Violence over the fate of a Ugandan rain forest erupted in Kampala yesterday. Four people are dead; two of them, who were desi, were stoned to death. Via the IHT:
…a protest over a prized Ugandan rain forest exploded into racial violence, forcing military police in armored vehicles to fire tear gas into the crowd, authorities said.
Police arrested 20 people suspected of being the ringleaders of the melee and offered special security to Asians in the Ugandan capital, Kampala, said Information Minister Kirunda Kivejinja. Police were guarding some Asians in their homes…
The crowd burned cars, attacked a Hindu temple and chanted, “We are tired of Asians!” and “They should go back to their land!” Dozens of Asians, fearing for their lives, took refuge in police stations.
Tension between black Ugandans and those of Asian origin has a long history in this African country. In the 1970s, dictator Idi Amin expelled South Asians, saying they were trying to dominate the economy.
This is why people are dying:
A subsidiary of the Mehta Group, the Sugar Corporation of Uganda, wants to use 7,000 hectares (17,000 acres) — nearly a third of the Mabira Forest Reserve — to expand its sugar plantation. The Ugandan government owns a 51 percent stake in the company, and recent indications that it will allow the forest to be axed have enraged residents here…
The forest is home to 50 species of monkeys, along with bird and plant species only found in Mabira…
My inner environmentalist cringes at any threat to biodiversity, but I’m also horrified by the footage I just saw on the BBC World service, of a motorcycle engulfed in flames; the man riding it had “looked Asian”, so he was dragged off of it and beaten so severely, he later died. When they interviewed members of the raucous crowd, I heard words which are uttered far too frequently; “Maybe they’ll go back to where they came from.” If any of you have family in Kampala, my prayers are with you.
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Update (04/14/07): New Delhi gets…involved. By the way, this article states that only one Indian person was killed; I’m looking for further information.
Minister of State for External Affairs Anand Sharma took up the matter with Ugandan Foreign Minister Sam Kuteesa, who assured him of firm action against the perpetrators of the violence.
“The government (of Uganda) has given firm assurance that no harm will be done to Indians,” Sharma told reporters in Delhi.
He said the external affairs ministry was in constant touch with the government of Uganda and the Indian high commissioner.
Sharma denied that there was large scale violence against Indians.
“It was a demonstration on a different issue and some other elements joined them and resorted to violence,” he said. [Rediff]
it’s a shame the protestors, who i think are right to protest this desecration of the forest reserve, have turned their ire on innocent bystanders. their own government has okayed this. wonder if the sugar corporation has had any meetings with the environmentalists to try to come up with alternate solutions. given uganda’s history, they surely would have anticipated this backlash.
WGiiA, I was just scouring the newstab for something and I noticed that you had posted this there– thank you for that. I was moved to blog it after watching the Beeb, but I’m glad you were even more on top of things (11am!) than I am.
It looks like it might have been a peaceful demonstration by the environmentalists until the cops opened fire:
anna, thanks, i noticed it on bbc’s website this morning, but hope you don’t think that’s why i commented on your post (to draw attention to my newstab link i mean) ! but i am glad you chose to blog about it. both sides of the story are very disheartening – the plans to destroy a large part of the reserve populated by endemic species and the hostile targeting of asians.
What an outrage. What brutes.
Oh wait. Mobs, burning vehicles, dragging away people and lynching them…why does it all sound familiar?
