In an era of global protest, France and Israel stand out for use of dangerous ammunition
Security forces in France and Israel, in particular, have deployed specific tools to devastating effect on the safety of the press covering protests.
Posts
The Horror: Rwanda, a history lesson
/in The New Republic/by Frank SmythFor most of the world, Rwanda’s dark spasm of violence seemed to come out of nowhere. It didn’t. Though the bloodiness of the killing fields is unprecedented, the country, at least in its post-colonial existence, has been subject to a number of massacres: some took place…
Rwanda’s French Connection
/in The Village Voice/by Frank Smyth“We have eight million people here,” an aid worker told me last June in Rwanda, “and all you Americans care about are those damn gorillas.” I was in Rwanda investigating weapons trafficking for the Human Rights Watch/Arms Project, but I couldn’t argue with the man, a Tutsi. Almost the only news reaching the West last […]
French Guns, Rwandan Blood
/in The New York Times/by Frank SmythThe horrendous vioIence that has seized the tiny African republic of Rwanda is not as random as it looks. For the members of the Akazu, the ruling clan around the late President Juvenal Habyarimana, the only way to retain a 21-year monopoly on power was to kill their enemies as fast as they could. And until yesterday, when…