{UAH} Allan/Gook/Pojim: Animal Farm.....

NRM day , the 26th Jan !

Animal farm , Chapter X , Conclusion .

On the 25th of january 1986, Museveni and his men stormed into town forcing the Okello's to leave town in a hurry. Incidentally the 25th of January is also the same day that Obote was run out of town ahead of idi Amins men. In order not to share the same day with idi Amin's coup, whom Museveni loves to believe is asa different to himself as chalk is to cheese, even though that is debateable, the NRM has continued to celebrate their NRM day on the 26th of January rather than on the 25th. truth be said though, this day will not last long beyond Museveni!

The 26th also happens to be a holiday in my adopted country, one with great significance upon which all of the countries war heroes for over a hunmdred years are celebrated. There are prayers at every monument to fallen soldiers and new heroes are minted too! 

The whole day, evenings and nights are for meeting family, praying, marching, and watching a spectacular display of fireworks. Its a true national celebration unlike the sorry affair that the NRM day that they chose to call heroes day has become.

I chose not to call it heroes day. I think the better appellation is NRM day. Museveni day would be even better as am sure with time thats what it will become.

For none of this is about national heroes. This is about the people that Museveni sacrificed so that he may become king!

I know a lot of dead heroes --- but they will not be celebrated on the NRM, sorry Museveni heroes day. People he deliberately put in harms way on his way to the state house that he now claims as his life long property and one he may well bequeath to a son or son in law! 

Anyone who has ever played chess can see the moves. The pawns ---sacrificed. Mushega, Besigye, Kategaya, Aronda, Sejjusa, Mbabazi, thousands of civilians, thousands of soldiers who paid the ultimate sacrifice! Queens placed behind protective defensive walls. Rooks and Bishops moved to striking positions in the elite military. You need no names here! knights like Rwabwoogo moved forward to test the waters then returned behind the pawns to be reused later in a strike move.

i could list all of the dead that i knew. List all of the losses of property that i knew about. List all the lives destroyed. But what would be the point? Sacrificed pawns are not promoted to bishops! This day is not about them.

Its a day for the living. Specifically the living who have bought into or been bought into the mirage of one man with a vision amidst a sea of ignorant Ugandans who are all blind and visionless!

It kind of reminds me of Goerge Orwell's book, "Änimal Farm"! I really wonder how Museveni got to read Frantz Fannon at university without reading Animal Farm which really should be required reading for all Ugandan politicians! Below is a summary of Chapter X.

****

"After a few years, the only animals that even remember the Rebellion are Clover, Benjamin, Moses, and some of the pigs. Muriel, Bluebell, Jessie, and Pincher have died. Mr. Jones has died in a home for alcoholics. Still, no animal has retired, and no pasture has been put aside for retired animals. Napoleon and Squealer have both become very fat. The farm is bigger, thanks to land purchased from Mr. Pilkington, and now features a threshing machine and hay elevator. The windmill is finished, but the animals use it to mill corn for a profit instead of to generate electricity as planned. Napoleon puts the animals to work building an additional windmill, which he promises will supply electricity. However, he discourages the animals from dreaming of luxury, saying, "The truest happiness … [lies] in working hard and living frugally".(129)

The pigs and dogs continue to do no manual labor, instead devoting themselves to organizational work that the other animals are "too ignorant to understand" (130). This includes writing up notes and burning them promptly after. Propaganda and pride in living on the only animal-owned farm in England continue to distract the animals from their hardships. One day, Squealer takes all the sheep out to an overgrown patch of land on the far side of the farm. Over the next week, he claims to be teaching them a song, and no one sees them. On the day the sheep return, Clover alerts the other animals to a disturbing fact: Squealer and the other pigs are walking two-footed, on their hind legs. The sheep break into a chorus of, "Four legs good, two legs better!" Benjamin accompanies Clover to the barn wall, where he deigns to read to her for the first time. In place of the Seven Commandments there is now a single maxim: "All animals are equal / But some animals are more equal than others" (133).

The animals discover that the pigs are buying a telephone and have subscribed to several magazines. Napoleon takes to smoking Mr. Jones's pipe, and the other pigs take to wearing Mrs. Jones's clothes. Napoleon begins wearing Mr. Jones's dress clothes and awards "his favorite sow" the privilege of wearing Mrs. Jones's Sunday dress. One day, Napoleon invites human visitors to tour the farm. That night, the animals spy into the farmhouse and see the pigs dining with the humans. According to Mr. Pilkington's toast, they are celebrating the end of their bad relations. Touring Animal Farm has impressed him and the other farmers to follow Animal Farm's example and give their animals more work and less food. Napoleon says he wants to cooperate with the other farms and confirms that he and the pigs co-own the farm's title-deeds. He states that the animals will no longer be calling each other "Comrade" or marching past Old Major's skull (a practice he denies understanding anyway). In addition, the flag has been changed to a plain green without the symbols of the Rebellion. Even further, Animal Farm shall again be referred to as "The Manor Farm." The pigs and humans begin to play poker, and a fight erupts when Napoleon and Pilkington both put down the Ace of Spades at the same time. As the animals witness the pigs and humans quarreling over their poker game, they cannot distinguish between them." http://www.gradesaver.com/animal-farm/study-guide/summary-chapter-x

***

A more complete and detailed rendering can be found here; https://www.marxists.org/subject/art/literature/children/texts/orwell/animal-farm/ch10.htm

I like the citizens of Animal Farm, stand in the window watching the pigs dining with the humans, and look from man to pig, pig to man, wondering what the difference is!

The revolution that never was has come round full circle --- and its time for the pitchforks to be readied. these pigs aren't going to go anywhere soon without being pushed!

~Dembe

Sent from my BlackBerry 10 smartphone.