Kenya: Lives Sacrificed in Western Backed Colour Revolution

AnyConv.com__Kenya protest 2024

15-07-2024: The East African nation of Kenya was rocked by deadly protests mainly composed of youth during June, ostensibly in response to the Kenyan parliament’s Finance Bill 2024. By the end of the month around 30 protestors had lost their lives, despite forcing the government to withdraw the Bill, which contained some $2.7 billion in tax hikes.[1] The protests were mainly composed of “Gen Z” youth (those born during the late 90s and early 2000s) which gives the impression of young people fighting for their future. Kenya has a population of some 50 million, with 5 million inhabiting the capital Nairobi, and 4 million in the city of Mombasa on the shores of the Indian Ocean. Those aged between 15 and 29 make up roughly 30% of the population,[2] meaning such protests can draw in larger number than is generally the case in the ageing populations of the West. In the wake of the violence, Uasin Gishu Governor Jonathan Bii urged the Gen Z protestors to give dialogue with President William Ruto a chance. Despite goons and looters infiltrating the protests and causing mayhem, Bii conceded that the protestors have genuine issues that need to be addressed.[3]

Regime change template

The notion that the youth of Kenya spontaneously rose of their own accord and willingly walked into the firing line of security forces is a flight of fantasy. While there are certainly issues of inequality, corruption and lack of opportunities for the masses of Kenya, protests quickly turning into violent rampages is one of the glaring indicators that something other than a protest about living conditions is afoot. President William Ruto said the chaotic protests that took place under the slogan “7 Days of Rage” was infiltrated and hijacked by a group of organised criminals, and that the government had little choice but to respond to “grave threats to our national security”.[4] Regardless of one’s opinion of the politics of the President, this was not far from the mark, as the Red Cross reported that some of its vehicles were attacked, injuring some of their staff.[5] On the 25^th of June, part of Kenya’s parliament was set ablaze as it was stormed by protestors, who could be heard shouting “We’re coming for every politician”.[6]

Colour revolutions, as they have become known, are in fact not revolutions at all. Rather, they are concealed but orchestrated regime change operations. Whether it succeeds in toppling the government or not is dependent on a number of factors, but the intent is often not apparent to those carrying out the subversion. Behind colour revolutions stand the deep states of the West, and recent events in Kenya form no exception. The claims that the recent Kenyan protests are not politically led but are spontaneous[7] – is fanciful at best. There are NO political actions, demonstrations or protests that have no leadership: this has never occurred in history and can never occur even if there are no endorsing political parties or organisations. The claims that the protests in Kenya are “tribeless” is probably true, as the issues involved cross tribal boundaries. Yet there must be a leadership involved, even if it is hidden from view and does not put itself forward. A “leaderless” uprising is a carefully constructed appearance, which again denotes the depth of covert operations that have taken place for years beforehand.

Target Beijing

The masters at colour revolutions are the state operatives acting for the US ruling class, and thus some assume that a colour revolution/regime change operation could never take place against an ally of Washington. This has been proven false before, and Kenya was hit by riotous bedlam less than 24 hours after Kenya was designated a “Major Non-NATO Ally” by the White House on June 24.[8] In fact, Kenyan President Ruto had only just visited US President Joe Biden in the US for a state visit less than five weeks before the Kenyan chaos began. During that visit, President Biden had announced $1.3 million for a youth empowerment program aimed at “strengthening political engagement” and $600 000 to supposedly advance disability inclusion in Kenya.[9] This was to be delivered by the US Agency for International Development (USAID), which has had a constant presence in Kenya for the last six decades.[10] While there are some in developing nations that may partially benefit from USAID donations, this agency is plainly also used for the political aims of the US state when required.

Riots in Kenya which are given a shroud of legitimacy through the cover of opposing Kenyan legislation are doubtless aimed at the main rival of the USA in Africa – the People’s Republic of China (PRC). Even CNN in the US broadcast this basic point during Ruto’s visit to Biden in May, when they headlined “Biden looks to counter China’s influence as he rolls out red carpet for Kenya”.[11] Yet it appears that Ruto and Kenya are being punished with a regime change operation for attempting to remain friends and allies of both the USA and the PRC. Washington demands total subservience and loyalty, so building links with the socialistic PRC will just not do. Yet this is precisely what Kenya has done over the last two decades, which has benefitted them enormously. In fact, the economic benefits that Kenya has sustained through cooperation and friendship with the PRC has to some extent prevented mass impoverishment that may have occurred without it.