7 you should be banned.
back to the story. why am i not surprised?
maybe because my parents and extended family were kicked out years ago by idi amin…. i don’t think i’ve ever felt comfortable about uganda since then.. hearing their own accounts, and other people’s horrific situations kept me a bit… apprehensive.. especially when i went to see the country 8 years back, and saw the deluge of indian immigrants going there to make a ‘better’ life for themselves as my grandparents did decades prior…
when i asked my folks and others who were born and raised in uganda, if they would ever go back.. the answer was a resounding “NO”… and they also said they were worried for the indians who had recently moved into the country..and for their safety..
all i remember when traveling there.. were huge army men stationed at every street corner in uganda with large rifles… it was a bit unnerving…
the environmental thing bugs me as well.. cutting down forests, harming species, and the ecosystem isn’t right… demonstrating against it is a good thing, if that is what you believe..
but the entire haunting incidents from over 30 years ago are coming back to me…. it’s like we (i’m being universal here) don’t belong anywhere it seems these days.. and that in itself is tragic…
thanks for posting this, anna. my friends and i were in tanzania and kenya doing some medical/communityhealth work in january, and two of my brown friends travelled to kampala, uganda for two days (while i was taking care of a badly sprained ankle in nairobi, kenya). there were riots right outside the bus that they were riding, and they almost got tear-gassed by the police because they and a white man were trying to take photos of the riot.
From what I’ve read, I thought that south asians were slowly and more quietly integrating into Ugandan life after the Idi Amin reign. History is repeating itself. The mehta subsidiary sugar corporation should know better than to try to destroy so much ugandan land in the name of profits. They’re doing bad by all south asians living there by provoking this kind of tension. I’m not saying the riots are admissable or “expected” or tolerated, but the indian businessmen shouldn’t repeat history like that. I too, hope that these riots end. Race riots absolutely make no sense, but hey, like etlamay commented — they ain’t new to us either.
This is why my father and his family, like many others, left Africa. It’s painful to see this start again. It’s painful to hear his memories of events just like this. Like LosAnjalis, I thought that time was behind us and the assimilation process was renewing itself after Idi Amin. My father often says the reasons desis assimilated so quickly in the United States was because whenever we try to stay close to our culture and heritage in the other lands we visit, we are quickly persecuted and thrown out. This has broken my heart.
Hmm… I think a bit differently on this one. I think our assimilation in the U.S. has less to do with shedding our culture and heritage than with generally being a more elite, educated crowd of folks being imported over (brain drain, physicians, engineers, nurses, scientists, businesspeople). Likewise I think Indians who have been persecuted and thrown out of other countries have had those experiences LESS so because of trying to hold on to their culture and heritage and MORE so because of power dynamics that were created there (rich indian businesspeople and rich indian doctors living in a poor african country, maybe some exploitation also going on by indians towards some africans, this gets generalized to the whole crew of indian folks in the country, etc). So i think it’s more multifactorial than how strongly we identify with our culture and heritage. I think it’s definitely more related to rich/poor, privilege vs less-privilege, elitist outsider vs indigenous insider with no power or access.
i agree with the above statement.. it’s more a economy/financial issue.. the indians in uganda, even in the past were seen as the more ‘successful’ minority in uganda….
Abhi’s mom and her two other sisters were born in Kampala. Her parents went there in early forties. They employed so many local “Banas” for their business and other regular daily chores. The locals, most of the time were nice and easy to deal with. Her parents left Uganda in early sixties – before Idi Amin started driving all Indians (Asians) out – As I am told even then, they had to be careful not to offend them, and were told to always sleep with one eye open. It is a sad situation lately in Uganda. They can’t do without Asians, at the same time they are jealous of them “Foren” folks who prosper so much in their country, and eventually become their boss. The level of sophistication, and threshold of tolerance is vastly different in African countries as opposed to some western hemisphere countries. [On second thought – look what happened in Joliet few days ago]. Jealousy and hatred runs deep – and hard wired in our species – The right to protest is not universally equal in all the countries of the world. These sort of incidents, unfortunately will keep on occuring. Sad!!
That’s a good point, LosAnjalis. I was just remembering something my father said once. I always quietly wondered if there were other factors brought into it, but seeing the look in his eyes, I never pressed it. I don’t think I’d get an unbiased response from my father, seeing as his father was Nyerere’s personal physician. Power dynamic? Privileges? I agree completely.
