----Original Message Follows----
Globalization, How Ignorant can Museveni be?
In his Army Day speech of 25.01.20. the beleaguered President of Uganda, Yoweri Kaguta Museveni, once more blundered into a topic he does not know anything about. "GLOBALIZATION", he thought meant voluntary or forced migration of a people or racial spread on the globe face. On globalization, Museveni went on a ridiculous pretence and spoke of "The slaves who were taken from West Africa in 1444: the black people who are found today as far as California, Pele in Brazil, the Ugandan soldiers who were in the then British Army to fight the Japanese in Burma and the singing Acholi soldiers among them".
Clearly, the real Museveni is being unveiled; an arrogance, brutal and ignorant Dictator who uses words he does not understand himself as long as they serve his one and only one ambition, to remain in power as long as he lives. This revelation throws into doubt the whole intentions of the NRA regime and the very future of Uganda. It is even doubtful whether Museveni and cabal understand what their own words "Movement" and "Referendum" really mean. For Museveni there is no such a thing as 'society', but only 'individuals'. As such his regime has been characterized by a collection of individuals who have been handpicked and hired and fired by him at his pleasure: and is virulently opposed to any society based voluntary organisations, be it the churches, cultural societies, political parties and sports clubs, he is dragging the country to a referendum about, "Movement", is meaningless to him. One cannot make a 'movement' out of 'individuals' - that is a contradiction in dielectrics as well in politics. One can make a long list of words he has used wrongly in the past and quickly abandoned them as soon as they no longer served his purpose. He is now dragging the country to a 'referendum'. His explanations seem to suggest that he wants to hold a 'plebiscite' rather than a referendum. But then, how do people hold a plebiscite on no important national issue at all? Each time he has to explain his 'referendum', he gives a long windy reply, the first half consisting of inaccurate or totally fallacious history of Uganda, the second half consisting of fudged economic figures and sheer arrogance, boasting of his military prowess and insults on past leaders.
His presumption that he was some intellectual of some sort, when he told an American Prayer Breakfast club that he was a holder of three degrees in Politics, Economics and Social Sciences, whereas he just scrapped through a social sciences course at Dar-es-Salam University (thanks to the late Nyerere), is all coming up to the open. The hundreds of thousands of lies with which he deceived Ugandans and the world is all hanging up on the walls for anybody to read.
FRONASA, the guerilla group he modeled on socialist principles (1973) was dropped as soon as it did not serve his purpose. Its ardent supporters were eliminated. So was UMP (1980) which he suddenly dropped as soon as it flopped at the general elections (1980, and could not carry him to the presidency of Uganda. The NRA/NORM Ten point programme was discarded. The last of the supporters, Dr Besigye is on treason charge. What the 'Movement' is now is an empty word that means "Museveni Yekka", which has turned Uganda into a huge research station for various world diseases and the testing of new drugs. The IMF and World Bank have also zeroed on Uganda for their economic policy trial. Uganda is one country that hosts a large number of mercenary troops to continue the " War by Proxy" for the Western powers.
When Museveni goes, (he will go down fighting), therefore, there will be no Movement, no constitution except chaos and economic catastrophy. What Ugandan should know now is that whether you vote or not in the so called Movement System, you do not belong, you do not count, you are not welcome, things will go on as has been in the last 14 years without you. What Ugandans should be asking is not whether or not Museveni will win; rather ask what will happen after the referendum date. The answer is actually simple. If you jump on that Museveni's Bus Wagon, you are entrusting your dear life in the hands of one sickly and fat driver, Museveni If he made one little mistake or dosed off that bus will plunge into the nearest lake. All of you in the bus, including the driver will be dead. If you want to remain alive after the referendum, keep out of that bus. Do not bother about the referendum!
It is important also to begin to be aware of the word Museveni has started to throw around. "GLOBALIZATION" is the new world economic concept, to disguise the name and the unacceptable face of the next stage of CAPITALISM to come in the face of the collapse of the socialist experiment. The 'globalization' theorists put it clearly that there are only two forces that matter in the world economy, namely, global market forces and trans-national companies, and that both of these forces are not or cannot be subject to effective public governance. The global system will be governed by the logic of market competition, and public policy will be only secondary since no governmental agencies (national or international) can match the scale of world market forces.
This would now mean that National governments would be like municipality administrations of the global system, their economies are no longer national as before, and they can be effective only - if they accept their new status of a reduced role of providing locally the public services that the global economy requires of them.
However, globalization is portrayed as a world set free for business to serve consumers, in which States and military power cease to matter, and in which economics, and politics are pulling apart and politics is declining at the expense of economics. Local labour must submit to international capital and world competitive pressures. Attempts to use military force for economic objectives against the interests of world markets would be put down by a 'killer' economic sanctions: plunging exchange rates, chaotic stock exchanges, declining trade, etc. Proponents of capitalism had promised that successful capital would have positive trickle-down effect to benefit the poor. This did not happen, certainly there were no trickles into Harlem next door to the IMF, World Bank and the UN; or to the slums in Washington, side by side with the White House.
Where would this leave Uganda and the Third World?
Uganda would be one large global village, not a nation state any more, its 'national' government will be like Mayor Sebana Kizito's office n and its main duty will be that of a controller of its borders and the movement of people across them. The highly skilled professionals may be free to move, but the desperate poor migrants and refugees will not be allowed. These poor in the Third World are not welcome in the advanced countries. In this respect the bulk of the worlds population will live in closed worlds, trapped by the chance of their births.
Meanwhile, by the opposite token, Uganda's soil and natural resource will be subject to world capital. In other words if a capital identifies an item of investment interest in Uganda and wishes to acquire it, Kizito cannot say 'No!' Presently it is called 'privatization' which entailed the sale of para-statal corporations to foreign capital at ridiculously low prices. In globalization, it will be the purchase of whole lands, national game parks, forests, lakes and monuments. For example, if some capitalists fancied Lututuru Hills and the Kabalega National Parks, the Acoli population will have to be pushed away and sandwiched in a narrow strip of land along the Acwa River. Some people may have to contend with being squatters on their former land. Again if some crank wants to buy and convert the Kisubi Tombs and convert it into a flower garden n Ugandans will have power to say 'No!' Fresh water is in short supply throughout the world, and in the new millennium it will be the most sought after commodity. Fresh water lakes like Victoria and Albert are likely targets. If some world capital buys up Lake Victoria and Albert. Ugandans will not be allowed to live by the shores or fish on them.
Globalization, therefore, is a very serious life or death matter. For Museveni to go to amuse his soldiers, and give them the impression that if you go to fight in Gbadolite and you are an Acoli and singing, then you must be 'globalizing', is outrageous. He has better sit down and learn. But if Museveni knew what globalization is but was once more lying to Uganda people, then it is the most cruel lie he has so far told. It may mean that he may be in a conspiracy to sell the whole of Uganda to the lowest bidder. His stunt of referendum is but to buy time to sell Uganda to his friends abroad where he will eventually run. Damage will have been done. International sales could not be reversed without terrible costs to Uganda.
The prospect of globalisation is so frightening that India is concerned and is holding an International Conference this week on the 'Ills of Globalisation'.
Z-Files
Newcastle Scotland.
16.05.2000.
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Gook
"You can't separate peace from freedom because no one can be at peace unless he has his freedom."- Malcom X
