The 1994 Genocide against Tutsi did not spare the new born
For them there is no child
No elderly for their wisdom
No toddlers for their innocence
No pregnant for lives
No crippled for our empathy
A genocide means up for them; it means down for us. Only Tutsiland against Hutuland. Never again.
Them pretend no nation called Rwanda
No long history of bravery
No Brotherhood to shake foreign lands
No sameness to invoke our Imana and ancestors
No long history of Munyarwanda
A genocide means up for them; it means down for us. Only Tutsiland against Hutuland. Never again.
A Tutsi is a conqueror
A Hamite without a language
An infiltrator without a face
An oppressor behind a cow tail
A colonizer without guns
A genocide means up for them; it means down for us. Only Tutsiland against Hutuland. Never again.
A Hutu is an ordinary man
A hard working man without a name
The majority without ideas for tomorrow
The oppressed in search of opportunity to revenge
The defenceless waiting to be a Tsunami
A genocide means up for them; it means down for us. Only Tutsiland against Hutuland. Never again.
A Belgian gives an identity
An American writes the history
A Canadian speaks for the defenceless
A British blesses the White narrative
A French arms the oppressed
A genocide means up for them; it means down for us. Only Tutsiland against Hutuland. Never again.
The ordinary man is afraid, children’s throats are slit
The hardworking man is frustrated, the pregnant are disembowelled
The majority is attacked, the toddlers are smashed against the walls
The oppressed is armed, the elderly are gunned down
The defenceless revolt, the crippled is drowned
The ordinary man preaches, children’s heads are crushed
A genocide means up for them; it means down for us. Only Tutsiland against Hutuland. Never again.
Across the ocean, the majority are ideas and values
At the home of snow, ordinary men walk the crippled
House of courts welcomes the oppressed
The hardworking man has a name in the news
Their lands are called nations
A genocide means up for them; it means down for us. Only Tutsiland against Hutuland. Never again.
Has Munyarwanda forgotten the blood pact?
Centuries of Rwandaful expansion
Making foreign lands tremble
Drums and roaring Intore
All to make a proud Munyarwanda
A genocide means up for them; it means down for us. Only Tutsiland against Hutuland. Never again.
Now we sing freedom
Resilience is our mantra
Ancestral virtues at heart
Our unity is like a phoenix
And peace reign in the land of Gihanga
A genocide means up for them; it means down for us. Only Tutsiland against Hutuland. Never again.
Ndi Umunyarwanda is a new dawn
Our youth are awake
Restoring the ancestral pact on the throne
To make Gihanga’s nation flourishing
Wishing hate dead forever.
A genocide means up for them; it means down for us. Only Tutsiland against Hutuland. Never again.
A poem by Paul Rukesha, a survivor of the Genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda. I wrote this poem on Wednesday, 21 April 2021, as I was feeling grief caused by the arrogance of the heartless genocide deniers and the platform they are being given around the world, including the University of Cambridge.
