Are the Gen-Z protests overrated?

 

Police officers collect coffins dropped by protesters along Moi Avenue during the Anti-Finance Bill 2024 demonstrations in Nairobi on July 2, 2024. [Boniface Okendo, Standard]

Over the ages, young generations have driven change by standing up against real or perceived injustice.

It therefore follows Kenya’s Gen-Z protests were not entirely new. Yet, they had a novelty and a tinge of uniqueness: They were the first widespread demonstrations in the country in which the hand of opposition or mainstream politicians was missing.

Gen-Z is the demographic born between 1997 and 2012, meaning it’s between 12 and 27 years old.

The Gen-Z protests were, when not infiltrated by violent elements that were bent on looting, a bit soft and velvety relying more on the brain than the brawn. Brain because their causes were well-researched and eloquently articulated.

The youth demonstrated this through peaceful protests, social media campaigns, and works of art like protest music.

In Kenya, protests are usually bare-knuckle affairs associated with people from the less shiny parts of Kenya’s main towns. However, with Gen-Z you had smartphone-wielding youngsters in branded hoodies, sketchers, and pants. And the ubiquitous water bottle that came in handy in washing away the sting of tear gas besides cooling parched throats.

In X-Space, you heard Gen-Z activists exposing the rot in the government not through empty sloganeering, but the force of argument based on reports by the Office of the Controller and Auditor-General, court judgments and other judicial pronouncements, reliable media reports, and so on.

Gen-Z has employed the media to a devastating effect against the establishment by retrieving past pronouncements and declarations by politicians to expose blatant lies, double-speak, and hypocrisy.

Their analysis of Finance Bill 2024 pointed to warped budgetary allocations. Their consistent opposition to the bill that forced President William Ruto to reject the document and send it back to the National Assembly.

The Gen-Z protests also had the president firing the Cabinet save for two Cabinet Secretaries. [He has since re-appointed some of the fired Cabinet Secretaries, a development that could, potentially, cause more Gen-Z protests.]

Many saw the Gen-Z protesters as demonstrating a shift in lifestyle quite different from the way they had been brought up. Many thought they were a mirror image of their middle-class parents who shun public protests, preferring to vent their grievances in bars.

Rebellions and revolutions are as old as civilization. They were there in Medieval Europe, during the Reformation (16^th Century) and Renaissance (14^th to 17^th centuries.

Ancient Rome rejected monarchy and established a republic governed by the Senate. Perhaps the most famous social-political upheavals and overhauls were The French Revolution of 1789 and the Russian Revolution of 1917.

The American Declaration of Independence (1776) was also a revolution in that the states rejected British colonial rule for, among other reasons, being taxed without representation. Consequently, they declared themselves as the Independent United States of America.

 A more recent example from the USA is that of the 1960s, in Alabama where there were matches from Selma to Montgomery, against the Voting Rights Act, that aimed to prohibit discriminatory voting practices based on race. It was mainly coordinated by student organizers who came up with the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee(SNCC), a group of young people dedicated to nonviolent, direct action tactics. They were successful in birthing the Voting Rights Act of 1965 which helped to overcome illegal barriers at the state and local levels that prevented African Americans from voting.

Kenya has a history of youth-centred protests which were mainly organized by university students.

In 1975 the students brought Nairobi to a standstill following the assassination of the popular Nyandarua North MP Josiah Mwangi Kariuki (JM) by the Kenyatta regime. The same would happen 15 years later after the murder of Moi-era Foreign Affairs Minister Robert Ouko in 1990.

In 1984, the University of Nairobi was closed for three months after students discovered some of their colleagues had been admitted for degree courses without the requisite qualifications, triggering off a nasty confrontation with the police.

Two years earlier on the same university was closed for a year after some students celebrated and attempted coup against President Daniel arap Moi by elements of the Kenya Air Force.

Heavy-handed measures, such as arrests, detentions, and the repression of dissent, were employed by the Kanu dictatorship in response to protests. The government tightened its control over the freedom of speech and the media, and many activists, students, and opposition figures were arrested jailed or detained without trial.

Kenya’s political consciousness has increased because of protests and rallies, especially among the country's youth and students. This heightened consciousness established the foundation for subsequent political engagement and calls for change.

 Additionally, the more profound political shifts of the 1990s were preceded by the challenges of the 1980s. Early in the 1990s, Moi's government started implementing political reforms in response to criticism from both the domestic and international arenas. In 1991, multiparty politics was once again allowed. The activism and protests of the decade before had a direct impact on this.

A prime example of history repeating itself was the Gen-Z protests against the Ruto administration. The youth was, just like its parents did decades ago, protesting against corruption, flawed economic policies, a messed up university education and the resultant unemployment.

The weekly demonstrations and the daily use of social media platforms to clarify and amplify situations and to raise awareness has clearly been effective, as has been noted in the beginning of this article with the president ceding considerable ground.

 The success of the protests has impressed older generations besides inspiring youth from Nigeria and Uganda to speak to the truth to power.

But, what difference has this generation made that is different from previous ones?

On the one hand, the initial Gen-Z protests won nationwide support. President Ruto hailed them as evidence of Kenya’s political maturity as citizens raised crucial questions on how they were governed and offered services.

The current movement started with ‘Reject the finance bill’, and once that was adhered to, the protests continued with the main agenda, being that ‘Ruto Must Go’ which seems to have run into difficulties as the protesters can’t provide an alternative.

The protests lost some steam after Opposition leader Raila Odinga went to bed with the Ruto administration where he has secured four slots in the Cabinet including the coveted Ministry of Finance.

The latest protest on August 8 was relatively low mainly because police restricted entry into the city centre although the possibility of protest fatigue coupled with police killings of protestors and looters cannot be discounted.

The applause for Gen-Z almost diminishes the past efforts made by other groups for government change. But is this fair?

 It is correct to say that the protests enjoyed wider media coverage and resultant visibility because of the affordability and availability of online digital communication technology today. This could explain why they enjoyed more praise than past protests.

It is debatable whether generations had more passion or dedicated more effort to make sure their word was heard. Previous protests exist where more was lost or gained.

For a long time, students of history will debate whether the Gen-Z's efficacy was a function of enhanced media (digital) technology or generational prowess. Or both.

All in all, there should be no need for protests in the first place. Governments are elected to serve people equitably guided by justice.

Had this happened in Kenya, there would have been no Gen-Z protests.