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In Praise of Blood: The Crimes of the Rwandan Patriotic Front is a 2018 book by Canadian journalist Judi Rever and published by Random House Canada. The book is highly controversial and documents war crimes by the Rwandan Patriotic Front that occurred alongside the Rwandan genocide. Rever supports the double genocide theory, classifying the RPF crimes as genocide.

Content

Since 1994, various investigators have drawn attention to the crimes of the RPF. Rever's book draws in part on unpublished reports sent to her unofficially by the Bureau of Special Investigations, part of the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda. Among the claims in the book are that the assassination of Juvénal Habyarimana was ordered by Kagame, and that the RPF, in a joint criminal enterprise, systematically killed Hutu in northwest Rwanda in order to make their land available for Tutsi refugees. The appendices contain information on "Structure of RPF violence from 1994 through the counterinsurgency" and dozens of biographical sketches of "The criminals of the Rwanda Patriotic Front".

A French translation of the book was originally to be published by Fayard in 2019, but this company withdrew after controversy. Subsequently Max Milo published it in 2020.

Reception

René Lemarchand called the book a "path-breaking inquest", "destined to become required reading for any one claiming competence on the Rwanda genocide". He praises her for thorough investigation and taking risks in order to gather as much information as possible. According to Lemarchand, "Some reputable scholars did not hesitate to single it out as one of the most important book s on Rwanda to appear over the last ten or fifteen years." Scott Straus, a critic of the double genocide theory, states that Rever employs "conspiratorial and sensationalistic language". According to Claudine Vidal, "Rever’s work blurs the line between investigation and indictment" and "reads like a prosecutor's closing argument". According to human rights scholar Jeff Bachman, the book "is investigative journalism at its finest" and "offers readers the most in-depth account yet of suspected crimes committed by Paul Kagame and the Rwandan Patriotic Front".

Open letters were circulated against the book, accusing Rever of genocide denial. Rever says that she is not a genocide denier because she accepts that the killing of Tutsi was indeed a genocide.

References

1. ^ "Canadian journalist challenges Rwandan genocide narrative in new book | CBC Radio". CBC. Retrieved 10 November 2020.
2. ^ Vidal, Claudine. "Debate: Judi Rever will not let anything stand in the way of her quest to document a second Rwandan genocide". The Conversation. Retrieved 10 November 2020.
3. ^ Lemarchand, René (25 June 2018). "Rwanda: the state of Research | Sciences Po Violence de masse et Résistance – Réseau de recherche". www.sciencespo.fr. ISSN 1961-9898. Archived from the original on 19 November 2018. Retrieved 13 December 2018.
4. "Judi Rever's disputed book on Tutsi genocide to be published in France". The Africa Report.com. 10 July 2020. Retrieved 10 November 2020.
5. Straus, Scott (2019). "The Limits of a Genocide Lens: Violence Against Rwandans in the 1990s". Journal of Genocide Research. 21 (4): 504–524. doi:10.1080/14623528.2019.1623527.
6. "Judi Rever, "In Praise of Blood: The Crimes of the Rwandan Patriotic…". New Books Network. Retrieved 10 November 2020.
7. "Rwanda: «L'éloge du sang», ouvrage polémique sur le rôle du FPR pendant le génocide". RFI (in French). 27 September 2020. Retrieved 10 November 2020.

Further reading

• Rever, Judi (2018). In Praise of Blood: The Crimes of the Rwandan Patriotic Front. Random House of Canada. ISBN 978-0-345-81210-0.
• Rever, Judi (2020). Rwanda : L’éloge du sang: L’inconnu (in French). Max Milo. ISBN 978-2-315-00987-9.
• Epstein, Helen (2018). "The Mass Murder We Don't Talk About". Retrieved 10 November 2020.

• 2018 non-fiction books