dear uganda

I’LL STOP FUCKING SISTAS WHEN YOU STOP SLEEPING WITH RIGHT WING “CHRISTIAN” FUNDAMENTALISTS!

 

to the rest of the world.

did you hear the latest?

the bomb that went off at that mosque, in Pakistan earlier this morning?

 

en a couple of days ago… that anti homosexuality bill, the one that was coming for many moons now,

 that got tabled in the parliament of Uganda, on Wednesday October 14th.  Have you heard about Bill 18?

 

I’d like to hear your responses. I uploaded the bill onto the a is for pages….read it (again)

 

and no! spammers, or anyone confused by the brashness and vulgarity….this post does not depict (live) sex acts or images.

 

(although I wish it did, I would really rather be watching good porn than writing about how my sistren and bredrin have had a witch hunt called on them, this persecution is not new. but it’s enough of it already. time’s up! as another warrior sista said)

 

Wathint abafazi!

Wathint` imbokodo uzo kufa!

 

read the lines of the bill, and, then read between the lines. Who wrote those words? Where did the content come from?

Feefifofum, methinks I smell a U.S fundamentalist Christian. They are after all one of the most likely suspects.

I think Family Life Network needs to issue an official retraction to Obama en the people of Uganda. Do you remember that anti-gay conference from March 5-8 that they organised? do you remember George/ina?

s/he was not just a harbinger of the heightened backlash, but a symptom en consequence of the unsupportive climate for queer/trans rights. Google the stories. This time it’s worse because activists won’t even be able to advocate for queer/trans rights. There will be more imposed silence. And the people who can will run away…..

my bias should be made clear. i’m writing with the assumption that we’re organising in solidarity with the queer/trans activists and communities of Uganda. I would like to pretend that this is all a hoax. a really bad joke. but that’s the shit folks.

we ain’t gonna agonise too much though, we been getting organised for a long time now…..

en there’s many of us (u) people…

and we’re getting more fed up en less willing to indulge in ignorance.

 

This post is in protest of Bill 18. These views are (not)  my own.

these words are not supposed to be taken as endorsed by wordpress or any organisation in particular

that should be a given.

but I warn you, I am not in the minority here.

(there are many sistas en brothas in solidarity with us. why jus’ yesterday a group of (mostly) sistas,  talked and organised in response to this very bill. This post is jus’ a prelude to a sustained campaign)

Wathint abafazi!

Wathint` imbokodo uzo kufa!

 

that is what we have to say in response to your dividing and oppressive tactics

 

we will not stand for this blatant violation of all our rights.

the bill has WESTERN. CONSTRUCTION. Emblazoned.

the arguments are imported.

the origins of those very laws you’re upholding are imperialist.

Infact the mama of these sodomy laws, first tried out by the British in India, jus got repealed a few days before it was official that Uganda was working on this very bill.

that’s a fact.

 

and your weak arguments wouldn’t hold up in any (true) court of law.

your claims are bogus.

your intentions are dubious.

and , again, they are in full violation of  (global) human rights.

of our rights as Afrikan ctizens.

 

it’s simple as that.

 

in the words of john legend, we’re just ordinary people,

and you’re using all a dis “foreign” terms to describe us.

 

homosexual? yes, i know many. but i’m not one. i still want the right to promote their rights.

lesbian? not for me anymore. but I don’t want you to encourage people to murder my sistas.

bisexual? get over the binaries already. I am (much more than a) wo/m/ban. i prefer two spirited. even try mukhanatun, or khanith or sangoma. but again, to each one their own, and I’m adamant about all our rights in this rainbow soup of identities.

 

we don’t need another stonewall. leave that to “a people’s hirstory of the U.S”

what we need is to stop being exploited in this fight for power.

we need to reclaim our (indigenous) afrikan identities.

need to know our true cultures.

 

we need allies.

we need you (en I).

we’re recruiting…(sistas in solidarity, en, brothas in solidarity with this anti-homosexuality bill)

 

big brother.

