Movies/Films That Make You Think While You Enjoy

Few people have not been blinded by ambition and desires to the point of neglecting families, friends, or associates. Few people have not refused to heed the advice of spouses or others in the pursuit of their dreams. If we don’t cut our bridges, we might come back crawling but wiser having been whipped by the vagaries of the world.

We are told we should take life with passion, otherwise we wobble through life in mediocrity. But, like all emotions, passion may affect us at the cellular level. Biology says amino acids, the units of peptides, a key ingredient in cell processes are joined by carbon and nitrogen atoms. This carbon and nitrogen bond is so strong it needs hours of boiling to break. Is it any wonder it is difficult to break us from the object of our passion? It is possible the memory of the passion that has lodged in our system has become quite entrenced.


Ugetsu, is Japanese classic in which two men, Genjuro and Tobei are obsessed with their different ambitions. It is a delight to watch this film and see them pursue their dreams single-heartedly only to fall on their butts in the end.
              
                The finest silk
                Of choicest hue
                May change and fade away
                As would my life
                Beloved one
                     --Ugertsu


Vincere is an Italian classic of the story Benito Mussolini and his mistress, the gorgeous Ida Deslar. The powerful eroticism is probably why Ida was bounded to Mussolini at the cost of her own doom. You will understand why a young, sometimes unwisely, turns against family in the pursuit of love. If  O J Simpson killed is ex-wife and friend, then this movie will make you understand the reason? It is a sizzling movie.

                War is the world's only hygiene--Mussolini and his Fascist associates in Vincere


 
 

Did Olara Otunnu Desert Acoli and Uganda in Their Hours of Need?

Only a select few—inclusive, Charles de Gaulle, Ayotollah Khomeni, Apollo Milton Obote—could go home from exile and become rulers. Why only a few? How did they do it? These are the million dollars questions Olara Otunnu and his fanatic fans are probably chewing on. As if these were not enough headache, Mr. Olara’s perennial nemesis has thrown the gaunlet, accusing him of deserting Acoli and Uganda, and implicitly saying he (Museveni) is the one who brought peace to Acoliland having helped create the twenty-year hell in the first place. Can you belief this guy? Only a sociopath can look you in the eye and conjure such an argument.

Let us sort the shafts from the grains. Mr. Museveni has let the cat out of the bag. His headline accusation begs the question that many Acoli have been too timid to ask, or ambivalent about the twenty-plus years, or would rather sweep under the rug anything negative pertaining to Olara. Museveni is pointing to Acoli: Here is a man who ran from me like a rabbit. I messed you up and he did not have the wherewithal to fight for you. So, vote for Daddy!

Will this tack give Museveni some vote mileage in the region? Much as reasonable ones (to free themselves) have forgiven without condoning his past deeds or reconciling with him, he is only stirring bad memories not unlike that of Arab slave traders and the at-times-underhanded British rule.

Meanwhile: Did Olara Otunnu desert Acoli and Uganda in their hours of need? Leaders who went back and assumed powers maintained constant presence in their people’s hearts in the darkest hours. There in lies the answer to the question.

Soko's Pick: Movies That Make You Think as You Enjoy

As the weather changes, you might get couped up inside and catching cabin fever. Not to worry; Soko is here to help. My collection of extensive great world movies that usually don't  get headlines might do the trick. They are out there: rent, buy, borrow or steal.

City of God. From the Rio's slums comes 130 minutes that will keep you engrossed in high tension. Violence, drugs, disoriented kids, and corrupt police. You are lucky if you lived to your twentieth birthday. Be careful what you put in a kid's heads. In the midst of all that, how comes some can be human and others escape their circumstance and prosper?


Day Break. What if you were the one who should pull the chair to hang someone who has killed your child or wife? In Iran you go to the jailhouse and decide whether you want to do it or not: Retribution? Mercy?


The Secret of the Grain. If you are an immigrant somewhere in the West, check this one out. Slimane has been forcebly retired, and want to fullfil a dream of opening a restaurant. The family drama and community dynamics are the staple. Belly dancing, anyone?

Stuck in the Victim Archetype

The elephant in the room of Uganda—even as we talk about nine-percent GDP growth rate, or embellish the supposed twenty two national hospitals built by a past regime, or how such and such a political party is going to be the savior—is the story of blame, victims and perpetrators.

Who is blaming who? Who is the victim? Who is the perpetrator? It all depends on the ethnic or tribal group, or the ethnic within ethnic group. In this toxic stew, no self-serving nonsectarian law will change the trajectory of the dysfunctional state.

So, then, how can we get out of this mess? A bi-ethnic presidential candidate wants us to know that he is the Obama and the window to paradise. He is probably not aware that the Obama ship is sinking—courtesy of trying to please everyone in its maiden hundred-day journey. If the inter-marriage prescription can give us polyglots, so that we can, at least, understand the backbiting across the table, may be we can literally begin to understand one another. When in doubt, try anything.

The religiously inclined have a different take: We must turn to God and away from the pervasive immorality. There are several problems with this tact. First, most of the people in power profess to the Christian God. They may have gone to historical missionary schools. Why then the rampant split personalities? When we see people proclaiming the name of Jesus or Allah, we should wonder whether Jesus or Allah is responding with a hearty laugh when at the same time these characters are vicious towards other beings.

The bottom line is that most of us are damaged somehow in our very core. Considering that ninety five percent of who we are operates below consciousness—a result of downloads of conditions, events, and states that began in the womb and solidified by age six, this is the place to begin individually to understand and find the mechanisms for correcting and passing on something better for the next generations. In the meantime we can only have compassion when, in a survival mode, a president does not practice what he preaches. He is probably acting out some subconscious behavioral traits, and he is not even aware of the contradictions. Hence, the Biblical injunction, “Forgive them; they know not what they do” may make sense, literally.

For some this forgiveness thing may sound like some prosaic religious mumbo jumbo. For those of us who are turned off by obeying and/or pleasing some stern God in the netherworld, and who trust only in the experiential and proven hypotheses, there is plenty of scientific evidence in the benefits of forgiveness. If the God thing helps, go right ahead as long as you can affect the mind to sincerely do the forgiving. Eventually, we may be able to break the cycle of blame, victims and perpetrators. In Forgive for Good, Dr. Fred Luskin says, “Forgiveness allows us not to get stuck in the past.” In Radical Forgiveness, Colin Tipping adds that forgiveness “transforms the victim archetype” once and for all.

What Are the Next Big Things?

Anybody remember researching data on microfiche? That was better than the logbooks. Just when you got adept with the microfiche machine, there was the dump desk-top machine. The manager had to force you to use the new machine by removing the microfiche machine from your vicinity. When the dump desk-top became more intelligent with the plug-and-play operating systems like Microsoft,—thanks to the mighty Bill Gates—the world arrived at the information gathering, storage and retrieval nirvana.

At about the same time in the early nineties the buzz about the Internet was coming out of the top academia, the military and government into the public arena. Now, from a small remote village, an old lady can send an e-mail to a son across the seas and, in an instant, receive a reply. One doesn’t need to understand the underlying technologies of digitization and fiber optics to do Internet.

As in that Talking Heads lyric, we might ask ourselves: How did we get here? That’s not my beautiful I-Phone; that is not my beautiful hand-thingy; and that’s not my beautiful all-in-one communication gizmo! It warms the heart that, despite the ills we hear around us, the extent of knowledge and progress seems limitless.

And now, what are the buzzes coming from academia and other research centers? There are, of course, hundreds if not thousands, but what are happening in neuroscience and molecular biology, using more powerful machines and research methods, are revolutionizing the understanding of the human condition, with the potential for our taking control of individual and community well-being.


Increasingly the researches are showing us that the brain is where all our glory and misery emanates from. Brain plasticity is a proven reality. A brain can adopt and build new connections—even until one croaks in the nineties—as long as you keep it vibrant and active.

Superiority based merely on genes using Darwinian natural selections has been debunked by the study of Epigenetics. A gene interacts in a substantial way with the environment in order to express or suppress itself. It is not Genes + Environment (G+E), but Genes ^ Environment (G^E). This single finding has enormous implications.

One can do a number of things to affect one’s happiness, physical or emotional states by activating or suppressing some of the thirty thousand genes (without changing the configuration of a gene’s DNA codes) in our genome. Moreover, the new states can then be passed on to the offspring. Imagine! The flipside, of course, is that we can pass on negative traits that we mire ourselves in. By this new biology we have the ability to change ourselves and society. It is change we can trust—and we don’t even have to be a hotshot President Obama!

