Commemorating the Genocide Against the Tutsi in Rwanda
A CHRONICLE OF HOPE
Revisiting the Genocide Against the Tutsi in Rwanda
Tuesday, October 15, 2019
4:00pm – 6:00pm
Konover Auditorium
Dodd Center, University of Connecticut
Reception to Follow
To mark the 25th anniversary of the Rwandan Genocide, the Dodd Center welcomes four survivors to share their stories of survival and their message of hope for the world.
Join us for a discussion with Charles and Angelique Rutaganira and Tharcisse and Chantal Seminega.
Sponsored by the Laura and Lorenz Reibling Family Foundation
Please click here for a link to the Uconn Thomas J. Dodd Research Center invitation
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25 Years Later—Revisiting the Genocide Against the Tutsi in Rwanda
April 4, 2019 - 7 PM
at the National Center for Civil and Human Rights in Atlanta, Georgia
Survivors to Speak at the National Center for Civil and Human Rights in Atlanta, Georgia
Prof. Lorenz Reibling to speak on societal collapse in Nazi Germany and Rwanda
Twenty-five years ago, during 100 days starting in April 1994, the hills of the tiny African country of Rwanda ran red with blood. The well-organized genocide against the Tutsi by Hutu extremists left more than 800,000 Rwandans dead. Fear and propaganda incited ordinary people to murder their neighbors, workmates, and fellow churchgoers. Most victims were butchered or maimed by machetes, clubs and other weapons of war, including savage rape.
The killers carried lists of those marked for death. On one such list: Tharcisse Seminega, a Tutsi professor at the University of Rwanda in Butare. He and his family narrowly escaped the machetes. Charles Rutaganira, who lived in the capital Kigali, did not. Attackers slashed him repeatedly and left him to die. Somehow he survived.
On April 4, 2019, at the National Center for Civil and Human Rights in Atlanta, Georgia, these survivors will reflect on the genocide and speak about the urgent message it conveys for citizens of the world today. Professor Lorenz Reibling of Boston College will also compare the societal collapse in Nazi Germany and Rwanda. The event theme is “A Chronicle of Hope—Revisiting the Genocide Against the Tutsi in Rwanda.”
Knowing that many people recoil at the sheer horror, Dr. Seminega asks, “Why am I compelled to tell our story? Is it just one more account of horrific events that, frankly, people would rather not exhume?” A soft-spoken former Catholic seminarian, he continues: “Most genocide accounts focus on abject failure: the failure of neighbors, the failure of colleagues, the failure of friends, and what is the most poignant and most soul-wrenching is the failure of the church to exercise any restraint on its members.” But, he says, he has a different story to tell. “My family of six and I survived the wholesale murder because of the concerted efforts of a small group of honorable Rwandan Hutu who took extreme risks to hide us.”
Dr. Seminega explains that his family’s rescuers “acted, not only as individuals, but as a principled community—a real-life demonstration of the way that love and hope can inspire unwavering courage and compassion in the face of terror.” Dr. Seminega and his fellow survivors speak about their experiences in the hope that listeners can look past the horror of the genocide. In our polarized world, where ethnic and social divides threaten to plant the seeds for future genocides, what can quash that toxic growth? The survivors would answer in a word: LOVE.
The program at the Center begins at 7:00 p.m. It is free to the public, but pre-registration is required at https://www.rwanda-nogreaterlove.com/en/press-and-events.
Courtesy of the program sponsor, the Arnold-Liebster Foundation, attendees will receive gift copies of Dr. Seminega’s newly published memoir No Greater Love: How My Family Survived the Genocide in Rwanda.
In connection with this event, please find an interview with Tharcisse Seminega here.
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Boston College Spring Symposium:
In the Eye of the Storm: Resistance to Nazi Oppression
April 18, 2018
7 PM, Devlin 101, Boston College
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Zhao Bin: Paintings in Transition
Exhibition at the Thomas J. Dodd Center Research Center, University of Connecticut
Reception: March 1, 2018 ,3-5 PM, Dodd Center Lobby
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Boston College Fall Symposium
A Holocaust Symposium
Genocide and the Persecution of Jehovah's Witnesses
October 18, 2017
7:00 PM, Devlin 101, Boston College
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Boston College Spring Symposium
Japanese American Exclusion, Incarceration and Resettlement after 75 Years:
Lessons for a Democracy on the Edge
April 19, 2017
7:30 PM, Admissions Auditorium, Devlin 101, Boston College
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Nature of Resistance - Zachary Lobdell - @Artlery 160
Exhibition Opening Reception on Thursday, March 23, 5-8 PM, 160 Federal Street, Boston, MA
More information here
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Discover New Worlds -
Baris Perker joins Lexington Symphony on April 1, 2017
LLRFF is delighted to invite you to a special treat on April 1, 2017: The Lexington Symphony will feature Baris Perker, a Boston-based composer, who has won numerous prizes for his compositions. His music has been received with great acclaim for his eloquent and masterful orchestration with an expressive and colorful melodic exploration weaving together jazz elements with oriental rhythmic construction.
The concert will also include well-known pieces from Sibelius and Dvorak.
April 1, 2017 | Saturday, 8pm
One of the things that excite Music Director Jonathan McPhee about this program is the fact that all of the music evokes strong visual imagery and emotions through very different styles. Sibelius was a master at writing brooding tone poems that call to mind his Finnish homeland. Turkish composer Baris Perker, who now resides in the U.S., brings a compelling voice to his tone poem that is brimming with style and movement. Dvořák’s New World Symphony — his description of America through the eyes of a visitor immersed in our culture in the late 1800s — needs no further introduction.
Jean Sibelius | En Saga
Baris Perker | The Dreamy Dance
Antonin Dvořák | New World Symphony
Made possible through the generous support of the
Laura and Lorenz Reibling Family Foundation
http://lexingtonsymphony.org/come-to-concerts/concerts
Venue: Cary Hall in Lexington, MA, 1605 Massachusetts Avenue
Preconcert talk by conductor Jonathan McPhee at 7 PM
More information about Baris Perker here
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Join us for a Kristallnacht Commemoration
- Film Screening of "Nazi Law - Legally Blind"
on Nov 7, 2016 at 4 PM, Boston College
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Long Island International Film Expo shows
"Taking the Stand - We have More to Say"
On July 16th, 2016
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Join us for the US premiere of "Nazi Law: Legally Blind" at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston on May 7th!
At the onset of the Third Reich in January 1933, Hitler began a step by step dismantling of constitutional law that eventually led to the Holocaust and the destruction of Europe.
More information: www.mfa.org