Rwandans you see are unbothered with the cost of this M23 liberation struggle to Rwanda. It is not that they do not feel it, it is that they expect it! Rwandans know the cost of freedom and of security.
This “brand Rwanda” was not given to us, we built it! So we understand how to build it and how to rebuild it again. That which has not been given to you, cannot be taken away; or in Sankara’s words: “he who doesn’t feed you, can demand nothing from you.”
A few months ago I attended a diplomatic party, and a gentleman said to me: “M23 can’t take Goma, that would have such a reputationnal damage on Rwanda…” I laughed. I told him: “dont let an M23 person hear you, because if he did, they’ll take goma tomorrow, and you and I wouldn’t be able to stop them!”
If you tell someone who’s been in exile for 30 years that you don’t want him/her to return to his homeland, because that would cause ‘reputational damage to his relatives – who are happily home – he’d say: ‘I have my own priorities: which are my dignity and citizenship. My Rwandan relatives understand this and do not need to agree with me…”
“Reputation” just like “aid”, or “sanctions” have only the weight that one gives them.
M23 receives no aid, nor does it have a reputation to salvage. They have however a legitimate yearn to go home. For 30 years they’d hoped that the world would advocate for them, pity them and return them to their home.
The world preferred to entice a few of them with American and Canadian visas, periodically taking a token family to resettle in foreign land. Uprooting a people in this manner constitutes deportation – an act of genocide, in international law – just like Trump wants to do Palestinians to build beachfront resorts in Gaza…
So for 30 years they were mistaken to trust the world, like we did before them – for 30 years too. Uganda before us, faced similar threats for supporting us. Tanzania had faced similar threats for supporting NRM, FRELIMO, ZANUPF, ANC, SPLA, etc.,
But we were fighting our own war of liberation, and they understood us! We know history, and more importantly we know the price of liberation: The two are the best teachers.
All this to say: It is not a parliament in Europe or a well-wisher in Britain that informs our struggle, it is Thomas Sankara’s wisdom, when he said: “The slave who is not capable of taking up his rebellion does not deserve to be pitied on his fate. He alone is responsible for his misfortune if he believes his master’s false promise of freedom. Freedom can be won only through struggle.” And I believe M23 is doing just that. And by being associated with them, we understand the risk. We accept it!