Uganda’s Fight For Happiness
Agence France-Presse — Getty Images
Ugandan officials took presidential candidate, Bobi Wine, into custody. Mr. Wine, whose real name is Robert Kyagulanyi, is also a popular Ugandan musical artist, he was arrested in Luuka, Uganda, as he prepared to hold a campaign rally, which authorities said violated coronavirus safety guidelines for political campaigns. For the Ugandan authorities, this was a good enough reason to arrest a top political candidate for nearly two days, with no access to lawyers, doctors or any family members.1
In response to Mr. Wine’s arrest, the Ugandan people, nation wide, took to the streets in protest, leading to the deaths of over 30 people by authorities, including reports of nearly 600 arrests.2 Mr. Wine said, in a video streamed live from the courtroom, before he was released: “We shall be free or we shall die while trying to be free. We are not slaves.”3 That, in itself, says a lot about the mindstate of the Ugandan people, especially if Mr. Wine is to eventually be elected as the people’s representative for the nation of Uganda.
While on his campaign trail, Uganda’s incumbent president, Mr. Museveni, who has also been described as, “the only remaining dictator in the East African Region”,4 and has been the president of Uganda since 1986, warned protesters that: “Some of these groups are being used by outsiders, homosexuals, I don’t know — groups outside... who don’t like the stability of Uganda, the independence of Uganda.”5 It’s hard to see the stability, which Mr. Museveni speaks of, when political opposition can be arrested during campaign rallies, over 30 protesters can be killed, and many more injured, for speaking up about the injustices they face. Mr. Museveni seems to misunderstand the meaning of “stability”.
During his early terms, Mr. Museveni was credited with bringing peace, stability and economic growth to the country after years of political violence and turmoil. However, his government has also faced growing criticism for corruption and persecution of political opponents, the LGBTQ+ community and journalists, among others. Even the greatest men and women will likely succumb to tyranny when political power is held by one hand; or, the direction of the growth of a nation is only with one mind; the government is no longer of the people and for the people, because ‘the people’ are not involved in their government. At least not since 1986 in this case.
It’s useful to refer to philosophers Plato and John Locke for their views on the relationship between the people and their government: “And it is obvious that there is no more unhappy society than that ruled by a tyrant,” states Plato in The Republic (375 BC); this intuitive truth reveals itself today through the Ugandan people, who took to the streets to express their unhappiness with the status quo. In this instance, the government’s attempt was not only to bully the Ugandan people into silence, the people were also killed for expressing their want for change - for happiness. Additionally, John Locke (1632–1704), in his Second Treatise of Government (1869), “stressed the right of the people to use their own judgement in weighing up the legitimacy of a government. In extreme circumstances, the people should overthrow the state authorities: the community perpetually retains a supreme power of saving themselves from the attempts and designs of anybody, even their legislators, whenever they shall be so foolish, or so wicked, as to lay and carry on design against the liberties and properties of the subject.” Well, in consideration, what do you think? Are the circumstances of the Ugandan people “extreme” enough to save themselves?
The people have been led by a tyrannical government for over thirty years: the desires, thoughts, and ambitions of one man have been governing a people throughout the changing decades. Is it possible for one individual to align his or her views with the people, when he or she has not been one for the people for over three decades? This view, which Ugandan people have been killed for, according to Plato, is their happiness, and according to John Locke, they are entitled to fight for it, having used their own judgement in weighing up the legitimacy of their government. Locke suggests that the people overthrow the state authorities. Imagine that, the people were killed for protesting their unhappiness at the arrest of a presidential candidate. What would have been if they actually attempted an overthrow of the incumbent government?
Again, we see a similar pattern - injustice at the hands of authority towards a black individual - and the people protest; the people protest because, in the words of Mr. Wine, “We are not slaves.” The reason why, “there is no more unhappy society than that ruled by a tyrant,” is because, within a tyrannical society, the people are not free, so they are not happy. The people, in this case - free as we assume they are - request one freedom: to choose their leader. The people do not deny that they want to be led - they simply want the freedom to choose who leads them, and in what direction their civilisation grows.
Today we live in an age where freedom, or a lack of it, can be televised and shared in real time; so, a struggle which the Ugandan people might have been experiencing for decades can now be seen and read of, in real time, by many. The bravery of the Ugandan people to require their happiness, and to protest for it, even while facing a tyrannical government is to be noted and admired. It takes real courage to choose to be free - happiness comes as a result of living free. Joel Ssenyonyi, a spokesman for Mr. Wine’s party states that: “The acts of brutality are intended to weaken those of us in opposition… but on the contrary our resolve is strengthened.”6 Let us all be as brave as the Ugandans who lost their lives, fighting for their freedom and happiness.
