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Uganda's Kizza Besigye says Walk-to-Work events will continue
by Joseph Ernest May 18, 2011
Newscast Media -- After examining the underlying factors in the Walk-to-Work demonstrations that are happening in Uganda, we can see that there are two types of battles being waged. Uganda's president Yoweri Museveni is employing the military and police forces to physically squash the demonstrations, while opposition leader Kizza Besigye is using psychological warfare.
The principles of psychological warfare:
Currently Besigye has won two important battles and Museveni handed them to him handily. The first battle that Besigye won was the hearts of Ugandans, and the second was the PR (public relations) battle. Besigye is now on the offensive while Museveni is doing damage-control due to the defective advice he was given. To understand the social and political dynamics of the events happening, one must turn to two of the greatest generals in the history of war tactics. The first one is Chinese General Sun Tzu who wrote the book The Art of War, and we also have to take look at Prussian military thinker Carl von Clauswitz who wrote Principles of War.
Sun Tzu said: "Therefore the skillful leader subdues the enemy without fighting.”
Von Clauswitz said: “Be audacious and cunning in your plans, firm and persevering in their execution, determined to find a glorious end, and fate will crown your brow with a shining glory, which is the ornament of princes, and engrave your image in the hearts of your last defendants."
If we look at Sun Tzu's statement, Besigye was able to win over the crowds and the media without firing a single shot. Public opinion has been in his favor since. Museveni's mistake was that he waited for almost six days after the Walk-to-Work events, and police brutality had already taken place before he addressed the nation. At that point Ugandans had already made up their minds that it was Museveni behind the curtain orchestrating the violence against unarmed civilians. The damage had been done and by the time Museveni gave his press conference he could not unscramble the eggs.
The delayed response
One wonders, how Museveni could listen to such defective advice. When hurricane Katrina hit Louisiana and George W. Bush had a delayed response of just a couple of days, he faced a backlash for not addressing the nation sooner. Just recently, when Barack Obama spent weeks without addressing the nation or visiting the gulf coast during the oil spill of 2010, he too faced a backlash and was perceived as being out of touch with Americans and his approval numbers have been in free fall since. Museveni made the mistake of arresting and imprisoning protestors as well as waging war against the media. The local media has now decided to deny any coverage to government functions and are focusing on community news and events, as well as exposing injustices committed by government agents.
Besigye, on the other hand, has enjoyed the advantage of being able to tell his story to the local media as well as affiliates of international media organizations like the BBC, Reuters, Al Jazeera, CNN and so forth, without raising an army. Now that he has won the hearts of his people and the public relations battle, he faces another frontier – the psychological war.
Rhetoric, Logic and Dialectic:
Julius Caesar and Brutus using hints of rhetoric and logic to reason
Brutus betrays Julius Caesar
Octavian succeeds Julius Caesar and declares Brutus an Enemy of The State
The outcome of the next phase of the battle between Besigye and Museveni will depend on who is superior in psychological warfare, in order to produce the desired results. We now have to examine both men, and where their anger toward each other comes from. Some Ugandans believe Museveni's hostility toward Besigye is a tribal issue between Ankole and Kabale-Kigezi. The reasoning is that Museveni has filled his cabinet and virtually every powerful position in his regime with his fellow tribesmen, and the balance of power tips in favor of those from the Ankole region. Anyone who challenges him who is not part of the esoteric continuum is therefore a threat to Museveni. Others believe that Museveni's hostility toward Besigye comes from the perception that Besigye wants to share power with him, which the president feels is unacceptable, therefore to discourage such ambitions, he applies heavy-handed tactics toward his opponents. There are others who believe it is a battle of the recently-discovered oil in western Uganda, where each party desires to have a stake in those natural resources, and control the oil industry. There is yet another faction that believes the hostility is due to Besigye abandoning Museveni's NRM in which he was a member originally, and later on joined another political party.
