[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"nav-categories":3,"article-a-slow-poison-mahmood-mamdani-s-timely-critique-of-gradual-authoritarianism-in-uganda-s-making":70},{"data":4},[5,37,57,64],{"name":6,"slug":7,"categories":8},"Productivity","productivity",[9,13,17,21,25,29,33],{"id":10,"title":11,"slug":12},17,"Branding","branding",{"id":14,"title":15,"slug":16},19,"Marketing","marketing",{"id":18,"title":19,"slug":20},20,"Work","work",{"id":22,"title":23,"slug":24},34,"Community","community",{"id":26,"title":27,"slug":28},21,"For newbies","for-newbies",{"id":30,"title":31,"slug":32},24,"Investment","investment",{"id":34,"title":35,"slug":36},22,"Finance","finance",{"name":38,"slug":39,"categories":40},"Tech","tech",[41,45,49,53],{"id":42,"title":43,"slug":44},28,"Technology","technology",{"id":46,"title":47,"slug":48},32,"Artificial Intelligence","artificial-intelligence",{"id":50,"title":51,"slug":52},26,"Security and protection","security-and-protection",{"id":54,"title":55,"slug":56},31,"YouTube Blog","youtube-blog",{"name":58,"slug":59,"categories":60},"News","news",[61],{"id":62,"title":58,"slug":63},18,"quasanews",{"name":65,"slug":66,"categories":67},"Business","business",[68],{"id":69,"title":65,"slug":66},16,{"post":71,"published_news":93,"popular_news":152,"categories":217},{"title":72,"description":73,"meta_title":72,"meta_description":74,"meta_keywords":75,"text":76,"slug":77,"created_at":78,"publish_at":78,"formatted_created_at":79,"category_id":22,"links":80,"view_type":83,"video_url":84,"views":85,"likes":86,"lang":87,"comments_count":86,"category":88},"A Slow Poison: Mahmood Mamdani's Timely Critique of Gradual Authoritarianism in Uganda's Making","In the annals of African political history, few narratives are as harrowing as Uganda's post-colonial journey—from the brutal excesses of Idi Amin to the enduring grip of Yoweri Museveni's long reign. Yet, as the world grapples with the subtle erosions of democracy in our own time, Mahmood Mamdani's latest book, Neither Settler nor Native: The Making and Unmaking of Permanent Minorities, arrives like a clarion call. Published in October 2024—coinciding with escalating global debates on authoritarian drift—this work by the eminent Ugandan scholar dissects the insidious mechanics of power consolidation. Mamdani, often hailed as one of the sharpest minds in postcolonial studies, argues that tyranny doesn't always arrive with tanks and mass graves; it can seep in gradually, like a slow-acting poison, reshaping institutions and societies under the guise of stability and progress.","Mahmood's son, Zohran Mamdani — a New York State Assembly member and democratic socialist - channels similar obsessions into praxis.","Mahmood Mamdani's latest book, Neither Settler nor Native: The Making and Unmaking of Permanent Minorities","\u003Cp>In the annals of African political history, few narratives are as harrowing as Uganda's post-colonial journey - from the brutal excesses of Idi Amin to the enduring grip of Yoweri Museveni's long reign. Yet, as the world grapples with the subtle erosions of democracy in our own time, Mahmood Mamdani's latest book, \u003Cstrong>\u003Cem>Neither Settler nor Native: The Making and Unmaking of Permanent Minorities\u003C/em>\u003C/strong>, arrives like a clarion call.\u003C/p>\n\n\u003Cp>\u003Cimg alt=\"\" class=\"image-align-right\" height=\"447\" src=\"https://quasa.io/storage/photos/00/image - 2025-11-11T173919.312.jpg\" width=\"300\" />Published in October 2024 - coinciding with escalating global debates on authoritarian drift — this work by the eminent Ugandan scholar dissects the insidious mechanics of power consolidation.\u003C/p>\n\n\u003Cp>Mamdani, often hailed as one of the sharpest minds in postcolonial studies, argues that tyranny doesn't always arrive with tanks and mass graves; it can seep in gradually, like a slow-acting poison, reshaping institutions and societies under the guise of stability and progress.