But looking at this article, and remembering stories of my father watching his childhood school friends raped by disgruntled and drunken workers, I will respect his sentiments and hope this situation is resolved to end the passive prejudice (on both sides) that explodes into something larger.
Why aren’t Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton out “protesting” the violence and bigotry of these black Ugandans? Hey, let’s have a national boycott of Ugandan imports or something!! Why aren’t they speaking out on this? Surely, they will pressure someone someone to get some top Ugandan government official fired or something, no?
I agree with this and also add that tolerance by western societies to immigrants should not be overlooked (inspite of isolated incidents like the one in Joliet and others).
It is a shame that this has to happen, unfortunately, it seems that too much in modern society, violence is the only way indigenous people can get any attention to their cause. If not for that, then really there is no press or anyone else who would stop this land grab. I’m not defending the violence, I’m saying CNN and other news aganecies need to stop spending 23 out of 24 hrs a day covering Imus and Anna Nicole and devote significant time to covering these outrages. If the people cared, our government would be forced to actually respond to these incidents instead of pumping billions into a pointless and misunderstood war.
Dino, you’re comment is meant as a joke right?
There must have been a strong undercurrent of discontent/hatred towards asians. I would have thought the greens would have gone after the corporations, greed, government corruption etc. That this got turned against all asians shows that some of Amin’s rhetoric still resonates with some black Ugandans.
i think he might have some truth here…
i know that sharpton and jackson said some things about the ‘duke lacrosse’ boys, due to them allegedly having an incident with an african american female (these charges were dropped this week), and yet , they have not been under the scrutiny to apologize, like they’ve made imus do this past week…
i get dino’s gist.. and someone agree at his sarcasm…
there IS a strong undercurrent of hatred not only in uganda, but also in kenya and tanzania..
Um, Jackson and Sharpton are Americans and given the amount of time they spend on the issues facing black Americans I’m not sure where they are supposed to address attacks on Indians in Uganda that aren’t just based on race, but also on socio-economic imbalance over which they have no power (much like here).
If these people are Indian citizens, then the Indian government needs to step up to the plate, raise a ruckus internationally, do whatever it takes for the Ugandan government to get their heads out their collective asses so this kind of ethnica/racial killings stop immediately and never happens in the future.
All things being equal I usually support the desi side in most situations, but this time, with their intent to destroy large areas of rain forest, that too for the (seemingly corrupt) sugar industry, I’m glad the Mehta group is facing this opposition. Of course I don’t support innocent Indian bystanders getting attacked, nor do I condone the racism of the Africans (or the Indians as the case may be). What’s encouraging is that the Ugandans are fighting to PRESERVE the forest…environmental issues in Africa usually consist of foreign groups trying to push preservation, and locals resenting that for economic and autonomy-related reasons.
The Desis need to do a better job of arming themselves. It seems that they already have well established connections in the Ugandan government so police protection is not a problem. But anyone looking to lauch a campaign against them only has to fan the flames and bribe security.
Mass Hysteria cases like attract delusional wannabe ‘leaders’ who want a cause to enhance their own power. These folks need to prepare themselves to take matters into their own hands in case Ugandan security fails them.
I realize dragging Messrs. Jackson and Sharpton into this subject was not apropos. Aside from capitalizing on relatively trivial issues (like Don Imus’ racial cracks) for the sake of massive publicity, Jackson and Sharpton have been notoriously silent on the wider topic of brutal, corrupt, inefficient black African governments and leaders. It is not in their “interest†to highlight such things. However, in this day and age, I don’t think we will witness in Uganda the tragic events of the Amin era.
The book on this dynamic–violence against market-dominant minorities–is Amy Chua’s World on Fire. Well worth anyone’s reading time.
Los Anjalis wrote:
Generalizations are always to blame when innocent people get attacked, but Indians in Africa do not help their cause when they look down on Africans and/or treat them poorly. Too many Indians feel superior to blacks. I grew up in Zambia and have seen the attitude first-hand.