Obama..

you just waxed poetically political about LGBT  rights in Washington.

you know, Kogello is historically connected with Uganda.

we all are.

 

here’s something else to add on to your list,

to actually do something (more) to deserve that prize.

this one won’t even take that much.

en it’s your country’s mess too.

 

you should know, that it’s American citizens who were involved in organising that anti-gay conference in March, actually they were instrumental in it’s convening. It’s public knowledge.

you need to speak truth to power. and actually do something about some of your promises. but we ain’t gonna hold our breath.

En  I’m not going to wait for my sistren en bredrin to die in response.

And  I really don’t want to be fighting you. my fight is not (just) with my people, it is with all oppressors.

 

In our opinion, in this, as with many other, matter/s, QPOC must unite.

Afrika must unite!

 

For you see we got our enemies confused, en we’re distracted en scattered.

that’s all I’m saying.

 

But wait, there’s the hope to express (still)

I wish parliament would table a bill on criminalising capitalism and neo colonialism with such conviction and ease.

know thy self. en know thine enemy.

WE are (not) the problem.

 

This post is in solidarity with the peoples of Uganda, in solidarity with queer/trans Afrikans everywhere.

This post is the logical response to a neo-colonial regime that takes on western constructions of homophobia in the persecution of it’s own people.

I’ve said it before, else where on this blog, en I’ll say it again.

(it’s important to repeat the truth)

i will be the first to agree that…. those identities, homosexual, lesbian, bisexual, sodomite, transsexual, transgender….those are all just (considered) english words, birthed in particular contexts.

lesbian is just another word for  that island of lesbos. the poet sappho.

en, queer, is just reclaimed language. transformed through time with imperialism, globalisation en resistance.

 

there are many words, many other terms that I’d choose before those ones….

but those are the terms that many people apply for me. and that I’ll take up when I choose to.

all that, those are just words. and then again they’re not.

 

All those words carry political meaning. They are provisional.

And they’re being used in deadly ways in this bill.

 Read through all the words, and you got (say it with me now),

 the western construction of homophobia.

that’s my point and I’m sticking with it.

 

It’s illogical, otherwise, to use the very western constructs that shape your understanding  of the abominations and perversions inherent in what you call “homosexuality”, (not) when you say that your position is that we are alien to our lands. which is it the foreign presumption of our need to be wiped out from existence, or our non-existence?

This bill is  nothing more than bull shit. We should have zero tolerance for corruption en lies.

and I can say it as crudely as that, because I’m not presenting this at the U.N, or talking to Bahati in parliament…

I can say that, because I’m not in Uganda. And I’m saying it because I’m worried about the consequences for comrades en family of mine. those in kampala and throughout Uganda.

it’s as personal as our lives and work.

 

so, let’s continue organising ourselves.

in the spirit of working on our own unity first.

 

because if we don’t take up this fight,

who will?

 

let me pass you some ideas that sistas gave me yesterday..there are many things we can do…

learn more about the situation. Talk about it with others. Talk to your mp. Write to Harper. Jack Layton. Michael Ignatieff. Get on radio. Write those op-eds on your blog, to theToronto Star, to Now…..do something more…

Roll those boycotts. Ban all Ugandan officials from travelling to Canada. And expedite the process for Ugandan refuges, if the worst happens. Get Egale to officially pay for all a dis, and have queer/trans afrikans in Canda lead the campaign. Work in solidarity with groups in Uganda.

The official contacts in Uganda are SMUG &  Freedom & Roam Uganda. The numbers are in the previous post.

Start where you are. en for our comrades en allies…stay tuned for the launch of the pan-afrikan (queer/trans) activist listserv. We’ll continue building solidarity in more focused spaces. And we’ll work on sharing resources. Because it’s not just about this bill. It’s about re/building community and the struggle for Afrikan liberation.

It’s not a secret. Spread the word. We’re recruiting.

We’re working on our own petitions, and we’re planning ahead…

We’re  

SISTAS.in.SOLIDARITY.

(another name for the working group) 

with Uganda. and all (u) afrikan people