Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited.
by Viktor Vasiliev
[REGNUM] Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni has signed into law legislation introducing the death penalty or life imprisonment for homosexuality and same-sex transmission of HIV/AIDS.
| No problem with heterosexual transmission of HIV/AIDS? |
In addition, for the "propaganda" of homosexuality in the country will now be imprisoned for 20 years.
The law also toughens the punishments for same-sex sex that previously existed in the country, up to the death penalty. Such an attack against LGBT people has caused a wave of condemnation from human rights organizations, HIV foundations and Western leaders. The United States warned Uganda about the possible economic consequences of the adoption of the “anti-homosexual act”.
HOMOPHOBIA AND PAN-AFRICANISM
Africa has always had the reputation of being the most homophobic continent. In thirty-eight African countries, relationships between people of the same sex are punishable by imprisonment or even the death penalty, as in Sudan and Mauritania.
And the point here is not the economic or cultural "backwardness" of African countries and the harsh local customs, as the Western media write. Or rather, not only in this. The growth of homophobic sentiments here is inextricably linked with the awakening of national identity and the growth of pan-African sentiments.
Homosexuality in Africa is regarded as "a disease that came from the West."
| No doubt it came with the conquest of Islam first — look at the Pashtuns and their historic fondness for beautiful boys. |
And the more African countries will claim sovereignty and independence from Western countries in political terms, the greater will be homophobic sentiments and the severity of laws in this area.
Thus, the general discourse of Pan-Africanism as "genuine freedom" and getting rid of post-colonial forms of dependence (in the sphere of economy, culture and elsewhere) is inextricably linked with homophobia. We will not go far and note that in Russia the fight against LGBT propaganda is a significant moment in the general ideology of confrontation with the West.
Let's fix it once again: the fight against homosexuality actually means the continuation of the "fight with the West" and the fight for the political subjectivity of Africa.
Accordingly, the political elites of African countries are unlikely to leave the "slippery homophobic path" even under the threat of sanctions pressure. Moreover, if these sanctions are followed, they will only become another factor in the consolidation of the authorities and society in the fight against attempts of external interference.
WILL UGANDA SURVIVE?
A similar situation has already developed in Uganda. It was in 2014 when Western governments suspended some aid, imposed visa restrictions, and cut back on security cooperation in favor of a less strict anti-LGBTQ law. In response, the Constitutional Court of Uganda invalidated that law.
At the level of rhetoric, today everything is going according to the same scenario. And it is logical to assume that the sensational law will become only a bargaining chip in the negotiations between local authorities and international organizations.
There is a lot in the balance for Uganda. The country receives billions of dollars, including for the fight against AIDS and malaria, but now it may face more sanctions.
The head of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), Volker Türk, has already called the law's text " discriminatory" and suggested that it is "the world's worst of its kind ". OHCHR said it was " alarmed " by the entry into force of this " draconian and discriminatory " bill, " contrary to the Constitution and international treaties," which paves the way for "systematic violations of LGBT rights."
U.S. President Joe Biden also condemned the "tragic violation" of human rights and is exploring the implications of the law for "every aspect of U.S.-Uganda cooperation," including aid and investment.
"Uganda's failure to protect the rights of LGBTQI+ people is part of a broader human rights violation in the country," US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken said , referring to visa restrictions.
The head of European Union (EU) diplomacy, Josep Borrell, said in a press release about the "regrettable" and " contrary to human rights " law.
The United Kingdom, for its part, said it was "alarmed that the government of Uganda has signed a deeply discriminatory law against homosexuality," Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs Andrew Mitchell said in a press release.
An increasing number of countries are raising the flag of the fight against colonialism, including in the format of armed confrontation, as is happening on the territory of Ukraine.
Under these conditions, Western countries can turn a blind eye to the target audience and their most likely supporters in third world countries. Otherwise, using the example of Uganda for the West, one more country on the continent, which plays an important role in the East African region, may be lost.