The best way for us to fight racism is to stop being racist ourselves.
By the way, can we enter a different word than “brown” in the box to prevent comment spam? I’d hate to go to a blog and have to enter the word “white” or “black.” How about “mutiny”?
Uh yeah…because they deal with AMERICAN issues. What part of that is so difficult to understand.
I beg your pardon?
I think the day that “brown” is as recognized or loaded a term as “black” or “white” is when they should change it; it’s not the same. Besides, there are far bigger technical fish to fry (by overworked volunteers who have more than enough to do) than the anti-spam word. I try not to sweat the small stuff.
Pondatti wrote:
Perhaps you’re right, perhaps it IS small stuff. I just think another word would be more welcoming to all the non-brown posters, who are a big part of the SM community.
Those words “Go back where you came from,” never cease to frustrate me. First of all – I spent 9 months trying to get out of there I’m not going back. Secondly – where I came from? I wonder how many people hear that who were actually born in the very city/country they are being told to leave? Frankly – this whole planet is where I come from, a part of this species called homo sapien. This world belongs to all of us. Borders are just imaginary lines that we’ve drawn up to create organization amonst a lack thereof because for some reason people have this need to categorize and and organize almost everything (myself included). The hypocrisy just tickles me pink when some of the bigots are immigrants themselves – I mean originally – didn’t we ALL come from some somewhere else? To those people I say – do a little research and I’m sure you’ll find your family wasn’t immaculately conceived in the country you now live in for the most part – especially in “newer” parts like North America where Caucasians began settling upon LEAVING EUROPE (not to exclude the multitude of other regions people have emmigrated from since early human colonization).
This land is my land – this land is your land – this land was made for – you and me…
Didn’t everyone (English speaking) learn this song as a child?
Santosh, many people of South Asian ancestry in Uganda are UGANDAN. Desis have been in East Africa for hundreds of years, and in Uganda for at least several generations.
pea, I totally disagree, and Dino, I think it is spurious to conflate being black in America with African governments. These are two separate things. While I personally think it is important to look at civil rights from a broader human rights perspective, this rarely happens in the U.S., and it is not Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton’s “fault” that this dialogue doesn’t happen more regularly or dynamically.
ANNA, this news is disheartening and sad. Many of my friends in Uganda had mentioned that they felt that things were finally healing and “returning to normal” in Ugandan since the exile, the exodus, and then the trickling return of desis. Hearing this I’m a bit conflicted. On one hand, I can easily imagine the Ugandan police/soldiers opening fire and roughing up a peaceful protest, and I think the aims of the protest were spot on.
I think what has really plagued Uganda, especially recently, is that the economy continues to be described/covered in racialized terms. In effect, many desis have been labelled as “foreign” and have been scape-goated for a lot of things that are not their doing. The racialized economic structure? It goes back to times of British occupation. That said, desis are not the only wealthy people in Uganda, but (this is just my conjecture) perhaps it is easier to rail against someone “foreign” as opposed to someone “local.” Sometimes I wonder if we are the Jews of Uganda.
This is really upsetting, and it makes it hard to wonder if folks will ever be able to live peaceably.
They even have an Indian version of this song, that my ex learnt to sing in the convent school she went to. BTW, this was an actual convent school with nuns et al.
I agree, this is no different, maybe even worse than apartheid-era South Africa. Even worse if a foreign commercial entity was sabotaging their environment for profit.
There is no doubt that if this was an American company doing this, there would be no ambivalence and no hesitation to support the actions of the local population.
“American” issues like apartheid in South Africa???? “American” issues like Israel-Palestine? Jackson has repeatedly made himself out to be a so-called “voice” of the Third World and he acts like he is some “international statesman” that nobody elected!
Jesse Jackson said who gives a crap? Ugandans don’t speak English anyway.
