maũndũ makwa #11
(my things): #RejectFinanceBill2024, end state sanctioned violence, & Kenya out of Haiti
We are still counting the dead. The sting of tear gas is still fresh. The leaders are still lying and the media is still concerned with damaged property. The IMF and world bank and western powers and Kenyan elite do not care about the common people, though they sometimes pretend. They over-tax the common people to feed the beasts. So people took the streets and parliament. The Kenyan police, who murder, murdered. We are still counting the dead, again.
And the Kenyan police, who murder, have arrived in Haiti. Four-hundred of them. The Kenyan president, who lies, says it’s a pan-African peace-keeping mission. Like Blackfaced imperialism is somehow revolutionary. Back home, people can’t afford food. People can’t afford menstrual products. People can’t afford fuel. The burden is on the poor as the powerful and wealthy barely feel the difference. As they live luxurious lives built on blood.
People are missing, abducted by the state. This is not normal, though it has happened before. The children deserve a future and the resources shared. When the rains came and came only months ago, the people were abandoned by the government, but the people who survived came together and knew they deserved better. Like now, it’s so bad it hurts and so powerful it inspires.
Kenyan politicians desperate for western validation at all costs. Dismissing the youth at all costs. They say you can’t critique the system with an iphone. What’s to say about leaders with watches on their wrists worth fortunes? Who eat opportunities and are corrupt to the bone? They disappear, detain, and destroy to keep the power in their hands.
What to the neo-colonial subject is independence? When can people be freed of imperialism? US military bases and ‘israeli’ weaponry and all the rest. I may grow my hair long and not cut it until we are all fully free, because this is no way for my people to live. And now we are occupying, again, a people who our state does not care to humanize and say it’s for their benefit, in fact it’s “solidarity”.
And the IMF and world bank and private lenders say we owe them money, pay now, let the masses suffer. To whom is the world in debt to? When have the austerity measures worked? Who gets to benefit from the richness of Africa? Heard they found coltan in Kenya in January. Been praying for the earth and people since then, before then.
We cannot continue this way. The people deserve food, shelter, joy, resources, jobs, freedom, land, dignity, and to die well. And I am talking about all the people. From Garissa to Gaza, from Mombasa to Port-au-Prince, from Nairobi to Khartoum, from Kisumu to Goma. Global liberation. We are not free until everyone is free.
Additional Resources:
Death toll rises to 22 a day after Kenyan protesters stormed parliament
Ruto declines to sign Finance Bill 2024
Kenya's police shoot at protesters as they storm parliament against new taxes
'Occupy parliament' protests on as Kenyans call out MPs over Finance Bill
Kenya police use tear gas, water cannon as hundreds protest over tax hikes
At least 200 injured, 100 arrested in Kenya tax protests: Rights groups
Probe begins into police conduct during Kenya’s anti-government protests
Anger after protester shot dead at Kenya anti-tax demos
2 dead in Kenya youth protests
Life or Debt: The Stranglehold of Neocolonialism and Africa’s Search for Alternatives
The IMF’s Policies Are Destroying Kenya, Again
IMF reaches staff level agreement with Kenya, urges fiscal consolidation
The shame that’s Kenya’s social ill: Wealth inequality
Kenyan president defends use of private jet for Washington trip
Anonymous Issues Warning to Kenyan Leaders Ahead of Controversial Finance Bill Vote
Kenya: police killings point to systemic rot and a failed justice system
First group of 400 Kenyan police officers leaves for Haiti
Kibera: are Kenya's police getting away with murder?
Police brutality in Nairobi‘s slums
Memorandum on the Designation of Kenya as a Major Non-NATO Ally
Wĩra (work)
In December, i wrote about the case against Kenya's occupation of Haiti:
In January, I wrote about femicide and other instances of violence in Kenya:
I worked on a media list full of book recommendations, articles, reports, videos, and much more. It was created for Black OC Archive and is intended for local and global community to use to learn about different communities and issues.
illustration by Chi Nwosu
gũthikĩrĩria (listening to)
‘Nyayo House’ & ‘Leopold’ by Kenyan Afropunk band Cristal Axis:
‘Reject’ by Sir Newson:
Liberty we must reclaim
In dis chaos find who to blame
Fi real man can barely cope
Future stolen losing hope
We rise up side by side
Reject the bill we shout with pride
Podcasts I’ve been listening to:
kũrora (to look)
This Al Jazeera segment on how Kenyan activists and musicians are pushing for social change and an end to state sanctioned violence:
This documentary, Walking Shadows, Undying Spirits: The Nyayo House Torture Stories, about the state sanctioned abductions, tortures, and murders of the Kenyan public:
This music video for the song ‘IMF’ by Seun Kuti featuring M1 (from Dead Prez):
Dem go say do as we tell you
Lie to your people
Dem go say do as we tell you
Cheat your people
Ode go say IMF know
What's best for me
I tell the fool IMF no
Know what's best for me
This clip of Kenyan writer and political analyst Nanjala Nyabola talking about the long history of African solidarity with Palestine:
gũthoma (to read)
Amnesty International Kenya’s report “Missing Voices 2023 Annual Report: End Police Impunity”
NATO and Africa: A Relationship of Colonial Violence and Structural White Supremacy by Djibo Sobukwe
What Is AFRICOM? How the U.S. Military is Militarizing and Destabilizing Africa by Samar Al-Bulushi
Thousands march against femicide in Kenya following the January slayings of at least 14 women
This series of tweets by Feminists in Kenya:
wa Ngamĩro, meaning of or from Ngamĩro. Ngamĩro, a gourd used to hold milk and my maternal great-grandmother's name. an ode to vessels and also my grandmother who was of - from Ngamĩro. this is a space for exploration, curation, na meciria makwa (and my thoughts). wa Ngamĩro is a monthly-ish newsletter.
Sending you radical care and appreciation🌱
Other spaces I’m at online:
✦/ patreon