Parliamentarians of Uganda, in turn, have already stated that they are ready to “take a closer look at partners from Arab countries ”, for whom gender issues do not matter in business interactions, in response to external pressure attempts.
COURSE TOWARDS TRADITIONALISM
However, the point is not only the populism of the authorities of a number of African countries or the mood in society. Homophobia reflects a general trend in Africa toward adherence to traditional values.
For example, half of the participating countries that signed the Global Pact against Abortion are representatives of the African continent: Burkina Faso, Gambia, Djibouti, Zambia, Cameroon, Kenya, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Congo, Libya, Niger, Senegal, Sudan, Uganda, Kingdom Eswatini
| ...formerly known as Swaziland... |
and South Sudan.
| Not something that would fly in Russia, where abortion was the primary method of birth control during the Soviet period — and perhaps still is. |
The non-binding declaration states that it aims to improve women's health, preserve human life and strengthen the family.
"We, the representatives of our sovereign countries, hereby declare, in a spirit of mutual friendship and respect, our commitment to work together to reaffirm the absence of an international right to abortion," the statement said.
Its authors place particular emphasis on the theme of sovereignty: "Any action or change regarding abortion within the health care system can be implemented at the national or local level only in accordance with national legislation."
The ideology of this document is formulated as follows: "Abortion should not be encouraged as one of the methods of family planning <…> the child <…> needs special protection and care <…> both before and after birth."
This declaration brings together countries as diverse as Poland and Hungary on the one hand, Guinea and the Democratic Republic of the Congo on the other.
Less people means more oxygen. The West stopped masking its ideology
The United States, during the presidency of Donald Trump, also signed a declaration against abortion and became the 32nd among countries that together represent 1.6 billion people. On October 22, 2020, a virtual signing ceremony of the “Declaration of the Geneva Consensus” (Global Pact against Abortion) was held, among the initiating countries were Hungary, Egypt and Indonesia.
How to explain the fact that, relatively speaking, countries that are accused of adhering to the ideology of white supremacy (Hungary and Poland) sign a declaration with fifteen African states? Obviously, along with religious, racial and ecological contradictions, in a much sharper form, the world is divided along gender lines.
A new hot war divides the world into two blocks: on the one hand, patriarchal states, on the other, territories where a feminine revolution has already taken place.
| Does the author understand the difference between hot war and cold war? |
And in this sense, Africa, despite everything but (political instability and economic disorder), remains a space free from left-liberal dictatorship. African states today are becoming the vanguard of traditionalist resistance.
ANTICOVID MOODS
Another touch to all of the above is the clear covid dissidence of African countries during the period of global pandemic restrictions in 2020-2021. Africa then showed vivid manifestations of "rebellion".
Recall that the President of Tanzania, John Magufuli, to the last tried to resist the dictatorship of WHO. He was a statist and tried to maintain sovereignty not only in relation to opposing murderous quarantine measures.
Magufuli also censored any information coming from the West, refused to buy Western vaccines with funds allocated under international aid, and bought a medicine for COVID-19 based on wormwood extract from Madagascarians.
Tanzania has been a real oasis of freedom (including for our tourists) in the midst of a global lockdown in 2020 and 2021.
Thus, we have a certain triad of “anti-Western” sentiments on the Black Continent: “against LGBT”, “against covid”, “against colonialism.”
Of course, these sentiments, which are extremely popular in society, are not always realized in the form of political decisions taken by the authorities. Most often, the issue is resolved through negotiations and assurances of financial support from international institutions.
In general, there is a trend. Much more interesting and fair, unlike the carnival called BLM. African countries, as their own elites awaken, are increasingly becoming at the forefront of traditionalist resistance to left-liberal world “values”.
All these processes can be viewed as a favorable factor for the intensification of Russia's foreign policy efforts in the African direction.
|
She’s a grown woman who already has a partner and a child. Is the spoilt Nigerian brat willing to move to Italy to be merely Husband #2? 
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