The Economist 29Feb2020

The EconomistFebruary 29th 2020 Books & arts 69

2

1

torsgivespecialprominencetoimagesof

theregime’s victims,seenin liferather

thandeath.Onepoignantseriescapturesa

militarytribunalestablishedtoprosecute

“economiccrimes”suchassmugglingand

overcharging.Thesuspectsarebyturnsbe-

wilderedorresigned.A teenagegirlscowls

defiantlyatthecamera(seepreviouspage).

Manyofthoseprosecutedwereshot.

Butwhatareviewerstomakeofthedes-

potplayinganaccordionordipping his

toesina lake?Ata recentshowinginWest

Nile,Amin’shomeregion,hissoninsisted

thathehadstampedoutcorruptionand

“gaveUgandansself-esteem”.Youngpeo-

plesometimespraisehimasa leaderwho

stooduptoBritishcolonisersandAsianty-

coons.MsBananukaworriesthathis“dark

side”ismissing.“PeopleareseeingAmin

dancing,” she says, as though he were

merely“ajollyman”.

Snapshotsfromthebush

Thepicturesin“RebelLives”(suchasthe

one above) are equallyunsettling. They

weretakenbylrafightersduringits20-

year insurgency in northern Uganda

(where peace returned in 2006, though

remnantsbattleonelsewhere).Accounts

oftherebelliontendtofocusonitsleader,

JosephKony,andthemanyatrocitieshe

oversaw,depictingthegroupasa bizarre

cult.Buttheconflictwascomplexinitsori-

ginsandintimateinitseffects.Manyre-

belswere abducted aschildren,making

thembothvictimsandperpetratorsofvio-

lence.Thephotographs,collectedbyKris-

tofTitecaoftheUniversityofAntwerp,give

a glimpseofthewarfromtheirperspective.

ManyweretakenbyOkelloMosesRu-

bangangeyo, who was kidnapped from

school by thelra and rosethrough its

ranksbeforeescaping.Inthedryseason,he

says,therebelswouldpitchcampandlearn

tactics by watching action movies—

Rambo, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Chuck

Norris. Some of the pictures are knowing

pastiches of their heroes: camouflaged

warriors with grenade-launchers and

schoolboy eyes. The fighters would smug-

gle the film out to be developed, then drop

the photos on the trail to scare pursuers.

But Mr Rubangangeyo also took pic-

tures as mementoes, or “just to feel happy”,

mimicking ordinary life in extreme cir-

cumstances. On special days, such as

Christmas, the rebels would sling a sheet

between two trees and pose in their bush

studio, just as their families did at home. In

the exhibition and an accompanying book,

these visual souvenirs are presented along-

side interviews with their subjects, who are

now rebuilding their lives. Some have sat

for new photos, taken by the Congolese

photographerGeorgesSenga,whichecho

theposeandcompositionoftheoriginals.

Facesageandsoften;oldcomradesgive

waytowives,husbandsandchildren.

MrRubangangeyosmilesashelooks

throughtheseimages;theyarea chronicle

oftheonlyyouthheeverhad.Still,notesof

coercionandlossrunthroughthecollec-

tion.Inonepicture,a womanstandsstiffly

nexttoa uniformedcommander,hishand

drapedoverhershoulder.Todaysheisseen

ina bananagarden,alone.“Withthename

theygaveme,I won’tgetanotherman,”she

explainsina caption.“Thatnameis:‘She’s

a rebel,she’sfromthebush’.”Astheseexhi-

bitionsshow,therearesilencesinhistory.

Butthereisrarelyanescape. 7

The other face of war

A

rotating panel of historiansocca-

sionally ranks America’s presidents.

The leading contenders tend to be George

Washington and Abraham Lincoln; Lincoln

usually wins. The accolade is in part the re-

sult of his oratorical brilliance, notably the

addresses at Gettysburg and at his second

inauguration on March 4th 1865 (a month

before Robert E. Lee’s surrender). Together,

the two speeches constitute a grand aspira-

tional statement about the meaning of the

country’s bloodiest war.

Rhetoricians still marvel at Lincoln’s

simplicity, authenticity and eloquence.

Containing only 700 words (about as many

as this review) and lasting under six min-

utes, the second inaugural was rooted not

in utopian expectations of a seamless re-

union with the Confederacy, but in the

shadowoffrightfulslaughter on a thou-

sand battlefields. Lincoln (pictured above:

look closely) had aged decades in four

years. But his faith in democracy and what

was right, as he saw them, was firm. Sober

and resolute as his nature inclined him, he

also embodied what the times required.

By 1865 Lincoln had substituted ratio-

nalism and fatalism for the predestination

theology of his Kentucky forebears at Little

Pigeon Creek Baptist Church. But he still

venerated the King James Bible and often

quoted it at length. Sceptical about the God

it depicted, he nonetheless believed that

some power beyond human understand-

ing controlled the destiny of nations. As

Edward Achorn writes in “Every Drop of

Blood”, though Lincoln was hardly an or-

thodox Christian, his second inaugural

was “the most overtly religious” of any

presidential speech to that date. He said

America’s “original sin” of slavery required

a righteous God to purge both those who

wielded the whip and the politicians who

permitted it. He noted that northerners

and southerners read from the same Bible

and prayed to the same God, and both in-

voked God’s judgment on their adversaries.

The awful presence he described came

from Ezekiel and Jeremiah, not from sto-

ries of baby Jesus, meek and mild. But af-

terwards came divine healing:

With malice toward none, with charity to all;

with firmness in the right as God gives us to

see the right, let us strive on to finish the

work we are in; to bind up the nation’s

wounds...to do all which may achieve...a just

and lasting peace...

As they listened, the African-Americans

close enough to hear began murmuring,

“Bless the Lord,” the chant growing louder

until it erupted into shouts and weeping.

America’s partisan newspapers re-

viewed the address according to their

Lincoln’s second inaugural

Immortal words

Every Drop of Blood.By Edward Achorn.

Atlantic Monthly Press; 336 pages; $28

Postcard from 1865