Floods and Demolitions in Kenya: A Method to the Madness
Sungu Oyoo and Andrew Karamagi | May 2024 Background Recent floods in Kenya, marked by the highest rainfall in decades, have left at least 270 people dead, over 200,000 displaced,…
May Day and other Proletarian blues
Alieu BahIn the seemingly eternal rains of Nairobi, sitting in a seat that’s newly acquired by my comrade who seems to be pretty excited about it, I enter into those…
The Climate Crisis as Collective Struggle: Dispatch from a Flooding Nairobi
Kinuthia Ndung’u & Nicholas Mwangi.This essay is dedicated to the memory of Mama Victor (pictured in above image) and Jacinta Adhiambo. Despite both being trapped in a cycle of poverty…
Murder on a Festive Occasion for our People
Kinuthia Ndung’u & Alieu BahLast year, tragedy struck on one of the holiest and merriest of times for the Christian faithful in Kenya after the discovery of four bodies near…
Surviving on the Fringes: Deception of Social Housing
‘Maendeleo ni watu, si vitu(Development should focus on people, not things)’ - Julius Nyerere The tailor who operates a small tailoring shop a few metres from my house, likely in…
You Cannot Fence Freedom
I am in Nairobi, seated in close proximity to the Nairobi Arboretum. I’m in deep thought about recent proposals to impose entry charges to Nairobi’s largest park, Uhuru Park. This…
Passion and Principle: An attempt at a Mwamko Story
Imagine a meeting of dreamers in a wide, lush and green compound sitting at the edge of the highest point of Africa, swarmed, at this time, by organizers and activists…
Dignity or Death: Notes from Maisha Pub
I am at my local hangout, Maisha Pub, reflecting on many things after slaving all week, selling my labor for almost nothing. On weekends, you'll find me and a few…
Let’s get Free: Notes of Struggle to the Third World
"We have a beautiful history, and we shall create another in the future that will astonish the world." — Marcus GarveySilent sorrows, like open wounds, are a marker of the damned…
Photo Credits: Tobias Wanyoike.
Simple Complexities and Complex Simplicities: Reflections from the People’s Climate Summit
Ruth Mumbi In September 2023, I attended the People's Climate Summit at the Nairobi Green Park. This People's summit was an alternative space co-created by progressive movements across the globe…