MovieChat Forums > Général Idi Amin Dada: Autoportrait (1976) Discussion > Not an Evil Dictator, Just a Dreamer

Not an Evil Dictator, Just a Dreamer

posted 16 years ago by Invariable Self
6 replies | jump to latest

I think history will have to reassess Idi Amin. It is easy for us in the West to cast him as a crazy black dictator but I think he merely wanted freedom for Ugandans. To do this he had to wrestle economic control from the Asians, but unfortunately this had disastrous results. This led to poverty and then a brutal civil war against rebels. This in turn cast him as a butcher in the eyes of the West when in fact he was merely fighting the enemies of his country. Perhaps it was his daring to speak of attacking Israel to liberate the Palestinians that got the Western press to label him as a madman. In the end though, I think if Amin had a been a white leader doing these things, he would not be called an evil dictator but merely a dreamer in a violent part of the world where circumstances would not allow him to fulfill his dreams of freedom and prosperity for his people.

I.S. Oxford

"The books have nothing to say!"
-- Fahrenheit 451

[–] VivaMongo 16 years ago

Hmmmn - I think the 100,000 (conservative estimate) to 500,000 (upper limits) people that died under this mans rule would disagree with the title 'Dreamer" and veer more towards 'Nightmare'.

He is just another African leader that harnessed the justifiable anger of his country towards colonialism to his own selfish and perverse ends. Mugabe is another man in the same mold.

History will not be kind to Amin's memory in either the west or in Africa, despite your assessment as a dreamer. I believe the victims memories of this dictator will out.

Of course there will always be people getting a hard on for "Great Dictators" and their fabulous visions for "their" people.

The ordinary people who’s lives they end or destroy need more of a voice not a crazy romantic reassessment from a cosy armchair "philosopher" miles away from the horror of their torture and the stench of their death.

[–] hecklejecklelove 16 years ago

VivaMongo...I couldnt agree more.

I am wondering if the OP has actually watched this brilliant documentary???

I cant see how anyone viewing it could see Amin as a 'dreamer'...Even the parts that are not narrated and are just Amin discussing various things show that this man was insane...Okay, maybe he was a dreamer, but he was an insane dreamer dreaming insane dreams...Dreams for which hundreds of thousands of people, who's only crime was to 'upset' their leader in one way or another, had to pay the ultimate price.

History already has shown this man in the best light he could possibly have hoped for in view of his regime's crimes...and thats as a mass murder...If the world wanted to it would also be sasy to call him a genocidal madman because thats also the truth.

hjl

Star Wars Episode IV.V: The Holiday Special.

The Libertine-'Do You Like Me Now?'

[–] 16 years ago

[deleted]

[–] JanosSkorzeny 15 years ago

Invariable Self is either a troll or a fascist. He recently posted something similar about Hitler on the "Das Boot" board.

[–] Selish70 13 years ago

You may say Idi a dreamer

but he not the only one

Idi hope someday you join him

And Uganda live as one

[–] matt-282 12 years ago

Jean-Bédel Bokassa was a crazy dictator too, during the same years of Idi Amin's rule. Bokassa was the self-proclaimed 'Emperor' of the Central African Republic. He was less murderous then Amin, but more flamboyant and self-indulgent then the Ugandan dictator. The English-speaking Amin saw himself as the 'Hitler of African' while the French-speaking Bokassa saw himself as the 'Napoleon of Africa' and he modeled is 1977 lavish coronation cerimony after the coronation of Napoleon himself... costing over $20 million and squandering Central Africa's budget for the past few years. There are some exerpts from the Amin documentary on YouTube as well as a Bokassa documentary called 'Bokassa: L'Emporer de Centrafric' (Emperor of Central Africa), except that it is in French and those who can't speak French or know it well might have a little difficulty understanding each scene and the interviews with Emperor Bokassa.