All arguments may hold a certain level of validity, but we must isolate the underlying cause of hostility and anger emanating from Museveni and his National Resistant Movement NRM toward Besigye and his supporters, and we also have to look at where the resentment and anger of Besigye and the demonstrators is coming from. We have to remember that not all the people walking to work in protest of the cost of living are supporters to Besigye. These are simply Ugandans trying to get the attention of their government that they feel is ignoring their needs.
To answer the issue of anger, we have to turn to the Sophists, who were Greek philosophers of the highest order. Sophists were professional teachers of rhetoric and logic who believed that effective communication determined whether or not an idea was accepted, rather than its validity. They believed, it is not enough to identify something as beautiful; one must know why it is beautiful. In other words one must know the essence of beauty.
In this case I will apply the same logic to a person. It is not enough to identify a person as angry; one must identify why the person is angry.
Museveni and his NRM's hostility and anger toward Besigye:
Sophists explain that, we are angry with those who have usually treated us with honor or regard, if a change comes and they behave to us otherwise: for we think that they feel contempt for us, or they would still be behaving as they did before. We are also angry with those who oppose us, whom we perceive to be our inferiors: for all such persons seem to feel contempt for us; those who oppose us seem to think us inferior to themselves, and those who do not return our kindnesses seem to think that those kindnesses were conferred by inferiors. For, by our hypothesis, the anger caused by the slight is felt towards people who are not justified in slighting us, and our inferiors are not thus justified.
A man expects to be specially respected by his inferiors in birth, in capacity, in goodness, and generally in anything in which he feels he is much their superior: as where money is concerned a wealthy man looks for respect from a poor man; where speaking is concerned, the man with a turn for oratory looks for respect from one who cannot speak; the ruler demands the respect of the ruled.
We feel particularly angry on this account if we suspect that we are in fact, or that people think we are, incompetent for when we are convinced that we excel in certain qualities for which we are criticized, we tend to retaliate through anger.
Besigye's and the opposition's anger toward Museveni
People who are afflicted by sickness or persecution or oppression or any other unsatisfied desires are prone to anger especially against those who slight their present distress. Thus a sick man is angered by disregard of his illness, a poor man by disregard of his poverty, an oppressed man by disregard of his oppression, a lover by disregard of his love, a persecuted man by disregard of his persecution, and so forth.
Looking at how Sophists deconstruct anger, we have now traced the root of all the animosity and hostility that we have witnessed on display in the past four weeks in Uganda by the government toward the opposition, and the feedback they received as a result of their actions and inactions. The impending battle that lies ahead as mentioned earlier, is a psychological battle.
Who is your Judas?
Museveni and Besigye both have to identify the Judas or Judases in their circles. It will be a lot harder for Museveni to identify the Judases in his circle because he has too many advisers, and associates who constantly sing his praises privately and publicly. They therefore know too much about him and could become a liability to him, so he has no choice but to rely on his instincts. Besigye, on the other hand, doesn't seem to have many people in his inner-circle other than his wife and lawyers, which is a very good thing.
Everyone has a Judas. A Judas is someone who smiles and winks at you, but is secretly plotting against you. A Judas resents the respect and love you receive from colleagues and seeks to weaken your influence among them. A Judas is a person who hugs you with one hand, yet stabs you in the back with the other. A Judas is a weak and spineless person who plays both sides. Judases are double-agents who pretend to be loyal, yet they root for your adversary. A Judas is quick to side with the enemy and is usually a "yes-man." A Judas is a jealous and intimidated individual who resents success of others. Judases are flatterers and sycophants with overblown egos, who lack authenticity. Judases are narcissistic and always seeks approval, accolades and blow their own horns, due to deeply seated insecurities. A Judas is always praising your adversary. Your enemy will always bond with the Judas of your innercircle to sabotage your plans. Never reveal your plans to a Judas, once he is identified. The quickest way to identify a Judas is to observe the person in your inner circle who receives special treatment from your adversary. That is your Judas. When Judas reveals himself, your moment of glory has arrived. Add Comments>>
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