The Secret of the HoP

To demonstrate or not to demonstrate, that is the question the Uganda opposition might have been wrestling with and scratching their heads over the week-end. The usual strategy behind demonstrating in a dictator’s fiefdom is to precipitate discontent locally and sympathy internationally as the state coercive forces are sure to break some limbs or even kill. So, what does it mean when you threaten a demonstration and then back down? Do you lose face (if there is any such a thing in the African context)? Will you ever be taken seriously?

One of the most potent tool for African dictators is the use of unabashed force against their own people. Museveni calls it one of the cooking stones that has helped sustain the NRM (a.k.a himself) in power uninterrrupted for this long. An overwhelming show of force, rather than alienating, in fact garners support and endears the dictator to the uninformed masses who are basically peasants in their outlooks even if they have Phds after their names. It would therefore seem that if you get physically abused in public by the power that be, you lower your esteem, credibility and prospect in the eyes of the peasantry. So, it is likely that the opposition made a correct calculated call to call off the demonstration. Now, what next?

The opposition needs to apply strategic thinking ahead of the obsessed Uganda’s premier political strategist of all times. The secret of the Hop may provide a model of how to operate smartly against the entrenched system. The Hop is a movie depicting a son, Justin, whose father was deported back to Africa. Justin escapes the snare of the police and immigration and meets a former anarchist with whom he journeys through very facinating events.

Clue: How does a pigmy overpower the untamable African elephant? Check out the Hop.