The attacks on the CPM, abductions and transnational renditions by the Kenyan government are preparations for even more extensive attacks on the democratic rights of the population as a whole.
The swearing-in of Kithure Kindiki, the former interior minister who oversaw police killings of anti-austerity protesters, Gen-Z activists, and pastoralists in Northern Kenya signals the Kenyan ruling class's intent to intensify repression.
The recent strike wave by workers in Kenya, following the Gen Z-led uprising, reflects deep-seated anger towards the regime of President William Ruto and its International Monetary Fund-backed austerity measures. Workers and the youth must forge a new path grounded in Leon Trotsky’s theory of Permanent Revolution.
The recent strike wave by workers in Kenya, following the Gen Z-led uprising, reflects deep-seated anger towards the regime of President William Ruto and its International Monetary Fund-backed austerity measures. Workers and the youth must forge a new path grounded in Leon Trotsky’s theory of Permanent Revolution—the programme that inspired the October 1917 Russian Revolution. It is essential to revive the struggle of Trotskyism against Stalinism, Maoism, Pabloism, and bourgeoisie nationalism.
The recent strike wave by workers in Kenya, following the Gen Z-led uprising, reflects deep-seated anger towards the regime of President William Ruto and its International Monetary Fund-backed austerity measures. Workers and the youth must forge a new path grounded in Leon Trotsky’s theory of Permanent Revolution—the programme that inspired the October 1917 Russian Revolution. It is essential to revive the struggle of Trotskyism against Stalinism, Maoism, Pabloism, and bourgeoisie nationalism.
The airport contributes more than $9.5 billion to the economy annually—around 4.6 percent of Kenya’s GDP. The unions, however, had no intention of fully leveraging workers’ power.
The working class is confronting a supposed “broad-based” government—a newly installed coalition of President William Ruto and his United Kenya Party and the main opposition party—that is committed to IMF austerity and enjoys the backing of the bureaucrats who run the Central Organization of Trade Unions.
Those who preach “no politics” and “no leadership” serve to maintain the stranglehold of the prevailing politics of the bourgeoise and its petty bourgeois accomplices and is solely a means of preventing workers and youth from adopting a socialist political alternative.
Far from opening a new era of national unity and development, the new Cabinet’s first task is to crush the months of protests, escalate IMF austerity and maintain Kenya’s status as Washington’s non-NATO proxy force across Africa and the Caribbean.
The protests have instilled fear within the Museveni regime of unrest similar to that in neighboring Kenya. In a televised address Saturday evening Museveni threatened the protestors, "We are busy producing wealth… and you here want to disturb us.”
The protests are a rejection of Ruto's announcement last Friday of the first batch of Cabinet Secretaries, replacing those dismissed on July 11 after weeks of mass anti-austerity demonstrations. In a provocative move, Ruto reinstated half of the officials he had fired just two weeks ago.
Tuesday’s “total shutdown” protest saw three people shot dead and dozens injured. This adds to the 50 dead and 413 injured as they were shot, teargassed and water cannoned since the start of protests on June 18, according to the Kenya National Commission on Human Rights.
The continued protests are a rebuke to Kenyan President William Ruto who dissolved his cabinet last Friday to pave the way for the formation of a “broad-based Government” with figures from the opposition.
The Ruto-Odinga unification is designed to impose severe cuts, tax hikes, and privatizations demanded by the banks and global financial capital, spearheaded by the International Monetary Fund (IMF), by ending the mass protests against the government.
Workers are now mobilizing to fight for better wages and against precarious working conditions, despite trade union efforts to suppress opposition to Ruto.
According to the Kenya National Commission on Human Rights (KNCHR), at least 39 people have been killed, and another 361 injured in clashes with the police. KNCHR said this was not a final count.
The Kenyan government has deployed heavily armed troops throughout the country in anticipation of continuing mass protests against its drive to impose IMF-dictated austerity measures.
The US State Department hailed “President Ruto’s commitment to Kenyans’ constitutionally-endowed rights,” while European Union Foreign Affairs Josep Borrell hailed a “reduction of the tensions… conducive to dialogue.” This is a seal of approval for the massacre Ruto committed the day before.
The opposition is led by millionaire Raila Odinga and has no fundamental differences with the Ruto government’s economic programme. Odinga’s concern is that the current government is incapable of implementing the required austerity measures in the face of rising opposition.
Protestors stormed the Parliament and set parts of it ablaze, while lawmakers fled using underground tunnels or hid in ambulances. Police used live ammunition, teargas and truncheons, resulting in the deaths of several protestors and hundreds of injuries.