Mahmood Mamdani Addresses the Ugandan Government’s Banning of Activists for Change

Andrew Mwenda and Mubatsi A Habati, from The Independent, spoke to author and leading political philosopher Mahmood Mamdani about his thoughts on the recent government banning of political pressure group Activists for Change in Uganda. Mamdani is the author of Saviours and Survivors and Scholars in the Marketplace.

The Independent: The government has banned the civic pressure group known as Activists for Change. What do you think of this development?

Mahmood Mamdani: Activists for Change (A4C) organised themselves in response to the events in the Middle East and the Arab spring. They hoped to be catalysts of change in Uganda. Walk-to-Work was brilliant in its simplicity. It was brilliant in that it showed that government was unwilling to tolerate the very idea of protest. Government responded to it as if it was a threat to the security of the state which it obviously wasn’t. That kind of response played straight into the strategy of A4C, for the public was outraged that even a simple idea of walking as a mode of protest could invoke such a response from the state.

• Complete interview: The Independent

Book details

• Saviours and Survivors: Darfur, Politics and the War on Terror by Mahmood Mamdani
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  EAN: 9780796922526
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• Scholars in the Marketplace: The dilemmas of neo-liberal reform at Makerere University 1989-2005 by Mahmood Mamdani
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  EAN: 9780796922144
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