‘Those from among you’ fits in Uganda/Africa’s quest to decolonise

The just concluded Russia – Africa summit has revived debate across the African continent about its mission to achieve total independence. In St Petersburg where the summit was held, they found in President Valdimir Putin an ally they could count on to advance the discussion.

Although African countries boast of being free from the shackles of colonialism, they still suffer the after effects of the evil reign. The debate to decolonise the African mind is taking on a multi-pronged approach.

In Uganda, just as the summit in Putin land was closing, First Daughter Natasha Museveni Karugire launched the docuseries  Those From Among You that I believe will go a long away in peeling off the layers of inferiority complex embedded in the African mind. The docuseries that started airing on Monday, chronicles the story of Uganda’s past from pre-colonial times to present, with its unique feature being first-hand accounts of some of those who participated.

Last year, some friends and I were preparing to launch the Fidel Castro Memorial Lecture in honour of the former Cuban leader’s contribution to Africa’s anti-colonial movements. From Algeria to Namibia, Guinea Bissau, Zaire (DRC), Ethiopia to Angola’s Cuito Cuanavale whose battle historians say marked the end of colonialism in Africa as we knew it, Cubans offered their sacrifice to help Africa. One of the reasons we celebrate figures like Amilcar Cabral, Augostino Neto, Samora Machel, Thomas Sankara, is that they all interacted with him. Not forgetting our own President Yoweri Museveni.

My duty in preparations for this memorial was to collect documentaries that would air on that day for our audience to provide context as to why we were dedicating the day to El Comandante en Jefe Fidel Castro Ruz.

However, as I perused through the web, I could hardly come across any documentary from any of the countries where Fidel had an impact. The only available pieces were a few with western narrators who already have a biased attitude towards our friends in Havana.

The experience made me realise the importance of telling your own story and in most cases being the first to put it out there. Lest someone else tells the story with their own narrative and agenda. It is from telling a particular story that society shapes its opinion and belief system based on what is available.

African minds are tainted with the belief on white superiority complex because we studied that people like Graham Bell were inventors. Yet from legitimate sources, blacks invented everyday things the world uses like; the three-light traffic signal, refrigerated trucks, automatic elevator doors, colour monitors for desktop computers, to the shape of the modern ironing board, the clothes wringer, blood banks, laser treatment for cataracts, home security systems and the super-soaker children’s toy.

What you feed the mind it plays a key role in how it views and defines the super structure of society.

For long now, documentaries about global historic events, have been produced by people in the West. Their work has been used for reference in the academic world and this has contributed to how the world views certain sections of society. Some have even gone ahead to make conclusions based on documentaries and Hollywood productions.

On her part, Africa has been lacking in this field of motion pictures that tell our stories despite an abundance of them. 

Africa’s story is one of resilience in overcoming catastrophes life slavery, colonialism and its current war with imperialism. However, these stories remain untold, stories that could inspire the belief of generations and how they perceive human abilities.

In producing Those From Among You, an African story, Natasha is challenging the continent to arise from its slumber and not wait for outsiders to control our minds with a narrative they have chosen for us. 

She is inspiring African filmmakers to extract stories from ourselves and tell the world who we are because we have the ability.

Alex Joel Masereka

Pan Africanist, ONC Media