So, in the spirit of The Graduate movie, where the future was in plastics, the now future is in Neuroscience and New Biology.

Can Ugandans One Day Proclaim: Gotov Je?!

“Gotov je!” (Serbian for: He is finished) was the euphoric battle outcry of the Serbian students’ non-violent movement, Otpor (Resistance). That was in the pre- and post 2000 election uprising. By June 2001, the fascist Milosevic, the Butcher of the Balkans, was in jail in the Hague—one more testimony to what the people can do without carnage if they could only understand their power. His successor was a mild lawyerly type under whom all the many disparate political parties rallied.

In post independent Uganda the use of violence has developed into the standard mode of acquiring and maintaining power. And the present leadership subscribes to that mindset. We, the people sustain it by our tacit acquiescence to the same notion. Why is that? Are there other viable means?

Looking back at Uganda history and the cultural milieu in which all the political theatre is playing can give us some clues.

To the major groups in Uganda power was monolithic. Other smaller groups were brought into the same mindset by the equally monolithic British colonial power.

The monolithic model presumes that the government is a strong, independent, durable (if not indestructible) self-reinforcing and self-perpetuating force. Fear, habit, morality, self-interest, psychological identification with the ruler, indifference, and lack of self-confidence keep the masses in check. And by the same token, accordingly, therefore, the people believe that the only means of opposing such a power structure is with overwhelming destructive force which no one has access to.

So, when Museveni adroitly acquires and successfully uses the “overwhelming destructive force” to change the government in his image he becomes a mythic figure. However, if we understand the nature of power, we can burst the myth that he acquired his dictatorial powers all by himself. The fact of the matter is: we have given him our support by our bewilderment, uncertainty and passivity. He needs the cooperation of those around him if he is to rule at all. Without the passivity of the population and the blind support of his agents (cabinet members, aids, legislative body, police, military officers, the church, LCs, etc) Museveni would just be another megalomaniac crackpot with dreams of a life presidency.


Where then can we go from here? We have to decide that enough is enough. All we need to do is withdraw our support. But, it is not that simple. We need organization and education on the efficacy of non-violent resistance movement. History tells us that in Buganda it was once used successfully in the colonial period when Indian shops and British import and export firms were boycotted. May be Olara Otunnu and Dan Muliika are on to something. For Olara, if he is to gain credibility in this arena of activist advocacy, he needs to demonstrate that this is not another avenue on which to build his partisan UPC.

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* Ref: Fragments Website by James VanHise

The Politics of Nonviolent Action, Gene Sharp

Managing Complexities

The most powerful armed force in the world strikes, destroying everything in its wake, dismantling the perceived enemy regime, and declares victory. It is, however, victory-but—a Pyrrhic one. The natives do not show up with confetti, ululating and cheering in welcome of the “liberators” as envisaged by the architects. Instead, clandestine insurgencies become the order of the day, and will continue with no end in sight.

We have seen Clausewitz’s logic of Schwerpunkt at play: attack the enemy at its weakest point with overwhelming force and victory is assured. But is it?

The eagle glides in the sky, surveying the terrain from a mile away, and sizing up the mark undetected. Then, in an instant, it swoops down at high speed for the catch—it is precise and surgical—no peripheral damages except the dinner object.

A snake stares at the prey as if looking through its eyes and beyond. The prey freezes. It is at a loss and in fear just as the snake strikes. Again, it is precise and surgical.

In living memory the Israelis have always been successful against its Arab enemies. But the recent encounters with the Hizb’allah have been different with many Israelis killed and no definitive victory. This has helped pave the way for a return of the hawkish Netanyahu—probably with the same classical Newtonian Schwerpunkt mode of operation as compared with the Hizb’allah’s quantum mechanical adjusting on the fly as the situation warrants.

The “new” reality of the world is that you cannot tell with certainty what the outcome of an enterprise will be. However, all along that has been the state of nature as revealed by the notion of Chaos Theory, which seems counterintuitive in our yearning for certainty of outcomes.

Taking Whole is a concept attributable to the Chinese sages of antiquity. After endless wars and sufferings somebody had to come up with ideas to manage man’s affairs beyond exhorting and appeasing the gods.

So, you look around, observe and take the enemy at the neural cortex. That is, you win before the battle. You take out the enemy whole with little destruction—surgical and precise—even turning him into partner in mutual survival.

Taking Whole calls for resilience. And resilience calls for adaptability. Resilience asks such questions as: How much disturbance can a system sustain before it breaks down completely beyond repair— a resulting hysteresis—too late to recover? Can the system survive and even win at the jaws of defeat?

The head of the NRM who is the de facto NRM, Mr. Museveni, has often touted his scientific prowess. He has convinced himself that the building blocks he calls “cooking stones” are in place and all will work well for him like a Newtonian clockwork. However, recent chaotic primary exercise seems to tell a different story. Are the negative variables of the contradictions in pretense democracy finally playing itself out? Other than ability for Schwerpunkt, the NRM may not have the immune systems necessary to renew itself, and may have become too brittle to survive unpredictable events.

We Get the Leaders We Deserve

It couldn’t get any more dysfunctional—the NRM primary, that is. The fracases were not about outrage on the pervasive poverty, mistreatment of the Kabaka, Karamojong women begging on Kampala streets, the deplorable state of public hospitals, the gagging on free speech, the sectarian law that proscribes speeches against One Crazy Dude, the lake-like potholes even on the streets of the capital city of Kampala, nor were they about any of the myriads of ills that bedevil the republic of Uganda. These were scrambling for the gravy train. In other domains you make your money then you go into politics or sponsor some weasel to whom you are the puppet master. In Uganda you go into politics then, Brakabrakabara!—the money faucet opens up as if by magic. That is the reason behind the ruckus in the NRM household. The underlings saw it from the Oga (Nigerian for Big Man) himself. He has clung to power like a tick on one of his cows. They witnessed him in sheer panic at the onset of the Dr. Beisgye’s phenomenon. They saw the skulduggery and the concocted criminal lawsuits against the brave man—the first man in Uganda to break away from a ruling party on principle.

http://www.monitor.co.ug/-/691150/997166/-/crp3ye/-/index.html
(A man walks passed Nakawa Ntinda stretcher pothole which has turned into a Map of Africa. PHOTO BY JOSEPH KIGGUNDU. )

So, what else is new? Go into any of the UG chat rooms or cyber forums, and you see a reflection of the state of the nation. We talk passed each other like ships in the night, bent on our point-of-views however ridiculous and illogical, while oblivious to the concerns of others, or even hostile for no apparent reason other than tribe or political affiliation.

What else is new? Look at the yet-to-bear-fruit nascent oil industry. A permanent secretary (effectively just an accounting officer with no elective mandate) does his shady deals under the nose of his substantial minister—all supposedly because he had access to the Oga. What is the result? Heritage Oil skipped town with half a billion $s in tax revenue—banoti banoti that could have done a whole lot of good, like prenatal care that could have turned up a genius instead of the half-wit who kneels in front of a vote-hungry politician instead of the other way around. Meanwhile the dirty white boys (some charcoal dark ones in Uganda too) of Heritage are now lounging in the Riviera, sipping Dom Pérignon or buying blood-diamond for their pale-assed missuses.  http://www.monitor.co.ug/News/National/-/688334/1005152/-/co9fkaz/-/index.html

So, in the final analysis, a river cannot rise above its source. Or as they say in statistical analysis: the result of a sampling study is no better than the sample it is based on.

Who are we? Where are we coming from and where are we going? If we cannot answer these questions with any degree of conviction and relative certainty, then we deserve any hoodlum who comes along and dazzles us that he is the best thing since the invention of sliced bread.

Finally

It was a matter of time, considering the characters at play and the unclearness of objectives. Who are the players in the UPC camp, and are their objectives based on any sense of reality?

Olara grew up a wiz kid who sailed through schools with relative ease. Thanks to may be a larger-than- average working memory compared to many of us, and the discipline accorded by his Mulokole faith. High-level jobs soon followed. These are the selling points of his admirers to us the voters. But there is one hitch: the degrees and juicy jobs are a description of what he is; not who he is.

Who he is was tested when he opted to join his uncle in the six-month fiasco of the Tito Okello’s government. He effectively abandoned UPC, and eventually ended up screwing up what was a military exercise instead of his peace overture. Word on the street (or on the village path, for that matter) is he insisted on his approach against the wishes of the commanders at the war front. Then as now, he showed lack of tactical instinct and judgment.

