During the 32nd Kwibuka commemoration prayers, my thoughts grew louder than the steady rain falling on the pavements as we paused to remember the victims of the 1994 Rwanda genocide.
Every year, I join the Rwandese community in Uganda in a trek to the Ggolo Genocide Memorial Site, where prayers are held in honour of genocide victims during the 100 days of Kwibuka remembrance activities.
Lest we forget, approximately 4,771 genocide victims were laid to rest at Ggolo in Mpigi District, 2,875 at Kasensero in Rakai District, and 3,337 at Lambu in Masaka District, bringing the total number of victims buried in the Ugandan memorial sites to nearly 11,000.
These memorial sites form part of more than 250 genocide memorial centres across Rwanda and Uganda that collectively commemorate more than one million lives lost during one of the darkest chapters in African history.
This year’s Kwibuka commemoration also carried continental significance after memorial activities were held at the headquarters of the African Union in Addis Ababa.
One message in particular stood out to me.
African Union Commission Chairperson Mahmoud Ali Youssouf called for stronger action against hate speech and social division as he launched the African Union Human Rights virtual memorial.
His warning deserves urgent attention.
As long as hate speech continues to spread through societies, the world’s commitment to “Never Again” risks becoming little more than ceremonial rhetoric.
Today, hate speech travels faster and wider than ever before. In the age of artificial intelligence, smartphones, digital broadcasting, and social media algorithms, dangerous narratives can spread across borders within seconds.
And history repeatedly shows that violence rarely begins with bullets. It often begins with words.
Even many of today’s geopolitical conflicts and social tensions carry undertones of identity-based hostility, ethnic prejudice, religious intolerance, or dehumanising rhetoric.
From the wars and instability affecting Sudan, South Sudan, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ukraine, Iran, Lebanon, and Israel and Gaza, to xenophobic tensions in South Africa, divisive rhetoric continues to poison coexistence.
The United Nations defines hate speech as communication that attacks or discriminates against individuals or groups based on religion, ethnicity, race, nationality, gender, or other identity factors.
It may come through speeches, broadcasts, writings, cartoons, online content, or organised behaviour intended to demean or incite hostility.
Hate speech is often fuelled by prejudice, inequality, historical grievances, political manipulation, economic frustrations, and ideological extremism.
Over time, these narratives shape public attitudes and gradually normalize discrimination, exclusion, and eventually violence.
Let us be honest with ourselves.
Much as world leaders, genocide survivors, religious figures, writers, and peace advocates continue to declare “Never Again,” the persistence of hate speech means humanity can never fully guarantee that another genocide or mass atrocity will not occur.
“Never Again” can only become meaningful if societies actively work to deescalate hatred before it evolves into violence.
Even within the Great Lakes region, ethnic and identity-based tensions continue to linger beneath the surface.
In parts of Uganda, harmful ethnic stereotypes and divisive rhetoric still emerge during political contestation. In eastern DR Congo, tensions involving communities such as the Hema and Lendu continue to fuel cycles of mistrust and violence.
In South Sudan, divisions between Dinka and Nuer communities have repeatedly escalated into conflict.
In South Africa, xenophobic and Afrophobic sentiments continue to target foreign Africans and migrants.
Elsewhere, religious intolerance between Muslims and Christians continues to fuel hostility in countries such as Nigeria and beyond.
The tragedy is that societies often ignore dangerous rhetoric in its early stages, only to react when violence has already erupted.
The Rwanda genocide itself did not happen overnight.
For decades before 1994, hate-filled propaganda, ethnic polarisation, and dehumanising narratives gradually poisoned society until mass violence became possible.
The result was catastrophic: more than one million lives lost, mass displacement, trauma, refugee crises, and devastating economic and social destruction.
That history should remain a warning to the entire world.
As Nelson Mandela once wisely observed: “No one is born hating another person because of the color of his skin, or his background, or his religion.”
Hatred is learned.
And if people can learn hatred, they can also learn tolerance, empathy, and coexistence.
The philosopher John Locke similarly argued through the theory of tabula rasa, or the “blank slate,” that human beings are shaped by experience and environment rather than being born with fixed prejudice.
That reality gives humanity hope.
People can change. Communities can reconcile. Societies can rebuild trust.
Governments, international organisations, religious institutions, schools, media platforms, and technology companies all have a responsibility to actively combat hate speech and extremism.
The United Nations and regional organisations have made important efforts through reconciliation initiatives, anti-discrimination frameworks, and laws criminalising incitement and hate speech.
However, progress remains threatened by entrenched ideologies rooted in ethnic supremacy, racial superiority, religious extremism, and political opportunism.
More must therefore be done.
Governments must ensure equitable access to opportunities across communities while addressing drivers of conflict such as land disputes, cattle raiding, resource competition, and marginalisation.
Technology companies must strengthen safeguards against extremist content and dangerous algorithmic amplification of hate.
Religious leaders, politicians, musicians, educators, and media practitioners must promote messages of tolerance and coexistence rather than exploiting division for influence or power.
Sports, inter-community dialogue, cultural exchange, and even intermarriages can help build stronger social bonds capable of breaking historical prejudice and suspicion.
Political leaders who deliberately exploit ethnic or religious divisions for personal gain must also be called out firmly by citizens, regional bodies, and international institutions.
Ultimately, the path toward a truly meaningful “Never Again” does not begin at memorial sites alone.
It begins with confronting hate speech before hatred matures into violence.
Only by deescalating division, prejudice, and intolerance can humanity build lasting peace, unity, and coexistence.
Robert Kigongo is a sustainable development analyst.
