Memory in Reconciliatory Leadership

The theme of this year’s Rwandan Genocide commemoration is “Remember, Unite, and Renew.” As I reflect on this forward-looking theme, I find myself asking: “Is it possible for us to commemorate the genocide without being biased? As we look toward the future, is it possible Rwanda and all of humanity can hold a sacred space of remembrance for the victims of the genocide, as we unite and renew our individual and global co]mmitment and the words, 'Never Again' truly denounce genocide? If we dispense with politicizing the commemoration, and ask ourselves, what do we all need, just as human beings; to re-create a collective narrative, to develop the type of leadership and engage an international community in helping us all to reconcile? The 1994 genocide targeted Tutsi and moderate Hutu, some peacekeepers, and anyone the pro-genocide leadership saw as an obstacle to executing their plan. The genocide impacted every Rwandan and deeply touched the life of every human being who dealt with the genocide and its aftermath. The scope of the genocide surpassed the scope of anything imaginable on the part of the genocide leaders. I am convinced that, if the leaders of the genocide really understood the ramifications of perpetrating the genocide on innocent people in Rwanda, they would have tried to stop it. The genocide not only destroyed the targeted people and their families, but also had a horrific impact as well on the psyche of the international community who chose to stand by and allow almost 1 million people to be slaughtered. Without excusing anyone from accountability, or without sounding like Jesus (“forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing”), I find the consequences of such horrendous crimes to the perpetrator to reflect Socrates wisdom that, nobody does wrong while he or she knows. The rational choice would have been to unite for coexistence and possibly reconciliation.

As Rwanda continues to overcome threats to her existence and to promote reconciliation, the power of memory and reconciliatory leadership is more important than ever before. The power of a collective narrative based on fear and hatred toward another group coupled with bad governance made the genocide possible. It has been 20 years since the genocide and Rwanda needs to develop a national narrative built on the constructive memories and good governance. We need to team up in an inseparable way to reconcile the country and lead it to a mature democracy. My own experience, as far as conflict resolution and transformation are concerned, is that there seems to be a correlation between good leadership and reconciliation on one hand and violent conflict, war, and genocide with bad leadership on the other hand.

Twenty years after the Rwandan genocide, I’ve come to believe that, just as our bodies need food, water and air in order to survive, our families, communities, and country also require a collective narrative based on memories fueled by positive interactions and reconciliation in order to live well. Similarly, as our cars need a good engine and a good driver to take us to our final destination, we also need good governance and leadership to renew our commitment to honor all the victims of the Genocide, mass killings, and violent conflicts as we renew our commitment to “Never Again” and reunite for sustainable peace and reconciliation.

The term 'power' refers to the ability to direct or influence the behavior or actions of others. Memory on the other hand is a dynamic process that we use to acquire, store, retain and retrieve information that we can use for reconciliatory leadership. Such memory and leadership need to be sensitive to the pain and loss of genocide while taking 'Never Again' seriously. Learning from our own experiences as Rwandans, the leadership use of destructive memories has never made us happier, richer, or safer but has dehumanized us. For example, the killers’ memory was blinded by destructive hate memories of annihilating life instead of enhancing its vitality. For the past 20 years following the genocide, most Rwandans have been working hard to sensitively encode the new memories of change to painful embrace truth, forgiveness, sustainable peace, and reconciliation.  

The historical truth and ethical consideration must guide our constructive memories. With sensitivity, empathy, compassion and interdependence, we have to continue de-coding some of the biases and illusion of validity that hinder reconciliation efforts.

For reconciliation to take place, scholars have come to recognize that "divisive ideologies must be replaced with positive ideologies that work toward unifying people." The pluralistic society has many benefits as well as healing and reconciliation at the personal and state level. To add to this, John Paul Lederach, a Professor of International Peacebuilding, asserts that reconciliation requires moral imagination of something new and a space where peace and mercy, justice, and truth meet and function. In my opinion, such reconciliation becomes like peeling an onion or giving birth. The process might be or is painful but the results take away the sad pain of such process. As a country we should support the positive efforts that bring us together while guarding against the negative ideologies that paralyze us as a country. The role of leadership, which is basically the ability to influence, matters in building a constructive powerful memory for reconciliation. As John Maxwell writes,  “Everything rises and Falls on leadership.”   And as James McGregory Burns, a Woodrow Wilson Professor of Government concludes, “Only leadership can overcome the abuses of leadership.”  Burns's wisdom resonates with my own experience as an African student of violent conflict in history, and a participant observer in the Rwandan case in particular. My experience thus far is that only good leadership can make up for bad leadership at all levels especially governance.

Leaders are often called upon to repair the physical, emotional, psychological, cultural, spiritual financial, and property damage caused by former leaders, and to reunite people torn apart by the consequences of bad leadership such as genocide. Therefore, 20 years after the genocide, the way in which we move forward together as Rwandans in the difficult journey of constructing a positive national narrative and reconciliatory leadership will be vital. It will help us to bypass the barriers and obstacles to sustainable peace and reconciliation.

So, as we aspire to Remember, Unite, and Renew - the key ingredients to the joys of peace - the wisdom of Ivan Klima that losing our memory is losing ourselves should guide our sensibility to each other’s pain as people. The power of constructive memory and reconciliatory leadership will provide a realistic hope for sustainable peace in Rwanda.

Finally, Rwanda can create a new cultural narrative that excludes division between Rwandans and includes equity, justice, empathy, interdependence, collaboration and a shared identity. Memory and leadership for reconciliation in Rwanda must extend beyond the borders of her state and reach the Rwandan Diaspora in neighboring Congo DRC, Tanzania, Uganda, Burundi, and elsewhere around the globe. We must rebuild relationships and trust with other African countries as well as the international community. If we reframe Rwanda’s national narrative to be one that benefits Rwandans through education, vocational training, inclusive service-oriented economy and sustainable socio-economic growth, rather than one defined by violence and mistrust, we will build trust and be able to revisit the hard questions about restorative truth, mutual acceptance of responsibility, contrition, and, ultimately, political and personal reconciliation.




### Picture "Rwanda" by Flickr user Esther Havens.