Why? Because we've known this was going to happen for years, but nobody actually did anything about it. Petitions, documentaries, sure. But no government official actually spoke up about it properly until it was too late.
Thank you John Kerry. But please know that Uganda is not the problem.
You've got to see the bigger picture. That's what's more important here. That's what's really urgent. Every country that helps Uganda be it financially or through aid, must speak up now and must (most importantly) act. This is of utmost importance because what's just happened in Uganda will happen elsewhere. In fact, what happened in Uganda could easily be linked to the laws that were passed in Russia. But what did the rest of the world powers do then? "Oh dear, Russia! We don't really like that" - nothing.
Uganda is different. They depend on the West quite a bit. This is a country that's sitting on oil, but significantly less amounts than Russia. Unfortunately, energy is the reason I believe the UK and US didn't speak up about the Russian anti-gay laws, unlike France whose president publicly denounced the draconian laws and as far as I know, I still have electricity and heating in my apartment. The UK and US are afraid of stumbling into a Second Cold War with Russia, we've clearly understood that with the Ukraine crisis.
So, here's the difference. According to Reuters, Russia is the world's biggest oil producer churning out 10.51 million barrels a day, so I can understand why Cameron and Obama are cautious not to step on Putin's toes. Uganda has 1 or 2 billion barrels in total exploitable oil, a tenth of Russia's daily production. According to oilinuganda.org, "the world as a whole consumes one billion barrels of oil every fortnight" so denouncing Uganda's new law clearly poses no threat to western countries.
Sadly, I strongly believe that oil is what it comes down to. Obama didn't slam Putin when Russia's laws were signed, however he jumped straight in when President Museveni signed Uganda's law into action.
Right now, Uganda's not the problem. Some French gay news sources believe Mali might be next. This article (in French) published in the last few hours on MaliActu, one of Mali's top news sources sings the praise of Uganda's homophobic law and the author hopes Mali's government won't continue to fall to the temptation of money that Malian homosexuals are apparently "paying the government". This homophobic rhetoric is frighteningly similar to that of articles you can read on Ugandan websites. Uganda has just lit the green light for other African countries to follow suit. We have to stop this now before the draconian laws spread. It started in Russia, and now it's spreading around the world to Nigeria, India and now Uganda, and yet I'm still getting the impression that the world is just watching. We need to find a solution. Now.
Any countries whose beliefs differ from Uganda's when it comes to gay rights should get out of there. Stop the aid. Let them know we're not happy. Western countries have very little to lose. No oil, nothing. The population widely supports this law. We all need to start taking a "no tolerance" approach to laws like these, because before you know it, somewhere along the line some crazy government official will have the "bright idea" of locking gays in camps. Make an example of Uganda in front of the rest of the homophobic world, because Uganda's not the first, and it certainly won't be the last.
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