Rwanda Day San Francisco: Bay View journalists get the boot

by Ann Garrison

October 6, 2016

Source: San Francisco Bay View

Rwanda Day-San Francisco was a bad day for identity politics. Rwandan President Paul Kagame stepped to the podium and said that he was happy to be in San Francisco because it’s so diverse, seeming not to understand that his guest speaker, Rev. Rick Warren, champion of the 2008 Prop 8 ballot measure banning same sex marriage, wouldn’t appeal to San Francisco’s diverse population. The city and surrounding Bay Area communities include the nation’s highest concentration of men and women who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender.

Journalist Ann Garrison registered and was initially allowed to attend Rwanda Day-San Francisco.

Then Rev. Rick Warren got up and told the audience that he might look like an American, but he’s really a Rwandan, and that he may have white skin, but he’s black on the inside.

Neither the Black president nor the black-on-the-inside reverend took note of how rapidly gentrification is disappearing San Francisco’s Black neighborhoods.

Though President Kagame forever plays the race card, claiming that his critics are racists who have contempt for Africans, his dependence on the political, diplomatic and military support of the U.S. and NATO make it arguable that he’s Black on the outside and white on the inside. His Rwanda Days in the West are unique; No other nation holds anything like these annual promotions rotating from one Western metropolis to another.

Posted by Great Lakes Voice Editor
November 05, 2014
In: News
Written by Staff Writer
Email: newsdesk@greatlakesvoice.com

Photo: Ambassador Koran speaking to the press (Picture GLV).

Kigali, Rwanda ==United States of America’s Ambassador Donard W. Koran has expressed strong support to Rwanda Media Commission, the Media Self Regulatory body, saying: “Democracy and freedom of speech goes hand in hand.”

During Koran’s visit to Rwanda Media Commission [RMC] on Wednesday morning, he said it was part of showing support and appreciating steps taken by the body. He commended RMC for the work done since it was established last year.

SABC News: Kagame’s Worrying Human Rights abuses worldwide

By René Claudel Mugenzi
Mytelegraph
OCTOBER 20TH, 2014 5:15

The current and previous British governments have portrayed Rwanda as a successful development story that has used effectively British aid money to achieve a rapid economic transformation after a terrible genocide.

Mr. Tony Hall,
Director-General of the BBC,
Broadcasting House, Portland Place
London. W1A 1AA

October 14, 2014.

Dear Mr. Hall,

I am writing to express my deep gratitude to BBC for the courageous undertaking to produce and broadcast the documentary, Rwanda’s Untold Story. As you have witnessed in the last few days since the broadcast, the documentary has provoked strong passions on either side of the Rwanda debate, thus confirming that BBC’s endeavor has responded to an un-met need for dialogue and debate in contemporary Rwandan society. Despite relentless noise from President Paul Kagame’s brutal dictatorship, both open and disguised, BBC should be proud that it has made a contribution to Rwanda’s search for the whole truth upon which a safe and shared future for all Rwandans must be built.

WORLD NEWS-REUTERS
Tue, Oct 14 11:30 AM EDT
By Patrick Nduwimimana

BUJUMBURA (Reuters) – The general prosecutor of Burundi said on Tuesday that an investigation into 40 bodies found in a lake on the border with Rwanda has concluded that the dead were Rwandans, even though Rwanda has previously denied this.

The bodies, some wrapped in plastic, were discovered on the Burundian side of Lake Rweru in August. Their origin, who they were and how they died remains shrouded in mystery. No credible theories have been offered either by officials or local media.

Published 11 October 2014 by Telesur

The untold story is that of the crimes committed by the winners in the Rwandan civil war, and especially the crimes committed by the biggest winner who took all, Kagame, Rwanda’s president for the past 20 years.

At the beginning of October 2014, the BBC aired a documentary called Rwanda: The Untold Story. The outlet, the BBC, and the producer and presenter, Jane Corbin, don’t just possess impeccable mainstream credentials – they define the mainstream in the West. The one hour documentary is intended for a British audience, and Britain is a bigger supporter of Rwanda and its ruler, Paul Kagame, than even the US. Up until now, in Western media, scholarship, and commentary, the Hutus as a community have been held solely responsible for the Rwandan genocide of 1994, and Kagame held up as Rwanda’s savior. The titular untold story is that of the crimes committed by the winners in the Rwandan civil war, and especially the crimes committed by the biggest winner who took all, Kagame, Rwanda’s president for the past 20 years.