Julian Hopwood writes about an unsettling event on the field that led him to reflect on mob justice and the complicated moral and political territory it finds itself

Hopwood, Julian

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Notes	from	the	Field:	Mob	justice	in	GuluJulian	Hopwood	writes	about	an	unsettling	event	on	the	field	that	led	him	to	reflect	on	mob	justice	and	thecomplicated	moral	and	political	territory	it	finds	itself.There	was	a	strong	smell	of	petrol	in	my	car	one	morning	back	in	March.	I	was	worried	that	it	might	be	a	leak,	beforeI	realised	what	it	was.Mob	justice	in	my	part	of	Gulu	(and	maybe	the	rest)	seems	to	be	on	the	increase.	There	were	a	couple	of	lynchingswithin	a	kilometre	of	my	house	in	November	last	year.	I	was	in	a	meeting	with	a	colleague	on	the	afternoon	inquestion	when	I	noticed	a	lot	of	noise	outside.	I	asked	my	daughter-in-law	what	was	happening	and	she	said	thatpeople	had	caught	a	thief	–	“We	told	them	to	take	him	somewhere	else	–	we	don’t	want	them	to	kill	him	here”.	By	thistime	the	noise	had	faded	and	there	was	nothing	to	be	seen.	I	got	in	the	car	with	my	colleague	and	we	raced	the	threehundred	metres	to	the	local	trading	centre,	where	a	crowd	had	gathered	around	the	boda	boda	(motorcycle	taxi)stand.	A	guy	was	kneeling	at	the	centre	of	the	circle,	his	face	so	swollen	that	I	had	no	sense	of	his	age	or	what	helooked	like.	I	thought	of	trying	to	intervene.	I	have	a	measure	of	standing	in	the	community,	reflected	in	the	fact	that	Iwas	the	guest	of	honour	at	the	2016	St	Jude’s	Boda	Boda	Association’s	May	Day	event!	But	whether	that,	combinedwith	the	neo-colonial	faux-authority	white	people	sometimes	seem	to	be	able	to	project	here	for	reasons	I	have	neverfully	understood,	would	have	been	sufficient	to	swing	the	crowd	I	was	unsure,	and	I	did	not	know	any	of	the	menbeating	the	guy	on	the	ground.I	decided	it	was	better	to	go	for	the	police,	but	at	the	nearest	post,	we	were	told	by	a	small	child	that	they	were	away.There	were	police	at	the	next	post	we	reached,	but	none	of	them	seemed	keen	to	come	with	me.	The	guy	on	thedesk	said	he	would	contact	a	colleague	whose	responsibility	this	apparently	was.	After	a	while,	someone	turned	upand	said	he	would	change	into	his	uniform.	Then	he	had	to	get	his	gun.	Then	he	had	to	wait	for	another	colleague.	Itwas	now	twenty	minutes	since	we	had	left	the	scene	and	there	seemed	no	likelihood	of	a	swift	police	departure,	sowe	drove	back	alone.	There	was	a	body	lying	in	the	ditch	at	the	crossroads	where	the	beating	had	been	happening,now	silently	watched	by	maybe	50	or	100	people.	The	guy	was	unconscious	but	seemed	to	be	still	breathing	so	webundled	him	into	the	car	and	took	him	to	the	nearest	hospital	–	St	Mary’s,	Lacor	–	one	of	the	best	in	Uganda.Image	credit:	Gavin	FordhamAfrica at LSE: Notes from the Field: Mob justice in Gulu Page 1 of 2		Date originally posted: 2018-11-23Permalink: http://blogs.lse.ac.uk/africaatlse/2018/11/23/notes-from-the-field-mob-justice-in-gulu/Blog homepage: http://blogs.lse.ac.uk/africaatlse/Peter,	who	I	have	since	gotten	to	know,	has	now	made	a	full	recovery	over	a	period	of	several	months.	His	story	isthat	he	was	driving	a	borrowed	motorcycle	which	(unbeknown	to	him,	he	claims)	had	been	stolen	a	few	weeksbefore.	Two	boda	driver	friends	of	the	original	owner	spotted	it,	gave	chase,	and	proceeded	to	beat	him	tounconsciousness,	aided	by	several	local	thugs.		They	had	then	poured	petrol	over	him	and	demanded	matches	fromthe	watching	community.	Some	women	started	screaming	and	some	of	the	men	shouted	that	they	were	going	too	far–	the	thief	had	been	punished	and	that	was	enough.	No	one	was	willing	to	give	them	matches,	so	the	attackersdropped	a	large	rock	on	Peter’s	head	and	left.I	have	since	heard	that	a	number	of	people	present	were	unhappy	that	I	had	intervened	by	taking	him	to	hospital.	It	isnot	that	they	were	against	him	surviving,	but	they	felt	that	one	of	their	community	leaders	should	have	taken	chargeof	the	situation.	In	fact,	none	of	the	three	elected	council	leaders	whose	jurisdictions	meet	at	the	crossroads,	neitherthe	pastor	of	the	Pentecostal	church,	nor	the	head	of	the	local	‘crime	preventers’	security	group	(who	was	in	his	hut20	metres	from	where	the	attack	took	place)	showed	up.This	is	complicated	moral	and	political	territory.	The	police	and	a	number	of	local	political	leaders,	including	themayor	of	Gulu,	George	Labeja,	are	understood	to	thoroughly	approve	of	mob	justice	(Labeja’s	electoral	successrests	on	his	reputation	for	killing	thieves,	much	like	Duterte’s	in	the	Philippines).	Also,	there	is	no	real	state	justicealternative	–	the	police,	as	we	have	seen,	are	reluctant	to	leave	their	stations	and	all	aspects	of	the	system	areprofoundly	corrupt	(see	‘Truth,	Evidence	and	Proof	in	the	realm	of	the	unseen.	Part	2‘	).	A	third	theoretical	option,informal	local	justice	(as	opposed	to	mob	‘justice’)	is	deeply	problematized	by	the	state.	One	might	suppose	that	arelatively	measured	response	by	local	elected	leaders,	who	are	in	fact	authorised	by	law	to	conduct	courts	–	in	effectcommunity	meetings	–	to	try	minor	crimes	including	theft,	would	be	preferable	to	the	randomness	and	excess	oflynchings.	But	as	our	colleague	Rebecca	Tapscott	has	described,	the	central	state’s	response	to	local	attempts	togenerate	greater	security	is	fickle	and	sometimes	violent.	Local	actors	learn	to	be	very	cautious	in	exercising	publicauthority.		Julian	Hopwood	has	been	based	in	Northern	Uganda	since	2006,	and	currently	works		and	provides	support	to	anumber	of	FLCA	projects	taking	place	there.	The	views	expressed	in	this	post	are	those	of	the	author	and	in	no	way	reflect	those	of	the	Africa	at	LSEblog,	the	Firoz	Lalji	Centre	for	Africa	or	the	London	School	of	Economics	and	Political	Science.	Africa at LSE: Notes from the Field: Mob justice in Gulu Page 2 of 2		Date originally posted: 2018-11-23Permalink: http://blogs.lse.ac.uk/africaatlse/2018/11/23/notes-from-the-field-mob-justice-in-gulu/Blog homepage: http://blogs.lse.ac.uk/africaatlse/

Notes from the field: mob justice in Gulu

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Notes from the field: mob justice in Gulu

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