Matthias Hamann’s Blog

I just read a really interesting review about the previously mentioned book Shake Hands with the Devil by Roméo Dallaire, in which the critic states that he is sick of the former colonial powers being blamed for everything which goes wrong in Africa. He asks why everyone emphasizes the responsibility of the First World as if the African people were children and didn’t have any free will or moral sense themselves. The reviewer summarizes his criticism by demanding to hold “those who actually slaughter people” liable rather than the developed nations, whose “colonial politics can’t serve as an excuse forever”.

While it is very tempting to accept this position and forget about the African conflicts, saying “Phew! I knew that I am not responsible! After all, how could I be? I didn’t do anything.”, I am afraid the reviewer misses a crucial point in his reasoning. Let’s imagine you are witnessing a situation where someone tries to kill innocent women and children using a machete, inter alia, because your ancestors told his ancestors that they belong to a superior race, thereby seeking to consolidate their power. Is that your business after so many years have passed since those dark days of colonialism? Let’s go on to imagine that you are comparably rich as well as armed to the teeth because of some past period commonly known as the Cold War. Even if you are not directly responsible for the killer’s actions, how couldn’t you feel obliged to stop him? For example, shortly after the Rwandan Genocide had begun, heavily armed foreign troops (360 US marines landed in Burundi, 400 French paratroopers in Kigali, etc.) were transferred to the region – to evacuate foreigners and then get the hell out of there!

The reviewer of General Dallaire’s book is perfectly right when he points out the guilt of those who commit unspeakable crimes against humanity. But the conclusion he draws is utterly wrong as sometimes you can get your hands stained with blood even without taking them out of your pockets…