Colonialism and slavery are still alive and well
Those of you who have attended a horse race game have noticed that it is the horse that runs with some lashings at times to make it run faster. When the game is over, it is the rider or the owner of the horse that receives the trophy. You have also seen that when the horse gets tired it rebels, sometimes furiously, demanding a break.
In medieval Europe people accepted their place in society as divine ordinance and asked no questions. Women were told to respect their husbands and do as they were told. Peasants (men and women) were told to labor and not to worry about earthly material things because their rewards were in heaven. However as time passed women and peasants in general began to ask questions and to demand a better place in society on earth. They revolted and liberated themselves.
The women’s struggle for equal rights with men has been recognized internationally and the gender gap is narrowing. But the recognition and support did not come easily. Similarly, small holder farmers (peasants) have received international recognition as productive, efficient, environmentally and community-friendly and are receiving international assistance to improve their quality of life. This too came after many years of struggle.
In the Great Lakes Region Bantu people (Bairu and Bahutu) who arrived in the region 3000 years ago from West Africa were joined 600 years ago by Nilotic Luo speaking people (Bahima, Batutsi and Bahororo) from Southern Sudan. These are two different ethnic groups. The little mixing between the two ethnic groups has not changed their ethnic identity as will be shown later. Through unequal relationships Bantu people became horses and Nilotic people became riders. The horses have labored for the riders as the serfs labored for the lords in medieval Europe. As we saw above the horses or peasants got tired and freed themselves after a struggle. The Bantu horses in the lakes region are getting tired and are demanding freedom from their Nilotic riders now in power in Uganda.
The riders with a base in south west Uganda led by their spokesperson Ms. Phionah Kesaasi are becoming nervous using all sorts of tactics to silence dissent. Since their interaction with Bantu 600 years ago, the Nilotic Bahima and Bahororo people have been harvesting where they did not saw and took credit that was not theirs for the civilizations that Europeans found in the region.
Research began since independence is showing that the Nilotic nomadic herders destroyed some of the developments they found in the region such as Bantu short horn cattle. “Being cattle-raising wanderers these newcomers did not necessarily bring with them a higher level of culture than already existed in East African lands. Often enough, as Engaruka [ruined village settlements] suggests, they destroyed a great deal which they were quite unable to replace” (B. Davidson 1991).
Whereas Bantu people grew and cooked food, Nilotic people ate most of it. Whereas Bantu people brewed and served alcohol, Nilotic people drank most of it. Whereas Bantu people constructed roads, Nilotic people drove their cars on them. Bantu and Nilotic people never ate, drank or drove together because the Nilotic superior riders could not share with inferior Bantu horses. Bantu people are demanding a break from colonialism and slavery which are still alive and well in Uganda.
In this context colonialism represents a system of domination by a minority of foreign (Nilotic) invaders over indigenous (Bantu) majority ethnic group. The invaders or colonizers brought with them a conviction of superiority, intelligence and ordained mandate to rule (J. Osterhammel 1997). This relationship is reminiscent of the relations between the lords and serfs, and men and women in the middle Ages. In the Great Lakes region, the newcomers took the best land for grazing purposes. They have now dispossessed people of their land including in Rukungiri in the name of creating municipalities.
Under conditions of slavery people worked mostly from sun rise to sunset, got very little to eat, lived largely in filthy conditions and got lashings. Similarly, under conditions of Nilotic over-lordship Bantu people have worked hard with little reward. They were called upon to carry their masters in litters and got canned regularly in pre and colonial times. In Rwanda king Rwabugiri introduced forced labor applicable to Bahutu only and was continued during colonial days. Some of these sordid practices were continued after independence in various ways, others are being reintroduced like spitting in Bantu mouth (in Buliisa) and canning them (in Rujumbura). It is these practices by Nilotic people that Bantu (Bairu) people are resenting.
The Nilotic Bahima and Bahororo people are counter-arguing that there are no ethnic but caste differences. This reasoning is rejected because a handful of Bairu men have married Nilotic (Bahima, Batutsi and Bahororo) women. Whereas it is true that Bairu people were eager to be ‘tutsified’ or ‘Bahimized’ through marrying Bahima, Batutsi and Bahororo women they did not have cattle for dowry. And the few marriages that took place before independence were sanctioned by the king in respect of distinguished but very few Bairu wealthy or brave military men (Eric Kashambuzi 2008). This was designed to eliminate the possibility of Bairu revolt led by men of wealth and/or military experience.
On the other hand, a poor pastoralist rarely got absorbed among the agriculturalist ethnic group. “Thus it is seen that whereas the agriculturalist aspired to be identified with the cattle ideology and was willing to change his ethnic identity, the opposite was true of the pastoralist”(B. A. Ogot 1976). Note that the term used in the quotation is ethnic and not caste identity. Thus ethnicity distinguishes the two Bantu and Nilotic groups.
The Nilotic group has also argued that the two groups are the same because they speak the same language, go to the same church and live on the same hill. Many Ugandans speak English, go to church with British worshippers and live in the same residential area. Does that automatically make them British?
What Bantu people are demanding that the international community should support is the recognition, adoption and application of Article II of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights that states “All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood”(UNESCO 2003). Bantu people want to live with others in conditions of peace, security, equality and prosperity.