\u003C/p>\n\n\u003Cp>Mamdani's central thesis is a profound indictment of how authoritarianism evolves not solely through cataclysmic ruptures but via a creeping normalization of control. Drawing on Uganda's dual dictatorships as a lens, he contrasts the overt savagery of Idi Amin's regime (1971–1979) - a period marked by coups, purges, and an estimated 300,000 deaths - with the more veiled, protracted authoritarianism of Yoweri Museveni, who has ruled since 1986.\u003C/p>\n\n\u003Cp>Amin, in Mamdani's framing, embodies the "obvious catastrophe": a military strongman whose whims unleashed chaos, expelling Asians, nationalizing industries, and plunging the country into economic ruin. Museveni, however, represents a subtler peril - a "long-acting toxin" that erodes political freedoms and social fabrics over decades, yielding a state that is fragile, inequitable, and ultimately as destructive.\u003C/p>\n\n\u003Cp>This distinction is no mere historical footnote; it's a warning for contemporary politics. Museveni's Uganda, Mamdani contends, exemplifies "thin" authoritarianism: a regime that maintains a veneer of electoral legitimacy while systematically subverting institutions. Repression here isn't sporadic violence but a steady drumbeat - opposition leaders harassed under anti-terrorism laws, media outlets muzzled through regulatory "reforms," and elections manipulated via gerrymandering and voter suppression.\u003C/p>\n\n\u003Cp>\u003Cimg alt=\"\" class=\"image-align-left\" height=\"447\" src=\"https://quasa.io/storage/photos/00/image - 2025-11-11T173920.362.jpg\" width=\"300\" />Corruption festers not as aberration but as policy, with patronage networks siphoning public resources into private empires. What begins as "efficient" governance - roads built, militias tamed - morphs into the hollowing out of accountability.\u003C/p>\n\n\u003Cp>Social ties fray as ethnic favoritism (favoring Museveni's western Ugandan base) deepens divisions, turning citizens into wary subjects rather than empowered stakeholders. The result? A state that limps along, propped by foreign aid and internal coercion, but one that Mamdani likens to a "weak poison": invisible until the body fails.\u003C/p>\n\n\u003Cp>At its core, Mamdani's analysis pivots on the complicity of societies themselves. If publics avert their gaze from legal erosions - tolerating the substitution of "effectiveness" for justice, or cheering "development" that masks elite capture - then even a "peaceful" autocracy becomes indistinguishable from outright tyranny. He invokes Hannah Arendt's banality of evil, but grounds it in African soil: the slow legalization of repression under the banner of order.\u003C/p>\n\n\u003Cp>Museveni's no-fly-zone around elections, or the 2021 constitutional tweaks extending his term limits, aren't shocks but symptoms of this gradual capture. Mamdani urges a reckoning: true decolonization demands rebuilding mechanisms of responsibility - from independent judiciaries to vibrant civil societies - that resist such incremental decay.\u003C/p>\n\n\u003Cp>\u003Cimg alt=\"\" class=\"image-align-right\" height=\"169\" src=\"https://quasa.io/storage/photos/00/image - 2025-11-11T175403.472.jpg\" width=\"300\" />Mahmood Mamdani himself is a towering figure whose life mirrors the intellectual rigor of his prose. Born in 1946 in Bombay (now Mumbai) to Indian Muslim parents, he grew up in Uganda under British colonial rule, witnessing the birth pangs of independence. Exiled during Amin's regime, he returned to Kampala in the 1980s, only to navigate Museveni's early years.\u003C/p>\n\n\u003Cp>Today, as Herbert Lehman Professor of Government at Columbia University and former Director of the Makerere Institute of Social Research, Mamdani has authored over a dozen books that dissect power's underbelly - from \u003Cstrong>Citizen and Subject\u003C/strong> (1996), which exposed the bifurcated legacy of colonial indirect rule, to \u003Cstrong>When Victims Become Killers\u003C/strong> (2001), a forensic look at Rwanda's genocide. His oeuvre spans anthropology, political theory, and history, blending Marxist insights with postcolonial critique.