Back to Medieval Times?

 Control all resources under the power of the king who dispensed or withheld as he saw fit. 

All others, even the king's brothers and sisters, were supplicants. 

Resources to keep away from people:

  • lands
  • Water

Today

Education 

All prospects

Define them: Andrew Mwenda on the Capital Gang on Capital Radio, used to call the regular Ugandans, peasants. Today they call themselves, corporate.

Economics

  • Biden: Capitalism without competition is not capitalism; it is exploitation
  • Exploitive governments destroy initiative, motivation, innovation. 

Politics

Vote by "representation"

  • kill popular institutions
  • Create undemocratic entities instead: senate, courts, 
  • beef up coercive forces instead since the people are going to finally wake up and resist. 

LOCAL/GRASSROOTS CAMPAIGN- Why it matters

In Uganda today, there is, going on right now, a very intense debate, or battle as some would say. This battle, the stakes in this battle far outweigh the American one going on in the US. Why, you may ask. Well, while the US battle was intended to right a ship precariously going off course, out ship, our Uganda, is sinking. Thus ours is an existential threat we are facing. There is a pending "election"; that word is in quotation marks because over time, we have come to believe that what happens in Uganda is not really a practice in democracy. It is not that people cast their votes; their votes get counted and the winner becomes the leader of the country. through anecdotal accounts, often by the very people who have carried out these atrocities against the people, the current regime has stolen election after election. Here are some of the examples heard first hand from the people who did it: 

1. Pre-checking of ballots: This gentleman stated that he and many others would spend the election eve, marking ballots. He stated "you could check until your hand would hurt". 

2. Another such cadre, on a totally different occasion, stated they would take the pre marked ballots and give them to different cadres who would then stealthily, insert them in the ballot box. "How could they do that, I asked". "Oh, easy", he answered; you stuff a number of them up your sleeve and once you go into the voting booth, where you are by yourself, you then pull them down and into the main box. 

3. Where the above two methods of stealing failed, two more methods were revealed to me in casual conversation; 

    i) One was returning officer and one time, while on their way to the ballot boxes collecting center, a pickup truck blocked them off; men jumped out, brought out ballot boxes and took away the ones they were carrying; and, oh, to woe their feelings, they through them some money. 

    ii) the other method, if all that fails, is at the tallying level; since most, if not all, returning officers are cadres, it is easy to change the end results; a 1 can turn into a 7; a 6 into and 8, so does the 3, and so on. Two things are a direct result of this wanton rape of the peoples' voice: 

    a) The result has been a serious voter apathy that has left out the majority of the voters. The problem is, if you do not vote, others (perhaps the stuffed ballots mentioned above), will vote in your place. 

    b) The  second even more serious problem, is the people now sell their votes for 'gifts' from the ruling party people. 

If we do not wrestle power back into the hands of the people, we shall never have peace and prosperity in the country. Why is this so important? 


Extractive vs inclusive governments

Countries that allowed extractive governments to thrive, Spain, Greece, Portugal, etc... lost out to those that were more progressive. 

A leap of Faith

No one goes into battle 100% sure they will come back home. no one goes into an election expecting a landslide. it always takes a leap of faith. (Kierkegaard)

Ockham's Razor


UN Tier Membership as Motivation to Democratize

This thought was inspired by Mugabe's presentation at the UN. 

Promotion goes with responsibilities. Dictators should not be allowed to govern the UN, a body set up to promote justice and peace. In Trump, we have seen how vulnerable those institutions are to a dictator’s devious attentions. It more like making the mouse to manage the market; or, as the Baganda say, a monkey to adjudicate on a forest case.  

So, no Mr, late Mugabe. I don’t care your color is the same as mine; you and people like Museveni if Uganda, Bia of Cameroon, etc..., are responsible for our position at the bottom of the heap. Your empty rhetoric is disappointing at best, disgusting at worst. Your words are strong 💪🏽 but your actions are the opposite. it is more like asking a better to be a bank manager. 

About Talk Africa Radio Network (TARNET)

TARNET  is an invitation to: 

a. Talk as Africans, and friends of Africa, about Africa.
b. To create an entity that will be educational, informational as well as entertaining.
c. To rediscover the essence of what it means to be authentically African.
d. To harness the knowledge gained to put in practice best practices.

ISF Inc has been active since 2009 and during that time, we have initiated a number of initiatives including a learning center in Uganda, a Spelling Bee for immigrant children in Boston MA, a Non-Profit workshop for nonprofit leaders, and an annual conference. An after-school program, tailored to meet the unique challenges of our participant parents is also in the works. All these are important but have limited geographical outreach. We believe a talk radio exclusively addressing African and African Diaspora issues will go far in supplementing these initiatives.

The Trigger
The actual trigger for the radio initiative came in 2016 when the killing of black men in the US by police became international news. We were all shocked, by the senseless deaths of Trayvon Martin. Eric Garner. Michael Brown. Labuan McDonald. Tamir Rice. Eric Harris. Walter Scott. Freddie Gray. Paul O’Neal. Alton Sterling. Philando Castille. We too participated in the many spontaneous conversations and soon it became apparent that we needed to answer three pertinent questions:
       i. How are black people perceived in the world?
     ii.  What is the prevailing existential actuality of black people in the world?
   iii.   What can we do about it?

Obviously this is a long process that requires people of all walks of life to engage in. In short order, given our prevailing abilities, we deduced that the best forum to propagate our mission would be a talk radio.

The Actual: Topics on Prevailing Reality
What is going on today in Africa and elsewhere in the world?
Agriculture, Mining, Production; Commerce, Finance and Taxation; Craftsmen, Industry; Culture, Religion & Sports; Economy finances; Natural Resources Education and Learning; Capital & Labor; Environment; Friendship, Storytelling, Conversation; Health, Doctors, Nurses & Insurance; Philosophy, Science, Innovation, Journalism and Public Relations; Law and lawyers, Politics and Politicians, and Diplomats; Sports, Music, Dance and Drama; Film; Technicians and Mechanics; The Arts, Culture, Entertainment; The Home, the Village; Work, Employers and Workers ...

The Probable
What is possible, when, given the prevailing conditions?

The Possible
What is the ideal;  all things being equal, all barriers removed?