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Homophobic Ugandan MP ordered out of the US

Anti-gay Ugandan MP David Bahati
Anti-gay Ugandan MP David Bahati

Kampala (Uganda) – Ndorwa West MP, David Bahati, who authored the Anti-Homosexual Bill in Uganda, calling for the death sentence of gays and their allies, has been ordered out of the United States of America. Bahati obtained a single event visa to the USA to attend the International Consortium of Governmental Financial Management conference.

But on Tuesday he was denied entry into the conference venue, despite the fact that other MPs from Uganda had been allowed to participate.

The conference organizers cited the fact that they would not associate themselves with the author of what became known as the Kill Gays Bill, officially The Anti-Homosexual Bill; which Bahati hopes will pass.

Reports from the US state that Bahati, who was taped for Thursday’s Rachel Maddow TV Show, was told to get out of the USA by the authorities Thursday.

Bahati who had planned on staying in the USA and to leave over the weekend, was asked to leave right away by department of State officials.

The US authorities informed Bahati that he was no longer welcome and nor was he legally entitled to remain in the USA. He was put on a plane for Paris and is probably on his way back home.

A large group of activists were planning to protest today – Friday. But now that Bahati has left, the protests have been called off and the activists assert they are happy he is gone.

The Observer (Uganda)

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Freedom, Opportunity and Tolerance

Sitting at less than five metres from the former President of Ghana, John Kufuor, I listened to what turned out to be one of my favourite public lectures in my adult life. The venue was the Rhodes House in Oxford. President Kufuor was still in power then.


Three words summarised his incisive paper: freedom, opportunity and tolerance. He said in a university, individuals were free, they had opportunity to express their ideas, but these must be nurtured with tolerance if progress was to be made.


I have always held a similar view that we proceed to a higher level of consciousness only when we can tolerate other people’s views. This idea of tolerance, or what some social scientists would call ‘toleration’, does not mean jettisoning our independent opinions for those of other folks. What tolerance actually means is that we are broad-minded, open-minded, namely we reconcile our views with those of others.

Freedom to think, act, and make judgements about issues of life is never absolute. But, in one way or the other, we are all, more or less, free, in the highly globalised, opinionated and competitive world.


Opportunity is available, even though it is not always widespread. But if we dig deep, inside of us, we will see modicums and atoms of opportunity, inherent in all of us. What we need most to keep freedom and opportunity afloat is tolerance. We need to reconcile ourselves with others. We need to complain less, and act more. We need to do as Mahatma Ghandi of India did: be the change we wish to see in others. If we all seize opportunity that comes our way, and we cherish our freedom, and respect the freedom of others, within the context of a tolerant global society, the world, not only us, will be better for it.


Let’s go back to some intellectual basis of reconciliation of opposite views and epochal events. Remember Karl Marx, and remember Thomas Kuhn. Karl Marx (1818-1883) argued fervently, that historically, every society is not static, and that after primitive communism comes slavery, then feudalism, then capitalism, then socialism, then classless communism, which he believed will be the result of all former epochs.

What this means is that all historical stages of development are never perfect, and that remnants of them are carried over into a new beginning. For Thomas Kuhn (1922-1996), the writer of The Structure of Scientific Revolutions, there is always a Thesis, the reigning paradigm, which then gives away to an Anti-thesis, which in turn gives a way to a resultant outcome called the Synthesis. What this means is that no knowledge is absolute, and that no matter what we know of an issue, there will always be an additional knowledge about it.

This makes us remember the position expressed by the award-winning writer of Half of a Yellow Sun, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, who passionately spoke about ‘The Danger of a Single Story’ at TED Talks. Please see and hear her out on possibly ted.com or TalkAfrique.com, and you will get more insights of what she meant, and what I am actually talking about.