\u003C/p>\n\n\u003Cp>\u003Cimg alt=\"\" class=\"image-align-left\" height=\"169\" src=\"https://quasa.io/storage/photos/00/image - 2025-11-11T173636.147.jpg\" width=\"300\" />Articles in outlets like the \u003Cstrong>London Review of Books\u003C/strong> further cement his role as the "brain" behind unpacking how global structures - from apartheid to U.S. settlerism - replicate in the Global South.\u003C/p>\n\n\u003Cp>With \u003Cstrong>Neither Settler nor Native\u003C/strong>, he extends this genealogy, tracing authoritarian "minorities" (permanently marginalized groups) back to 1492's colonial origins, urging a politics beyond nation-state binaries.\u003C/p>\n\n\u003Cp>What elevates this book, however, is its familial echo. Mahmood's son, Zohran Mamdani — a New York State Assembly member and democratic socialist - channels similar obsessions into praxis. While the father theorizes how power distorts justice, the son fights to reform it on the ground: advocating for tenant rights, Palestinian solidarity, and anti-corruption measures in a city rife with oligarchic excess.\u003C/p>\n\n\u003Cp>It's a poignant tandem - one pens manifestos against institutional rot, the other wields them in legislative battles. As Mahmood might say, theirs is a dialogue across theory and trenches, reminding us that understanding authoritarianism is futile without the will to dismantle it.\u003C/p>\n\n\u003Chr />\n\u003Cp>\u003Cstrong>\u003Cimg alt=\"\" class=\"image-align-right\" height=\"169\" src=\"https://quasa.io/storage/photos/00/image - 2025-11-11T175404.960.jpg\" width=\"300\" />Also read\u003C/strong>:\u003C/p>\n\n\u003Cul>\n\t\u003Cli>\u003Ca href=\"https://quasa.io/media/200-years-of-returns-deutsche-bank-s-global-asset-study\">📊 200 Years of Returns: Deutsche Bank's Global Asset Study\u003C/a>\u003C/li>\n\t\u003Cli>\u003Ca href=\"https://quasa.io/media/the-texas-stock-exchange-txse-is-real-a-new-challenger-to-the-nyse-nasdaq-duopoly\">The Texas Stock Exchange (TXSE) is Real: A New Challenger to the NYSE-Nasdaq Duopoly\u003C/a>\u003C/li>\n\t\u003Cli>\u003Ca href=\"https://quasa.io/media/honey-what-are-you-thinking-about-the-mind-of-a-crypto-trader-in-the-shadow-of-october-10\">"Honey, What Are You Thinking About?" The Mind of a Crypto Trader in the Shadow of October 10\u003C/a>\u003C/li>\n\u003C/ul>\n\n\u003Chr />\n\u003Cp>In an era of "illiberal democracies" from Hungary to India, Mamdani's *Neither Settler nor Native* is not just timely - it's urgent. It compels us to peer beyond the spectacle of strongmen and interrogate the quiet consolidations that breed them. Uganda's story, after all, is every fragile polity's cautionary tale: ignore the slow poison, and the state you build today may be the cage you inherit tomorrow. For scholars, activists, and anyone weary of democratic backsliding, this book is essential reading - a blueprint for vigilance in an age of creeping shadows.\u003C/p>","a-slow-poison-mahmood-mamdani-s-timely-critique-of-gradual-authoritarianism-in-uganda-s-making","2025-11-11T16:41:47.000000Z","11.11.2025",{"image":81,"thumb":82},"https://quasa.io/storage/images/news/rghLNJR9PLrdcbgzdLJ29wvREXXIJVgHhAxjyl4I.jpg","https://api.quasa.io/thumbs/news-thumb/images/news/rghLNJR9PLrdcbgzdLJ29wvREXXIJVgHhAxjyl4I.jpg","small",null,1136,0,"en",{"id":22,"title":23,"slug":24,"meta_title":89,"meta_description":90,"meta_keywords":89,"deleted_at":84,"created_at":91,"updated_at":92,"lang":87},"All the community news from around the world","From heart warming stories to everyday heroes and shocking events, we've got the latest real life stories to keep you entertained","2025-01-10T08:48:23.000000Z","2025-01-10T09:34:07.000000Z",[94,107,118,129,141],{"title":95,"description":96,"slug":97,"created_at":98,"publish_at":99,"formatted_created_at":100,"category":101,"links":102,"view_type":83,"video_url":84,"views":105,"likes":86,"lang":87,"comments_count":86,"is_pinned":106},"This AI Will Tell You Exactly How Attractive You Are — And It Only Takes 25 Seconds","There’s a new viral AI tool that does something most