Their sexually explicit protests have been branded as pornography, but Ugandan activist and writer Stella Nyanzi says sex is the most effective and entertaining way to lift people out of apathy.
"I learned very early that there are some themes in Uganda that are out of print and (…) the only way to get attention is to include something that shocks"says the 47-year-old woman in an interview with AFP in Kampala.
Stella Nyanzi has shocked many people with her statements and actions that included branding as "pair of buttocks" to President Yoweri Museveni to show her breasts in a court hearing.
But this former university researcher, with a doctorate in sexuality in Africa and nearly 300,000 followers on Facebook, has no regrets.
"We do not see, or pretend not to see, what happens in society, especially excesses and violations" under Museveni’s decades of authoritarian rule, he says.
"Telling a violent, militant, brutal regime that it is violent, to stop, does not have as much impact as saying (…) to hell with the rapist penis, a militant of the dictatorship", expresses.
Nyanzi suffered firsthand the consequences of his rebellion. She was imprisoned for "cyber bullying" in 2019, after uploading a profane poem on Facebook about Museveni, and suffered a miscarriage after a beating in jail.
Although she insists on minimizing her suffering, pain is at the center of her attempts to bring Museveni down.
After losing her parents six years ago, unable to find medicine or get an ambulance in time, Nyanzi turned to humor, in part to escape the enormous sadness that enveloped her.
But in his hands, humor became a weapon to channel his anger at a government he blames for the deaths of his parents and thousands of Ugandans who lack access to health care and other public services.
Radical rudeness
Nyanzi, a polarizing figure, has drawn the ire of religious conservatives and even some feminists who criticize her insistence on sex.
"I’m tired of feminists telling me that I’m wrong and that I can’t do this or that this is anti-feminist"says Nyanzi.
"Let me be free to think and protest my way", insists, noting that her limitless approach to sexuality is grounded in pre-Christian Ugandan culture and is aimed at empowering women by encouraging them to touch on taboo subjects.
His tactics also use the political tradition of the "radical rudeness", whose roots are in the country’s anti-colonial struggle.
His stinging online tirades, in which he compares the Museveni regime to a crab, earned him the nickname of "the rudest woman in Uganda", but at the same time, they have made her a star of social networks outside her country.
Online threats from pro-government trolls don’t scare her.
"I’m not looking for love and hugs", He says.
"I go to social networks very consciously deliberately to tell the truth to power, a truth that our traditional media do not tell", emphasizes.
His rhetoric is nothing compared to the dangers facing many activists in Uganda.
Nyanzi fled to Kenya months ago after her partner was allegedly kidnapped and tortured.
Although she returned to Kampala, she still thinks about the possibility of a life in exile to protect her three children.
With hope
Identified as an optimist, despite the fact that January failed in its attempt to reach a legislative seat, Nyanzi does not intend to give up.
"The hope that (Uganda) can change and be better for the next generation is what encourages me", he comments.
Most Ugandans do not remember life before Museveni, 77, a former rebel who came to power in 1986 after toppling two presidents.
"Museveni has exceeded his term (…) his family and his system will one day be out of power", anticipate.
When that happens, she hopes her need to protest is a thing of the past as well.
But until then, it’s ready and armed with an arsenal of explicit imagery designed to impact and spark change.
"What I do is not erotic and it is not pornography. It’s rage and the expression of rage using my body", concludes.
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