We Wish to Inform You That Tomorrow We Will Be Killed with Our Families

Philip Gourevitch chronicles the 1994 Rwandan genocide, during which Hutu extremists murdered approximately 800,000 Tutsis and moderate Hutus in one hundred days. The narrative details the bureaucratic orchestration of the slaughter, the role of Radio Télévison Libre des Mille Collines in inciting neighbors against one another, and the failure of the United Nations to intervene. Gourevitch relies on survivor accounts and interviews with perpetrators to examine how the post-colonial political landscape and ethnic identity were manipulated to justify a systematic program of extermination.

This book serves students of international relations, human rights lawyers, and historians of African politics. Readers gain a technical understanding of how international apathy permits mass violence and how a state can mobilize its entire population for murder. It provides a case study in the consequences of political propaganda and the collapse of global peacekeeping mandates. By the end, a reader understands the specific mechanisms of the Rwandan conflict and the ideological justifications used by the Hutu Power movement.

Outward-looking; a moderate read.

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