Mr. Kangwawo:
Mr. Kipenji's crass remarks notwithstanding, the issue of the Uganda Martyrs has been debated, and will be debated, for a long time, by people of varying intellectual capital and viewpoints.
Unfortunately Uganda's education system does not easily lend itself to preparing the general public to debate such a complex issue competently. Then there are those cynics who seek to trivialize it and will stop at nothing to exploit the tragedy to buttress their various political agendas.
As it happens, we have been quite fortunate in that some people have taken the trouble to write books and share their expertise, in quite simple language. This, in addition to technical papers in learned journals.
Here is a short list of some of the commonest:
Faupel, John Francis, 1962. African holocaust: the story of Uganda Martyrs.
New York, P. J. Kenedy
Pirouet, Louise. 1969. Strong in the faith; the witness of the Uganda martyrs.
Mukono, Church of Uganda Literature Centre
Garrett, Samuel McCray. ca. 1974. Case of the Uganda martyrs (1885-1886)
Boston, Inter-collegiate Clearing House
Kavulu, David. 1969 The Uganda martyrs.
Kampala, Longmans of Uganda
For the life of me I cannot recall the title of the one that preceeded Fr. Faupel's book, but I think it was written by Black-something or other.
An interesting approach to xtian martyrdom was used in:
Donald W Riddle 1931 The Martyrs: A Study in Social Control, Chicago, University of Chicago Press. Basically Prof. Riddle examined the psychology and behavior of the martyrs to reach some remarkable conclusions. Riddle looked at the methods by which the early church controlled its members so completely that in many cases they consiciously chose torture and excruciatingly horrible and painful deaths rather than give up membership in the church in the struggle for allegiance between the leaders of the church and leaders of the state. (There is a parallel struggle between leaders of state and leaders of political parties ... or 'religious' sects the world over, cf. Kanungu, Guyana, etc). In the end, the church won.
There is also one by Ivo Lesbaupin 1987 Blessed Are The Persecuted: The Early Church Under Seige (Tr. from Portuguese by Robert Barr). London, Spire - Hodder & Stroughton
This one by a former monk, uses more or less a historical approach, do not recall seing reference to Riddle's book, but seem to recall remarkable similarity in the behavior of martyrs. This is not so surprising , given that they studied the same people.
What is truly remarkable, however, is that Faupel describes some of the very same behavious among the Uganda martyrs: some went to their painful death in high spirits, singing, joyous and all!!! Just like their earlier counterparts in Rome.
By the way, early xtians were regarded as pagans by the Romans.
I have also seen frequent references to an unpublished manuscript by Fr. Ddiba ca. 1950s (?) Religion in Buganda, which also supposedly deals with the same era and issue Mr. Wright dealt with.
Speaking of history, we, the Baganda fought at least two civil wars over these foreign religions in the 1880s. And there is an excellent book about that is chokeful of well-researched details on that era by an historian. It is:
Michael Wright 1971. Buganda in the Heroic Age, Nairobi, Oxford University Press.
Generally, the book is about the Mwanga era. If memory serves me right, the author concludes that Mwanga acted according to prevailing custom and law. The law may have been harsh and uninformed by today's standards, but it was the law nonetheless: a point that seems to be totally lost on our current detractors, who for the most part are uni-dimensional, sometimes to the point of being just a little more than simpletons.
Ssemakula
ps: Until a few years ago I did not know didly about the Uganda Martyrs. When I got invited to speak about the subject, I realized how little I knew about it and decided to bone up on the subject. This particular speaking engagement fell though at the very last moment, but it was a great opportunity to get a little insight into our relatively recent history. One does get some appreciation why politicians, especially bad ones, are dying to exploit any real or imagined religious schisms.
----Original Message Follows----
From: "jonah kasangwawo" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Reply-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Subject: RE: ugnet_: Ibingira on Obote's Secret Wars and Abuse of Office
Date: Fri, 22 Aug 2003 14:29:07 +0000
Kipenji,
how low can you go ? Now you're even using God to tell your lies !
"...Obote(who unfortunately is not as barbaric as that loving King who ordered the massacre of innocent people)...".
What ? Are you talking about the same Obote or you're just ignoring the bwiino posted here by several people concerning the killings during your hero's regime ?
