Fresh Loaf

Paul Rusesabagina being presented with the Presidential Medal of Freedom
(photo by Paul Morse)

Tuesday night, Emory University hosts the event Beyond Hollywood’s Rwanda: Truth and Justice, Security and Development to counter Paul Rusesabagina’s (the supposed hero of Hotel Rwanda fame) controversial visit last month.

When it comes to conflict in post-colonial Africa, the issues of military intervention and humanitarian efforts are always many-sided. African conflicts do not exist isolated from external forces; African history is too inextricably tied to external actors for that to ever be the case. The issue then isn’t whether or not outsiders intervene, but how intervention should be handled.

When Hollywood takes on violence in Africa, what begin as honestly good intentions often lead to overly simplistic and even blatantly wrong portrayals of the situation. Movies such as Darfur Now and Hotel Rwanda want to bring American attention to the long-ignored atrocities committed in Rwanda during the ’90s and in Darfur today — parts of the world many Americans know nothing about.

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(Photo credit: (c) 2003 Dimension Films)

Are you representative of the holidays in some way, shape or form? For CL’s upcoming Holiday Guide ‘07, we’re profiling six people who define the holiday season. We are looking for people who fit the following categories:

The Spiritual (Christian, Jewish, you name it), the Secular (not so religious), the Department-Store Santa (you know who you are), the Anti-Consumer (hey, no spender!), the Workhorse (moonlighting, are we?), the Lonely Heart (single, are we?)

And asking you these questions:

Why are you the way you are? What’s your ideal holiday meal? What’s the perfect gift to give or receive this season? Where are your holiday festivities/parties? What’s the best feel-good activity of the season for you?

If you’re interested and would like to participate, please e-mail me at adina.fleming@cln.com.

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