For example, the Mombasa to Nairobi Standard Gauge Railway opened in Kenya in 2017 and was built by the China Road and Bridge Corporation. It was named the “Madaraka Express”[12] after Madaraka Day, which is Kenya’s national holiday marking its independence from Britain in 1963. It created some 46 000 jobs, 90% of which were filled by local Kenyans.[13] Kenya is a key part of Beijing’s flagship Belt and Road Initiative, and the results speak for themselves. China-Kenya Belt and Road cooperation has led to the construction of a deep seaport in the coastal town of Lamu, combined with thousands of kilometres of surrounding roads, transforming logistics in the region.[14] While there have been some reports of tensions between local Kenyans and Chinese workers, and reports of some mistreatment of Kenyan workers by Chinese supervisors, it is undeniable that PRC investment in Kenya has led to the erecting of critical infrastructure. This is not just in terms of roads, ports, airports and dams – but also digital connectivity.[15]

Fronts posing as NGOs

Needless to say, the floundering capitalism of the USA cannot even begin to offer anything like the investment and cooperation through infrastructure and mutually beneficial access to raw materials that the PRC can. This is primarily due to predominantly state-owned industry in the PRC, backed by publicly owned banks – a key gain of its 1949 socialist revolution. The state backing of much of PRC’s industry means that it does not run primarily on a basis of profit and capital return only. Declining privately owned capitalism in the West is a world away – or indeed a world behind. Thus, the response of Washington – through a myriad of fronts – is to organise politically reactionary and violent regime change operations, by the most underhanded methods imaginable. This takes place over decades, not months or even years. When the conditions are right, the trigger for a colour revolution can be pulled – and people who believe they are fighting for democracy, against corruption, and for “good governance” can be mobilised as foot soldiers for decidedly non-progressive causes.

The basis on which this devious subversion is mainly perpetrated is the proliferation of Western government backed “NGOs” (Non-Government Organisations) operating in Kenya and other African countries. To be sure, there would be some NGOs operating in African that perform reasonably authentic charity type work. Yet a Western government funded “NGO” is anything but “non-government” and is in fact an arm of the sponsoring government’s imperialist foreign policy. The most notorious of these is the Open Society Foundation (OSF), a pillar of the death star like empire of billionaire anti-socialist regime change king maker George Soros. Soros’ Open Society Initiative for East Africa (OSIEA) began operations there in 2005, with the establishment of four offices.[16] Working with 300 “partners” the OSIEA delivers “grants” to people in Kenya, Ethiopia, Rwanda, South Sudan, Sudan, Tanzania and Uganda. It broadcasts all the pseudo-progressive agenda buzzwords, such as “enhancing” natural resource governance, “strengthening” democratic governance (!), rule of law and accountability. And of course the uber liberal OSF aims to protect the rights of the most marginalised including persons with disabilities, sexual and gender minorities, women and youth (!).[17]

All this rhetoric is liberal cover for the predatory aims of Western imperialism. Unfortunately, many youths in Kenya are caught in a trap mouthing slogans prepared for them by the OSF and other foreign government funded “NGOs”. The slogans are indeed enticing, and in the abstract, sound harmless. The OSIEA waxes lyrical about “meaningful participation of citizens in public affairs” and “citizen involvement in public affairs” and “challenges of participatory democracy”.[18] On their own, no one could object. Put into practice in the context of a flatlining US imperialism desperately trying to retain control of the African continent which is increasingly looking to non-imperialist allies for development (PRC) and security (Russian Federation) assistance, and these flowery phrases are exposed. It is little more than a fake commitment to 20^th century liberal values, which are ironically undergoing rapid reversal in the West itself. Elementary democratic rights in the West were simply abolished during brutal state repression of 2020-2022 under the guise of a fraudulent “Covid pandemic”, for example. The right to free speech and the right to protest was simply crushed at that time, and working people did not have the right to even question illogical and nonsensical “rules” arbitrarily imposed.

If this wasn’t blatant enough, the Soros funded OSF recently appointed a Kenyan lawyer to head up its international operations. Mark Malloch-Brown is stepping down to be replaced by Binaifer Nowrajee, feted as the “first woman from the Global South” to head up the OSF (as if that’s an achievement).[19] In other words, a Kenyan lawyer is appointed as President of the OSF in March – and within three months Kenya is hit by a colour-revolution. But again, the havoc across Kenya last June has been prepared by decades of mole work inside of Kenya’s civil, legal, medical, journalistic and media organisations, with the purpose of undermining them from the inside out. The specialist par excellence in this field is the notorious National Endowment for Democracy (NED or “National Endowment for Regime Change”), which was part of the US government funded CIA (Central Intelligence Agency) until the mid-1980s. Each year, the NED spends hundreds of thousands of dollars in Kenya deliberately building pro-Western ideologies in all manner of media, political and youth organisations,[20] which directly undermines Kenyan independence at the least.

