A testament to self - governance

A side - effect of self governance: forgiveness of genocide?

From the Guardian:

Laurencia Niyogira and her nextdoor neighbour, Tasian Nkundiye, have become firm friends. But 22 years ago, at the height of the Rwandan genocide, Nkundiye murdered nearly all of Niyogira’s family, and left her and her siblings for dead.

“I am very grateful to her,” says Nkundiye. “Ever since I wrote to her from prison, confessing to my crimes and asking her for forgiveness, she has never once called me a killer. Now, I often leave my children with her when I have to be away from the village. She has set me free.”

...almost 3,000 victims and perpetrators live in the six reconciliation villages, a success PFR attributes to its emphasis on forgiveness. 

Aside from attending group discussions on conflict resolution, villagers also look after livestock together, grow maize and cassava in a co-operative, and share a common bank account to pay for their health insurance.

“We are motivated by the fact that we run this whole place ourselves,” says Niyogira. “No soldiers, no governmental presence.”

The story is fascinating in itself. But what interests me is that these villages operate almost entirely autonomously, with no governing institutions such as local councils, law enforcement or any legal bodies. The people of these communities are essentially left to themselves.

A little context: After the assassination of the then - president of Rwanda in 1994, over the course of 100 days more than 800 000 ethnic Tutsis were murdered, as well as any Hutus that refused to participate in the mass human destruction. An entire breakdown of civil and social relations between communities ensued. The government actively encouraged and propagated the murder of fellow citizens.

The fact that victim and perpetrator are able to live side by side - harmoniously, no less! - is a testament, or perhaps a side - effect, of 'small community self governance'. Small, tight - knit communities, without the influence of the government, resort to self governance anyway in the name of self interest. It leads to the formation of close bonds and institutional bodies, aiding reconciliation and the integration of values - values that would perhaps be lost with larger yet more 'detached' government input in large cities.

In fact, this is a trend that often happens when government is absent. I recall that Somalian pirates in the 1800's formed quasi - democracies and created "governing" bodies within their groups, without any outside influence and entirely of their own self - volition.

As Winston Churchill said, "democracy is the worst form of government, apart from all the others."

On another note, it also opens an interesting discussion into the powers of the state. Through the instruction of the Hutu government and after months of extensive propaganda,  Hutu civilians were pressured to arm themselves with machetes, clubs, blunt objects and other weapons to rape, maim and kill their Tutsi neighbours. The fact that such massacres were carried out between neighbours, colleagues and villages demonstrates the chilling effect of propaganda and provides a very striking example of cognitive dissonance on an extreme scale.