Paper short abstract:

The paper deals with representation of examples of people who opposed the genocide and the continuation of ethnic violence in the aftermath of it in Rwanda. It will be presented the way of using such stories for the needs of propaganda and implementation the concept of new national identity.

Paper long abstract:

Their exact names usually are not well-known even inside the country, although everybody knows what does it mean "Bisesero" or "Nyange school". They are not political leaders, intellectuals or icons of anticolonaialist movements. The majority of them are just common peasants or students. During the genocide 1994 or the following turbulent years they refused to die submissively or to take part in massacres. Some of them were fighting against Interahamwe squadrons with stones and sticks, others - were hiding the Tutsis in their houses with a risqué to their own lives. There were also those who refused to separate on Hutus and Tutsis in response to demand of militiamen and were all murdered.

In Kigali Memorial Centre you can find the special stand devoted to resistance to genocide. There were made also a number of movies in the post-genocide era about the people who resisted or at least refused to kill and hate ("Love Letter to My Country", 2006; «We Are All Rwandans», 2008).

The collective national hero of "New Rwanda" is the common Rwandan who fights or did fight against the "genocide ideology" (the term is legalized through modern Rwandan law) and practice.

The exciting stories about those who have choose humanity in the midst of collective madness often paying for that rather high price serve as the base of new nationalist ideology and project of national reconciliation. They act as images of heroism and humanism, courage and determination, realizing the expectancies for the national renaissance and recovery from the collective psychological trauma.