Ethnic Ideology in Rwanda and Burundi

Dublin Core

Title

Ethnic Ideology in Rwanda and Burundi

Subject

Genocide -- Rwanda.
Genocide -- Burundi.

Description

Oral history video clip featuring Henri Boyi, Professor, University of Western Ontario. This video was originally produced by Media Entertainment, Inc., for the 2000 documentary The Genocide Factor.

Creator

Media Entertainment, Inc.

Source

Genocide Factor Collection, Oral History Program, Tampa Library, University of South Florida, Tampa, Florida.

Publisher

Tampa, Fla. : University of South Florida Tampa Library.

Date

1999-07-26

Contributor

Boyi, Henri
Kennedy, Michael

Rights

[no text]

Relation

G36-00034
Tape number: 4048F

Format

video / mp4

Language

English

Type

Oral History

Identifier

[no text]

Coverage

Burundi.
Rwanda.

Oral History Item Type Metadata

Original Format

Beta tape

Duration

00:03:24

Bit Rate/Frequency

[no text]

Transcription

The ideology is the same. In Rwanda and in Burundi, the ideology has been the same since 1959. The slogan about Tutsis being invaders, Tutsis being foreigners, strangers that have to be kicked out of the country: in both Rwanda and Burundi, it's the same.

There is a cliché that people use very, very commonly, that Hutus will use, that the Tutsis came from Egypt and they have to go back there. That is why when they kill people and they throw them in rivers, they say, "Okay, go back; go through the river and go back to Egypt to where you belong." And they use Misrī -- Misrī is the word for Egypt. I really don't know.

Some first European historians said that Tutsis came from the Nile region, and that's why when -- you will never hear that in common life in Burundi or Rwanda, but during the times of conflict or when they are teaching the population to kill the Tutsis, they tell them that Tutsis came from Egypt and they should go back there. It's a funny thing, 'cause I don't think any Tutsis feel that he or she belongs to Egypt. Again, who knows where we came from?

I think all people, especially in Africa, came from somewhere, and before colonization there were no barriers, no frontiers. You didn't need a visa to go from a country to the other. People herded cattle—cattle herders like Tutsis were moving throughout eastern and southern Africa. There were no frontiers, no borders. Even when we had these kingdoms, you could move around as you wished. So again, these are some of the common clichés that have been engraved in the minds of people that they have to use to eliminate the other, to expose the other.

Interviewer

Kennedy, Michael

Interviewee

Boyi, Henri

Location

[no text]

Time Summary

[no text]