I believe Mira Nair calls Uganda one of her homes, I would be love to hear her comments on this.
P.S. The above is not to say I endorse either side in this conflict. Regarding that line about the song at the end… I’m sure there are versions there of in many other languages as well, the same applies.
I don’t think Sharpton or Jesse Jackson have to take any more interest in what is going on in Uganda, than say Clinton or any other human rights activist.
I hear this sentiment often, often by white people, – why doesn’t African American activists be more outspoken about the atrocities and the corruption that are committed by many black African leaders?
But African Americans, unlike say many in the South Asian diaspora, do not have specific cultural ties to Africa. Their “immigration” into the US stripped them of much of their African heritage – like language, religion, tribe, even from which specific area in Africa they came from. It’s not the same as how perhaps I’m assuming my great great grandchildren will feel about India, if they are aware of their Indian great great grandmother. Or how Americans with Irish heritage feel about Ireland; many of these Americans still have religious and geographic understanding of where their ancestors came from
Compare what happened in the former Yugoslavia – why weren’t there cries that all white people should make an outcry b/c the war involved white people? – Instead there was a call that everyone should do something about this human rights travesty. What has happened in Uganda affects everyone who cares about human rights. I’m worried as a South Asian, b/c of my strong ties to the country that I was born in and that transfers to the predicament of the South Asian diaspora. I don’t think Sharpton can really relate in that manner to the black Ugandans.
Hope I’m being articulate.
Dino,
Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton should get involved? That is utterly absurd and shows complete ignorance of the historical relationship between African Americans and Africa. You might as well just say that all people with a specific skin color should involve themselves in each other’s issues–regardless of where they are in the world and how they got there. And the fact that you think the Imus issue is “trivial” shows that Jesse and Al still have a lot of work to do at home before they can concern themselves with race relations on a completely different continent.
This song is about the Depression 🙂 What I never learned in school are the verses they always cut out:
Off topic, I know,but I always find Woody Guthrie fascinating.
Some tidbits from a Reuters article:
So far so good. But this bit is little worrying (emphasis added):
Museveni could be speaking about international business interests (the Mehta Group lists its operations in Asia, Europe, North America and Africa), recognizing that the Ugandan government has relationships with international businesses (inncluding the Mehta Group) who operate as “guest of Uganda.”
But that phrase resonates with the old (and false) notion that Asians in East Africa are not locals but foreign elements, siphoning funds from the economy and not sharing the spoils with black Africans.
But at least Museveni is coming down firmly on the side of law and order:
Of course, the reality is that Indian-owned businesses in East Africa are heavily internationalized. In addition to Ugandan Asian companies, there are Kenyan Asian companies, Indian companies, Indo-British companies, Chinese, American, South African, European, and every other configuration. Museveni knows this. It’s rare that the needs of lucrative international business and local minorities coincide, so it’s hard to imagine the Ugandan government not doing the right thing.
I really hope you are just a troll.
Camille, I realize they are mostly Ugandans. I dont know much about that part of the world but I remember watching this certain movie that featured Nehru as an Ugandan-Indian. That is why I used “if” at the beginning of my sentence 🙂
Santosh, I wasn’t trying to chastise. Just trying to keep us away from what Preston also mentioned – that desis are often labelled as “foreign,” when in fact they are deeply Ugandan. And I think many would say something to that effect as well (i.e. that they are Ugandan or Ugandan Asian, not simply Asian or Indian).
Camille, no way! I never knew that about the missing lyrics. I just listened to the Woody Guthrie recording of the song I have on my ipod to make sure I hadn’t missed them, but they are not on that version of the song. Do you know if he ever recorded it with those lyrics?
Camille,
Be that as it may (the song being about the depression) we can still derive some pertinent messages from the song. Everyone should be afforded the opportunity to live and enjoy each and every one of life’s facets. This standard mentioned about the trespassing sign I think screams out about this Uganda situation. Think about it… the indigenous people don’t want the “xenos” in their space, but would be mollified if their situations were reversed.
