Wednesday, August 18, 2010

A Very 5th of July Blog

As you can see by the title, I wrote this blog a long time ago.  BUT, who doesn't want to read about what we once thought about the present?  Rwanda's presidential election already happened, with almost no opposition to the incumbent President and with some upheaval beforehand.  You can read about it here, or just check out my post that I wrote about 5 weeks before the election to give you a sense of politics in Rwanda.

Normally I wouldn't write a blog post in the middle of a work day like this.  But, today isn't a work day.  It's a holiday.  Who knew?

Yesterday was Rwanda's Liberation Day - the 16th anniversary of the RPF's entry into Kigali, marking a key endpoint to the 1994 genocide.  My friend explained that for years and years before that date many were barred from entering Kigali, especially Tutsis (interestingly, on the way to Kigali this weekend, we were barred from entry until we showed a guard our IDs...and one man without an ID was removed from the bus).  So today, in his morning radio address, the President announced that everyone should take an additional day off for the holiday today.  Since I'm not so excellent at listening to the radio here, especially in the early morning, I showed up at a mostly empty office today.

Sound a little different from what you are accustomed to in the U.S.A.?  It is different.  Rwanda's democracy faces a lot of obstacles, and even without those, the vision for a Rwandan democracy is different from what we'd likely yearn for. 

A few weeks ago, in an effort to educate the kids on civics in advance of the August presidential elections, the village celebrated "Democracy Day."  The kids had spirited discussions on what sort of democracy they value.  In one group conversation, one of the kids remarked that an electoral result of 60-40 is a big problem.  How, he wondered, could a ruler say he is the leader when 40% of the country oppose him?  I piped up, saying that I value a strong opposition, as it keeps the leader from thinking he or she can do anything.  Other kids questioned whether in a country of diverse viewpoints it would be possible to have a leader elected with more than 90% of the vote.

Also at issue was political parties.  In the last year, a number of political parties in Rwanda have been barred from registering to participate in the upcoming presidential elections.  One woman's campaign was called off after she was arrested for promoting "genocidal ideology."  While some Rwandans lament the lack of a multitude of options among political parties, while others noted that in a post-conflict state, it was hard to tell which political parties were actually masked militias, and thus supported the limitations.

I like to compare Rwanda's current status to America's in 1796.  Right now the incumbent President is running for his second term, of two he is currently allowed to hold.  In seven years his time will be up, and we will see if he gives up power, and if it's done in a contested election.

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