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Wednesday 28 August 2024

[Rwanda Forum] Senators ask NBA about Rwanda relationship - ESPN


Senators ask NBA about Rwanda relationship - ESPN

Senators ask NBA about Rwanda relationship

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How the NBA got into business with an African dictator (1:21)
How the NBA got into business with an African dictator (1:21)
  • Mark Fainaru-Wada, ESPN Staff WriterAug 27, 2024, 12:03 PM ET

Two U.S. senators sent a letter Tuesday to NBA commissioner Adam Silver accusing the league of "putting profit over principle," in response to an ESPN story that detailed the NBA's extensive relationship with Rwandan dictator Paul Kagame.

The bipartisan letter, signed by Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) and Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.), says the NBA "has long positioned itself as a beacon of social justice" but instead has continued "developing relationships with dictators and despots" such as Kagame.

The senators cited an ESPN article published last month that described how the NBA built a relationship with Kagame that, on the one hand, was central to launching its first league outside of North America, the Basketball Africa League, but, on the other, forced the NBA to look past persistent human rights abuses far worse than those it opposes at home.

In the letter, the senators wrote that, "Anyone who dares to question Kagame's rule -- whether it be opposition candidates or the free press -- is jailed, disappeared or brutally murdered." In addition, the senators questioned the NBA's business in China, which ESPN previously investigated.

The senators asked Silver to respond within one week to a series of questions. They want Silver to "outline the scope of the NBA's relationship with the Rwandan government" and to describe the steps the league is taking to improve the lives of Rwandan people, "including those subject to human rights abuses" by Kagame's regime.

Kagame has been Rwanda's president since 2000; last month, he was reelected with 99% of the vote.

NBA deputy commissioner Mark Tatum previously told ESPN: "The conversations that we've had with Paul Kagame have all been about improving the lives of Rwandan people. How can we create, how can we inspire and connect people through the game of basketball to make Rwandan peoples' lives better."

The senators concluded their letter to Silver by saying, "Playing ball with dictators and brutal regimes should not be the NBA's business model. Instead, the league should use its influence to advocate for governance reforms, including respect for the rule of law."


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"Be courteous to all, but intimate with few; and let those few be well tried before you give them your confidence",
George Washington.
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-“The root cause of the Rwandan tragedy of 1994 is the long and past historical ethnic dominance of one minority ethnic group to the other majority ethnic group. Ignoring this reality is giving a black cheque for the Rwandan people’s future and deepening resentment, hostility and hatred between the two groups.”

-« Ce dont j’ai le plus peur, c’est des gens qui croient que, du jour au lendemain, on peut prendre une société, lui tordre le cou et en faire une autre ».

-“The hate of men will pass, and dictators die, and the power they took from the people will return to the people. And so long as men die, liberty will never perish.”

-“I have loved justice and hated iniquity: therefore I die in exile.

-“The price good men pay for indifference to public affairs is to be ruled by evil men.”

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