The PANAFRICAN Review
people stopped dying , thanks to Sisyphus . The gods did not tolerate that Sisyphus defied them , so they decided to punish him in an exemplary way that teaches a lesson to other humans who would be tempted to defy them .
So , Zeus condemned Sisyphus to spend all eternity pushing an enormous rock up a steep hill , for years on end . This punishment was intended to make Sisyphus suffer from restlessness ; unceasing work would wear him out . However , his friends who visited him during his unending punishment narrated how they found him immensely upbeat , full of wisdom , and a happy man ; difficulties meant he had reflected and they had given meaning to his existence .
The comparison I attempt to make between Rwanda as Sisyphus on the one hand and France and its former political elites as ( defeated ) gods on the other is not by chance ; in fact , French presidents are often likened to gods : President Macron is portrayed by some in France as Jupiter or Zeus the king of the gods , while former President Francois Mitterrand ’ s nicknames were god and the Sun King .
French gods of Rwanda
Before the genocide against the Tutsi in 1994 , French political elites believed they were the gods of Rwanda and had the country ’ s fate in their hands ; for instance , the politics behind France ’ s military intervention in Rwanda from 1990 defined the RPF as a “ Ugandan-Tutsi ” enemy of Rwanda , while the entire Tutsi population was qualified as an accomplice of the RPF – and the genocidaires as France ’ s allies . In the same spirit of France acting as the god of Rwanda , with full control over its destiny , French political elites sought to keep their genocidaires allies in power with the aim to maintain French political control over submissive Rwandan elites who viewed them as gods . It was in that context , with France as an accomplice and the godfather of the architects of the genocide , that Tutsi were sought and hunted down for extermination in 1994 .
Like Sisyphus , Rwanda as a nation literally cheated death when the RPA forces stopped the genocide . However , what followed was a determination of French political elites to punish those who had defied their hegemonic , geostrategic ambitions that threatened to set a “ bad ” example for other Africans , mainly in “ Francophone ” West Africa .
Rwanda had to embark on a journey of survival , healing and reconstructing while coping with France ’ s hostility and denial . The Odyssean journey to defy the selfproclaimed gods and their efforts to turn victims into perpetrators and to re-arm those known to have committed the genocide took Rwanda 27 years . In the process , Rwandan leaders suffered judicial persecutions ; genocide survivors had to contend with dehumanizing denialist narratives sponsored by the gods in their efforts to rewrite the history of the genocide in a way that would exalt and exonerate them .
“ There were many who worked hard to keep us at the bottom ,”
President Kagame described the journey that at one point required the breaking of diplomatic ties with France . Like Sisyphus , for more than two decades , Rwanda was condemned to fight against many untruths covering the mountain of France ’ s guilt , only to see those vindictive manipulations rebound with renewed vigor .
The fact that Rwanda has survived these 27 years to see France finally recognize its role – which President Macron euphemistically called “ overwhelming responsibilities ” – is simply a miracle that Greek mythology would qualify in the sense of Rwanda avoiding its fate by defeating France ’ s politics of amnesia and denial .
By avoiding this fate , Rwanda was able to “ instill the mindset amongst ourselves , that Rwandans and Africans are as equally deserving as others in terms of freedom , respect and prosperity ,” as President Kagame said . Moreover , the resilience and perseverance are a chapter in the broader story of the African struggle for freedom and dignity ; it ’ s an inspiring story of overcoming trials and tribulations of the past 27 years . But there ’ s another significant lesson that Africans can learn from the Greek mythology : the gods are only significant if humans believe in them ; they fade away by the lack of worshippers ._
Olivier Mushimire is a Rwandan researcher and academic .
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