Irish Oil, Bill Gates and Coca Cola spend spend spend in Anti-Gay Uganda
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As I reported earlier, Irish-founded company Tullow Oil has just invested in Uganda’s oil interests to the tune of 1.35 billion USD. While this is news, it’s not exactly the kind of news I’d be reading normally. I’m not down with the nitty-gritty of fossil fuels, nor am I any kind of expert in the kind of big business required to make a deal of these proportions.
What brought my attention to this item of news is the ongoing and largely ignored in the mainstream media plan to have the new Anti-Homosexuality Bill passed in Uganda. In its most extreme form, this bill will allow for the execution of people convicted of the crime of aggravated homosexuality. Also in the bill are provisions restricting speech that promotes homosexuality, including HIV/AIDS prevention education and the new crime of failing to report any homosexual activity a person may be privy to.
Very few have tried to effect any change in this. Imagine for a moment, as Irish blogger and PR consultant John McGuirk asks, that this policy was being directed at an ethnic minority. There would be trade embargoes, protests and boycotts of everything Ugandan. And while various news outlets have certainly covered the story, and Rachel Maddow covered it non-stop for a number of weeks, there has been almost no political will to do anything about it.
Would Tullow Oil have invested in a country proposing a genocidal law that targeted an ethnic minority? Would the law have even progressed this far?
I don’t think so. What we’re seeing here is a statement, clear as day, that the straight world in general does not see the potential execution of homosexuals as a big deal. It’s just not making anyone very angry.
If there was ever a time for full-on outrage within the gay community, the kind of outrage that will infect our straight allies as well, the time is now.
There are gay Ugandans. This bill isn’t make-believe or a mere inconvenience, as Bill Gates would have us believe.
There are gay Ugandans.
Let me say it again: Gay people live in Uganda and virtually no one is sticking up for them.
I bet Mr Gates has not read the text of the bill. Please do. Hey, I remember a comment that many didnt believe Mein Kampf had any significance. But, the writer, Hitler did. So does Bahati. So do the many Ugandans who support it, and want the bill made law. No, I dont think it is any help to try and doubt the passion of Ssempa, Bahati, and Nsaba-Buturo. They mean exactly what they say. Homosexuals should forget about Human Rights. As direct as that. Please, dont insult their passion, their dedication by thinking they dont mean exactly what they say they want. Do not.
from Gay Uganda blog
It appears in fact, that people are lining up to give money to and pal around with those who are planning to murder gay people and imprison those who know them, speak for them and fail to report their friends to the authorities.
We’re not letting up on this one. If you have any information, or ideas that you want to share, comment here. If you want to tweet me, you’ll find me always @CanuckJacq.
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Hey Jac – What people also do not realize and I have written on my many blogs is the tentacles that ensue from policy such as this. One example. Imagine a corporation makes a deal with Uganda. They are invited to attend a buy sell trade event or whatever in Uganda. The huge corp sends a team of three people – one is gay. They are sending a criminal to Uganda. Does that mean we as corps have to ask our employees – Hey are you Gay? We need a team for Uganda! Worse yet is if a company sends a Gay person to Uganda knowingly are they aiding and abetting the crime of homosexuality. Just BEING homosexual is a crime. Because Being homosexual is homosexual behavior.
Absolutely. I mean, I certainly wouldn’t want to be part of a team representing my country in Uganda. Risk life in prison or execution? However, does that mean I lose a chance to prove myself as a straight person will have to take that role instead?
Doing business in at a time like this shows implicit approval of where that country is headed.
I have a request in with the Irish offices right now for a statement, or someone to speak to on the matter.
Since when has big oil refused to invest in countries where homosexuality is criminal? Uganda is the most promising new oil province at present. And yes, you can go ahead and tell anyone who has time to spare for you to cut aid. We won’t need it soon.
You guys have a lot of time on your hands or sure have an agenda, especially Melanie Nathan. Melanie, I am inviting you to Uganda on behalf of the 95% of Ugandans who oppose legalisation of homosexuality. Never mind the more outrageous clauses of the bill like reporting homosexuals or the death penalty for ‘aggravated rape’. Those won’t pass the committee stage of Parliament. This is a Private Member’s Bill , remember?
To the uninitiated, that means that the views therein are the views of one person out of 30 million Ugandans. So you heterophobes should direct your anger towards the author.
