Panel 1: Hate Media in Rwanda

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Introduction

Alison Des Forges (left) and Michael Kabanda wait to speak

Allan Thompson: Thank you, thank you again, General Dallaire. So we' re now only 45 seconds behind schedule. So we' re going to move directly into the first panel. If I could ask the panelists to make their way, and to please watch the giant leap as you get onto the stage. I' m just going to give you a quick sort of preview of how these panels are going to work. I' m delegating the chairperson responsibility to a subject matter expert for each of these panels. In the case of panel number one, Frank Chalk, the Co-director of the Montreal Institute for Genocide Studies will be chairing this panel. We have several speakers, who will each present a brief, 10-minute presentation of their paper. At that point, the discussant for the panel will pose the first couple of questions, then we' ll move to questions from the floor. So if we can take a moment while the panelists take their places, and then we will began. Perhaps if Frank wants to sort of begin introducing the subject while the panelists move into place.

Frank Chalk, Montreal Institute for Genocide and Human Rights Studies

Frank Chalk: Good morning ladies and gentlemen. My name is Frank Chalk. I am from the Department of History, Concordia University, and the Montreal Institute for Genocide and Human Rights Studies. All of you have programs, and I suggested last evening that instead of taking the time to read the biographies in your programs covering the panelists, we save that four or five minutes for the discussion. Each of our speakers will take 10 minutes or 11 minutes, and we will do our utmost to ensure that we have adequate time for you to ask questions, and to hear answers, though I would ask that you keep your questions as brief as possible, and I will also ask the panelists to keep their answers as brief as possible.

General Dallaire left us with many important recommendations. One of them pertains specifically to the young people in this room, and that is to learn the languages, the history, the geography, the sociology of other cultures, other countries so in the future Canadians and other peoples are prepared to understand what they see unfolding before them in the local languages, with an inside knowledge of the cultures that are revealing themselves. This panel is an attempt to address the problem of bringing to the public the expertise of a whole generation of scholars, who studied Rwanda, and worked on the issues in Rwanda, in some cases for their entire professional careers. The biographies are in the program. The expertise is here. The order in which we are going to present the subject is as follows. We' ll begin first, with Marcel Kabanda, second Jean-Pierre Chrétien, third Binaifer Nowrojee, thank you Binaifer, and finally Alison Des Forges. This order reflects the subjects that each of the panelists will address, and puts them in approximate chronological order. The first speaker then is Marcel Kabanda. Panelists, I' ve set my timer for 10 minutes, when you hear it go off, you have one more minute, and I' d ask you to please then conclude.

Next: Marcel Kabanda

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