It is only a dialectic and eclectic approach to issue, or what Dr Nnamdi Azikiwe called the ‘harmony of opposites’ that can enrich our freedom as a people, increase our opportunities as a human race , and in turn, make tolerance a virtue we all can share, we all must share, and we all will share

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Religion, Politics and -Phobias

I grew up in a very conservative African community, typical of what I guess most readers know. Church on Sundays was literally a requirement in order to have your laundry done to begin the school week. If I look back, I may be tempted to say that even the non-believers, as we used to call them, were more conservative than regular church goers in some western societies.
Certain word and phrases such as ‘homosexual, lesbian, bisexual and transgender’ were not part of the vocabulary.  If you heard somebody read Leviticus 20:13 which says ‘If a man lies with a man as one lies with a woman, both of them have done what is detestable. They must be put to death; their blood will be on their own heads” it actually wouldn’t mean much to you, because as far as you know, such a thing could only happen in Gomorah.
That was then. Today reading the verse quoted above in public, especially by a powerful man or woman,  might actually result in death of people, especially if read by a politician or Man of God. A few weeks back, one Ugandan MP proposed the death penalty for gay people. Again, the PM of Kenya on Nov 29 declared a national crackdown on homosexuals and called upon the police to arrest anyone found to be a homosexual.
 
I understand why African politicians see this as a winning strategy. Homosexual lifestyle is foreign to the African way of life and therefore anyone who promises to root out this tumor from the society is likely to have his approval ratings bump a significant number of points. Again, religious leaders are very powerful in most African communities. An endorsement by a man or woman of God is worth more than a billion-dollar worth of campaign donations. The politicians know this and they’re exploiting it to the fullest. Western religious activist are also pumping resources into Africa to energize greedy politicians to hold the fort.
 
Christians, Moslems and even traditional African rulers have condemned homosexuality for centuries so that is news. Draconian measures such as execution are just kind of new. Or is it just me?
If you were raised in religious home as I was, I will understand why the practice may be repulsive to you. It is not in my blood either. But who am I to call for someone’s death because he or she chose to live a particular way? From a religious point of view, if I have negative views about homosexuality, ‘prayer and fasting for the lost sheep’ is what Jesus will advise. Death by firing squad? I’m not sure about that.
Another thing that is difficult for me comprehend is a report that in Kenya, some Muslim groups are joining the campaign to crackdown on homosexuals. I’m a Christian but a few weeks ago I presented a strong position against ‘Islam-Phobia ‘ and ridiculed Juan Williams of Fox News and former NPR contributor for his blinkered comment about Moslems.

Just like homophobia, Islam-phobia has become a powerful weapon used by politicians to appeal to defined groups of people. For a Moslem who is constantly fighting against the bigotry and discrimination to join the call for the death of homosexuals is incomprehensible. It’s just like Juan Willians, an African American wresting with black stereotypes to join the chauvinism against Moslems.

Negrophobia, Xenophobia, Bibleophobea/Theophobia, Judeophobia. Which do we support? When politics comes in, it’s whichever the occasion calls for

I’m a chemist and I’ve tried very scary chemical reactions in my career. Politics plus religion is not one of my favorite reactions. The two don’t mix very well, and if they do, the product is always an explosive waste.

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Does Civil Rights Equal the Right to Be Scared of Other People?

Juan Williams of FOX News

If  like most minorities, you are wrestling with uncomfortable stereotypes, prejudice and bigotry, someone who was once a civil rights activist is making the fight appear fruitless. It is said that if you live in glass house, do not be the first to throw a stone. Juan Williams, a long time respected NPR analyst did not take this with any seriousness. Juan Williams works for both NPR and FOX News. NPR is a public radio station which is listener-supported and has a history of being fair, balanced and accurate. FOX News, in most cases, cannot be described with same adjectives. They want it raw, red-hot and spicy.

