1 July 2024

Abahlali baseMjondolo press statement

Solidarity with our Kenyan Comrades

Twenty four lives have been lost in the successful struggle against the Finance Bill in Kenya. The bill was pushed by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to force ordinary poor and working class people to pay off debts to rich countries. It proposed extreme tax hikes on basic necessities such as vegetables, cooking oil, sanitary pads and nappies. 

In all countries it is important to tax the rich and big business, and to nationalise certain industries under worker control, to fund social programmes. Along with land reform and other measures taxation and nationalisation have always been important tools for progressive governments. However raising taxes on basic necessities, necessities that should in fact be subsidised rather than taxed, is nothing but an attack on the poor and the working class in the interests of the rich. 

Neoliberal policies have always been against the poor and caused severe suffering to the marginalised. This bill would have immediately worsened the very dire situation that many Kenyans already confront.

The Kenyan state, which is a client state of the US, has a long history of using lethal violence against the poor and against political dissent. It has now shown that it is willing to send its soldiers to Haiti to continue the oppression of the Haitian people without the West having to be seen sending its own soldiers to Haiti. The Kenyan elites also have a long history of turning people against each other along ethnic lines.

Young people came to together across ethnic lines to oppose the Finance Bill building unity and power in struggle. They were on the streets since the bill was first put on the table for the president to sign and they forced President Ruto to withdraw the bill.

At the same time as Kenyans were coming together in struggle, led by courageous young people, Kenyan soldiers were arriving in Haiti to continue the oppression of the Haitian people.

The Police Reform Working Group of Kenya has reported that there are a number of activists who have been abducted and are still unaccounted for. This kind of police brutality is common across Africa, and elsewhere in much of the world too. It is used to teach fear, to teach people that it is dangerous to question a government and safer to keep quiet and accept oppression. It is used to ensure impunity for oppressors.

We are encouraged by the struggle that the people of Kenya have waged, especially the youth who faced armed police head on demanding that the Finance Bill be scrapped. We celebrate their courage and the victory that was won when the president had to concede to the power of the people and withdraw the bill. This is a victory won by popular power. We must honour those who died for this struggle. 

We are calling on the African Union and the United Nations to intervene and ensure that justice is done for those who have lost their lives fighting against this regime. Police officers who killed innocent protesters and the politicians who gave them their orders must be brought to book. 

Progressive organisations in Kenya such as the Mathare Social Justice Centre and the Organic Intellectuals Network have become important contributors to the Pan-African and international left and a number of members of our movement have visited Kenya over the years. It is very encouraging to see the growth of the left in Kenya, especially among young people.

The struggle of the Kenyan people is an encouragement to all the struggles of the oppressed and working class. It our struggle too. We are in full solidarity with our Kenyan comrades and support their calls for the immediate resignation of President Ruto and the immediate recall of the Kenyan soldiers from Haiti. Kenyans must be given full political freedom and an economy redesigned to benefit the poor and the working class. Haitians must be given the freedom to elect their own leaders free from Western interference and to shape their own future.

The situation in Kenya is also a warning for us in South Africa. Now that the ANC has not been able to win an outright electoral victory the liberals are pushing hard for new government to adopt neoliberal economic policies and to become a client state of the West. They often present Kenya as an example that South Africa should follow. If the liberals do succeed in imposing neoliberal economic policies on South Africa poor and working class South Africans we follow the example of uprising in Kenya

We send our deepest condolences to the families, friends and comrades over all those who have given their lives in the struggle for a better Kenya.

An injury to one is an injury to all. 

A victory for one is a victory for all.

Thapelo Mohapi 084 576 5117

Mqapheli Bonono 073 067 3274

Zandile Nsibande 073 611 8279