FROM VOTING TO WALKING: THE 2011 WALK-TO-WORK PROTEST MOVEMENT IN UGANDA

Abstract

In early 2011 the political landscape in Uganda was abruptly altered. The presidential and parliamentary elections had just ended in February that year - with a landslide victory for the incumbent Museveni and a comfortable parliamentary majority for the ruling National Resistance Movement (NRM) party - when widespread anti-government demonstrations, called Walk-to-Work, erupted beginning in April. To understand the nature of the Walk to Work protests two arguments are presented. First, political opportunity structures, that is, the structure of alliances between opposition parties and between them and civic groups was crucial for mobilisation. Plus, the activists were also able to count with a supporting public opinion. Second, framing strategies such as amplification, bridging, and transformation, helped make the demands salient, link diverse frames and produced new understandings about the politics of opposition and protest in the country. Though the protests were short-lived and extinguished by the government, they emboldened popular demands for government accountability and democratic reform in subsequent years, illustrating that protests, even when they do not result in regime change, can still contribute positively to democratisation. The findings build on field work material and add to the discussion of protest and change in Africa's authoritarian countries.