{"id":7839,"date":"2019-11-13T11:15:46","date_gmt":"2019-11-13T10:15:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.collectifpartiescivilesrwanda.fr\/?p=7839"},"modified":"2019-11-13T11:15:46","modified_gmt":"2019-11-13T10:15:46","slug":"judi-rever-and-the-academic-principles","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.collectifpartiescivilesrwanda.fr\/en\/judi-rever-and-the-academic-principles\/","title":{"rendered":"“Judi Rever and the academic principles”"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Jos van Oijen<\/p>\n

“The principles of truth and honesty are considered as fundamental to a community of scholars.” This motto can be found on\u00a0the website\u00a0of the Catholic University of Leuven in Belgium, one of the universities where the Canadian journalist Judi Rever from October 9 through October 12 was allowed to explain her revisionist theories about the genocide against the Tutsis. This is ironic, because very few Rwanda experts characterize her work as ‘true’ or ‘honest’.<\/p>\n

Rwanda experts<\/strong><\/p>\n

Bringing Rever into an academic environment caused a stir in the field. Within two days, sixty genocide experts from around the world, ranging from eyewitnesses such as General Romeo Dallaire to prominent historians such as H\u00e9l\u00e8ne Dumas, as well as organizations for the prevention of genocide, had already expressed their concerns in a\u00a0joint letter\u00a0to the Rectores Magnifici:<\/p>\n

“[Judi Rever] …\u00a0provides not the slightest evidence of her sensationalist accusations, whilst ignoring a wealth of testimony and accessible material,” the experts wrote. “Evidence built up over the past 25 years\u00a0by scholars and journalists.”<\/p>\n

Other specialized scientists chose to vent their protest on social media. Bert Ingelaere, himself working at the University of Antwerp, one of the locations Rever would visit on her tour, published\u00a0tweets\u00a0with links to scientific publications that criticize Rever’s work and ideas, concluding:<\/p>\n

“And, yes, given the above, I find it completely un-academic and thus irresponsible to have Judi Rever<\/a> speak on this at universities without also organizing an academic counter-voice that does not share the premise of what is defended and how that is being defended.”<\/p>\n

The well-known French historian and Rwanda expert Claudine Vidal agreed: \u201cFrom the point of view of university research, there is much to be said about Judi Rever’s book. It is incomprehensible that a university should invite her without confronting her with this criticism. Fully agree with Ingelaere.”<\/p>\n

The criticism did not come as a surprise, as Rever\u2019s version of history strongly resembles the stories we\u2019ve been hearing for 30 years from the extremists who prepared, executed and subsequently denied the genocide in Rwanda. Would these universities consider putting an anti-vaxxer (ant-vaccination activist, ed.), climate denier or holocaust sceptic in front of their students and guests without facilitating an expert response? That doesn\u2019t seem likely.<\/p>\n

Core business<\/strong><\/p>\n

For the experts, Rever\u2019s sensational claims are not new. They come along every few years, wrapped in a different package. And each time again the details can easily be traced back to extremist publications from the 90s. But for those who know little or nothing about the genocide – like the organizers of the lectures in Flanders – those stories seem new and revealing.<\/p>\n

Before the first lecture had taken place, the events had already gone awry. The announcements placed by the universities of Antwerp and Leuven on their websites and distributed via social media, largely consisted of a\u00a0promotional text\u00a0supplied by Rever’s publisher, which was entirely made up of inaccurate claims. The fact that it was an advertising text was not mentioned, or had not been recognized as such by the co-organizers who had signed it.<\/p>\n

At Leuven, no fewer than four professors signed the advertisement. In doing so, they erroneously suggested – with little respect for the principles of truth and honesty – that the text contained credible information. Moreover, inquiries revealed that the signing process itself had not taken place very carefully either.<\/p>\n

Arnim Langer, one of the four signatories, informed me by email that he was not involved in the organization at all and his research did not involve Rwanda. Marc Hooghe, another signatory, is not a Rwanda expert either, but does have some notoriety for having been reprimanded\u00a0several times for scientific misconduct. Why he is still a professor at all is not clear.<\/p>\n

Law professor Stephan Parmentier acted as the spokesperson. Although he is well-regarded, Parmentier does not specialize in Rwanda either.<\/p>\n

The fourth ‘professor’ is former TV reporter Peter Verlinden. On Twitter, he revealed that it was his initiative to organize Rever\u2019s tour. Verlinden’s involvement explains a lot. Although he is the only one among the organizers who is familiar with Rwanda, he does not stand out as someone who takes facts very seriously.<\/p>\n

Verlinden regularly publishes the most absurd claims without providing a decent source. He has, for example, reported a huge massacre in Rwanda that no one else has heard about, and that\u00a0seven out of ten\u00a0Interahamwe (the Hutu militia responsible for a large part of the genocide) would have been Tutsis – a suggestion that fits in with the extremist propaganda which suggests that the Tutsis collectively committed suicide.<\/p>\n

For twenty-five years Verlinden has searched for evidence of a second genocide in Rwanda, to no avail. So when Judi Rever\u2019s book arrived, he received it as a gift from above. Since then, promoting Rever and her book, together with slandering her critics, seems to have become Verlinden’s core business.<\/p>\n