The old colonial power of British imperialism remains involved in this work also, through such bodies as the British Council (not hiding their roots) funding “social enterprises” in Kenya.[21] The billionaire backed US based Ford Foundation is a top ten NGO donor in Kenya, as is the French government supported Agence Francais Development, USAID, the EU (European Union), the Australian government backed ACIAR, the Norwegian government backed NORAD and the Swedish government backed SIDA.[22] Not all of these Western government backed “NGOs” will be used for political subversion per se, but the resources of many of them can be mobilised when given a signal by the leading US backed organisations. For example, USAID’s operations explicitly target youth in Kenya via its “Empowered Youth” program,[23] openly aimed at drawing in impressionable youths who no doubt can recognise basic anomalies in basic services, extravagant wealth displayed by some officials, and so on.

IMF in Kenya

Some claim that the havoc in Kenya was a genuine uprising at they were attempting to oppose IMF (International Monetary Fund) imposed debt conditions. It is probably true that the majority of Kenyan debt is owed to the IMF, as only $8 billion of its $82 billion debt is owed to China. Other creditors include the World Bank, the US and Saudi Arabia. However, there was a similar Finance Bill 2023 which was passed in Kenya, which attracted protests,[24] but no colour revolution. This year there was a colour revolution, and the IMF did back the bill even after President Ruto withdrew it under pressure. In addition, some claim that the fact that some Kenyan protestors opposed the Kenyan government sending 1000 police to Haiti to “stabilise” the political situation on behalf of Washington is further proof that the June protests were authentically progressive.[25] Yet this is an illusion and underestimates the level of sophistication that imperialism now operates with internationally. While the imperialist sponsored Kenyan intervention into Haiti should be opposed, through a network of savvy liberal “anti-imperialists” (anti-imperialists in words, pro-imperialists in deed), the various deep states of the imperialist West can use criticism of itself to its benefit. They can easily sustain and even help promote a few slogans flung against the IMF and the World Bank today, as these institutions do not have the power that they did in the 1990s. The rise of the BRICS alliance (Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa, Iran, Egypt, Ethiopia, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates) and other Eurasian economic blocs mean that African countries today have genuine alternatives to IMF and World Bank plunder.

Some of the Kenyan youth taking part could see that the senseless violence was not helping their cause, but they falsely attributed it to the Kenyan state. Ojango Omondi claimed that the only way the state could counter the protests was by “using goons to incite violence, break into people’s property, loot, and tarnish our cause…it’s time to go back to the drawing board and strategise on how best to overcome this violence and keep our protests focused on their true objectives”.[26] Yet this false attribution to the Kenyan state is probably made to cover one which would be difficult to admit – the protests and the associated riots were all choreographed as part of a regime change operation to benefit Western powers thousands of kilometres away. In fact, the Kenyan state has instead already produced an intelligence report which found that six politicians, 2 NGOs and a businessman were at the centre of organising the violent demonstrations. One Nairobi politician is accused of mobilising hoodlums from Kibera, Mathare and Babadogo to create havoc, dressed as protestors.[27]

The loss of young Kenyan lives in the June days was a painful occurrence, but even more tragic is that these lives were lost while those protesting probably imagined they were fighting for their future. In fact, they were fighting for the fortunes of an imperialism that can barely face losing the Global South to alliances and mutually beneficial links with the non-imperialist BRICS powers, primarily the PRC, but also the Russian Federation and their Eurasian allies. It is the case that Kenya and Africa needs to advance towards socialism to achieve universal development and to overcome centuries of European and Western imposed inequality. Alliances with the BRICS bloc need to be made, but this can only be a first step. Working class parties anchored with authentic Marxism need to be forged domestically and internationally to politically illuminate the path towards the final days of capitalist imperialism.

Workers League

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[1] www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/6/28/kenya-protests-simmer-after-deadly-week-of-demonstrations (10-07-2024)

[2] www.en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demographics_of_Kenya (10-07-2024)

[3] www.msn.com/en-xl/africa/kenya/governor-bii-pleads-with-gen-zs-to-give-dialogue-a-chance/ar-BB1po2iZ (10-07-2024)

[4] www.edition.cnn.com/world/live-news/protest-kenya-nairobi-06-25-24/index.html (10-07-2024)

[5] www.xtrafrica.com/news/kenya-red-cross-vehicles-attacked%2C-staff-injured-during-anti-tax-protests (10-07-2024)

[6] www.nbcnews.com/news/world/kenya-parliament-fire-protesters-rcna158784 (10-07-2024)

[7] www.sott.net/article/492738-Several-killed-as-Kenyan-police-open-fire-on-anti-tax-bill-protesters-Updated (10-07-2024)

[8] www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2024/06/24/memorandum-on-the-designation-of-kenya-as-a-major-non-nato-ally/ (10-07-2024)

[9] www.washingtoninformer.com/kenyan-president-biden-welcome/ (10-07-2024)

[10] http://www.usaid.gov/kenya (10-07-2024)

[11] www.edition.cnn.com/2024/05/23/politics/biden-kenya-president-state-visit-china/index.html (10-07-2024)