Fast forward: Olara was in exile, and still had contentious issues with the man who bamboozled him in Nairobi. Now, he wanted to become the big honcho of the United Nation (a post Kofi Anan was to eventually get), and he was presumptuous enough to think that his country would endorse him. Here, again he demonstrated who he is. You can make your own conclusion.

Now, Olara comes back home after twenty plus years and wants to be president of the Republic of Uganda. He is Dr. Olara Otunnu, a very articulate man, the Messiah who has come to free us from our fears and the clutch of the Ogre. He will take us to a new era of freedom, paved roads, good schools and prosperity. These are what the UPC old farts of yesteryears tell us. Their offspring are also fired up. There is a sense of rupture on the possibility of the Red party wielding power again as in their formative years—even if delusional; it is still something to gun for.

Most rational people are of the opinion that the opposition has a better chance against the NRM and Museveni as a collective force. Intellectually Mr. Olara clearly saw the clarity of that strategy; hence, UPC became a member of the IPC. But then again, the devil is in the details—the tactics to reach the Promised Land.

UPC is a lady with a past and, while its membership was welcome, there were several dilemmas in addition to the obstinate character of Mr. Olara himself.

The first dilemma is: how do you deal with a member who is shunned by a large block of an electorate you wish to court? We all know that not a single UPC MP will come from Buganda territory. Museveni has to just shout: Killers! And the population would be spooked and stampede to his “warm” arms from the “terror” of the Anyanya—dissing their Kabaka or not.
So, the IPC went about with strategic maneuvers in Buganda that tactically kept Olara at a distance. This did not go well for a proud man and his followers; hence, the “getting no respect” complaint. Moreover, joining the IPC was one attempt for the Red party to regain credibility. If that is not forthcoming, why remain part of the coalition?

A second dilemma might have been the insistence by Olara on the investigation of what happened in the Luweero war. Some members of the IPC are ex-combatants on the other side of Olara’s and, if they have skeletons in their closets, wouldn’t want the murk coming up now. Moreover, the investigation would skew focus and might benefit Museveni rather than the opposition by reminding the electorate of his prowess to “liberate” them—the real Messiah.

So, what now? The IPC message is still about replacing Museveni. Museveni, after a quarter of a century, has benefited only a minority of the population. The message against UPC would be: the party of the past, saddled with bad records, and simply cannot win and deliver the population from Museveni. Period.

Is UPC Out? Is UPC In?

UG Cyberspace is abuzz as to whether or not UPC has called it quits. Kaput! Cut ties with the loose opposition alliance. For weeks now the party’s wing of the mental grunge has been impatient and unhappy. What they cannot understand: How come people can’t see that the precocious Olara (they prefer to address him as The Ambassador, Dr. Olara Otunnu) should be the flag bearer of the opposition joint venture? Can’t people see that Olara is gaining ground in the North, especially the Acoli sub region? Forget that the region alone cannot mathematically secure a whimsy competitive edge against the wily Museveni. Somehow the rest of the country will see the shinning light and UPC will hit a homerun. And then, there is the Mao factor: The two will have to split the loot of the Northern Illusionists’ votes, making them both weaker in the numbers game, if not personal political power.

Here is what we know: Olara had jetted (we prefer the Ugandan lingo) to London where he rolled out his 10-Point Program to an assortment of adoring Keyos, whose aspirations are projected in him. The wisdom of the venue and the vote-getting feasibility of the program are for others to judge.

We also know that Olara is a fugitive, courtesy of a Lira judge. It is possible that he is trying to be sneaky to avoid being paraded in handcuffs. A tactical person would have said: bring the handcuffs and let the whole world see the pernicious nature of the NRM regime. In any case, why didn’t he call up his ICP comrades and tell them he was in a bind? Instead one “insider” complained about the nature of Ugandans: How they like publicity and had to hold the nominations at Kololo airstrip with cameras flashing. What is wrong with that if not the essence of openness? No, according to this wiseacre—he prefers some dark corridors to cut shady deals. Can anyone recall where and how the KY-UPC alliance was cooked up? If you guessed dark corridors, the Red party might award you a medal for your [extinguished] memory.

Let us be serious, brothas and sistas. UPC can exit the ICP at its own peril. It is a party coming from the ashes of utter and complete defeat in the game of machinations of man-to-man. Someone said: Patience is not only a virtue, sometimes it is simply survival. As the current opposition Big Kahuna, of course, FDC has a dominant role. So, the notion that ICP is FDC should be taken with a resigned acceptance of the nature of change. By hanging onto the coattail of ICP, a.k.a. FDC, UPC can bid its time and one day will gain national currency. It has a bevy of highly educated (mostly of the “expert” or functionary varieties) zealots who will do anything to revive their fathers’, uncles’ or brothers’ party of yesteryears. Sooner or later, sleek Mercedes Benzes might one day again snake through the village dirt roads to pay homage to the patriarchs, and all will be well. For now, let us get rid of the Yellow peril.

The alternative is, of course, to quit and scramble for Acoli votes that are not decisive. Even Lango is not going out in droves to support the party of the Nyamuranga which has been usurped by an unreliable Agang. If UPC gets one-tenth of one percent in West Nile, it will be godsend. Soon UPC will shrivel into an Acoli party—affirmatively, sans Soko.

Gaming the Vote

With election fever heating up, Gaming the Vote by William Poundstone could be a good book to browse through. Among other theories he propounds, the “spoiler” effect could be something to be aware of in the Uganda milieu.

Here is an extract of the review of the book. You can get the full text from the source below.
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Gaming the Vote: Why Elections Aren't Fair (and What We Can Do about It)

by William Poundstone

Electoral Knowledge

A review by Gerry Donaghy

While most Americans would characterize our electoral process as "one person, one vote," the route to the White House is considerably byzantine. For example, think of the system of primaries currently happening. I defy the average voter who lives outside of a caucusing state to describe accurately how that process works. As candidates begin to drop out of the race, many voters in states that have yet to hold primaries have lost the chance to vote for these candidates. Why do so-called "super-delegates" exist? Why exactly do we still utilize an archaic institution like the Electoral College?

Election issues get further complicated when you consider that despite protestations to the contrary, America is essentially a two-party state, and attempts by third parties to be elected to pubic office on the national level often lead to failure. More detrimental to the third parties are their effect as spoilers on election. Most recently, Ralph Nader's presence on the presidential ballot in 2000 was viewed by many to have cost Democrat Al Gore the election.

For a complete text of the review go to: http://www.powells.com/review/2008_02_09.html

To Kill with a Borrowed Knife

• I am sending you like sheep among wolves. Therefore, be as shrewd as snakes and as innocent as doves (Matt 10:16)
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The Chinese are renounced for their use of stratagems in interpersonal relationships, business and wars. This is a cultural trait honed over centuries of their often tumultuous history.

Stratagem is not to be confused with strategy. The latter is more about long-range planning. Stratagem is about ruse or deception to achieve a goal—tactical maneuvers. What was the biblical Christ using here if not stratagem? : I am sending you like sheep among wolves. Therefore, be as shrewd as snakes and innocent as doves. (Matt. 10:16).

The use of stratagems is not exclusive to the Chinese. It is often found in low-trust societies, of which Uganda is one. So, no matter the ethical qualm one might have, one has to beware of some common ruses to be protected against or even make use of.

Say, you are told that you are not to carry out your planned demonstration in the district because of orders from above: What exactly does this mean? Is the RDC settling scores, protecting his rear-end or just an over-jealous partisan? In the end he is killing with a borrowed knife, the authority from above.

In these days of heightened emotions and rhetoric due to the coming 2011 elections, one has to be on guard. When snake-oil peddlers claim that such and such a Big Man said this and that, perk your ears. Don’t jump up and down in excitement like a maniac. The peddler is trying to make love to your mind, using the Big Honcho as his knife.

Here are some examples of what to take with a grain of salt: You see a picture at a rally in which there are seemingly thousands of people; is this real or is it some camera trick? Did 100 people or a prominent MP really cross from the opposition to the NRM? Is the claim that so and so has the support of the “educated” backed by polling data? If so, what does that mean in terms of the demographic avenue to winning? Or is it a trick to create momentum? Tribal loyalty has already been mentioned as an intimidation means to push some with no chances of winning nationally. The old man said: "We give our support, not because of tribe, but because the man is very qualified." I have a title deed to Aswa Bridge, and it is for sale.

