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Tributes to ALD July 23 2010

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Tributes to ALD July 23 2010 Alison L. Des Forges (1942-2009) Tributes at Memorials (2009) Introduction After Alison Des Forges’ sudden and untimely death on February 12, 2009, memorial gatherings were held around the world to mourn her loss, to express gratitude to her, and to talk about ways to continue her work. This is a collection of some formal tributes that were given at these memorials, presented in chronological order. The collection begins with tributes that were given at a memorial service in Buffalo ten days after Alison’s death, and ends with a sampling of the tributes that were given at a gathering on the first anniversary of her death. Many other people have written about Alison. Some of their tributes have appeared, or will appear, in newspapers and magazines, in academic volumes, and in a booklet published by Human Rights Watch. Others are purely personal memories, and are being compiled separately. Please note that this collection is a work in progress. I am still missing some of the tributes that were given at the memorials in 2009. I am continuing to update this collection as I receive additional tributes, and will post the most up-to-date version online at: http://alison- memories.net. In the meantime, please contact me if you have any questions or suggestions. Rachel Massey July 23, 2010 [email protected] 2 Contents Buffalo -- February 22, 2009 Rev. Patrick Keleher Douglas Liebhafsky Roger Des Forges Eileen Buermann Helene Kramer David Zarembka Jessie Des Forges Cécile Rwabukumba Ngwinondebe Amherst – March 8, 2009 Martha Saxton Kigali – March 20, 2009 Kenneth Roth Leslie Haskell (a reading) Roger Des Forges Madison – May 19, 2009 Scott Straus and Lars Waldorf Lee Ann Fujii New York – May 21, 2009 Kenneth Roth Roméo A. Dallaire (statement ) Monique Mujawamariya Anneke Van Woudenberg Maria Burnett Noel Twagiramungu Aloys Habimana William Foltz Jane Olson Alexander Des Forges Paris – June 2, 2009 Jean-Pierre Chrétien Roger Des Forges Catherine Choquet M. Theobald Rutihunza Geneva – July 10, 2009 Roger Des Forges Leslie Haskell Claudine Vidal Buffalo – February 12, 2010 Africa Division, Human Rights Watch (statement) 3 Rev. Patrick Keleher Buffalo, February 22, 2009 Opening Prayer Whenever I am asked to pray in public I search for an appropriate quote. Every single time I thought of Alison the first thing that always came to my head was one you’ll find strange, but I still cannot fail to use it today. She spoke French so fluently and her married name is French but that is not why I chose it. So, it’s from maybe the most published of all French books, the Michelin Guide. I couldn’t remember it exactly so I ran to my house and grabbed one put it into my car to bring to a quiet place to prepare some thoughts. If you don’t believe in Providence guess which one I picked up!! SCOTLAND! Alison’s roots! Right inside the front cover of every Michelin guide, right under KEY, it says: THREE STARS worth a journey; TWO STARS worth a detour; ONE STAR interesting. Alison Des Forges was FIVE STARS. Let Us Pray. We gather to celebrate this sister for the World her mind so immense her heart compassionate her eyes so welcoming her smile disarming she could fill a room with everything that makes a difference in fact, cut through to the only things that do: intelligence, vision, human suffering, nation’s pain, healing hope, cosmic direction; could dazzle us with facts and words in so many languages blessing them all with action. 4 Transform our pain and suffering As we gather to celebrate her rich-being-in-love wherever she stepped. May the words and tears and stories this hour together the melodies, the memories, the depth we share overflow, overflow, overflow past our pain deeply to our hearts that our time together may be for us today renewal, discovery and fresh commitment anew, truly worth our journey Amen. BENEDICTION The final quote is an inscription by Bishop Pietro Bembo added in 1833 to the tomb of Raphael in the Pantheon in Rome: Ille hic est Raphael timuit quo sospite vinci rerum magna parens et moriente mori. “Here lies Raphael who, when alive, great Nature fear he might outvie her works; when he died, she would.” Let us pray, The Peace of God take over our hearts today To go forth richer for having shared, The links we have celebrated make new, The promises we’ve found commit us to, That in making them, We keep them. Bless every single step we take As we open these doors today Made sacred by what