of us secretly want to know but are afraid to ask: it looks at your face and gives you a straight-up attractiveness score.","this-ai-will-tell-you-exactly-how-attractive-you-are-and-it-only-takes-25-seconds","2026-03-27T20:13:20.000000Z","2026-04-10T09:34:00.000000Z","10.04.2026",{"title":27,"slug":28},{"image":103,"thumb":104},"https://quasa.io/storage/images/news/eTdAX16TIQnnM1X90hkB2oOPixcWqRw3eZlaGUta.jpg","https://api.quasa.io/thumbs/news-thumb/images/news/eTdAX16TIQnnM1X90hkB2oOPixcWqRw3eZlaGUta.jpg",81,false,{"title":108,"description":109,"slug":110,"created_at":111,"publish_at":112,"formatted_created_at":100,"category":113,"links":114,"view_type":83,"video_url":84,"views":117,"likes":86,"lang":87,"comments_count":86,"is_pinned":106},"Nubia Unveils RedMagic 11 Pro: The World’s First Gaming Smartphone with Liquid Cooling","The new flagship features a ceramic micropump, a massive 8,000mAh battery, and a Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 processor.","nubia-unveils-redmagic-11-pro-the-world-s-first-gaming-smartphone-with-liquid-cooling","2026-03-26T06:45:27.000000Z","2026-04-10T06:40:00.000000Z",{"title":43,"slug":44},{"image":115,"thumb":116},"https://quasa.io/storage/images/news/g3jNseMCCzEO2cZreMfoeEH3R0kh2VsnDf511jwh.png","https://api.quasa.io/thumbs/news-thumb/images/news/g3jNseMCCzEO2cZreMfoeEH3R0kh2VsnDf511jwh.png",130,{"title":119,"description":120,"slug":121,"created_at":122,"publish_at":123,"formatted_created_at":100,"category":124,"links":125,"view_type":83,"video_url":84,"views":128,"likes":86,"lang":87,"comments_count":86,"is_pinned":106},"Chinese Startup Hypershell Unveils X Ultra Exoskeleton — More Powerful Than an E-Bike","Hypershell, a Chinese company specializing in wearable robotics, has just launched one of the most impressive consumer exoskeletons to date: the Hypershell X Ultra.","chinese-startup-hypershell-unveils-x-ultra-exoskeleton-more-powerful-than-an-e-bike","2026-03-25T21:36:46.000000Z","2026-04-10T03:27:00.000000Z",{"title":43,"slug":44},{"image":126,"thumb":127},"https://quasa.io/storage/images/news/xgiykS2Xj3WKWW2BoMKNqCWFJgIrJ1rfykipZMXy.jpg","https://api.quasa.io/thumbs/news-thumb/images/news/xgiykS2Xj3WKWW2BoMKNqCWFJgIrJ1rfykipZMXy.jpg",234,{"title":130,"description":131,"slug":132,"created_at":133,"publish_at":134,"formatted_created_at":135,"category":136,"links":137,"view_type":83,"video_url":84,"views":140,"likes":86,"lang":87,"comments_count":86,"is_pinned":106},"Your Computer Mouse Can Now Eavesdrop on You","Researchers from the University of California, Irvine have demonstrated a surprising new security threat: an ordinary optical computer mouse can be turned into a covert microphone capable of listening to your conversations.","your-computer-mouse-can-now-eavesdrop-on-you","2026-03-25T21:21:22.000000Z","2026-04-09T11:13:00.000000Z","09.04.2026",{"title":43,"slug":44},{"image":138,"thumb":139},"https://quasa.io/storage/images/news/zvGSPNFVpmuJgnlniEHiwPc4aaeGYIVAuwxhouXu.jpg","https://api.quasa.io/thumbs/news-thumb/images/news/zvGSPNFVpmuJgnlniEHiwPc4aaeGYIVAuwxhouXu.jpg",801,{"title":142,"description":143,"slug":144,"created_at":145,"publish_at":146,"formatted_created_at":135,"category":147,"links":148,"view_type":83,"video_url":84,"views":151,"likes":86,"lang":87,"comments_count":86,"is_pinned":106},"Figure AI Founder Brett Adcock Launches Hark: A New Lab Building True Personal AGI","Brett Adcock, the founder of humanoid robotics company Figure AI, has quietly launched his next ambitious venture: Hark, an AI laboratory dedicated to creating the world’s most advanced personal intelligence.","figure-ai-founder-brett-adcock-launches-hark-a-new-lab-building-true-personal-agi","2026-03-25T20:23:25.000000Z","2026-04-09T09:11:00.000000Z",{"title":43,"slug":44},{"image":149,"thumb":150},"https://quasa.io/storage/images/news/C1UuYbaKmb90FPNMq9HupZ84jzRUQmO6HBbSPEPh.jpg","https://api.quasa.io/thumbs/news-thumb/images/news/C1UuYbaKmb90FPNMq9HupZ84jzRUQmO6HBbSPEPh.jpg",924,[153,166,180,192,205],{"title":154,"description":155,"slug":156,"created_at":157,"publish_at":158,"formatted_created_at":159,"category":160,"links":161,"view_type":83,"video_url":84,"views":164,"likes":165,"lang":87,"comments_count":86,"is_pinned":106},"The