influence Africans is built:
credibility. This is how.
For one thing, it confirms what we’ve known or suspected for long:
European (read western) politicians know little about the African affairs on
which they rush to express their unwarranted opinions. In this case, they know
even less about the role of their own countries in Rusesabagina’s fate.
Clearly, European MPs appeared ignorant of the fact that the
prosecution authorities of an EU member state, Belgium, provided much of the
evidence used to convict Rusesabagina – just like the Americans, considering
the participation of the FBI in
the investigations. The MPs also seemed unaware that the Belgian terrorist had
received regular consular assistance and all the needed medical attention since
his arrest, which has been confirmed by the US State
Department in a brief statement earlier this year. More amusing
is the fact that the MPs could not distinguish kidnapping from luring a
suspected criminal into arrest; nor do they seem to know that the judicial precedents set by
their own courts have ruled out the illegality of the method
used in arresting Rusesabagina.
Had the MPs sought clarifications from their
own judicial authorities and their diplomatic representations in Rwanda or had
they even watched the court proceedings which were broadcast live online, this
circus would have been averted.
But the MPs seem convinced that their
ignorance is as valid as the informed opinion that their own judicial authorities
hold on the matter. Truth be told, such a level of ignorance should never be
allowed anywhere near decision-making tables, let alone be televised for the
Africans who still hold them in some regard as custodians of enlightenment to
see! One would have expected such countries with an inextinguishable ambition
to control other peoples to know that exposing the mediocrity of the lecturers
would make even subservient students resistant.
Second, the theatrics purporting concern for human rights fall
flat. Shockingly, their resolution made no mention of the victims of the FLN – the terrorist group which
Rusesabagina admitted in court to having created. The MPs considered
Rusesabagina’s European passport more worthy of respect and protection than
Rwandan lives. The victims of Rusesabagina’s
terrorist activities were not simply dehumanized; the sham
resolution was an attempt to erase their very existence and undermine the pains
of those left to mourn them. If this isn’t human rights upside down, I don’t
know what it is.
This is a strategic mistake that weakens the credibility of
European institutions, the only façade remaining in the blinding of the natives
to the truth of who these people have always been. Obviously, the urge to bully
an “unruly” African country draws them into a monumental own goal because it trumps
the need to preserve the pretence of upholding EU’s self-professed values; in
so doing, the MPs expose the neo-colonial impulse for control behind the veil
of human rights promotion. The game is given away as the blinder comes off for
the natives to see for themselves.
For Africans still seeking salvation and validation in those
institutions, the Rusesabagina’s case is clear evidence, if ever more is
needed, that the logic that informed the west’s choice to leave Rwandan Tutsi
to die at the hands of genocidaires 27 years ago while providing safe havens to
genocide masterminds remains intact. It’s all about appearances, control,
influence and geopolitics, and nothing about human rights.
Like Trump, the MPs were unwittingly batting for the
natives. They successfully undermined the European Union’s ability
to influence the political choices of Africans in general and Rwandans in
particular despite the investments (diplomatic and economic) western powers
have made to achieve this objective. Seen from this perspective, these kinds of
reckless strategic blunders will prove even more costly considering their
geostrategic rivalry – with China and other emerging powers like the UAE,
Turkey, and even Russia – for influence and control over Africa.
But they were not done perfecting their blunders and exposing
their incompetence and mediocrity, hitherto less pronounced and known only to
the few who have survived the miseducation of the education system they left
behind to the natives.
For instance, under the guise of advancing democracy and freedom
of speech in the Great Lakes region, the US and the UK created media houses
like VOA and BBC Kinyarwanda programs in order to bypass recalcitrant
authorities and exert direct control over the masses of around 50 million
Kinyarwanda-Kirundi speakers in Uganda, DRC, Rwanda, and Burundi.
Unsurprisingly, these were the soft power instruments used by
Rusesabagina and Callixte Sankara to promote FNL’s terrorist activities, calling on Rwandans to join their
fighters in a bid to violently overthrow
the government of Rwanda.
Ironically, however, the legitimacy of Rusesabagina’s arrest and
conviction was inadvertently established in the eyes of the natives by the very
tools deployed to influence and control them long before his guilt was
pronounced by the court.
Accordingly, the EU ought to have known how impossible it was to
reverse this reality and not knowing this made its resolution all the more
ridiculous. In other words, the EU’s dishonesty and subsequent loss of
credibility were counter-productive to the objective of controlling the masses,
as is succinctly and unashamedly expressed in the MPs’ call to redirect
development aid from the government of Rwanda to the people of
Rwanda.
How ludicrous was the EU? The only moment
with some semblance of sanity came during the debate that preceded the vote. It
is from Ms. Stella Kyriakides, EU Commission representative, who reminded (16th minute)
the MPs that most of the issues they had raised during the debate had been
addressed by Rwandan authorities during Rusesabagina’s trial. In other words,
the MPs had merely wasted taxpayers’ money by rehearsing non-issues.
Moreover, Ms. Kyriakides urged the MPs “not to lose sight of the
seriousness of the charges” against Rusesabagina, a subtle reminder of the
values the EU is supposed to stand for: the human rights of the victims of
terror. In her wisdom, she was telling them that the natives are watching and
it was imperative to dial down the hypocrisy if some control over them was
still an objective of the EU.
Further, Ms. Kyriakides alluded to the role
of a member state, Belgium, in gathering the evidence used in the conviction of
Rusesabagina while reminding the MPs that Rusesabagina could still appeal his
conviction. But her intervention was met with hostile silence. Such was the
resolve of the MPs that they couldn’t help but proceed in ridiculing themselves
and their own institutions – and, in so doing, unwittingly freeing the natives
from mental subjugation.
How mediocre was the European Parliament? Even Victoire Ingabire, another
convicted criminal who never misses an opportunity to
antagonise Rwandan institutions and was touted as the Aung San Suu Kyi of Rwanda in
her time in the European spotlight, has so far refrained from publicly
denouncing the court’s verdict. Yes, that bad!
Bashing Rwanda in a slam-dunk case like Rusesabagina’s was never
the wise decision; not this time. Consequently, the refusal to engage Rwanda
with reason has achieved the opposite of what was intended. It is a strategic
defeat for those who had conceived Rusesabagina as the vehicle for achieving
the regime change they desperately want to see in Rwanda. Even when they could
have retreated to identify another stooge for their ambitions, they now cannot
do so successfully because the scheme has been exposed to the majority of
Rwandans.
It is a strategic defeat for the EU because the MPs have failed to
muster the sophistication necessary to conceal the real ambitions of influence
and control. As a result, now the natives see them for who they are: a less
sophisticated version of their ancestors who were always able to conceal the
moral decadence behind the deception of enlightenment.
Like Trump, the European MPs are a blessing in disguise.
Source: www.panafricanreview.rw