Reactions to the so-called twitterspat between Rwandan President Paul Kagame, Rwandan Foreign Minister Louise Mushikiwabo and British journalist Ian Birrell that I posted on Monday is still in full swing online. The reactions I posted then pretty much summed up general opinion about the incident with most people siding with Birrell. And while I am usually happy to let the issue rest there, Ugandan journalist Andrew Mwenda offered up a new perspective – on Twitter no less – that I feel is worth sharing.
Mwenda is an outspoken veteran journalist and co-founded of The Independent magazine in Uganda. He is also no stranger to the dangers of limited media freedoms. It is for those reasons that I found his perspective so interesting, and perhaps a bit more compelling than Birrell’s.
On the twitterspat itself, he had this to say:
Of course, such opinions were bound to ruffle the feathers of some, including Ian Birrell. Not surprisingly, a few hours later the two of them soon started debating as well.
However the most interesting tweets of the day came yet a few hours later when Mwenda offered his view and opinion on the state of media within Rwanda. Undoubtedly some people will disagree with his assessment, but I have to say it is largely in line with my observations while in Rwanda and many of the opinions of Rwandans I know.
As I mentioned on Monday, I believe good points were made by Birrell, Kagame and Mushikiwabo despite the fact they were arguing with one another. And good points are made here as well, a few of which I wish the human rights and NGO community would listen to a bit more closely.
If there is one lesson to be learned from this entire incident it is that there will always be multiple opinions on a single issue. While some things are clearly obvious, questions as to whether a leader is good, or a government oppressive or an act is a human rights violation is often a lot more complicated than the human rights field likes to admit; nothing happens in a vacuum and context is critical, but people will naturally contextualize a situation based on their own unique personal experiences and knowledge. Consequently, sometimes there is no clear answer or at least no perfect answer that will satisfy everyone. Clearly Twitter is not the correct forum to have a nuanced discussion on issues of media freedom, post-genocide reconciliation and reconstruction as these are not issues readily confined to 140 characters. But maybe this entire incident will illustrate the merit of reaching out and debating, and perhaps more importantly, sitting back and listening.
Final resources:
Yes, the news has hit Rwanda. Louise Mushikiwabo gives her version of the tale in an editorial in the Rwandan daily newspaper The New Times while Ian Birrell gave his account to Channel 4 News in the UK.
