Today, as we commemorate twenty-seven years since the horrifying acts of the Rwandan genocide, and as we continue the fight to both prevent and stop atrocity around the world, I would like to recount the heroism of Mbaye Diagne.
1/17
A soldier in the Senegalese Army, Diagne served as an unarmed military observer in Rwanda between 1993 and 1994, first working under the Organization for African Unity and then under the United Nations Assistance Mission for Rwanda.
2/17
On this day in 1994, after Prime Minister Agathe Uwilingiyimana and her husband were murdered in their home at the start of the genocide, Diagne risked his life to rescue their five children, who remained in hiding.
3/17
Smuggling them through multiple Interahamwe checkpoints, he ultimately ferried them to safety outside of the country.
That was only the beginning. While many other members of the beleaguered UN observer team deserted their mission, Diagne went on to save many more lives.
4/17
He violated UN rules of engagement to carry out rescue missions all over the Rwandan capital of Kigali. Going out alone in his vehicle, he would find Tutsis and moderate Hutus to bring back to safety before they would be murdered.
5/17
In one episode, he confronted an armed Hutu priest (yes, many Hutu clergy actively participated in the genocide) who was about to execute a woman named Concilie Mukamwezi.
As the priest, backed up by four militiamen, pointed his Kalashnikov at Mukamwezi, Diagne ran over.
6/17
Placing himself between the priest and Mukamwezi, he screamed, “Why are you killing this woman? You must not do this because if you do the whole world will know.”
Mukamwezi’s life was spared.
7/17
In another instance, as a militia stopped a rescue convoy that Diagne had organized, he stood between the convoy and the militiamen, shouting, “You cannot kill these people, they are my responsibility. I will not allow you to harm them—you’ll have to kill me first.”
8/17
Dr. Odette Nyiramilimo, who was on one of the lorries in the convoy, recalled, “What really struck me was that he seemed far more worried about us than he had been about himself. He was a hero.”
9/17
Diagne loved to joke around. He used his humor and charm, along with bribes in the form of cash and alcohol—even though he was a devout Muslim—to defuse tense situations and make his way through dangerous checkpoints.
10/17
Tragically, on May 31, 1994, just twelve days before he was to return home, Diagne was killed by a mortar shell that hit an army checkpoint where he was stopped.
11/17
Diagne is thought to have saved hundreds of lives, if not more. One of nine children, Diagne was the first in his family to attend university. He was married, with a son and daughter.
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Amidst the indescribable evil and horror of the genocide, Diagne was a lone light of hope—his acts a reminder of humanity’s profound capacity for goodness.
13/17
Diagne did not have to do what he did. He was not even serving his own country.
But, for Diagne, it was always about something deeper. He was serving humanity itself.
14/17
Diagne has received numerous posthumous honors, including the rank of Knight in Senegal’s National Order of the Lion and Rwanda’s Campaign Against Genocide Medal. In 2014, the UN established the Captain Mbaye Diagne Medal for Exceptional Courage.
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Diagne is not merely a hero to be celebrated—he is a hero to be emulated. The world needs more Mbaye Diagne’s. So if you ever have the chance to save even one life, do it. Each day, in ways both small and large, we all can choose to be a little bit more like Mbaye Diagne.
16/17
And as we continue to confront ongoing and potential genocides around the world, the best we can do to honor the victims of genocide is to act early, to stand up for what is right, and to remain unswerving in our pursuit of truth, justice, and freedom.
17/END
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Nothing is normal right now in America. As much as people may wish to believe all is well, our country remains on a collision course, staring down the specter of civil conflict sometime in the next several years.
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But violence and social collapse need not be our fate. We have the power to create a better future—if we use the present window of opportunity to correct course.
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It is easy to be lulled into denialism and complacency—but only because we are back in a calm before the storm.
Although we did well to remove Trump from office, the transition of the presidency does not alter the underlying social trends that lead to strife.
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In government, the people are the ultimate institution where power lies, serving as the backstop against tyranny when all other systems fail.
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When those in office refuse a peaceful transition of power, it is the duty of the people to ensure a proper transition.
When the checks and balances in the system of government fail to function properly, it is the duty of the people to restore the social order.
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When truth does not prevail and instead becomes perverted in the interest of oppression, it is the duty of the people to reestablish shared reality, community, and trust.
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Let me tell you the story—the nightmare—of Idi Amin in Uganda. Because it is about time that Americans start learning a few things from Africans.
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In 1971, Amin, as the head of the Ugandan military, was facing likely prosecution for the misappropriation of army funds.
So he decided to launch a military coup to seize power. The coup was hardly the first time that Amin’s elite status enabled him to escape justice.
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While Amin had only a 4th-grade education and was repeatedly derided as “stupid,” he was doubtless a good fighter.
In the 1950s and 60s, he had ascended the ranks of the British Colonial Army and later the Ugandan Army, culminating in his 1970 appointment as military chief.
Round 1 of Trump’s coup was the election, while Round 2 has been his efforts to discredit the election’s outcome and contest it in court.
Now, we are entering Round 3—the much darker and far more dangerous phase of the coup.
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Trump’s attack on America is hardly over. But ever since the General Services Administration authorized the release of transition funds—which was probably only a strategic concession by the Trump administration—many Americans have checked out.
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But as the recent events in our capitol should demonstrate, the coming weeks may well be the most perilous stretch that our country has ever faced.
Before highlighting what we must expect in this period, let’s review some background, including the current state of the coup.
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If Trump's coup fails, many people will erroneously conclude that "the system worked," rather than that "the system is on the verge of collapse."
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This flawed reasoning will have the troubling effect of reinforcing beliefs in American exceptionalism, setting us up for potentially greater danger in 2024.
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Yet it is amply clear that Trump's attempted coup has already set profoundly damaging precedents—by normalizing efforts to endlessly and baselessly contest elections and by introducing new and even more extreme tactics for electoral theft.
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For the sake of both principle and precedent, and for the long-term preservation of our society, our country must bring the perpetrators of Trump administration crimes to justice.
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But the difficult reality is that justice will be damaging if we do not first establish truth. In a society with two different conceptions of reality, efforts toward justice, no matter how legitimate, will only be interpreted as vengeance by the opposing side.
2/8
The result will be to drive further division and hasten social collapse. The bifurcation of the country and the current rightwing reaction reflects this troubling fact.