{"id":19956,"date":"2021-10-22T15:28:57","date_gmt":"2021-10-22T15:28:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/?p=19956"},"modified":"2021-10-22T15:13:07","modified_gmt":"2021-10-22T15:13:07","slug":"its-not-too-late-to-de-escalate-the-class-war-thats-brewing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/its-not-too-late-to-de-escalate-the-class-war-thats-brewing","title":{"rendered":"It\u2019s not too late to de-escalate the class war that\u2019s brewing"},"content":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press<\/a> – Uganda<\/a>. <\/strong><\/span>Once, when talking about our greatest fears, a friend said his was to end up in a physical dispute where everyone was against and after him.<\/p>\n

He is long departed so, thankfully, that\u2019s a fear he will never have to experience or live through.<\/p>\n

This week on Monday morning, as one of my boda boda guys, Hamza, manoeuvred the traffic to deliver me to my engagement, he suddenly asked.<\/p>\n

\u201cBoss, do you know that on a good day, I take home Shs40,000 after paying off everything?\u201d I was intrigued. So, I asked what bad days are like. He responded that even on the not-so-good days, his take-home drops to no less than Shs20,000.<\/p>\n

I quickly did the maths \u2013 splitting my monthly take home across 30 days and aggregating his daily earnings over a month \u2013 and it struck me how we were split by just a couple of shillings. Mind you, I have two degrees, been working for about 10 years and run a decent social enterprise, my face and name have some public recognition, and he calls me \u201cboss\u201d.<\/p>\n

Taking advantage of my silence, he went on, sharing that he was actually thinking about getting a second bike \u2013 if only he could afford it. Which is why he was telling me, because he thinks I fit the co-investor bill. I asked a couple of follow-up questions as we rode on and promised get back to him.<\/p>\n

That conversation would have been temporarily shelved in some mental folder, if later that day, the story of Aziz Bashir\u2019s senseless death hadn\u2019t made the news. The facts, as usually happens these days, are a little stirred up but here is what\u2019s been pieced together. That his car got scratched by a Boda Boda \u2013 as is won\u2019t to happen in our bedlam \u2013 and they couldn\u2019t agree on what was fair compensation for the damage.<\/p>\n

That the disagreement escalated to a point where Bashir ran over the offending boda rider and drove off, which prompted a mad chase from the legion of other bodas. When they eventually caught up with him, they executed mob justice on him, ending his life unceremoniously.<\/p>\n

Reading that story was heart wrenching. I thought of Hamza and wondered how many close shaves he has had from scratching people\u2019s cars. Mostly, I also wondered if he would have been part of the lynch mob, that had swiftly ended another\u2019s life.<\/p>\n

I then thought of Aziz in his very last moments. I don\u2019t imagine he had enough time to reflect on the hubris of class \u2013 because that\u2019s really how we got here. In that moment, it didn\u2019t matter what the facts were or who was right or wrong.<\/p>\n

In fact, that incident was only a culmination of systemic aggravations and Aziz just happened to fit the bill of the accused. The thing about inequity is that it can\u2019t be spread around enough to have an equal balance between the haves and have nots.<\/p>\n

Inevitably, you can only beget class warfare \u2013 whether it is all-out or manifests in spurts. In places where there aren\u2019t enough resources and opportunities to go around, it pays to enforce fairness or even appear to. When you don\u2019t, you unknowingly put a target on the backs of those who are \u2013 or appear to be \u2013 privileged.<\/p>\n

The wretched of the earth can only fight each other for survival for so long. Eventually, they deduce \u2013 even subconsciously \u2013 that they share a common enemy. Where they can\u2019t find the oppressor, they pick on whoever has a likeness to him and\/or her. They also have the advantage of numbers and pent-up anger from all your not-so-subtle disdain for them.<\/p>\n

This is what happens when things work for just a few. When those who are qualified for work and contracts start to feel that those opportunities are going to certain people who aren\u2019t like them. It is what happens when the law is applied selectively until people lose trust in the government and its systems.<\/p>\n

If and when it comes, Hamza is obviously not going to ride the second bike himself. He might get a brother from his village to come grind his portion in the city as well. They will make money but they know that the conditions could and should be better. Who do you think they will pick on if they can\u2019t take it out on the people in government SUVs?<\/p>\n

Mr Rukwengye is the founder, Boundless Minds. @Rukwengye<\/b><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Uganda. Once, when talking about our greatest fears, a friend said his was to end up in a physical dispute where everyone was against and after him. He is long departed so, thankfully, that\u2019s a fear he will never have to experience or live through. This week on Monday morning, as one of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":19955,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,6,8],"tags":[233,240,234],"class_list":["post-19956","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-files","category-homepage-english","tag-africa-press","tag-africa-press-uganda","tag-uganda"],"yoast_head":"\nIt\u2019s not too late to de-escalate the class war that\u2019s brewing - Uganda<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Once, when talking about our greatest fears, a friend said his was to end up in a physical dispute where everyone was ag ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/its-not-too-late-to-de-escalate-the-class-war-thats-brewing\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"It\u2019s not too late to de-escalate the class war that\u2019s brewing\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Once, when talking about our greatest fears, a friend said his was to end up in a physical dispute where everyone was ag ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/its-not-too-late-to-de-escalate-the-class-war-thats-brewing\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Uganda\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2021-10-22T15:28:57+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/uganda\/sites\/34\/2021\/10\/img-6172d4f0d2cac.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"720\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"480\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/its-not-too-late-to-de-escalate-the-class-war-thats-brewing#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/its-not-too-late-to-de-escalate-the-class-war-thats-brewing\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"It\u2019s not too late to de-escalate the class war that\u2019s brewing\",\"datePublished\":\"2021-10-22T15:28:57+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/its-not-too-late-to-de-escalate-the-class-war-thats-brewing\"},\"wordCount\":771,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/its-not-too-late-to-de-escalate-the-class-war-thats-brewing#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/uganda\/sites\/34\/2021\/10\/img-6172d4f0d2cac.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Africa Press\",\"Africa Press-Uganda\",\"uganda\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"files\",\"homepage-english\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/its-not-too-late-to-de-escalate-the-class-war-thats-brewing#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/its-not-too-late-to-de-escalate-the-class-war-thats-brewing\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/its-not-too-late-to-de-escalate-the-class-war-thats-brewing\",\"name\":\"It\u2019s not too late to de-escalate the class war that\u2019s brewing - 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