Now that you have a label on what you might have already used yourself, look around you and kill with a borrowed knife or avoid being killed with one. There are myriads of other elegant ruses one can use instead of frontal assaults which may turn you into mincemeat. For, even the great Mencius of Confucian fame, justified the use of stratagems if only for people to revenge themselves on those who treated them like dogs or dirt.

Just what is the Somalia Strategy?

A cardinal axiom of management is that an enterprise must have the correct strategy for its tactics to succeed. Tactics, the progeny is compelled by the genetic potential imperatives in the vigor of the father strategy. Bring all the brilliant tactics to bear, if the strategy is ill-defined, don’t be surprised with failure. The question of chicken and egg does not arise. And you just cannot turn a frog into a prince.

Mr. Museveni is said to have walked out of an AU meeting discussing Somalia. He was in a foul mood because his daimyo (Japanese shogun-era lord) benefactor was tight with his wallet since his economy was in the doldrums and is fighting close to three wars simultaneously. The spat about dough gives one a glimpse of the underlying Museveni motive beyond the noise of supposed peace-keeping mission by a dirt-poor nation of Uganda. Sometimes daredevil pugilists attempt to punch above their weight levels with the result that speaks for itself.

Considering the Somalian dynamics, a peace-keeping mission, which amounts to propping a cobbled-up fragile government for years to come, should have been outright rejected by the Ugandan people. But, in a dictatorship, this was not to be: Uganda went it alone with the support of little Burundi which essentially was currying favors from its flamboyant neighbor up North.

Months later, what do we have? Deaths in Somalia. Deaths here at home. And the president is supposedly boiling with anger. Let us see if he is going to be scientific (as according to him: not emotion but science is a prerequisite for war). He swore to pursue al-Shaabab to the end of the earths! Could the daimyo throw some more silver in his war bowl? Signals are being sent to him. Already a hostile diplomat changed his tune: Museveni is not a dictator before he was a dictator. !@$$^%^&#!! Does it make you dizzy? Is it a Japanese Zen koan or  some Chinese riddle?

If this exercise is about curbing terrorism, such a threat from Somalia to Uganda was not there before the ill-fated mission. In fact, I have a Somali acquaintance who often taunted me by lauding the greatness of Museveni. Now, his antics have become hostile and, not taking chances, I am in a war mode whenever our paths cross.

Let us say the president finds some banoti-banoti (as my cousin used to say), and goes on an al-Shaabab hunting trip, here are some warnings: Somalis are not the kinds of “biological substances” he decisively routed in Uganda. They are more evil than he, Museveni is, and Uganda will be just another “clan” to contend with and avenge against. And it won’t be pretty for years to come. Next year the next president should just pull our boys out of there the day after his inauguration.

The Allures of Conspiracy Theories

Mbeki persisted that Aids was not caused by the HIV virus: it was all a Western conspiracy. The sad result was the loss of lives that could have been extended by proven scientific cocktail medications. To this day there are people who are convinced that there was a CIA-Mafia-Cuban connection to President John F. Kennedy assassination, that landing on the moon was but a US brainwashing—it never happened, and 911 was a US government construct. Then, of course, in the murky opaque world of Uganda, conspiracy theories can run amok.

Why is conspiracy theories so enticing to some people? And what goes on in the minds of their purveyors? Is it a healthy avenue for truth for the powerless? Is it a conspiracy of conspiracy of the powerful to dupe and confuse the masses?

In the present stage of human development conflict is inevitable. More so where there are no credible ground rules and there are lots of mistrusts. Soon conflicts deteriorate into degrees of warlike atmospheres. And in war there are always the orthodox and the unorthodox strategies. The latter is shady and is noted for shock effects meant to demoralize and create fears. So, you chopped up dispensable targets, cook them up and blame it on your enemy to engender hatred from a sympathetic population. Or kill civilians in a war zone for similar effects. Or you go to a negotiation table and, while your adversary is sleeping in his high-minded stupor, you outflank his unprotected rearguard, sending him deliriously in exile, not knowing what hit him. And, since the winners write history, losers are left with whispers of anecdotal unofficial evidence they don’t have the sophistication and the wherewithal to get to the bottom of. Thus conspiracy theories are born.

It is good to doubt and ask questions. That is the mark of an inquisitive mind that may lead to the truth. Often, however, you have to make an educated guess and come up with a reasonable working hypothesis that can be revised when new evidence comes up. Or you can get bogged down with the search for a mirage of absolute truth.

Take the case of the 7/11 bombings; there are already rumors and gossips galore. Masters of conspiracy theories are having a field day. They are encouraged by weirdo followers who think the serpent headed wiseacres are the true anti-establishment radicals. They throw all kinds of mud on the wall, hoping they stick—even when there is mounting tentative persuasive evidence of radical militant Somali involvement. In the end, you can take the prevailing evidence in the public domain, or keep on wondering, losing sleep, and you might end up in Butabika.

Ultimately Museveni is to Blame

 • Somalis. People times ten. From grief to laughter, from love to hate Somalis seem turbo-charged. Hyper-driven with life force. Dowden, ‘09

•The trouble with the United Nations is that if we ask them for help, they will send us some African who has already destroyed his own country and will come and mess up ours too.
A Somalia Minister of Tourism & Wildlife
-----------------------------------
The blame game is quintessentially Musvenian: All his failures are the faults of his “enemies” and detractors. Whereas his stances are cowardly, evasive and tacky attempts to duck realities, we indulge in the blame game for cause: his recklessly bringing the curse of Somalia to our doorstep.

The dismembered state of Somalia is a morass that had the so-called only Super Power scrambling out of there on the double with bruises to its ego. The ferocious Somalis had shot down two Black Hawk helicopters in which eighteen young Americans died horribly. Reuters showed us all how one dead American was dragged through the streets of Mogadishu. These events did not play well at home. And the immediate casualty might have been 1994 Rwanda in which the UN was shy in any more African “misadventures.” (Dowden, 09) “Leave African solutions to Africans” was the new wisdom.

Somalis are a hardy lot, weaned by a landscape that is “craggy, hard, arid, a vast griddle, scoured and scorched daily by the sun for thousands of years.” Somalis are Cushitic speakers with relatives in Ethiopia—a language as harsh as their nature. They don’t regard themselves as Africans. In fact, in pre-colonial times they raided what is now Northern Kenya and took away African slaves. When these slaves were freed by the coming of European rule they were never incorporated into the Somali clan networks.

Imagine simmering of inter-clan hostilities among some Uganda tribes; multiply that by one hundred, and you get a sense of the spirit of Somalia. Siad Barre tried to ban clans and family groupings, and even any mentioning of them. But, like many African Big Kahunas, his Marehan clan was top dog. As soon as he was chased out of town the chess game unraveled: Hargersia, capital of the north was in rubbles. So was Mogadishu. Clan fiefdoms sprouted overnight.

And this is the milieu in which Museveni, in hubris high, having routed some confused and disorganized tribes in Uganda, thought he would be a “peace-keeper.” Restless because there were no more armed challenges at home and because of a necessary desire to win kudos from Massa as insurance, he couldn’t help himself. To the wind went the old masters’ maxim of a true warrior: know thyself, know thy enemy, and know your AO (Area of Operation) and the rest will only be details against one as against a thousand. And another 76 innocent Ugandans perished because of the reckless decision of one man. When will this stop? Now, if he is wise, he should count his losses and, with his tail between his legs, leave Somalia to Somalis. Ugandans will appreciate it with their lives.

Playing by the Numbers

• I think chance is more a fundamental conception than causality; for whether in a concrete case, a cause-effect relation holds or not can only be judged by applying the laws of chance to the observation.
                      Max Born
• Manche menschen andern sich nie. (Some people will never change)
  Die felten Jahre sind vorbei! (Your days of plenty are numbered)
                    Film, The Edukators

-------------------------
Probabilities are everywhere and, yet for some evolutionary primordial reasons, aided by medieval theology or juju imperatives, we rarely take heed of them in our survival enterprises. Why is that? Modern education doesn’t seem to help either. Most of us can’t see sense beyond the classical Newtonian physics and Euclidian geometry of our education, literally and figuratively.

In the 19th century Pascal and gambling informed of us some explanation in natural phenomena by probability. Since then some elegant laws have been expounded and, if we choose to use them, our lives’ ventures could be less unpredictable. And we could dispense with human sacrifices to bend fate, or be less caught up in sweaty tribal jingoistic emotions for a particular homeboy presidential candidate.

