The Holy Spirit Movement (HSM) was the Ugandan rebel group led by Alice Auma, a spirit-medium who claimed to receive direction from the spirit Lakwena. Alice, an ethnic Acholi, was purportedly directed to form the HSM by Lakwena in August 1986.
Technically the Holy Spirit Movement is the political wing of Alice's organization and the Holy Spirit Mobile Force is the military wing, but there was no real separation of functions and the titles are used interchangeably. After gathering a small group of followers, Alice convinced the rebel Uganda People's Democratic Army (UPDA) to put some of their troops under her command in November 1986.
In November and December 1986, the HSMF achieved two unexpected victories over government National Resistance Army forces. These victories brought widespread popular support, including among other northern ethnic groups besides the Acholi, and attracted new recruits to the HSM. Much of the popular support was the result of a strict but fair set of guidelines given to followers that governed the relationship of HSM rebels with the populace, which created a positive impression compared to the government or other rebel groups that were often seen to be abusing their military strength.
The Holy Spirit Movement fought as a regular army - taking and controlling territory, as well as holding pitched battles with NRA forces - but had a number of practices that outsiders found bizarre. Spiritual "controllers" were integrated into each unit. Along with duties such as tending to Alice Auma while she was possessed, they smeared blessed oil on combatants that was supposed to stop bullets if the combatant's soul was pure.
Stones were blessed so they would explode like grenades, and combatants walked into combat in cross-shaped formations while singing hymns. While the HSM suffered a number of horrific defeats, particularly when defending NRA soldiers had machine guns to fire upon the hymn-singing formations walking towards them, these methods were, according to some accounts, surprisingly effective.
The alliance between the Uganda People's Democratic Army and the HSM quickly fell apart. By early 1987 the UPDA was attempting to capture the civilian resource base of the HSM by terrorizing Lakwena’s supporters into submission. Despite continued conflicts with other rebel groups, the HSM began an offensive in August 1987 with the objective of retaking Kampala and initiating a paradise on earth. By November 1987, it had extended its forces far into regions where it had no popular support. After suffering a series of defeats, the shaken HSM was decisively defeated fifty miles from Kampala in a forest battle in which the NRA used overwhelming artillery support.
The Holy Spirit Movement left in its wake a number of smaller rebel groups that mimicked its chiliastic message (The doctrine stating that Jesus will reign on earth for 1,000 years). Most of these groups soon fell into banditry, disbanded as members drifted away, or were defeated by government forces or other rebel groups. However, one of these groups eventually became the Lord's Resistance Army, which continues to operate in Acholiland.
Famous quotes containing the words holy, spirit and/or movement:
“Insurrection:... insurrection as soon as circumstances allow: insurrection, strenuous, ubiquitous: the insurrection of the masses: the holy war of the oppressed: the republic to make republicans: the people in action to initiate progress. Let the insurrection announce with its awful voice the decrees of God: let it clear and level the ground on which its own immortal structure shall be raised. Let it, like the Nile, flood all the country that it is destined to make fertile.”
—Giuseppe Mazzini (1805–1872)
“You yourselves are our letter, written on our hearts, to be known and read by all; and you show that you are a letter of Christ, prepared by us, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts.”
—Bible: New Testament, 2 Corinthians 3:2-3.
“You watched and you saw what happened and in the accumulation of episodes you saw the pattern: Daddy ruled the roost, called the shots, made the money, made the decisions, so you signed up on his side, and fifteen years later when the women’s movement came along with its incendiary manifestos telling you to avoid marriage and motherhood, it was as if somebody put a match to a pile of dry kindling.”
—Anne Taylor Fleming (20th century)