Kenya Stockholm Blog

New Year Message to Kenyans in Diaspora

We Need a “Mau Mau of Ideas”

Okoth Osewe

Happy New year to all KSB readers, friends and Kenyans in Diaspora. Obviously, 2009 had its spectacular moments in Kenya Stockholm especially on the social scene but on the political front, there was a lot of silence. Very serious political developments that could have elicited equally serious interventions passed quietly as the “Political elite” of Kenya Stockholm went on an informal recess. Predictably, there were intermittent episodes of reaction whenever the excesses of the Kenya Coalition ruling class went overboard but broadly speaking, key sections of the political fraternity in Kenya-Stockholm behaved as though they had been emasculated, not by the establishment in Kenya but by persistent lethargy, a sense of withdrawal and other circumstances.

In view of the crisis facing our country, Kenyans in Stockholm should try to revive the spirit of struggle to continue contributing to the liberation process in our country. The Iranians, Palestinians, Iraqi’s, Kurds and other oppressed nationalities continue to remain active in the political field as part of the struggle in their home countries so there is no reason why Kenyans in Diaspora should be absent from action when the country is literally burning.

We are living at a time when the Kenya Diaspora community stands the biggest chance of making a huge political impact in Kenya but only through organized political activity especially of like-minded Kenyans. Already, Kenyans abroad have been recognized by both the government and the people of Kenya as great contributors to the country’s economy through periodic remittances to relatives at home. It is not therefore far-fetched to posit that an equally huge contribution towards political changes in our country is possible from Diaspora Kenyans.

The global technological advances especially on the broadband front opens interesting possibilities for the development of a new and very effective media link which could be exploited by Diaspora Kenyans to engage the Kenyan public in political education based on the endless experiences gathered abroad.

The Land and Freedom Army (Mau Mau), which ended physical colonialism in Kenya, was set up because Kenyan veterans of the second World War returned from the battlefield with new experiences and ideas on how to liberate their country. They built Mau Mau, drove the white colonialists away before they were betrayed by home guards who set the stage for Neo-colonialism under which millions of Kenyans continue to starve to death despite the country’s huge natural and human resources.

The above analogy is important because today, the birth of a new “Mau Mau of ideas” is possible especially from the Diaspora using the weapon of technology to reach the masses of the Kenyan people with ideas that can free them from tribalism, liberate them from Neo-colonialism and exploitative capitalist class rule. To appreciate what is possible in the field of struggle, one needs to examine the technology-driven mobile phone revolution in Kenya and its impact across the country. Today, even a grandmother in the back water villages can discuss with a grandson abroad at the comfort of her rural home while the mobile money transfer technology that has spread across Kenya through Mpesa and other Networks is threatening the established banking industry. It is cheap, effective and reachable.

With possibilities of broadband reaching the villages, peasants, the agricultural proletariat, millions of unemployed urban youth, the working class, students and other strategic layers in society, access to communication technology especially video, Internet radio, Voice over Internet and Net TV stations will open up new frontiers of struggle.

Make 2010 a year of regorpment
Diaspora Kenyans could play a critical role when it comes to exploitation of this media to reach the remotest parts of Kenya as the struggle for liberation also continues. If this is to happen, there must be preparations now and Diaspora Kenyans are ahead of the pack in Kenya because they already have access to these technologies. If preparations are to get serious, organization must also be part of it because nothing happens without being organized. It is for this reason that the new decade that has just began entails challenges but only to Kenyans who are serious enough and who believe that they can intervene in the country’s political process.

Diaspora Kenyans may not necessarily engage in a mission for power take over as the immediate agenda. There are Diaspora Kenyans who have been playing around with the idea of seizing power in 2012 especially at various Social Networks like Facebook where an explosion of movements, political Parties and organizations of various sorts have been set up apparently to prepare for a “power take over” come the next elections. While this is positive, a study of these Internet groups show that their leaderships do not understand the dynamics of power take-over in a ran-down, Neo-colonial country like Kenya led by thieves and murderers and backed by imperialist collaborators who abet in the “sucking of the blood of the sufferers”.

Seizing power in Kenya could be easy if you have a population that has already been convinced with both political ideas and strategy. The assumption by Diaspora Kenyans that millions of Kenyans back home are idiots has led to unconscious personalities setting up groups to try and ride on the “Diaspora train” to enter into electoral politics and the field is very jumbled. In fact, the ensuing confusion could even demoralize the very Kenyans at home we seek to liberate. Let me be specific.

We have political parties in Kenya which have no serious political programs then suddenly, you read about an Internet group with a similar problem but seeking to liberate Kenya. Political leaders talk about the fight against tribalism without giving an alternative to tribalism then suddenly, you bump into a Facebook group preaching the same gospel without providing an option. The same case applies in talk about the fight against corruption, nepotism, cronyism and other isms without real alternatives that could be examined, critiqued and challenged by the masses of the Kenyan people. To be precise, you rarely come across a group seeking to organize the much needed revolution in Kenya because of serious limitations. However, not all is lost.

There are very serious Kenyans at home that have set up political groupings while there is a thriving Civil Society which has managed to keep the Coalition government on toes since it was set up. While it is important for Kenyans in Diaspora to organize themselves politically, they should also link up with Kenyans at home who are struggling on the ground as solutions to the crisis are sought from both sides. To assume that only Kenyans abroad have the solution is to undermine the grass roots Networks that are already doing a very good job in Kenya. Politics is about competition of ideas and the challenge facing Diaspora Kenyans is that they need to show that their ideas are superior to the ideas being propagated.  This will not happen without an organized communication link.

If Kenyans in Diaspora seeking political office begin to preach about the same ideas that have failed the country for the last 46 years, they will not appeal to the youth who have the voting power to change any government in Kenya by virtue of their numerical advantage.

The country needs ideas around the issue of revolution to change the system and the status quo and to sweep away the thieving capitalist ruling class that has been stealing from public coffers as millions of Kenyans undergo untold human suffering. The New Year should open up space for new collaboration especially between those who believe that they have a revolutionary mission to liberate Kenya. It is a huge responsibility which, nevertheless, needs to be done, even step by step. Let us make 2010 a year of regroupment in the Diaspora.

Okoth Osewe

January 1, 2010 - Posted by makozewe | News & Analysis