Kasangwawo
>From: Owor Kipenji <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>Reply-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
>To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
>Subject: RE: ugnet_: Ibingira on Obote's Secret Wars and Abuse of
>Office
>Date: Tue, 19 Aug 2003 21:38:15 +0100 (BST)
>
>Barbarians brought about what we have come to call Uganda
>Matyrs.Those poor souls lost their lives because of the barbarians
>who
>claimed to be leaders when only they were killers.To this day the
>blood
>of those close to 40 innocent lives murdered/massacred/butchered at
>the behest of the loving king is still hauting the king's
>people.They are very ready at short notice to wallow in violence and
>violent acts even at the sheer imagination of one being their
>enemies.This has apparently assumed a mass paranoia that needs very
>serious group therapy to enable these Kings people pupate from their
>Xenophobia.
>There is thus an urgent need for cleansing before we really get into
>sober
>political discourse.
>On the issue of Nelson Mandela's first travel document,just like the
>statement that occassioned your response,Mandela himself is the
>author and so the burden of proof rests with you who would rather
>not believe because as per your judgement Obote(who unfortunately is
>not as barbaric as that loving King who ordered the massacre of
>innocent people) should have authorized such at the risk of annoying
>the British.
>Lastly rather than reedem Obote,you look into a mirror and infront
>of you will be the epitome of barbarism that very much needs
>redeeming.
>Thanks and God bless you so that his peace that passes all
>understanding can be with you and reside in you.
>Kipenji.
>=====================================================================
>
>J Ssemakula <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>wrote:
>Mr. Kipenji,
>
>Provide facts: if you have any credible documentation about Obote
>providing Mandela with a passport by all means provide it, instead
>of grand-standing.
>
>However, even if it were true, I fail to see how this would redeem
>that barbarian.
>
>
>--- Owor Kipenji <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>wrote:
> > Mwaami Ssemakula,did Nelson Mandela also state that
> > the first
> > travel document(Passport) that he used to travel
> > outside South
> > Africa et Africa was a Ugandan passport that was
> > recommended
> > by this samesome Obote?.
> > Lets always talk facts not figments of our
> > imaginations that obscure
> > whatever we really want to say for we are wont to
> > expose our rabid loathe
> > of someone.
> > Thanks.
> > Kipenji.
> > ===========================================================
> >
> > J Ssemakula <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>wrote:
> >
> > Mr. Fugee,
> >
> > I see that you have no substantive rebuttal to Mr.
> > Ibingira's expose' of Obote as a conniving
> > power-hungry megalomaniac.
> >
> > As fo r the bit about Obote's attempts to bar the ANC
> > from the OAU's pre-cursor, it is from an impeachabe
> > source: Mr. Mandela himself.
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > ----Original Message Follows----
> > From: "The Fugee"
> > Reply-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
> > To:
> > Subject: RE: ugnet_: Ibingira on Obote's Secret Wars
> > and Abuse of Office
> > Date: Sat, 16 Aug 2003 10:33:52 +0200
> >
> > Ssemakula,
> >
> > Many of us have decided to leave you to your rabid
> > hatred of Obote. You
> > seem to be so confused by your hatred that you would
> > absolve everyone,
> > including yourself, of any responsibility in
> > ensuring that Ugandans and
> > Uganda gets what it truly deserves. As such I find
> > it very difficult to
> > even begin to discuss or debate any matter as you
> > have concluded where
> > all blame should lie. Th ough I must confess that I
> > have seriously
> > thought about tackling an issue raised by you
> > through Ibingira's
> > writings and time willing I may still do so.
> >
> > The real question is: What have you done and what
> > are you doing for a
> > truly democratic Uganda where all citizens have and
> > can enjoy their God
> > given personal to holder fundamental human rights
> > and freedoms?
> >
> > The Fugee
> >
> > PS "Why did he try to have Mandela and the ANC --
> > which he termed a
> > "tribal organization" -- banned from attending the
> > OAU's precursor
> > meeting in Addis Ababa? Who were/are Obote's masters
> > whose interests he
> > worked so hard to uphold?"
> > Where did this come from?
> >
> >
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
> > [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of
> > J Ssemakula
> > Sent: 15 August 2003 21:25
> > To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
> > Subject: Re: ugnet_: Ibingira on Obote's Secret Wars
> > and Abuse of Office
> >
> > Is it safe to assume that even the UPC zealots have
> > finally seen the
> > light that power-hungry megalomaniacal Obote was and
> > is a liability?
> >
> > Is there any doubt that Obote single-handedly set
> > Uganda on the course
> > of decay that it has never recovered from?
> > Where the heck is Mr. Dambisya's promised
> > (threatened?) defense of
> > Obote?
> > ----Original Message Follows----
> > From: "J Ssemakula"
> > Reply-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
> > To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
> > CC: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
> > Subject: ugnet_: Ibingira on Obote's Secret Wars and
> > Abuse of Office
> > Date: Tue, 12 Aug 2003 20:15:51 +0000
> >
> >
>
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