When we set out on a venture, most of us often do not ask the question: What are the chances?

When I was a kid, a neighbor retired and decided to invest all his retirement moneys in a car. Those were the days when having a car in my village meant you had arrived. Soon the car broke down and there were no spare parts. The poor guy began hoofing the village paths like the rest of us. I often met him walking, head down, thinking, seemingly oblivious to the customary greetings as one passed by a person. We kids soon gave up and watched somberly—testimony to our psychological mirroring. Other naughty tykes would have thrown stones at him, and he wouldn’t have cared.

The question is: What would have been the result had he worked out some kind of subjective decision tree with some equally subjective probabilities? His decision would have been wiser and, assuming a constant of objective, he could have got himself a new bride, a few heads of cattle, or a small dry-goods dukan (store) in the ‘hood.

In launching his candidacy, homeboy Barack Hussein Obama, smart as he is, probably asked: What are my chances? He saw a chance if he played by certain game rules. Thus we could see candidate Obama emphasizing his white maternal side exclusively. His middle name “Hussein” was, prior to election, nowhere to be seen except in the pens or mouths of his detractors. He threaded the race—which is effectively tribal—question gingerly. The rest now is history, and the salient tacit fact remains that he played by the numbers.

In Uganda we can holler and bend out of shape but let us be clear about the objective: Is it about getting rid of the quarter century ignominious Museveni rule? Or is it about indulging in our fancy of one form or another? Either way, Moses will have to go to the Mountain by the numbers—the Mountain will not come to Moses—prayer or no prayer; juju incantations or no juju incantations. Once the objective is clear, we can then work on improving the chances of our candidate in the probability distribution scale, and not act crazy after the fact.

Cultures, Rituals and All that Jazz

 They demonstrated. They were angry. In answer to a reporter’s question, one dude spitted:
“It is about our culture. Museveni violated the pillar of our culture—the Kabakaship.”

One would hope that, beyond the flaming emotion, there was a genuine and salient understanding of the importance of culture to a people. It was an outrage that, in a sense, many non-Baganda were empathetic, with the tacit understanding that it was an assault (besides the murders) on the core of a people’s essence. Odo me goyo nyeki bigoyi bene. (The cane for beating your co-wife will likely be used against you. So, don’t rejoice at the pain of the other woman).

We are all born into some group or another. We had no choice about it—it was a crapshoot, a lottery draw of nature. The group defines us, gives us a basic formative view of the world from which we set our sails to navigate the often treacherous terrain. The group is also supposed to protect us from forces within and without.

Whether be it family, clan, or tribe, the group is a function of social evolution that took thousands of years to build its characteristics. And, like all evolutionary processes, an ingredient for survival has been competition resulting in wars, trade, espionage, exploitation, domination, slavery, alliances, strategic cooperation, deception, humiliation, abuse, etc.

In this milieu of competition the outcome for a group generally hinges on the strength of its culture—the way of life, clear understanding of its place in the universe, and availability and use of resources. So, when you take away a man’s culture you “set about distorting [his] version of reality, figuratively and literally destroying his trust in the world and his confidence in himself.” (Lung & Prowant, ’02).

Besides superior firepower, or arrow-power, or rungu-power, accomplished mind-slayers know that the key to winning is through the mind-gates of eyes, ears, the nostrils, the mouth, the urethra and the anus. Through these orifices they adroitly undermine a culture and literally destroy a people, leaving them quarrelling among themselves, distrusting one another, resorting to self-abuses of all kinds—basically becoming dysfunctional.

For example, this can be done by the use of symbols that cause our minds to involuntarily form thoughts and images, symbols that trigger responses within us whether we want our minds to or not. Why is that? Symbols bypass the critical and logical conscious part our minds and talk directly to the nonjudgmental subconscious levels of our minds. (Lung & Prowant, ’02). The slayer then can insert anything he wants at will.

Any culture worth its salt has rituals: for marriage, coming-of-age, settling quarrels and mistakes, forgiving, groveling for favors and appeasing the gods, etc. A good mind slayer will put a different mind filter that junks your rituals and reconstructs your mindset, often resulting in a dysfunctional confusion. Is there any wonder that we find ourselves spinning our wheels in a journey to nowhere?

Take the example of the ritual of coming-of-age which was supposed to instill a sense of such qualities as honor, identity, group coercion and solidarity, responsibility and all the good stuff. It has been subtly replaced by western education, Christianity and Islam. The latter two being, in reality, just merely other peoples’ mechanistic mind inferences to experiences with existential phenomena. (Boyer, ’01). If this replacement was good for us, overall, what are the results?

The Follies of Decisions without Wisdom

 • The function of intelligence is characterized as focusing on questions of how to do and accomplish necessary life-supporting tasks; the function of wisdom is characterized as provoking the individual to consider the consequences of his [or her] actions both to self and their effects on others. Wisdom, therefore, evokes questions of should one pursue a particular course of action.
          ---Vivian Clayton
---
Who you become depends to a great extent on what you decide--but who you are and what you value frequently determine what the best decision is.
          ---James Stein, '10
--
http://www.answers.com/topic/iphigenia-film-1

In the film Ephigehnia depicting a Greek mythic story, the Athenians are stranded at Aulis, Agamemnon having killed a deer sacred to Dianna. Dianna stopped the wind and the Athenians can't sail. So, the men are getting restless. They want to go fight Troy to recover Helen, who had eloped with Paris. The sheer, Calchas consults the oracle and recommends that Agamemnon kill his beautiful daughter Ephigehnia before the wind could come. Meneleas, the cuckholded husband, and other generals pressure Agamemnon while his wife Clytemnestra pleads. What would you do?
---------------

“You are what you decide,” (Stein, ’10) may be a philosophical haiku of sorts that informs a universal truth, loaded with stuff. If we stopped and reflected on it, we might learn something of ourselves. We might see that our social, professional financial and, in fact, our station in life might have been decisively decided by decisions made. Some memories of such decisions might at times gnaw our hearts with regrets: if only in the fork in that road we had taken to the right instead of the road to perdition! Not individuals only are faced with “fork in the road” challenges, but also do groups, institutions and societies at large.

I have seen people who take almost eternity to make up their minds. There are others who never make up their minds—effectively deciding not to decide. While, others (yours truly included) make impulsive snap decisions with regrettable consequences at times.

We marvel at the guy who jumps on top of the child in the path of an on-coming train and lies on top of him until the train passes, thereby saving the child’s life—and his, of course. That is a snap decision. Where does it come from?

Then there is Barack Obama, Mr. Cool. While everyone is fidgeting and getting red-faced about BP oil-spill, he seemingly is not ruffled. Then, he does his magic with a strength that few see: The $20 Billion “shake-down.” The “shake down” according to one legislature, who was forced to withdraw his statement, was probably more the truth than not.

It seems that there are situations that require snap decisions, and there are others that require deliberate reflective analysis. Knowing the difference is probably a mark of wisdom, and may lead to good decisions, which lead to successes in our enterprises.

Decisions also seem to be made relative to an environment, the philosophical settings, or the zeitgeist of the time. And often the wisdom of a decision is evaluated in retrospect, in hindsight—hence, the adage that “hindsight is twenty-twenty,” implying you see more clearly after the fact.

While there are now mathematical models for making deliberative analytical decisions as in Decision Theory, some ancients made very wise decisions while others made disastrous decisions seemingly by the seat of their pants. Whether using decision theory or otherwise, making a decision is generally about payoffs: what do I get if I do this? The “what” is a critical payoff factor that may go into determining the wisdom or not of our decision. Is the payoff factor “my success,” meaning soothing my ego, or is it “community harmony?”

In Uganda many epic decisions were made by our leaders. If wise decisions increases the probability of success, implicitly, our failures, traumas and the state of our nation has corollary in unwise decisions based on selfish and misguided payoff factors: I must rule until I croak; pay me, and I will change the law for you because I am just a little rat; the nation’s coffer is my piggybank; if you are with me do whatever you want, and I will look the other way; successes are mine, and for failures blame others; if I don’t win, I take the gun; get out of town because this is my dominion; etc, etc, etc. Is it now a time for a paradigm shift of some sort?

Putting Leaders to Ridicule

In Acoli, just as in many other progressive traditions, leaders were in the real sense servants of the people. And the example of Rwot Awic of the Payira personified that trait.

