breaking news: Ugandan VP drives home

The Daily Monitor reported today that Vice President Gilbert Bukenya drove himself home last Friday. This is not the first time the VP has flagrantly disregarded his security squad: in December he went, unsupervised, to the gym.

Another star example of this week’s African media: Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo defended his People’s Democratic Party presidential candidate Alhaji Musa Umar Yar’Adua against rumors of ill health using the infallible logic, “Can somebody with one kidney play squash?”

Last one: Ghana’s Accra Mail declared that smuggling in Ghana is decreasing. The cause? Police efforts to decrease smuggling.

linkathon

Lots of goodies this week. Commenting on them all would take more time than I have, but I want to put them out there for discussion:

  • Country Boi makes an excellent point in his comment on my post about blogging and anonymity. He’s right — blogging is self-publication, which means that you’re never entirely anonymous. Even if you blog under an assumed name and keep personal details off your site, you’re still putting your opinions in the public sphere. This gives anyone license to debate and reference these opinions and anything else you post using your pseudonym, which is exactly what Dennis did in his article — he didn’t connect anyone’s pseudonym with their real name if that name isn’t published in connection with the blog.

    That doesn’t mean I don’t take issue with some other things in the article, of which I’m only going to mention a few: The majority of bloggers do not use pseudonyms (in fact, only 28.7% do, while 92% reveal detailed personal information). Not all comment threads degenerate into snide blame-throwing. Above all: my name is not, nor has it ever been, Jack Fruity.

  • LeftVegDrunk has an brilliant post about obstacles to peace in Uganda. Go. Read. Comment.

  • There’s an all-female peacekeeping unit in Liberia (via Congogirl)

  • Uganda and Southern Sudan are signing a bilateral trade agreement. Way to through more fuel on the fire of the LRA’s complaints.

  • The Daily Monitor’s reporting that the UK planned to assassinate Amin at the 1977 CHOGM. Isn’t that old news?

the hour of our discontent

The first rumblings started here, with feezee’s remarkably eloquent comment about the Uganda Best of Blogs awards. Then Pea had a little something to say, Dennis D. Muhumuza worked his magic in the Daily Monitor, Minty chimed in, and now everyone’s talking about it: should Ugandan bloggers stay in their own, private corners, or should we out ourselves and come together offline?

My opinion on this one is obvious — I’ve been pushing hard for the BOB awards and UBHH. And since I’ve been encouraging more interaction, more debate and more openness among Ugandan bloggers, I feel like it’s time to, you know, do that. So here goes.

I get the need for privacy. I understand that there are things you could never say to your closest friends but have to say to the world. I know the fear of being outed, of losing your anonymity, of having your innermost thoughts suddenly exposed. It’s happened to me, and the results weren’t pretty — rebuilding the relationships that were damaged when people I knew read what I’d been thinking in secret was one of the hardest things I’ve ever done.

A study done in 2004 showed that 42% of bloggers almost never reveal their identities online, and 36% have gotten in trouble for something they wrote on their blogs. I value the freedom to say what you want online without offline retribution (provided you’re not inciting riots or calling for murder), and I will never criticize those who treasure their online privacy. My intention with the BOB awards and the Ugandan Bloggers Happy Hours is not to force the spotlight onto anyone who would rather remain anonymous (UBHH guests: I went through the photos and deleted those that showed the faces of anyone who asked me to protect their privacy). If you don’t want your blog involved in the awards, just e-mail me and let me know so I can take you out of the running.

That said, I believe there is great value to be found in publicizing Ugandan bloggers and the Ugandan blogging community. Through the first UBHH my knowledge of Ugandan blogs quintupled. Nominations are coming in for the BOB awards, and I find it encouraging that so many of us are paying attention to what each other has to say. We’re talking more: we’re arguing, but we’re also learning and laughing. Isn’t the point of posting your thoughts on the internet, anonymously or otherwise, to get them read? To start conversations? That’s why we post comments and link to each other.

Bloggers all over the world, from Houston to Delhi to Cape Town, are meeting up. They’re talking about identity, censorship, media, technology and creativity, among other things. They’re telling their stories and making their voices heard, and I think that’s a wonderful thing — something Uganda deserves and is highly capable of doing. That’s why I helped start UBHH, and that’s why I created the Uganda BOB awards.

In which I agree with the LRA

It’s common knowledge by now that the Lord’s Resistance Army have pulled out of the Juba Peace Talks for what feels like the 8027th time, demanding that they be moved to Kenya or South Africa or God knows where, accusing Riek Machar and Sudan of being “Uganda’s allies.”

My gut reaction: more sabre-rattling? More political blustering? Haven’t we had enough? Suck it up and get your asses down to work, gentlemen.

But then I thought about it, and in approximately two seconds, I realized that I am an incredible idiot. It goes back to Deborah Scroggins.

Who had the balls foolish audacity to appoint a senior member of the Sudanese People’s Liberation Army as mediator of the peace talks between the LRA and the GoU? The basics of any “history-of-the-conflict-in-thirty-seconds” go like this: LRA = bad. Sudan supports LRA, which also = bad. SPLA fights Sudan, which therefore = good. SPLA = good, and LRA = bad, so GoU supports SPLA.

Again: who’s hairbrained idea was it for Machar to be the one mediating? There isn’t even the pretense of neutrality — regardless of whether or not this nutshell-sized-version of the last twenty years is accurate (and Debbie would most likely argue that it’s not), public perception is that this man owes at least some of his current power to Museveni’s administration.

Of all of the complaints the LRA has lodged since the beginning of the talks six months ago, this is actually legitimate. Which means that I find myself in a rather precarious position: I agree with the LRA. Debbie, love, what have you done to me?

UBHH: Intelligent. Witty. Sexy. Occasionally ridiculous.

The February Uganda Bloggers Happy Hour will be held on Thursday, February 15 at 6:30 PM at Mateo’s (above Nando’s on Kampala Road, Kampala). Happy Hour is the last chance to turn in your nominations for the 2006 Uganda Best of Blogs, so don’t miss out! (If Valentine’s Day takes its toll on you and you absolutely can’t make it, you can e-mail your nominations to me at jackfruity@gmail.com.)

As always, bring your friends, your charm, and your political manifestos. (Despite your many insistent offers, I kindly request that you leave your jackfruit at home.)