Anatomy of an Entrepreneur","Entrepreneur is a French word that means an enterpriser. Enterprisers are people who undertake a business or enterprise with the chance of earning profits or suffering from loss.","the-anatomy-of-an-entrepreneur","2021-08-04T15:18:21.000000Z","2025-12-14T06:09:00.000000Z","14.12.2025",{"title":65,"slug":66},{"image":162,"thumb":163},"https://quasa.io/storage/images/news/mVsXPTMuHZuI7UXCsENgL1Qwp1uSOf7Rz3uVPMfm.webp","https://api.quasa.io/thumbs/news-thumb/images/news/mVsXPTMuHZuI7UXCsENgL1Qwp1uSOf7Rz3uVPMfm.webp",68719,2,{"title":167,"description":168,"slug":169,"created_at":170,"publish_at":171,"formatted_created_at":172,"category":173,"links":174,"view_type":177,"video_url":84,"views":178,"likes":179,"lang":87,"comments_count":86,"is_pinned":106},"Advertising on QUASA","QUASA MEDIA is read by more than 400 thousand people a month. We offer to place your article, add a link or order the writing of an article for publication.","advertising-on-quasa","2022-07-06T07:33:02.000000Z","2025-12-15T17:33:02.000000Z","15.12.2025",{"title":58,"slug":63},{"image":175,"thumb":176},"https://quasa.io/storage/images/news/45SvmdsTQbiyc3nxgbyHY1mpVbisYyub2BCHjqBL.jpg","https://api.quasa.io/thumbs/news-thumb/images/news/45SvmdsTQbiyc3nxgbyHY1mpVbisYyub2BCHjqBL.jpg","large",68265,4,{"title":181,"description":182,"slug":183,"created_at":184,"publish_at":185,"formatted_created_at":186,"category":187,"links":188,"view_type":83,"video_url":84,"views":191,"likes":179,"lang":87,"comments_count":86,"is_pinned":106},"What is a Startup?","A startup is not a new company, not a tech company, nor a new tech company. You can be a new tech company, if your goal is not to grow high and fast; then, you are not a startup. ","what-is-a-startup","2021-08-04T12:05:17.000000Z","2025-12-17T13:02:00.000000Z","17.12.2025",{"title":65,"slug":66},{"image":189,"thumb":190},"https://quasa.io/storage/images/news/EOsQhSW3VXyG7a6NPdE1oZd00xfJXe3bjY5aJGb7.webp","https://api.quasa.io/thumbs/news-thumb/images/news/EOsQhSW3VXyG7a6NPdE1oZd00xfJXe3bjY5aJGb7.webp",66313,{"title":193,"description":194,"slug":195,"created_at":196,"publish_at":197,"formatted_created_at":198,"category":199,"links":200,"view_type":83,"video_url":84,"views":203,"likes":165,"lang":87,"comments_count":204,"is_pinned":106},"Top 5 Tips to Make More Money as a Content Creator","Content creators are one of the most desired job titles right now. Who wouldn’t want to earn a living online?","top-5-tips-to-make-more-money-as-a-content-creator","2022-01-17T17:31:51.000000Z","2026-01-17T11:30:00.000000Z","17.01.2026",{"title":19,"slug":20},{"image":201,"thumb":202},"https://quasa.io/storage/images/news/gP8kiumBPpJmQv6SMieXiX1tDetx43VwFfO1P4Ca.jpg","https://api.quasa.io/thumbs/news-thumb/images/news/gP8kiumBPpJmQv6SMieXiX1tDetx43VwFfO1P4Ca.jpg",40604,1,{"title":206,"description":207,"slug":208,"created_at":209,"publish_at":210,"formatted_created_at":211,"category":212,"links":213,"view_type":177,"video_url":84,"views":216,"likes":165,"lang":87,"comments_count":86,"is_pinned":106},"8 Logo Design Tips for Small Businesses","Your logo tells the story of your business and the values you stand for.","8-logo-design-tips-for-small-businesses","2021-12-04T21:59:52.000000Z","2025-05-05T03:30:00.000000Z","05.05.2025",{"title":15,"slug":16},{"image":214,"thumb":215},"https://quasa.io/storage/images/news/Wbx2NtS1CnTupgoQbpFMGspJ5jm4uob2hDOq33r0.jpg","https://api.quasa.io/thumbs/news-thumb/images/news/Wbx2NtS1CnTupgoQbpFMGspJ5jm4uob2hDOq33r0.jpg",39912,[218,219,220,221,222,223,224,225,226,227,228,229,230],{"title":23,"slug":24},{"title":47,"slug":48},{"title":55,"slug":56},{"title":43,"slug":44},{"title":51,"slug":52},{"title":31,"slug":32},{"title":35,"slug":36},{"title":27,"slug":28},{"title":19,"slug":20},{"title":15,"slug":16},{"title":58,"slug":63},{"title":11,"slug":12},{"title":65,"slug":66}]