Changing face of activism

By Nyambega Gisesa

Kuxi Ghai is a stunning beauty.  She schooled in London, stays alone and is single. Then there is Mary Ingabire — a sassy university student, who loves to write about love and boys on her Facebook page.

On May 14, during the Occupy Parliament protests against MPs’ pay rise demands, the two revealed their side as fiery fighters for social rights.

They are among thousands of young Kenyans from all walks of life, who are changing the face of activism. On their Facebook pages they received words of appreciation and encouragement after updating that they were arrested during the protests.

In the past, the image of an activist was that of an unkempt, grumpy and sometimes violent person, who destroyed property during protests, harassed motorists and hurled insults and abuses to the public. This is what the new crop of activists is changing.

 The Arab Spring was undeniably a breakout moment for this generation. Since then, strong-minded individuals and groups seeking justice have held countless grassroots activist movements from Sudan to Pakistan, and Venezuela to South Korea.

‘Occupy Parliament’ is one of the activist movements challenging conventional, age-old norms, injustice, oppression and intolerance. The demonstrators turned to social media to mobilise – and caused a spectacle on D-Day when they brought pigs to symbolise the greed of MPs (referred to as MPigs).  

Protesters used a Facebook page (Occupy Parliament), a Twitter hash tag (occupyparliament) and an application for mobile phone users through which the progress of the protest could be followed on phones at the touch of a button. Stylish, trendy and attractive - that is how protests are becoming.

Their message is becoming louder and louder and their tactics are innovative. On May 14, they gathered at Freedom Corner where they lined up to pick T-shirts and placards before matching to Parliament.

“That was our way of standing up to the MPs,” says Shamit Patel, who runs an advertising company that prints T-shirts. He was the man, who rushed to save a fellow protestor from being clobbered by the police.

Writings on the placards were evidently done with a touch of youth and their popular sheng language. They included, ‘We are on the right side of history’, ‘My vote is still valid’, ‘Kama pesa haitoshi u resign (if the money is insufficient, resign)’, ‘Bunge sio biashara ni utumishi (Parliament is not about big bucks, it is about service)’, ‘MPs waache mpango wa kando (MPs have to be loyal to the people)’ and ‘MPs are stealing your children’s future’.

The use of a pig, piglets and blood also added to the sense of drama. Boniface Mwangi, who is growing to be the new face of the Civil Society, has denied reports that the animals were slaughtered during the demonstration.

Even before the protest were over, one of the young activists, who calls himself Maskani Kenya on Facebook, posted a photo supposedly of Igembe South MP Mithika Linturi admiring a pig with the caption, “Linturi admires his fellow pig outside parliament,” which others commented on with witty additions.

Many others updated their Facebook pages and tweeted in real time about the protests.

“So today I attended my very first ever protest and I have to say I was very proud of myself, the pigs were a nice touch,” Kumiko Karimi said on her Facebook page.

Police rushed to break the demonstration using water cannons and teargas. Some of the protestors were also badly beaten while others were arrested.

Those arrested included Hussein Khalid, Boniface Mwangi, Gacheke Gachihi, Francis Sakwa, Shamit Patel, Kuxi Ghai, Zippy Gichobi, Florence Kanyua, Erick Gitahi, Joseph Kimani, John Abok, Muchagi Nyaga, Jimmy Eddy, David Odera and Patrick Kamotho Githinji.

“It’s a constitutional right to protest but protestors should not abuse that right,” National Police Service spokesperson Masoud Mwinyi told The Nairobian. “Those arrested will face the law.”

Strangely, the protestors are being charged with cruelty to animals.

“That is the crime that the arresting officer filed,” Mwinyi said.

‘Occupy Parlaiment’ is accusing MPs of being too greedy in their push to increase their pay rise. In 2010, the Economist magazine, in an article that compared how much the top leaders of various countries were paid in relation to GDP, ranked Kenya top of the list of those living beyond their means. 

Kenya’s MPs are also among the highest paid in the world, and their salaries have often triggered controversy.

MPs are demanding a monthly salary of more than Sh800,000 while the Salaries and Remuneration Commission has recommended that their salaries be pegged at about Sh500,000.

Kuxi Ghai, for example, writes that “A Kenyan MP’s salary is 425 times higher (yes 425 times) than the average (per capita) income of Kenyans.”

While some theorists argue that government and institutions need to be reformed to achieve development goals, others argue that high salaries are necessary to prevent corruption and lead to development.

- ngisesa@standardmedia.co.ke