I have a good bit of quotable text from a book I read a few months back regarding Indian slaves being brought to Jamaica and the interactions therein, but as I can’t remember it all, I’ll hold off on rambling about that till I’m home from work.
shiksa, I’m fairly sure he did… Let me see if I can find a recording/version in some kind of digital form. I’ll have to ask around – most of my friends have Woodie Guthrie recordings, but not on CD (at least not the live stuff). Those phrases were originally omitted when his lyrics were printed on pamphlets, but I’ve heard the full version before, and I’m pretty sure it was him!
MCJ, I’m not criticizing, just providing historical context. I think the song is beautiful and that it takes on new meanings for different people in different times. I think the “trespassing” comment is spot-on, but I do think it’s important to acknowledge that it humanizes and brings attention to the experiences of the American poor during the Depression.
Wow, do I really come off this critical? (First Santosh, now MCJ) I’m just one of those people who likes “random facts.” I’m not trying to come off as some crazy person who corrects everyone else to show how nerdily smart they are. I just think it’s interesting to know the backstory.
Anna, I applaud you for covering this issue.
I am really dismayed how some commenters here are implying that there might be an ‘ explanation ‘ or a ‘ root cause ‘ behind the lynchings. If not why not just unequivocally condemn the rioting and why bring up – ” The mehta subsidiary sugar corporation should know better than to try to destroy so much ugandan land in the name of profits. They’re doing bad by all south asians living there by provoking this kind of tension. I’m not saying the riots are admissable or “expected” or tolerated, but the indian businessmen shouldn’t repeat history like that” or this -” Generalizations are always to blame when innocent people get attacked, but Indians in Africa do not help their cause when they look down on Africans and/or treat them poorly. Too many Indians feel superior to blacks”?
Would any of you dare list such extenuating factors when talking about relatively innocuous White racism in the West? “That cop in Joilet must have been really pissed after 9/11. His anger is understandable.” And here people are gettin dragged, stoned and then burnt to death. Camille even tries to lay the blame on British. Talk about soft bigotry of low expectations.
” The level of sophistication, and threshold of tolerance is vastly different in African countries as opposed to some western hemisphere countries. [On second thought – look what happened in Joliet few days ago]. “
Yo Dad, with all due respect there’s no equivalence between the two. I hope you will agree. Besides the cop incident is still under investigation.
Besides, racism and brutality directed at Asians in Africa is relatively pervasive. On the other hand in the West they are one-off cases. But from the comments on this post and the Joilet one the opposite appears to be true.
Just for the sake of accuracy–
The Ugandan government itself (and not Mehta) is behind the move the cut into the rain forest preserve. From Reuters:
DRH, I am getting really tired of you. Not only do you blatantly misrepresent the views of others, but half the time your conclusions are totally irrelvant. While you bring up several valid points, I find it difficult to give your writing the time of day giving how hateful and vitriolic you are in your general discussion. I know it’s not my place to say this, but this is a discussion board, and some common courtesy would be appreciated.
Furthermore, I did not blame the situation on the British, nor do I excuse the violence that desis face in Uganda. My point was that the (very much racialized) economic structure that exists in Uganda is not the doing of Asians in Uganda or of Africans in Uganda, but both are suffering in the fallout, and people are capitalizing on creating scape-goats out of desis. That was the limit of my statement.
Camille,
I did not take your words as overly critical at all. Just re-supporting arguments, and trying to make your tangent less of a derail 🙂 I apologize if i sounded like I was lashing back at you!
TBH I’m a bit of a whore for esoteric tidbits of information 🙂 Sorry I’m new here (Sepia Mutiny) – may take people a little while to know that I rarely get angry or take offense to anything no matter how blunt or scathing my comments may seem.
Nothing but love 🙂 (and a little bit of cynicism)