Sunday 21 October 2012

uganda vs homosexuality

before i go any further i must say,anyone who brings a bible, quaran or emindi (tobacco pipe used by witch doctors )  to a civic debate has a few screws loose
with that said, how bad is homosexuality ?
since homosexuality is not harmful to gay men and women, or to any gawking bystander1, what reason can one give for outlawing it? why should what two consenting adults do in their bedroom bother the state?

can uganda actually fight homosexuality ? 
the funny thing about gay bashing is, if we keep it up, we might actually move towards our economic independence but we do it stealthily because we don't want to annoy the donors
for a country that isn't economically independent, despite fifty years of thinking otherwise, outlawing things like homosexuality which donor countries consider a human right is not about to happen
okay there is a law which claims anyone found guilty of homosexuality is subject to a jail term of 14 years, but i have never heard of any one being sentenced, may be the law fears the donors won't take this lightly or there might be concerns that the"culprits" are likely to enjoy prison a little too much 
but by the time an issue like homosexuality gets a platform in parliament and in the media like it is getting now, count this as the beginning of the end of injustice against gays. it happened with the women's rights movement in the 1848 in new york, the blacks in south africa in 1912 and a lot more oppressed groups which finally overcame injustice
it doesn't start with the oppressed group getting their rights on day one, but it ends with the oppressers apologizing for being narrow minded
  

should the existence of homosexuality in africa be blamed on the west?
everyone says homosexuality isn’t african like africa was ever a heterosexist utopia
the egyptian pharaoh akhenaten and his lover smenkhkare were the first historically documented male couple in history
the dagara people in pre-colonial burkina faso regarded lesbians as astrologers and traditional healers and gay men where seen as gate keepers who came from the other world, and their role was to keep the gates to the otherworld
in pre-colonial Benin, homosexuality was viewed as a boyhood phase that males passed through and eventually grew out of
in pre-colonial angola, homosexual men called chibados had been free to exercise their sexuality
one study on homosexuality in africa indicates that of 78 cultures, with little contact with western values, 49 approved of or at least tolerated homosexuality
the constitutions which outlawed homosexuality were drafted with the help of our colonial masters
this indicates that homophobia, not homosexuality, is a western colonial import

in conclusion,
we all have a right to be narrow minded, which not everyone exercises, but in case you insist on exercising this right, i suggest you begin by boycotting everything affiliated with gay people like apple, facebook, google (the internet), foreign aid, the fancy clothes you wear,the catholic church( take your time doing this, it hasn’t come out of the closet yet ) and oxygen ( the gays have probably contaminated it too). 
                                                                                                                            



1"homosexuality un-african? " in the guardian in october 2012 by eusebius mckaiser
the content under " should the existence of homosexuality in africa be blamed on the west?" was got from
the lesbian spirit, girlfriends magazine published in july 1994
e.wallis budges the egyptian book of the dead
inside gay africablackout magazine, fall 1986
out in the world: gay and lesbian life from buenos airis to bangkok by niel miller  

Sunday 14 October 2012

what culture ?


"that's not part of the african culture...." said one african. the question is; what is this culture we africans constantly call on every time so as to defend our close mindedness. what does it consist of?

is it our traditional wear?
speaking from a ugandan perspective, the kanzu (tunic) we love so much was an idea we got from the arabs. it is as foreign as it is pointless and uncomfortable.
the gomesi (a garment used to hide women's curves) wasn't around before 1950 and if you tell me the people from western uganda invented the sari, please enroll into the nearest adult literacy institution.
in all fairness, if i am to go by the "african culture", our traditional wear is the birth day suit but if you are shy you can wear a mini skirt.

is it our religion?
our traditional religion has been outlawed and called evil and replaced with the western and middle eastern version of religion. do you ever wonder what we would be worshipping had we been colonised by the Chinese and not the British? or had we done trade with the indians and not the arabs?

is it in the way we dance?
our dances may be one of the few things still in existance that are originally african and haven't changed but with the way things are going, we might replace the traditional dances with the "bendover" dance routine. :)

is it the so called good manners?
good manners vary from one person to another, even with that said the african version of good manners like kneeling, prostrating before fellow humans are barbaric and designed to make women second class citizens of society.

all i can say is, for culture to stay relevant, it has to evolve with the times and open up to different social factors influencing people's lives.

THE almighty GOD




" is god willing to prevent evil, but not able? then he is not almighty

  is he able, but not willing? then he is malicious
  is he both able and willing? then where does evil come from?
  is he neither able nor willing? then why call him god? "
                                                                                epicurus
                             
                                                                         
 "if god exists, i hope he has a good excuse"
                                                                                woody allen


actually, you work for her


we all want to live the ugandan dream ie. drive an ipsum, have a lovely family and acquire a house.

a friend of mine recently told me of his plans to build a house in naalya. the good news is, if he keeps shooting blanks, i won't have to deal with my land lord any more. the bad news is, he isn't building the house for himself or his family or ME (this is sad). he is building it for the house maid.

in this era where people work 10 hours a day and spend over 2 hours a day in traffic jam (parking lots), it is the house maids who enjoy the houses that people build so pain stakingly.

the house maid (boss lady) sends you to work every morning so you can make enough money to pay the mortgage while she stays home and watches africa magic which you pay for...she even calls you to let you know about the e16 error message alerting you to renew the subscription.

many people build houses with children in mind, but still, children spend most of their time in school; if it is boarding school they spend only 3 months a year in the house and if they are day scholars they spend as much time at home as you do. and that little time your kids spend at home (at least half of it), its under her dictatorship

granted parents work so hard, they don’t have time to respond the kids’ every whimper, and so the "boss lady” takes up that role too. you eventually find that your kids are closer to her than to you. you try to pick up your baby and it cries then you give it to the "boss lady" and the kid calms down instantly.

and when your kids leave the nest, you find yourself stuck in a four bedroom house where you are only familier with your bedroom and bathroom and she is familiar with the rest.

we spend 20 years schooling only to spend the rest of our lives unwittingly working for an illiterate.