Foreign Policy Mag Blames Obama, Rachel Maddow for Ugandan
Gay Law's Passage
by Austin Ruse 4 Mar 2014
Western cultural imperialism aimed
at Africa—by everyone from Barack Obama to MSNBC
host Rachel Maddow—has been blamed for the passage of what many see as the
new draconian laws on homosexual behavior in Uganda.
Writing in the prestigious Foreign
Policy magazine, Elizabeth Palchik Allen laments passage of the bill that was
signed into law on February 24 by Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni. “It wasn't
supposed to end like this,” writes Allen.
She describes a five-year ordeal
that the Ugandan and international gay movement felt confident they would win.
Museveni, who is said to prioritize foreign approval, at first expressed
skepticism about the bill. She writes that he framed his response to the
domestic bill in light of foreign policy, which meant he wanted to please
western and northern donor nations, or at least not anger them.
However, pressure from the west
had the opposite of its intended effects, Allen writes:
[I]nternational action surrounding
the bill seemed to have spawned an equal and opposite reaction: turning the
legislation and its attendant homophobia into symbols of national
self-determination -- something that increasingly energized the populist bona
fides of whichever politician or public figure happened to be championing the
bill and its cause.
From the time the bill was first
introduced in 2009, the bill became an international cause célèbre. Rachel
Maddow of MSNBC featured the bill countless times on her show and dubbed it the
“kill the gays” bill because an early version called for the death penalty for
the deliberate spreading of HIV/AIDS,
child rape, or evidence of repeated homosexual
sex.
Maddow and other US media also
took the opportunity to blame American evangelicals for the bill, pointing out
that several had met over the years with Ugandan Parliamentarians on how to
combat the international gay lobby.
As recently as February 16,
President Obama said final passage of the bill would “complicate” relations
between the two countries. This came after years of pressure from the US State Department, US-based human
rights groups, and other foreign governments.
In 2011, British Prime Minister
David Cameron threatened Uganda
with the withdrawal of financial aid. Public criticism from Canadian Prime
Minister John Baird drew this retort from Rebecca Kadaga, Speaker of the
Ugandan Parliament: “If homosexuality is a value for the people of Canada, they should not seek to force Uganda to
embrace it. We are not a colony or a protectorate of Canada.”
Allen reports that when Kadaga
returned from this exchange in Canada
she was greeted by “hundreds” of supporters at Uganda’s main airport.
Even John Nagenda, an adviser to
Museveni and an opponent of the bill, rejected such outside pressure: “…this
kind of ex-colonial mentality of saying ‘You do this or I withdraw my aid,’
will definitely make people extremely uncomforatable with being treated like
children.”
When the Ugandan president signed
the bill, journalist Andrew Mwenda posted on Facebook, “To prove his
sovereignty, Museveni had to sign the Anti-Homosexuality bill into a law.”
Museveni’s spokesman said, “the
president wants to sign it with the full witness of the international media to
demonstrate Uganda’s
independence in the face of Western pressure and provocation.”
After it signed the bill into law,
pressure on Uganda
has intensified. The Netherlands,
Denmark, and Norway have
already said they would withhold $26 million in aid. The head of the World Bank published a column in the
Washington Post this week saying the Bank would withhold a $90 million grant
for the time being.
The money being withheld from Uganda would
have gone in part to basic health care and maternal health care. Ugandan gay
rights activists do not want the needy of Uganda to blame their issue for
such cuts, which would precipitate even further backlash.
Ugandan antipathy toward
homosexuality predates the current crisis by at least 150 years. The Catholic Church, along with the
Lutherans and the Anglicans, celebrates the martyrdom of Charles Lwanga and his
21 companions who were murdered by Mwanga II, the King of Buganda, now
modern-day Uganda,
for resisting his sexual advances. The Catholic Church considers Lwanga a Saint
and celebrates his Feast Day on June 3.
Rachel Maddow
Rachel
Maddow is the host of The Rachel
Maddow Show.
Note: The Rachel
Maddow Show is a MSNBC program.
Harold E. Ford Jr. is a political
commentator at MSNBC, an overseer at
the International Rescue Committee, and a 2008 Bilderberg conference
participant (think tank).
Clifford S. Asness
is a director at the International
Rescue Committee, and supported same-sex
marriage in New York.
