17 March 2007
Robin Philpot's Inconvenient Denial
Calling what happened
in
a racist fantasy or a
colonial plot as PQ candidate's book would
have us believe.
By
Robin Philpot, the Parti Québécois candidate for St. Henri-Ste. Anne, has
found himself—and his party—in the glare of unwanted media attention
after reports he denied the 1994
was appalled, but has now apparently recovered, reassured by Philpot who
now denies denying the genocide.
We should not be so quickly assuaged.
Philpot's book, It Didn't Happen Like That in Kigali, was published in 2003.
Its title is a riff on Gil Courtemanche's wrenching novel A Sunday at the Pool
in
Tutsi women who were raped and beaten at the hands of a decidedly non-fictional
genocidal Hutu regime in 1994.
Philpot's book attacks Courtemanche for pandering to sexual colonialism,
and then takes swipes at Romeo Dallaire, human rights experts Bill Schabas
and Alison Des Forges, and journalists Philip Gourevitch and Linda Melvern,
who had spotlighted the 1994 events for the world. Philpot accuses them
of overusing the term "genocide" and of being in colonial complicity with
English-speakers and Americans "who make a point of being unilingual."
Leaving aside these bizarre statements and personal attacks, it is difficult
to read Philpot's book and come away still believing that genocide occurred
if you don't know much about the country or what happened.
Philpot derides the international acknowledgement of the Rwandan genocide
as little more than a form of gag (baillon), designed to muzzle opponents
of American interests and their lackeys. The word "genocidaire" is repeatedly
set out in quotes to denote skepticism. Philpot decries the condemnation of
a convicted rapist at the International Criminal Tribunal of Rwanda in Arusha
as a fantastical farce. He disputes Roméo Dallaire's testimony about an
informant who told the UN about the genocide plans as lies from "A to Z,"
belittling the informant as a low-level employee trying to get attention
or a visa. Philpot agrees many people died, but he takes the position that
there was a war: Bad things happen in wars. That does not make it "genocide"
and even if it does, there's no point calling it by its name. It just makes
everyone mad and reconciliation impossible.
This is the sort of logic Léon Mugesera and his lawyer deployed in their
unsuccessful bid to prevent Mugesera's deportation from
Many of the same strands that litter Philpot's book can be picked up in the
Federal Court of Appeal's decision that held for Mugesera. The Court of Appeal
also impugned the work of Schabas and Des Forges and questioned accounts of the
genocide, including the plan to dump thousands of mutilated bodies in a river
as some sort of government repatriation scheme.
While a unanimous Supreme Court of
Appeal's decision, it is unfortunate that this type of thinking, of which
Philpot is a leader in
Guy Bertrand, also accused the Supreme Court of some equally bizarre plot,
and had his knuckles firmly rapped by the court.
What happened in
an exaggeration, racist fantasy or colonial plot as Philpot's book would
have us believe. Canadian groups such as PAGE-Rwanda have worked hard, with
very few resources, to ensure an accurate account is clearly understood.
This sort of nonsense should not stand.
Genocide is the planned murder of a racial or ethnic group. Firsthand
accounts of what happened in
Africa Watch's definitive report, Death, Despair and
recount mass murders in churches, mass rapes, terror and intimidation of
Tutsi victims. The vast majority of victims were branded Tutsi "inyenzi,"
or cockroaches, to be exterminated.
When I was working on the reconciliation efforts in
imprisoned for these crimes confessed. Some said everyone else was doing it,
so they did it, too. Others felt they had been brainwashed. Others said they
would be killed if they did not kill. There is no doubt about what happened.
Philpot's views, however carefully couched now, should be exposed for what
they are, and they are a national embarrassment.
The book speaks for itself. Has Philpot seen the light? If so, he should
openly repudiate the book and clearly state publicly that genocide against
the Tutsi was perpetrated in 1994. Otherwise, he should be asked to withdraw
as a political candidate.
Copyright 2007
The Gazette (