Leadership came out of demonstrated competence and personal qualities that included a balanced temperament. Respect was earned, not bestowed by birth, neither by skills alone. Woe unto the leader who overreached his power or was incompetent. Soon the poets would fill the air with songs of ridicule that brought the culprit down to earth or put fire under the wayward loser.

Fast forward to present-day Acoli: how does this tradition translate? The traditional leadership, as encouraged by the present government, has little influence, if any, on people’s lives. Now, the leadership that really counts, apart from may be the Church, is the elected officials from local to national offices. While the playing field has changed, and there are temptations to cultish personality adoration, it is a pleasure to see that we can still put aspirants to leadership through the wringer.

Some would say that the ridicules amount to demeaning of our own in a neighborhood in which we, as a people, have been under intense put-downs for years. Effectively, this would amount to a counter-productive exercise of demeaning the community, so the wisdom goes. As the man is fond of saying, this is an exercise in obscurantism. Whatever the challenges of the Acoli, personality cultism is not the answer to the solutions. In fact, as witnessed by history, it is a recipe for disaster.

Practices that can build and uplift the community includes ability to laugh at ourselves—not excluding our leadership. If others join us in the laughter but with ill will, they will be mistaken. The last laugh will be on them when we rally behind the son or daughter who has passed the test of fire.

At issue was a picture of Mr. Otunnu staging a mock fight with a caricature of a traditional shield and a spear. In a chat room, some guys supposedly mocked Otunnu’s holding of the shield and the spear. The political correctness police jumped on their case. All kinds of disjointed and disconnected issues inundated the exchanges which amounted to much ado about nothing.

Otunnu has a stellar resume for himself. It is not uncommon and it is understandable that he has a hold on some people’s emotion and imagination. But what these people should understand is that not all of us share the same fascination—at least, not yet consideration the impacts of his past records to the community. We consider any ridicule of him is not equivalent to a ridicule of Acoli, as a community. While we are proud of his personal accomplishments, he is not the definition of Acoli. So, even any endorsement of him for the IPC top dog by a group of some whimsical old men with over-inflated view of their self-importance is just a fancy which they are free to exercise. But any claim to clout is a figment of their imagination.

O, God Could You Replace Museveni?

• I am acting in accordance with the will of the Almighty Creator: by defending myself against the Jew, I am fighting for the work of the Lord.
              Hittler
• Gott mit Uns! (God is with Us)—Inscription on Nazi’s army belt

• The facilities should be separate. When God has drawn a line of distinction, we should not attempt to cross the line. The true Negro does not want integration.
             Rev. Jerry Falwell
---------------------------

My friend and I laughed our heads off when we saw the heading:
 National prayers set for Sunday
 "WITH so much sin taking place in the country, the President has declared Sunday, June 20, a national day of prayer and repentance. "
http://www.newvision.co.ug/detail.php?mainNewsCategoryId=8&newsCategoryId=13&newsId=723079

“Is it April Fool’s Day?” Ojukkwe asked cheekily as he bent over in stitches and peals of laughter, slapping his thigh.

“It isn’t funny,” cautioned our resident savedee, Caroma Atim, while feigning a look of seriousness.

We could not believe what we were reading: Museveni, of all people, asking the nation to pray to God to save itself from the numerous ills, most of which are a function of his providing the negative atmosphere. So, in answer to His Excellency’s call to the Prayer Day, we decided to coin a hymn of our own in celebration of this auspicious occasion bestowed upon us by none other than his sweetheart, Lady Janet.

Prayer Day Hymn pa Soko and Ojukkwe

God, whoever you are,
You are regally patched up there,
Or wherever you may be,
Since nobody knows exactly.

[Confused us, Bewildered us
We grasp at anything
To be free and happy
But in vain]

People talk of you
As if sure
But nobody ever saw you
This side of life
But they swear
They kill
They hate
All in the name of various versions of you

[Confused us, Bewildered us
We grasp at anything
To be free and happy
But in vain]

It is said you created our world
Including our beloved Uganda
Why then leave it in the hands of
Hustlers, brigands and psychopaths?

[Confused us, Bewildered us
We grasp at anything
To be free and happy
But in vain]

We prayed for democracy
We prayed for a civilian government
We prayed for good roads and hospitals
We prayed and prayed
We only hear your silence, O Lord
Instead, our brothas and sistas
Of the yellow persuasion
Taunt us and foam in their mouths
Chanting: No Change!

[Confused us, Bewildered us
We grasp at anything
To be free and happy
But in vain]

Take this Museveni guy
He is very clever
He is obsessed with power
He uses your name in vain
To score points
He bullies radio stations
His street gangs beat up Dr. Besigye
He harasses journalists
The famous OO got the brunt of it
He kills demonstrators
Then he turns around and says:
Let us pray
What the f—k is that?
Excuse our German.

[Confused us, Bewildered us
We grasp at anything
To be free and happy
But in vain]

Lord, twenty-five years is a long time
A generation was born and grown
Enough is enough
We implore you to get rid of Museveni
If you can’t, then Lord,
With due respect, leave us alone.
You have done so from time immemorial.
This leaves us to face reality sans false hope.

We refuse somnambulistic veneration of a God
Whose cruel joke is:
To allow the Holocaust
To allow The Rwanda Genocide
To allow forceful herding people
Into death-trap camps
To allow Polpot's killing fields.
We can turn to the pristine Mind
That which unlocked the codes of Nature

[Confused us, Bewildered us
We grasp at anything
To be free and happy
But in vain]

Yes, the mind
That fascinating thing
It travels everywhere and nowhere
It elevates and it destroys
Those who know can move mountains
The ignorant are bewildered.

With mind we devised the family
We corralled families into the community
Of clan, tribe, kingdom and state.
We lived happily and well
Then plunged into orgies of violence
Lord, you had nothing to do with it
We were just being bad dudes and gals.

[Confused us, Bewildered us
We grasp at anything
To be free and happy
But in vain]

We know the codes that bring
Peace, harmony and tranquility
But not enough of us buy into
Or are just plain ignorant
Hence, we have a dictator
He shits and pees on us
We wince, confused
As he cynically asks us
To pray for our transgressions
Can you believe that, Lord?

[Confused us, Bewildered us
We grasp at anything
To be free and happy
But in vain]

Mao's Game

“All movements, however different in doctrine and aspiration, draw their early adherents from the same types of humanity; they all appeal to the same types of mind.
--“Not so obvious is the fact that religious and nationalist movements too can be vehicles of change. Some kind of widespread enthusiasm or excitement is apparently needed for the realization of vast and rapid change---“
                  Eric Hoffer, ‘51
----------------------------
I want, I want, I want: this is the constant chorus we hear in our hearts day in day out from the moment we pop out until we check out. Even a dog hears the same. Don’t forget your plant at the window wailing out for water and mineral nutrients.

Unfortunately we don’t always get the objects of our desires. Why is that? It is simple but profound. And like many aspects of us, we don’t take time to reflect on it. Most things are limited in supply, and others are also clamoring for the same. So, what to do? We play games.

Gaming is probably more pervasive than we are wont to admit. Unless you believe that some supernatural being put us ready made in this form, scientific evidence says that we acquired survival characteristics over millions of years. And gaming is one of those acquired traits that have become instinctive imperatives.

In gaming we do everything to get what we want: sex, food, power, you name it. We can use brute force if we think we can get away with it. Or we can use clandestine means of ruses and deceptions. Or like the hyenas (my favorite strategists and tacticians in the caliber of Sun Tzu), you can go on a joint hunt, isolate and fell a wildebeest, a thousand times your individual body weight.

The hyenas are on to something that we humans not only use it instinctively but have the added advantage of rationality, a feature of consciousness that might have arisen out of the competitive need to size up the other person in our gaming (Barash, ’03). In our evolved consciousness we are often aware that a community’s welfare also means our individual survival. So, rather than pursue only our self-interests until hell freezes over, we cooperate for the greater whole.

It is not that simple, however. I wish it were, then we would all be singing Kumbaya and smiling to one another as brothers and sisters, happy to be here in this fascinating earth. Now, if everybody pursues his or her individual interests exclusively, what we get is communal disaster. Isn’t it the reason Somali has redefined a dysfunctional nation state in the 21st century? What about the family that falls apart because of internecine bad blood? Do you know of a community that can’t get its acts together and is always complaining about how others, but themselves, from without are doing it to them?

