1972 - 1981

While working as a lecturer in the northern Tanzanian town of Moshi in 1973, Museveni formed the Front for National Salvation (FRONASA) with the purpose of recapturing Uganda, returning to Mozambique with his soldiers for further guerilla warfare training. In March 1979, FRONASA joined forces with other Ugandan exile groups, including a large group of rebels loyal to former president Obote, to form the Uganda National Liberation Front (UNLF) and Uganda National Liberation Army (UNLA). With assistance from the Tanzanian People's Defense Forces, the UNLA battled Idi Amin’s army during the Uganda-Tanzania war and eventually overthrew Amin, retaking the capital of Kampala in less than a month after the formation of the UNLF.

Museveni was named Minister of Defense, Minister of Regional Cooperation and Vice-Chairman of the Military Commission in a government headed by the UNLF, with the task of conquering what remained of Amin’s army. As an able commander who led well-disciplined troops, Museveni carried out his mission thoroughly and successfully, while preserving civilian lives. Along the way he also sharpened his bush-warrior skills; skills that he would need in the future, and sooner than anyone could have predicted.

Elections were held in Uganda in 1980, and Museveni ran for president as the leader of his own political party, the Uganda Patriotic Movement (UPM). Having spent a year enduring the infighting of the UNLF and having seen how Obote’s loyalists were lining up to take control of the country, Museveni issued a warning: if the election results were tampered with, he would return to the bush and fight to overthrow any illegitimate leader. When the disputed election returned Obote to power in February 1981, Museveni and 26 followers returned to the bush and formed the National Resistance Army (NRA), establishing a base in Luwero, 20 miles north of Kampala, and taking up arms.

Unite Against Fascism Newsletter

Ken Livingstone, Owen Jones (Writer and journalist), Edie Friedman (Jewish Council for Racial Equality) and Linda Roy (Communication Workers Union) join the latest list of speakers to the UAF/OSMC conference. 30,000 Golden Dawn supporters took to the streets of Greece in early February. This is a stark reminder of how fascism takes advantage of an economic crisis by viciously attacking and scapegoating vulnerable communities. Racist murders have accompanied their rise and they have open support in the police and the army. When the Front National’s Marine Le Pen was invited to Cambridge Union this week, UAF’s demonstration opposing her visit became the story both nationally and internationally. UAF has a ‘No Platform for fascism’ policy because we remember that across the globe up to 70 million people lost their lives in the Second World War. This includes 15 million murdered under Nazi occupation since it seized power in 1933. No other regime in the history of humanity has been responsible for this level of devastation and destruction in the space of 12 years from when Hitler came to power to the end of the Second World War. Those who lost their lives opposed fascism and died fighting for the freedom and liberation of humanity. After the Second World War the whole world said ‘never again’. We must learn the lessons of history. This is why we call for ‘No Platform’. This conference is an opportunity to discuss how we build a movement in Britain that prevents the rise of fascism in the age of austerity and economic crisis.

Register now for our conference: see eflyer below

National conference: Stopping the rise of fascism and racism ■ Celebrate multiculturalism ■ Challenging Islamophobia

Saturday 2 March, 10–5.30pm Congress Centre, TUC, Great Russell Street, London WC1B 3LS

Speakers: Ken Livingstone Former Mayor of London and Honorary President, UAF Diane Abbott MP Andy Slaughter MP Claude Moraes MEP Jeremy Corbyn MP Leslie Mercer TUC President Christine Blower NUT General Secretary Chris Keates NASUWT General Secretary Hugh Lanning PCS Deputy General Secretary Linda Roy National Equality officer, CWU Farooq Murad Muslim Council of Britain General Secretary Owen Jones Writer and journalist Symon Sentain Stephen Lawrence Charitable Trust Chair Edie Friedman Director, Jewish Council for Racial Equality Azad Ali Head of Community Development, Engage Fr. Steven Saxby Dean of Waltham Forest Omar Ali FOSIS President Petros Constantinou Greece anti-fascist campaign KEERFA national organiser Glyn Ford Unite Against Fascism European Officer Gerry Gable Editor, Searchlight Marwan Muhammed Collective Against Islamophobia (CCIF) Helen Shaw Co-Director, Inquest Omer El-Hamdoon President Muslim Association of Britain Myriam Francois-Cerrah Writer and journalist John Campbell Yorkshire UAF Chair Denis Fernando Lesbian and Gay Coalition Against Racism Aaron Kiely NUS Black Students’ Officer Sabby Dhalu Unite Against Fascism Joint Secretary Weyman Bennett Unite Against Fascism Joint Secretary Hosted by: Supported by: Fascist organisations are seeking to take advantage of the hardship created by the economic crisis and the impact of austerity to gain support. Today Muslims, immigrants and others are wrongly blamed for the crisis, just like Jews were scapegoated for the Great Depression in the 1930s. We have successfully defeated the BNP and the EDL. But they have not disappeared. The invitation by the Cambridge Union for Marine Le Pen, leader of the fascist Front National in France, to address the Society, reminds us why we must be vigilant in opposing racism and fascism in Britain. Le Pen finished third in the French Presidential elections, last year and similarly the openly Nazi Golden Dawn in Greece polled a record 6.9 per cent and gained 18 MPs. Fascist organisations are using these results to co-ordinate campaigns across Europe in the run-up to next year’s Euro elections, where in Britain Nick Griffin and Andrew Brons are seeking re-election. UKIP have benefitted from the Conservative Party’s unpopularity, but this could also lead to a revival of fascist organisations like the BNP. We must learn lessons of history and prevent a national political breakthrough by the British National Party (BNP) or any other fascist organisation. Racism, Islamophobia, and myths about Muslims, immigration and multiculturalism have provided the cutting edge of support for fascism in Britain and other European countries. In many European countries, concessions to a far right agenda have had devastating consequences such as the expulsion of Roma communities, legislation banning the face veil, halal and kosher meat and the construction of minarets. We must prevent the implementation of such policies in Britain. The conference on Saturday 2 March is an opportunity to discuss these issues and how we best campaign against fascism, racism and Islamophobia.