Rwanda: West closed ears to General Dallaire's plea for help
When the eyes and ears of the western people in general and the Americans in particular were being bombarded by constant and non-stop reports on O.J.Simpson and Tanja Harding's knee-cap injury, 800,000 people were being slaughtered in small African country of Rwanda during the course of 100 days. That is almost 6 people every minute for 100 days. During that terrifying period, Now retired Canadian General, Romeo Dallaire who was in charge of the small UN force, was helplessly doing what he could to minimize the extent of the genocide. He practically begged for help to stop the genocide. He was ignored. He was told by some western government officials that they would not help because "Rwanda had no strategic value, Rwanda had no economical value, Rwanda had nothing but tea and coffee farms, the only thing that Rwanda had was people and no, we would not act just for the people".
Unlike many of his counterparts who have only learned to kill and to satisfy their criminal bosses, Mr. Dellaire who is a good example of a true soldier for humanity, was a guest speaker in a symposium in the Canadian Carlton University in Ottawa. The symposium was called "The media and Rwanda Genocide". In his remarkable speech, he talks of the deliberate neglect from the west in saving hundreds of thousands of lives and he tells about the Media which NOT surprisingly did not do its supposed part to let the world know what was happening in Rwanda. A ten minute clip of Mr. Dallaire's speech under "clip of the week" (at the bottom of right column - obviously it will not last long), is part of the remarkable speech from an Army General who in addition to guns, is perfectly familiar with and equally values the lives of all the people on earth and lashes out on those who apply their barbaric double standards when dealing with human beings.
Here are some excerpts of what I heard from Mr. Dallaire:
".....If I could only shame the international community to act, by just having the media on my side, although there was courageous people who reported the ongoing events, their report never got beyond the editor's desk..."
"...O.J. Simpson and Tanja Harding got more coverage than 800,000 people being slaughtered"
Mr. Dallaire ended his speech by warning the audience about the significant mis-information and dis-information by the media:
"Ladies and gentlemen, you are powerful, individually and collectively, but you can be set up easily if you neglect your complete awareness".
Unlike many of his counterparts who have only learned to kill and to satisfy their criminal bosses, Mr. Dellaire who is a good example of a true soldier for humanity, was a guest speaker in a symposium in the Canadian Carlton University in Ottawa. The symposium was called "The media and Rwanda Genocide". In his remarkable speech, he talks of the deliberate neglect from the west in saving hundreds of thousands of lives and he tells about the Media which NOT surprisingly did not do its supposed part to let the world know what was happening in Rwanda. A ten minute clip of Mr. Dallaire's speech under "clip of the week" (at the bottom of right column - obviously it will not last long), is part of the remarkable speech from an Army General who in addition to guns, is perfectly familiar with and equally values the lives of all the people on earth and lashes out on those who apply their barbaric double standards when dealing with human beings.
Here are some excerpts of what I heard from Mr. Dallaire:
".....If I could only shame the international community to act, by just having the media on my side, although there was courageous people who reported the ongoing events, their report never got beyond the editor's desk..."
"...O.J. Simpson and Tanja Harding got more coverage than 800,000 people being slaughtered"
Mr. Dallaire ended his speech by warning the audience about the significant mis-information and dis-information by the media:
"Ladies and gentlemen, you are powerful, individually and collectively, but you can be set up easily if you neglect your complete awareness".
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