Let us cut to the chase, and check out Mao’s gaming for the presidency. He is going to pursue it no matter what. He is the wayward alpha male hyena with the toughest jaw who takes it upon himself alone to bring down the toughest wildebeest in the plain. So, he comes up with some arcane algorithm which he only understands. The idea being that not joining the IPC pack (which all objective calculations point as, short of unforeseen occurrence, the only strategic chance probability of unseating the Mighty One) is a better strategy.

Here are some aspects of Mao’s reasoning:
1. The IPC is an outfit to promote Dr. Besigye, and not a genuine joint venture.
As a Dr Besigye’s enthusiast my response is: What is wrong with that if it helps change the political landscape? The man has paid his due more than any political operator has ever had in Uganda. His numbers are far ahead of most of the potential opposition candidates. Intuitively we should know that numbers represent reality, but illusions and dreams have a stronger hold on us to our detriment.

2. In Mao’s math Museveni will win, no matter what. It is only Mao, who has the magic wand to bring down Museveni’s tally below 50%, in which case he, Mao would then be the king maker by throwing his vaunted weight behind the opposition, coasting it to victory in a rerun.
This is pure fiction. Show me the money. Where are the polling data that supports this claim? Let us give Mao the benefit of the doubt. Supposing Mao’s scenario works at the initial round, why waste time with all the rigmarole? Something smells fishy here.

3. The IPC is a killer of parties, and Mao’s DP doesn’t want to become a dodo.
The reason the various political parties are entrenched in older democracies is a function of time. These parties have undergone all kinds of permutations to emerge into their present forms.

In business, mergers and acquisitions are germane to growth and innovations. The message being to let other synergies come into play otherwise atrophy sets in and you perish.

Many Ugandans know what it is to be free and happy—the basic purpose of life. Translated into a national aspiration, it is about democracy and dignified access to goods and services. On this altar they will sacrifice DP for the greater good. And Mao can go hang.

4. The IPC is another movement politics of yore, and we don’t need it.
Perhaps Mao uses “movement,” not in a generic but in a disparaging manner of uncle Museveni who cleverly uses words to skewer opponents in guilt by association. If so, then my brother has sunk very low. All for what—ambition?

The NRM may have been a revolutionary movement of sorts, but it never achieved a definitive national mass movement status. It is unlikely that was its aim either, since it showed its true colors in tribal chauvinism and apelike desires for trinkets (read corruption).

A movement is a collective enthusiasm, fueled by a collective desire for change. This is the only way drastic change can be made. Right now there is a national feeling that something is terribly wrong. The privileged don’t want change, and the uninformed are bewildered, uncertain that they could take control of their fate. That is why the Mighty One bullies radio stations not to air opponents who might reveal the SECRET. Now than ever we need “masters of the act of ‘religiofication’—the act of turning practical purposes into holy causes.” (Hoffer, ’51).

Apparently Mao doesn’t need a movement—only his greatness will do the trick. To which we say: Bury your head in the sand, Mr. Mao. When you wake up, with or without you, there will be a new president come 2011—we hope, and we will work on it.

Soko's Primer on Strategic Self-Defense

•If I am not for myself, who will be for me? If I am only for myself, what am I? If not now, when?
 Rabbi Hillel, 2nd Century CE
•All I say is by way of discourse, and nothing by way of advice. I should not speak so boldly if it were my due to be believed.
Montaigne
--------------------------
Okay, you’re on the mean street of Everywhere town. A wicked dude blocks your way and acts belligerently. You’re at a rally in Museveni’s Fiefdom and attack dogs swarm on you wielding sticks. The difference is the same. What do you do? Everyone, even cats, get into the primordial mode: freeze-fight-flight.

Attack dogs (AD) or street urchins bank on fear and anonymity—your fear and they are not your next-door neighbor. Soko’s strategy presupposes that you have done your mental preparation: you have a firm believe in the sanctity of yourself that I talked about earlier. This means you overcome fear—even death—in the freeze stage in seconds. With fear and death out of the way, you are in the empty, in the void and your mind is spacious for speed sizing of the situation clearly. The situation can range from mild verbal assault to vicious physical confrontation. This requires reactive skills since the initiation comes from a potential adversary. Your sole objective is not to become a victim, and you can escalate your tactics from verbal skills and bodily posture to outright physical damage.

Let us say an attack dog comes at you furiously with a stick (kiboko) and shouting insults at the same time. This is a form of what is called in Game Theory, a Game of Chicken, similar to an armament race (In the Cuban Missile Crisis, the Soviets chickened out—avoiding being fried. Barash, ‘03).

You: Pretend weakness
AD: Reaches close
You: Move away suddenly
AD: Hesitates for a moment because his rhythm is off
You: In the moment of hesitation, attack forcefully and gain the initiative from him
You: If you cannot move away—stay with him and attack forcefully enough to disrupt his timing and cause him to change his approach
AD: Timing is disrupted
You: Sense a change in approach, move quickly to take the initiative and defeat him.

Contacts with AD should be at the Nerve Centers and Pressure Points. That is your homework to find out what these are. Suffice to say: apply proportionate force to the centers and points because they could result in death or permanent crippling just by using bare hands, feet, knees and elbows. The damage Soko did to someone nearly ended in the worst possible outcome. We will leave it at that.

If you don’t have the heart, do yourself a favor. At the sight of an attack dog, just run for your life! While you are at it, pray to the spirit of Akii Bua—it might add some wind to your flight!
------
Bonus

 This is an amazing movie: high-level corruption in Europe and Africa. In it all, the dredge of African society are taken advantage. Courage, intrigue, deception and greed play out incredibly. A must see.

In Self-Defense against the Attack Dogs

The sanctity of my body is sacrosanct. So is my mind, which may be centered in the physics, chemistry and biology of the brain, heart and associated organs. Amazing web of neurons and a brew of complex chemicals do their things beyond my consciousness, enabling me to carry the job of living. They are gifts of evolution that took millions of years to realize the me of today. I almost didn’t make it, but I won the lottery! There is nobody like me, and there will never be—same with you.

Once I came to that realization, it opened up a vista of outlook for purpose, responsibility and my relationship to the universe around me. I am in awe. I, therefore, while threading lightly, take life very seriously. In this realm I won’t allow anybody to abuse this precious body and mind. I equally respect that of others. However, in the per chance that some ignorant hoodlum initiates any unprovoked and unwarranted verbal, physical and mental assault I have seen it fit to learn the art of self-defense and conflict management. Armed with lethal techniques, tactics and strategies I will not permit any low life goons to entertain themselves at my expense.

http://www.monitor.co.ug/News/National/-/688334/935366/-/x0t0dl/-/index.html

This brings us to the case of the so-called Kiboko squad that assaulted Dr. Beisgye. To even elevate them to a squad is to give them credence. These are dangerous attack dogs which are parallel enforcers of the Museveni agenda. There is no way in Uganda that someone would take the initiative to carry out these acts of assaults without the node from Museveni. This is an outcrop of Kakooza’s KAP which has terrorized citizens for years.

The actions of these dogs and the KAP gives support to the notions that some of the things that were done in Luweero and the North were too dark for the rather timid Ugandans to have carried out. Only a sociopath could carry out some of the gruesome acts. And anecdotal evidence points only in one direction.

So, based on the past, the opposition should have been hardnosed to have known and prepared for these kinds of eventualities. If not, they should now. At the least they should prepare themselves and their security details with the skills of martial art—more specifically the art of street fighting. It is not against the law to carry sticks or even pepper sprays for self-defense. Self-defense is a human right. Anybody who messes with you should be met with a discouraging force before guns start blazing to the detriment of all. It is mental. These goons are not fearless—blood streaking down their faces is bound to give the desired effects.

Acoli Jokes

• Did you hear the one about the Ganda man who divorced his new Acoli bride on the night of their honeymoon? She had everything a Muganda man would die/kill for—huge rear-end, money, cars etc—except the deal breaker— “lips!” Oh! Where are the bassenga?!

• Who was the first Acoli Catholic Bishop? Nobody

• Two Acoli, three opinions

• Where did Acoli warriors win a war? In their mouths

• What does Acoli: “Ribbe aye tekko” mean? I will cooperate/unite with you iff (if and only if) you agree with me

• What is the difference between an angry Acoli woman and a Tasmanian devil? I plead a fifth because my life will be in danger. I will only answer if I can get into a witness protection program

Women, the Musevenis & Their Hangers-on

 *The New Year Sacrifice is a Chinese heart-rending story of Xianglin’s wife. It is placed just before and after the Revolution of 1911, when the Qing Dynasty was overthrown.