we have done today. Let us open our hearts to renew the World With the passion and energy, The commitment and the hope Alison did That her extraordinary work Be finished For we know it is truly Yours. Amen Amen Amen. 5 Douglas Liebhafsky Buffalo, February 22, 2009 I have the honor to speak first, not because of any talent of my own, but just because I’ve known Alison the longest. Since late August 1942, in fact. I was then 16 months old. When my mother came home from the hospital with the newborn Alison, I pointed to my little sister and said, “Pretty.” At least that is the family legend. I can’t say I remember the event. But I can testify that “Pretty” in fact became Alison’s childhood nickname in our house, and I have no reason to question its origin. That nickname faded away, but Alison’s beauty never did – and, most of all, she was a beautiful spirit. For those few who may not have been there already, I urge a visit to HRW’s website, where you’ll see an avalanche of well-merited tributes to Alison. There’s very little one could hope to add to that spontaneous outpouring. But I am going to offer a smidgen of Shakespeare, a dollop of Hemingway, and a bit of vintage Alison that I don’t think is already widely known. There’s a short, simple Shakespearean sentence that really says it all: “She should have died hereafter.” I haven’t been able to shake that haunting 5-word sentence from my mind’s ear for the last 10 days. A little more elaborate is a Hemingway passage that a friend alerted me to. It’s from A Farewell to Arms. I’d like to take a moment to read it to you: “If people bring so much courage to this world, the world has to kill them to break them, so of course it kills them. The world breaks everyone, and afterward many are strong in the broken places. But those that will not break it kills. It kills the very good and the very gentle and the very brave impartially. If you are none of these, you can be sure it will kill you too, but there will be no special hurry.” Very much on point, I think. But Alison would not want us to dwell on the injustice of her untimely passing. Despite all the horrific events she so ably unraveled and chronicled, Alison always maintained a positive, upbeat outlook. And she was always ready for a good laugh. My wife Wendy and I look back fondly on the many times, while staying with us in New York, Alison would finally put aside her work at 11 pm to savor with us Jon Stuart's dissection of the powers that were in the prior administration. Alison could, and did, laugh at herself, but she also wasn't above a bit of gentle schadenfreude at the expense of others. 6 She took great delight, for example, in the discomfiture of Rwanda's president Kagame when he arrived at the Amherst campus with a matriculating child in tow only to find that his nemesis Alison was already ensconced on campus as a featured speaker. Just this past December, I was lucky enough to have a ringside seat while Alison had a bit of fun at the expense of another member of Mr. Kagame's government -- Mr. Karugarama, the Minister of Justice/Attorney General. Alison and I had gone together to a program at NYU Law School which featured the Chief Justice of the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda. Mr. Karugarama was also in attendance and took the floor to speak during the proceedings. It just was not Mr. Karugarama's day. While he acquitted himself well enough during the evening's formal program, he wasn't able to escape the premises without coming face to face with my intrepid sister. This was only a week or so, I believe, after the second occasion on which Alison had been denied entry into Rwanda. She and the minister greeted each other quite cordially, but Alison's eyes were sparkling with gentle amusement as she went on to tell Mr. Karugarama, à la Joan Rivers, that the two of them "had to talk." A nervous aide at the Minister's side jumped in to insist that his schedule was absolutely full, blah, blah, blah. With a wonderful, wicked grin, Alison looks up at the minister towering above her, and say: "We can have breakfast tomorrow. Everybody has breakfast. I will come to your hotel. What time shall we make it for?" The poor fellow never had a chance. Before he knew it, he'd made a date to see Alison for breakfast at 8:30 the next morning. x - x - x - x Well, it's time to conclude. I said before that Alison could laugh at herself. An example: Alison enjoyed as much as anyone a quip made by Phyllis Rose, a Radcliffe classmate of Alison's and an old friend of Wendy's and mine.
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