Written by: ICOR on 11 August 2024
(Above: anti-Ruto demonstrators in Nairobi. Photo/Courtesy)
The revolutionary world organisation ICOR declares its full solidarity with the workers, the broad masses and the Communist Party of Kenya (CPK). The CPK's detailed and profound information to all ICOR organisations (printed in full on the ICOR website) shows how valuable transnational revolutionary cooperation is: The bourgeois media show clashes between the masses and the police at best mention the trigger. But they cover up the deeper connections in the imperialist world system and even more so they conceal the justified demands and the socialist way out of capitalist conditions.
In contrast our Kenyan comrades inform us: »Kenya has a protest culture that dates back to the pre-colonial days. However, the protests that took place between 18th June 2024 and 25th June 2024 and are scheduled to continue for days to come are unprecedented in Kenya’s modern history. The ongoing demonstraitons that started as the anti-Finance Bill protests and have since morphed into the anti-President William Ruto protests have attracted hundreds of thousands, probably over a million young and brave protesters in all cities and major towns across the country.
The fact of the matter is that the ongoing demonstrations are not merely a result of the rejection of the Finance Bill, but a result of the neo-liberal capitalism onslaught; failed campagin promises; and government arrogance that had deepened since President William Ruto was sworn in on 13th September 2022. The promises ranged from better wages for the workers, to free sanitary pads for women. He promised to reduce taxation, improve the business environment for those in the informal economy and to reduce external borrowing. He promised to lower the cost of living, in particular the cost of fuel and food.
At the start of his Presidency, President Ruto spoke against the practice of African leaders travelling abroad to borrow money in a disorganised and humiliating manner. At the international level, Ruto spoke several times against the IMF/World Bank hegemony. Yet none of the campaign promises were being fulfilled. In the first Budget estimates under the Ruto administration billions were disproportionately allocated to luxury, travel and wasteful expenditure. At the same time, austerity measures were applied in education, health, social services, and democratic governance. It wasn’t long before it became clear to the Kenyan public that the International Monetary Fund (IMF) had a heavy hand in the drafting of that national budget. Senior government officials and politicians allied to the ruling party were shamelessly displaying their newfound wealth, with some showing off shoes, clothes and watches worth millions of Kenya shillings.
On 13th June 2024 the 2024/2025 national budget of 3.9 trillion Kenya shillings was presented in parliament and subseuqently the Finance Bill was also presented. Again, just like the previous year, wasteful and senseless expenditure dominated the budget, and tax sources were expanded in a manner that would worsen the high cost of living and push more people into abject poverty. Kenyans reacted to the proposed increased taxation on social media, particularly on Tiktok and Twitter, but the government responded in a patronising and arrogant manner.
A second protest was planned by several activists and was scheduled for 18th June 2024. To the surprise of many including the planners, the turnout was huge, and it was largely made up of self-mobilised youths. The demonstrators were very young and brave men and women, with the women taking the lead. On 20th June 2024, huge protests across the country erupted. Hundreds of thousands of young Kenyans turned out for the demonstrations in Nairobi and they eventually managed to break through the police blockade and literally occupy parliament. At the end of it, 12 demonstrators were killed by the police while hundreds were hospitalised with gunshot woulds and other injuries. The protests were loud and clear not only in the city centre but in the estates and in other cities and towns. Later that day, a tough talking (but visibly shaken) President addressed the nation and announced the deployment of the Kenya Defence Forces to deal with the situation. The masses in their response dared the President and announced demonstrations for 27th June 2024. A day later, the President made a hasty retreat.
In spite of the President’s refusal to assent to the Finance Bill, the masses are not satisfied. Calls for „Ruto Must Go“ still reign in the air. Due to the spontaneous nature of the demonstrations that lack a clear organisational and ideolgical agenda, there lacks a concrete way forward. Our task as CPK is to ensure that revolutionary ideas reach the masses since it is only when revolutionary ideas reach the masses that they become a revolutionary force. It is only by strengthening the presently weak subjective forces that revolutionary change can be born out of these popular struggles. Indeed, if the subjective forces were strong and well organised, then historic revolutionary changes would have taken place in the aftermath of the recent protests.
Above all, there is no doubt that the protests are a result of the existing crisis of capitalism, and the only solution is to organise for the defeat of capitalism and to build socialism and communism.
Immediate demands are among many others:
• Immediately arrest and prosecute all the scurity officers who ordered/conducted the killings, abductions and state violence that was meted on peaceful demonstrators and perceived organisers;
• Cut all ties with the IMF and World Bank;
• Remove all taxes from agricultural inputs and ensure that small scale agriculture is tax free;
• Ensure that healthcare services in all public hospitals are free and of high quality;
• Revoke the inclusion of Kenya as a NATO ally;
• Clear condemnation of war crimes and mass murder of the Palestinian people in violation of international law;
• Remove all foreign military bases in Kenya within the next 6 months.«
Long live the struggle of the mases in Kenya!
Strenghten the Communist Party of Kenya!
Status of the signatories 04.08.2024. Further signing possible. Current list of signatories at www.icor.info
1. ORC Organisation Révolutionnaire du Congo (Revolutionary Organization of Congo), Democratic Republic of the Congo
2. CPK Communist Party of Kenya
3. MMLPL Moroccan Marxist-Leninist Proletarian Line
4. CPSA (ML) Communist Party of South Africa (Marxist-Leninist)
5. PPDS Parti Patriotique Démocratique Socialiste (Patriotic Democratic Socialist Party), Tunisia
6. NCP (Mashal) Nepal Communist Party (Mashal)
7. RUFN Revolutionary United Front of Nepal
8. CPA/ML Communist Party of Australia (Marxist-Leninist)
9. БКП Българска Комунистическа Партия (Bulgarian Communist Party)
10. PR-ByH Partija Rada - ByH (Party of Labor - Bosnia and Herzegovina)
11. MLPD Marxistisch-Leninistische Partei Deutschlands (Marxist-Leninist Party of Germany)
12. KOL Kommunistische Organisation Luxemburg (Communist Organization of Luxemburg)
13. RM Rode Morgen (Red Dawn), Netherlands
14. UMLP União Marxista-Leninista Portuguesa (Portuguese Marxist-Leninist Union)
15. RMP Российская маоистская партия (Rossijskaya maoistskaya partiya) (Russian Maoist Party)
16. MLGS Marxistisch-Leninistische Gruppe Schweiz (Marxist-Leninist Group of Switzerland)
17. MLKP Marksist Leninist Komünist Parti Türkiye / Kürdistan (Marxist Leninist Communist Party Turkey / Kurdistan)
18. KSRD Koordinazionnyj Sowjet Rabotschewo Dvizhenija (Coordination Council of the Workers Class Movement), Ukraine
19. UMU Union of Maoists of the Urals (Union of Maoists of the Urals), Russia
20. UoC Union of Cypriots, Cyprus
21. PCP (independiente) Partido Comunista Paraguayo (independiente) (Paraguayan Communist Party (independent))
22. PC (ML) Partido Comunista (Marxista Leninista) (Communist Party (Marxist-Leninist)), Dominican Republic
23. CPPDM Chinese People's Party for the Defense of Mao Zedong
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