The story is no different from that of many Ugandan women. They toil and toil. In the end what do they have to show for it but distraught faces of poverty and misery?


*No wonder, one woman commented that reading the bible is more traumatic than breast cancer.
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With some token posts and no significant power to influence anything worthwhile for their species, some women prance around in yellow garbs. They shamelessly shout: “No change!” Right! For them the NRM (aka Museveni) brings home the bacon.

Is that it? Just a means to personal ends for groceries? Is this not, effectively, just a case of the oldest trade? Look around you. You look but you don’t see. The US army’s attorney once observed rhetorically to Joseph McCarthy, the communist witch hunter of the 1950s: “Have you no sense of decency, sir, at least?” What about you, women of the so-called Pearl of Africa? Have you asked yourselves why the legislation for marriage reform has languished and stalled?

That is right; the man is taking you for granted. He is just stringing you along. Any man who does not know the game, if he ever had raging hormones to just get into the pants of the fairer species, is a klutz. Issues that are important to him have come and gone through the rubber stamp parliament. What about yours? One would have expected his partner in crime, Janet Museveni to be at the forefront for women’s rights. No, Jose’. Both are Mulookole, which means they adhere to literal interpretations of the bible—every word in the bible is from the God of Israel. Anything else is blasphemy and heresy. So, if you really want to know what the power couple thinks about you women, here are “the most influential and damaging bible verses about women.” (Gaylor, 97).

• Unto the woman he said, I will greatly multiply thy sorrow and thy conception; in sorrow thou shalt bring forth children; and thy desire shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee. (Genesis 3:16).

• Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live. (Exodus 22:18).

• But I would have you know, that the head of every man is Christ; and the head of every woman is the man; and the head of Christ is God…For the man is not of woman; but the woman of the man. Neither was the man created for the woman; but the woman for the man. (1 Corinthians 11: 3, 8—9).

• Let your woman keep silence in the churches; for it is not permitted unto them to speak; but they are commanded to be under obedience, as also saith the law. And if they will learn anything, let them ask their husbands at home; for it is a shame for women to speak in the church (1 Corinthians 14: 34—35).

• Let the woman learn in silence in all subjection. But I suffer not a woman to teach nor to usurp authority over the man, but to be in silence. For Adam was first formed, then Eve. And Adam was not deceived, but the woman being deceived was in transgression. (1Timothy 2:11—14).

So, there you have it. No wonder, one woman commented that reading the bible is more traumatic than breast cancer. Ladies, what is your biblically anointed place in the Musevenis & Co’s world? Be silent and be in subjection. And that is the “gospel” truth—the true spirit of the NRM, which only exists in the image of one Museveni. It’s time to wake up! Join hands with the progressives and others who have woken up to operate in the realms of reason rather than some dubious edicts of “faith, authority and tradition.”

Who can help the woman’s cause against the new wave of violence on their persons and children? Violence so heinous, our ancestors are turning in their graves. This is the culture of violence precipitated by the belligerent default mode of Mr. Museveni. His violent spirit seeps down to your family.

With the changing society a woman is often left a destitute after years of contribution to a marriage. She has no right to property. Who is likely to listen to her plight and do something about it as a matter of urgency? Museveni has had a generation to do something beyond cosmetic stop-gap measures. Get out of the NRM abusive relationship!

It is your children who die on the poor roads, are subjected to human sacrifices—a macabre practice that is as quintessential to Museveni era as the heaps of skulls of Luweero—and are semi educated in the rush to free education for political capital. Who will help protect them, and do the right thing by you? The NRM has had twenty plus years. This marriage has gone to the dogs. Let them go!

In 1885 Helen H Gardener said in Men, Women and Gods:

“This religion and the Bible require of woman everything, and give her nothing. They ask her support and her love, and repay with contempt and oppression.”

Of course, she was talking about the strident fundamentalist strains to which the Musevenis & CO subscribe. So, when your sons and daughters march in protests, they are shot dead. When your sons and daughters want to communicate to you their points of view, the radio stations are cowered and threatened. When your sons and daughters write the truth that is not palatable to the regime (meaning to Museveni), draconian laws are used to harass and drag them courts.

You are not daughters of slaves. If you are your real fathers’ daughters, do something about your fate: vote these rascals out!

Development Partners; What Development Partners?

 “…The lust for power is not rooted in strength but in weakness. It is the expression of the individual self to stand alone and live. It is the desperate attempt to gain secondary strength where genuine strength is lacking.”
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“The function of an authoritarian ideological practice can be compared to the function of the neurotic systems.
Such symptoms result from unbearable psychological conditions and at the same time offer a solution that makes life possible. Yet they are not a solution that leads to happiness or growth of personality. They leave unchanged the conditions that necessitate the neurotic solution.”
                Erich Fromm, Escape from Freedom
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They nurtured and coddled him. Slick Willie dubbed him one of the “new breeds” of African leaders, and patted him on the back with a power visit, with all the trimmings. It couldn’t get any better for a psychotic son of a peasant. In Washington his apologists fought for his swanky new jet even as his dirt poor nation was being forgiven its unsustainable debts. Even the Queen of the mighty has-been empire dropped by as her prime minister plunked down millions of pounds into the black hole of aid.

Mr. Museveni was being rewarded for a job well done of a vassal:
• Over enthusiastic support against terror and being counted on votes in world bodies
• Stability by whatever means necessarily to ensure success of the wild-west economic exercise--to prove that the shock theraphy of the Chicago Boys works.

But once he allowed multi-party elections, the contradictions with his true instincts became apparent, and meant that something has to give.

Mr. Museveni subscribes to the Noble Lie, a nihilism concept described by Loyal Rue in By the Grace of Guile: The Role of Deception in Natural History and Human Affairs. Despite his show and claims, Museveni really doesn’t believe in a God. If not Mulookole, the Christian charismatic and evangelical faith of his upbringing, then what? Socialism failed him with the death of the Soviet Union. There is nothing else but another lie as western capitalism won the day: the only visionary that can save physical needs instead of the elusive souls. It is, however, pitiful to see him jump from one fanciful scheme to another in futile attempts to find his groove. He needs compassion rather than blame. He can't help himself. Only drastic surgery can free us from the tumor.

(You may notice that Otunnu has a similar Mulookole background, but I suspect that he genuinely believes in his Savior. Despite its political implications, he could not carry out an Acoli ritual in his native Mucwini. Effectively saying: politics be damn, I am saved! His Father’s house of worship at Christ the King could not be dishonored with a political meeting if he had anything to say about it. Fault him for anything else; here is a true believer!)

So, now given that the country has less debt to service (thanks to debt forgiveness) and the widening internal revenue sources, Mr. Museveni is emboldened. Mind you, he doesn’t believe in anything. There are possible sources from the East even if they are harder to con since they don’t carry the western guilt. He could play it just as hooligans such as Siad Barre and Mobutu did in the Cold War days. The west can go hang. He is going to run the country in his image. He is not about to lose face by succumbing to some two-bit ambassadors’ demand to reconstitute the Electoral Commission.

In 1501 Cesare Borgia was appointed duke of Romagna by his father, Pope Alexander VI. The duke, in quick succession, soon acquired several Italian city-states under his dominion. He was described by Machiavelli as someone who “must be regarded as a new power in Italy.” (Notice the resemblance to Slick Willie’s “new breed”). Sooner or later, however, Borgia’s luck ran out as he miscalculated some moves and failed to accommodate his personality to the exigencies of the time, but tried to reshape the time in the mold of his personality. (Skinner ’10).

Museveni has had a good run –mostly based on his astuteness to read the times and improvise on the fly. In his hubris, one of these days, not unlike Borgia, his luck will run out. So far he has played in the mold of the wise Pandolfo Petrucci, the lord of Siena, who told the Florentine Machiavelli: “Wishing to make as few mistakes as possible, I conduct my government day by day, and arrange my affairs hour by hour; because the times are more powerful than our brains.”

Unfortunately for Machiavelli, his employer, the republic of Florence did not read the times correctly. She stayed aligned with France as Pope Julius II adroitly signed a treaty with Spain, and the Spaniards, a powerhouse at the time, made a mince meat of the French in Italy. The Florentine republic was dismantled, and the Medici came back. Checkmate! Machiavelli lost his job and, in a groveling attempt to gain favor, penned and dedicated it to the Medici the famous, The Prince—a compilation of his observations as ambassador to the various courts.