“Stand up so that we kill the Inkotanyi and exterminate them; look at the person’s height and his physical appearance. Just look at his small nose and then break it.” Such an instruction would never be aired on a regular radio station, even amid civil unrest. Yet at Radio Télévision Libre des Mille Collines (RTLM), tensions were raw, and journalists seemed to have lost sight of their moral obligations and ethics.
The theater play **Hate Radio** dramatizes RTLM’s hate speech during the 1994 genocide against the Tutsi. Created and directed by artists from the German production company IIPM Production, in partnership with the local co‑producer Isaano Group, the story begins with a portrait of four seemingly ordinary journalists working in a radio studio. It quickly turns grim as the gruesome details of RTLM’s involvement in the slaughter emerge. Rwanda’s First Lady, Jeannette Kagame, praised the play for demonstrating “the destructive power of hate speech,” and it received universal appreciation.
An engaged audience watched the performance unfold on a stage centered around a brightly lit glass cage that doubled as a fully equipped radio studio. The walls were adorned with photo frames presumed to depict Hutu government figures and possibly RTLM founders. Tables were littered with beer bottles and snacks, which the journalists occasionally devoured. In addition to the journalists, the play featured a uniformed army man who lingered silently. With bracing shouts and restless circling, Diogéne Ntarindwa—stage name Atome—elevated Habimana Kantano’s rage and frustration to operatic heights. In 1994, Kantano equated the Inkotanyi with the Tutsi, using physical traits as criteria for violent acts. Hate speech broadcast before and during the genocide called Tutsis “inyenzi” (cockroaches) and ordered their murder, reporting death tolls as if they were weather variations and urging killers onward.
RTLM introduced talk radio to Rwanda with Kinyarwanda reggae, shock jocks, and hip‑hop. As the sole privately owned alternative to government programming, it shared a frequency with Radio Rwanda; at night, when the government station signed off, RTLM took over the official frequency. Many Rwandans assumed the government station had merely changed formats, lending credibility to RTLM’s anti‑Tutsi broadcasts.
Valérie Bemeriki, another RTLM journalist, was portrayed by Pilipili Bwanga, a Belgian citizen of Congolese ancestry. Bwanga gave the role a confiding intensity, depicting a woman who supported violence against other women, including rape. She explained that her participation was crucial because she believes the histories of the DRC and Rwanda are closely linked. In an interview with The New Times, Bwanga said, “It was incredibly challenging. Since she is a real person, I had to be credible. It demanded so much of me that I have trouble sleeping. She was so powerful and effective that I felt compelled to act rather than watch from the sidelines.”
Other performers included Sébastien Foucault as French journalist Georges Ruggiu and Eric Ngangare as a radio DJ who entertained hate speech. Young audience members spoke movingly about the play. Samuel Nduwayezu, a 24‑year‑old nursing student and founder of the Heza initiative (which promotes maternal and child health), reflected, “While Kantano was acting, I thought, ‘We should be living in a paradise country. Imagine if, with his enthusiasm, he advocated ideas that could build a nation—promoting inclusivity, togetherness, and peace.’” King Ngabo, a 27‑year‑old owner of the African Arts Center and Ingabo Corner café, added that *Hate Radio* reiterated how art can be used to control and devastate a community. “I am now reminded of my duty to inform others, share true stories, and spread love through my talent,” he said, thanking everyone who helped bring the play to life for the generation born after the genocide.
During an interactive session after the performance, Guy Nestor Itoua, the DRC ambassador and dean of the diplomatic corps in Rwanda, highlighted the resurgence of hate speech. “The youth must learn from what we have just seen. On social media today, information spreads faster than ever,” he warned. “I beseech the youth to stand around the symbolic light lit by President Paul Kagame and First Lady Jeannette Kagame—the flame kindled in honor of unity and renewal—to declare ‘never again.’”
The play was superbly performed yet profoundly depressing, repeatedly testing viewers’ thresholds for trauma. Mine was certainly tested.
Comments are closed for this story.