“Helping survivors of residential schools in Canada is not the same as the UN sending in peacekeepers to prevent the genocide in Rwanda. But both are a reflection of our culture and of our priorities. Where there is empathy there is always a solution, where there is apathy there is always an excuse.” HelpingSchoolCultureEmpathySolutionsReflectionExcusePrioritiesSurvivorGenocideApathyRwanda Author:Payam Akhavan
“I hate the tribal hatred thesis - in Yugoslavia and Rwanda and places like that they kill each other because that's just what people do there. I think it's profoundly ignorant. I was astonished when Samuel Huntington wrote his famous clash of civilizations essay in response to the Yugoslavian war. I was on the streets in Sarajevo and every other person I met came from a mixed marriage. And here is Professor Huntington from Harvard writing this is a clash of civilizations. That was absurd.” PeopleThinkingWritingWarHateHatredI HateResponseIgnorantAbsurdEssaysClashThesisRwanda Author:Payam Akhavan