Foundation
to Promote Open Society was a funder for the International Rescue Committee, the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace (think tank), the Aspen Institute (think tank), and the Brookings Institution (think tank).
George Soros
was the chairman for the Foundation to Promote Open Society, and is the founder
& chairman for the Open Society
Foundations.
Open
Society Foundations was a funder for the Catholic Relief Services, and the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace (think tank).
Kenneth F.
Hackett was the president of the Catholic
Relief Services, and is the U.S.
ambassador for the Holy See.
Thomas
Patrick Melady was a U.S.
ambassador for the Holy See, and a U.S. ambassador for the Uganda.
Olara
A. Otunnu was the minister of foreign affairs for Uganda,
a trustee at the Carnegie Endowment for
International Peace (think tank), and is a trustee at the Aspen Institute (think tank).
Jessica Tuchman Mathews is the
president of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace (think tank),
a director at the American Friends of Bilderberg (think tank), a
director at the Nuclear Threat
Initiative (think tank), was an honorary trustee at the Brookings
Institution (think tank), and a 2008 Bilderberg conference
participant (think tank).
Ed Griffin’s interview with
Norman Dodd in 1982
(The investigation into the
Carnegie Endowment for International Peace uncovered the plans for population
control by involving the United
States in war)
Carnegie
Endowment for International Peace (think
tank) was a funder for the Nuclear
Threat Initiative (think tank).
Cameron F. Kerry
is a fellow at the Brookings Institution (think tank), and John F. Kerry’s brother.
John
F. Kerry is Cameron F. Kerry’s
brother, married to Teresa Heinz Kerry,
and the secretary at the U.S. Department
of State for the Barack Obama
administration.
Teresa Heinz
Kerry is married to John F. Kerry,
and an honorary trustee at the Brookings Institution (think tank).
Robert
A. Helman was an honorary trustee at the Brookings Institution (think
tank), is a member of the Commercial
Club of Chicago, and a partner at Mayer
Brown.
Mary Ann Glendon
was an attorney at Mayer Brown, and
a U.S.
ambassador for the Holy See.
William
M. Daley was a partner at Mayer
Brown, the chief of staff for the Barack
Obama administration, and is a member of the Commercial Club of Chicago.
William M. Daley
Professional career
Daley returned to the practice of law, as a partner with the
firm Mayer Brown (then Mayer, Brown & Platt) from 1993 to 1997.
R.
Eden Martin is the president of the Commercial
Club of Chicago, and counsel at Sidley
Austin LLP
Michelle
Obama was a lawyer at Sidley Austin
LLP, and is an advocate for the ONE
Campaign.
Barack
Obama was an intern at Sidley Austin
LLP.
Newton
N. Minow is a senior counsel at Sidley
Austin LLP, and a member of the Commercial
Club of Chicago.
Cyrus F.
Freidheim Jr. is a member of the Commercial
Club of Chicago, and an honorary trustee at the Brookings Institution (think tank).
James D. Wolfensohn was an honorary
trustee at the Brookings Institution
(think tank), the president of the World
Bank, is a director at the American Friends of Bilderberg (think
tank), an overseer at the International
Rescue Committee, and a 2008 Bilderberg conference participant
(think tank).
Clifford S.
Asness is a director at the International
Rescue Committee, and supported same-sex
marriage in New York.
International
Rescue Committee is a partner with the ONE
Campaign.
ONE
Campaign is a merged organization with the Debt AIDS Trade Africa.
Susan A. Buffett
is a director at the ONE Campaign,
her father is Warren E. Buffett, and
was a director at the Debt AIDS Trade
Africa.
Warren E. Buffett
is Susan A. Buffett’s father, an
adviser at the Nuclear Threat Initiative
(think tank), and a trustee & major donor for the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
Carnegie
Endowment for International Peace (think
tank) was a funder for the Nuclear
Threat Initiative (think tank).
Bill
& Melinda Gates Foundation was a funder for the Debt AIDS Trade Africa, and the International Rescue Committee.
Harold E. Ford Jr. is an overseer at
the International Rescue Committee, a political commentator at MSNBC, and a 2008 Bilderberg conference
participant (think tank).
The Rachel
Maddow Show is a MSNBC program.
Rachel
Maddow is the host of The Rachel
Maddow Show.
No comments:
Post a Comment