Jesus once said it is very difficult to serve two masters and please both equally (especially when the two masters are so opposite as in the case of NPR and FOX News). Mr. Williams gets a pay check from both NPR and FOX. It would perhaps have been manageable if Juan provides commentary for Fox anchor like Shepherd Smith, which I personally like for his fairness, comparatively. Unfortunately, Mr. Williams fell in love with Bill O’Reilly and Sean Hannity, 8 and 9 pm anchors respectively, who are known for making highly outrageous comments.

O’Reilly himself made one of such comments about a week ago on the ABC program The VIEW. He indiscriminately said Muslims killed Americans on September 11, 2001.

O’Reilly,  being smart and looking for someone to hold his hand, was able to trick Juan Williams to make a statement that is very uncharacteristic of Juan. This is what he said to O’Reilly

“Look, Bill, I’m not a bigot. You know the kind of books I’ve written about the civil rights movement in this country. But when I get on the plane, I got to tell you, if I see people who are in Muslim garb and I think, you know, they are identifying themselves first and foremost as Muslims, I get worried. I get nervous.”

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Brother, did you just say that? This is not the most outrageous comment ever. It shoud not however be coming from someone who could have been the subject of such stereotypes.


On Wednesday night NPR release the statement. J. Williams “remarks on The O’Reilly Factor this past Monday were inconsistent with our editorial standards and practices, and undermined his credibility as a news analyst with NPR”. He is fired.

It is fair that people will have the same feeling Juan Williams expressed in the above quote, looking back at September 11, 2001 and other episodes. On the other hand, no one will expect such a seasoned journalist to just say it out so bluntly. Imagine someone say “when I’m walking alone and meet a black guy in jeans and sleeveless, I feel very uncomfortable, I feel nervous”. How would you feel, Juan? This is not an arbitrary example. I’ve heard the exact statement before. I guess some of you have similar stories.

First of all, Mr. Williams has written a number of books on civil rights. Juan of course, is an African American who has spoken out against discrimination and bigotry in any form. Why would he just forget all that and just focus on pleasing his anchor and audience for his bi-weekly check?

Dr. King’s ‘Dream’ is still a long way from fulfillment, but such comments by individuals who also describe themselves as comrades on the battlefield makes the war appear to be a lose-lose effort.

Fear of Muslims or islamophobia is on the rise in the US and parts of the world  and it is a tool used by some  religious groups and politicians to rally their base.

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Minorites Will Always Pay The Price: What CNN Firing of Rick Sanchez Means to All of Us


A couple of weeks ago, Ricardo León “Rick” Sánchez de Reinaldo , known professionally as Rick Sanchez, who has been tipped as a rising star on cable TV and the host of late afternoon show Ricks’ List was fired for making improper comments about comedian Jon Steward and Jews on Sirius XM radio.

First of all, I do not believe Jon Steward actually cares about the statement Rick Sanchez made about him. Jon has actually made remarks about other people that are more red-hot and coarse than what Rick said. As far as the comments about Jews are concerned, I think it was an ill-advised comment and Mr. Sanchez surely regrets about that.

My problem is the speed and urgency with which CNN moved to fire the minority Mr. Sanchez. Those of you who followed the network will remember another figure Lous Dobbs who used to host Lous Dobbs Tonight on CNN.  Lous Dobbs, whose show was initially focused on financial analysis and world markets, later turned into Latino-phobic hour on the network. Mr. Dobbs for years made life uncomfortable for Hispanics, blacks and other minorities in the US. Thousands of unhappy listeners protested that Lous Dobbs did not fit the network reputation but CNN turned death years to that. Finally,  some advertisers threatened to boycott CNN with some Hispanic activists advising their members not to watch the cable giant. It was at this point that CNN found a way to oust Mr. Dobbs.

I have no problem with CNN firing Rick Sanchez for the inappropriate statements. I only have a problem with the speed at which this was done when I look back at how the network handled Lous Dobbs.
It is time that minorities are treated with the same standard. I still respect CNN for their service. I’m not proud of how they treated Rick Sanchez. I may be speaking for a lot of minority groups.

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