Spartan,
Big Oil is considering pulling out of Nigeria because it is too costly. All we have to do is ensure that it is too costly for them to do business in Uganda. Please remember that homosexuality is already illegal in Uganda, and that all this bill does is put people to death for it. All that the Ugandan Parliament has to do is refuse to take this bill up and this will die down. Or had you never figured that one out?
BTW, Spartans- that is the real Spartans- embraced homosexuality. It was considered right and proper for a warrior to have a special buddy among the warriors that he slept with. He didn’t get married until he was thirty, and even then, his special male friend was closer to him than his wife. You might want to look up your history before you take on a name that is so enmeshed in old time homosexuality.
I know it’s fun to hate on Mr. Gates…. But that is not at all what he said, he’s saying that whether or not this law is passed, the issue is so much more than just a law. It’s the set of cultural beliefs and biases that create a situation where a law like this would even be considered that’s the problem.
So keep pretending that he’s a horrible person if you want, but actually hear what he has to say before you go and take everything that can be bad out of context, out of context.
I’ve actually never hated on Mr Gates. I’ve had issues with Microsoft, but he does seem like a good person.
But
“When bad men combine, the good must associate; else they will fall one by one, an unpitied sacrifice in a contemptible struggle.” (Edmund Burke, usually quoted as “‘The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.”)
I want the good people out there to do something. That is all.
@CanuckJacq’s response to me.
But you say “This bill isn’t make-believe or a mere inconvenience, as Bill Gates would have us believe.” And that is NOT AT ALL what he said. What he said, was not that we should do nothing. What he said is that the way to deal with this situation is “it’s not about the law on the books; it’s about getting the message out and the new tools.” That sounds like his is actually more involved with than simply against the law. That rather than fighting a symptom of this disease, we should actually fight the disease. A far cry from “good men doing nothing”
And this has been my problem with the entirety of the coverage of Mr. Gate’s remarks, is that ever article I have come across as, as blatantly as you did, willfully ignored his actual statement to detract from him. He never called it make believe, he never called it just an “inconvenience.” He said that the root of the problem is the problem, not the weeds that grow from it.
Bill Gates, when asked about the impact of the proposed bill to HIV prevention and treatment:
“The spread of AIDS is a huge problem and obviously we’re very involved. I talk in my letter about the great success with this male circumcision effort, and preventative drug trials. There’s a tendency to think in the U.S. just because a law says something that it’s a big deal. In Africa if you want to talk about how to save lives, it’s not just laws that count. There’s a stigma no matter what that law says, for sex workers, men having sex with men, that’s always been a problem for AIDS. It relates to groups that aren’t that visible. AIDS itself is subject to incredible stigma. Open involvement is a helpful thing. I wouldn’t overly focus on that. In terms of how many people are dying in Africa, it’s not about the law on the books; it’s about getting the message out and the new tools.”
He almost completely skirts the issue of the proposed legislation. I don’t think it’s too much to ask that people outright denounce the proposed bill. It’s a terrible piece of hateful legislation and it should be named as such by people who care. If he meant to denounce it, he did a terrible job.
I disagree that we need to ask him to explicitly denounce it. Given his work, given policies that his company has (fun fact, microsoft covers transition surgery, or used to at least, dunno if that changed), he doesn’t need to explicitly say “this bill is bad.” Knowing what we know about his public figure, it’s obvious how he feels about it, or would if he hasn’t read the explicit bill (as you point out maybe he hasn’t?). He instead, uses his time to make sure that we understand there is a large picture behind this bill, ie: the cultural situation in Uganda, is the real problem. Which is absolutely true.
This bill could be defeated and denounced time and time again, but until the international community works on fixing the views of HIV and homosexuality are dealt with, the bill will just rise from the flames every time. Simply denouncing the bill IS him doing nothing, he’s actually looking to act in the deeper problem and these attacks on him that I’ve seen for it really raise my ire.
I get where you’re coming from, I do. He does seem like a good man, and that is where the disappointment comes. I don’t find myself disappointed that people like Sarah Palin, etc don’t come out as against a bill like this because I honestly believe they favour these measures in their heart of hearts.
But I really do believe that people need to come out explicitly against it. Obviously here I guess you can believe that good people don’t want people dead for just being gay, but in African terms it isn’t that obvious. The international message here has to be precise and unmistakable.
Yes, I’ve certainly heard that. Coca Cola don’t have a great reputation.