In Hitman 2: Silent Assassin, Agent 47 is sent to Russia for various missions. Growing up playing the game, I became curious about the history of the soviets and eventually, the Cold War. An avid reader, I developed a hyperfixation on works by Jack Higgins, which were mostly set during that period. This fixation coincided with my time in high school, and I was particularly excited when my History teacher delved into the World Wars, mentioning the USSR with a sprinkle of the MI6, the Irish Republican Army and the KGB. I sat on my wooden chair, barely able to contain my excitement, with the urge to yell, “I know how to spell Komitet Gosudarstvennoy Bezopasnosti!”
In these class discussions, we briefly learnt about Vladimir Lenin and Joseph Stalin. Eventually, my teacher spoke of Karl Marx, whose philosophies influenced these leaders. Marxism is a socio-politico-economic philosophy positing that there are class struggles between the ruling class (bourgeoisie) and the laborers (proletariat), due to the exploitation of the latter and massive wealth accumulation of the former. This theory, although compelling, has always been slightly faulty, as it doesn’t go deeper into the divisions within the two major strata, but I digress. It was fascinating to see how this theory has played out numerous times, historically, shaping notable revolutions and societal changes due to the economic divide within societies and how much friction it brings.
In the 21st century, we can openly analyze that there is a clear divide between those who stand at the apex, and those at the wide base supporting the pyramid. A 2023 report by Oxfam International revealed that the richest 1% bagged nearly twice as much wealth as the rest of the world put together between 2022 and 2023. This highlights the increasing economic disparity and the hoarding of wealth in the hands of a few, resonating quite well with Marx’s critique of the capitalist system.
Class consciousness, according to Marxist theory, is a critical requirement for collective action and a revolution against oppression within an economic system. As taut rope of tug-of-war reaches its limit, people who are firmly pushed up against the wall, with the threat of being crushed, open their eyes to avenues of escape they might not have otherwise considered before. When my history teacher mentioned the term class consciousness, it struck me particularly hard; a seemingly distant concept that seemed unachievable in Kenya. Yet here we are. Here we have been for a whole year since the 2024 finance bill awakening.
Collective action was led by the “iPhone bearing, KFC eating and Uber riding” Gen-Z. The middle class is the most complacent stratum of society and so, when you see them in the streets, the system is definitely not working as the overlords intend it to. The people who are an embodiment of consumer culture within the capitalist system have now become disillusioned by the struggle to contend with the system, leading the protests and demanding change.
Along with the constantly diminishing number of the magnates of capital, who usurp and monopolize all advantages of this process of transformation, grows the mass of misery, oppression, slavery, degradation, exploitation; but with this too grows the revolt of the working class, a class always increasing in numbers, and disciplined, united, organized by the very mechanism of the process of capitalist production itself.
Karl Marx, Das Kapital
The straw has long broken the camel’s back.
Kenya is not the Soviet Union, but experiences shared by some countries of the world are strikingly similar. Take Egypt’s 2011 revolution which ousted president Hosni Mubarak who had been in power for 30 years or the end of Moi’s 24-year regime in Kenya; a regime heavily protested against by key figures such as Wangari Maathai. In a similar fashion, Sri-Lanka’s 2022 protests drove president Gotabaya Rajapaksa to his resignation. There are some common denominators which served as precursors to these moments, enhancing the suffering of citizens; high costs of living, government corruption, unreasonable tax hikes and economic inequality.
Kenyans are tired. Watu wamechoka. They have been taxed to the bone, the bones ground to dust and sold for pennies. Over the past year, things have gotten considerably worse with various indicators glaring at our faces. Last year at around this time, I was having a conversation about the country’s situation with a 38 year old lady who lives in Soweto. When I mentioned the costs of certain articles of clothing some politicians were spotted with, there was visible rage on her face. She questioned why God lets such people exist with such evil in their hearts, watching Kenyans die. In high school I ruminated on the same idea when it dawned on me that education in Kenya, outside major towns, is heavily crippled by intentional infrastructural sabotage. This is deliberately orchestrated to ensure that the wider base remains docile and unmoving. Thousands of schools in the country are dilapidated and considerably underequipped for learners, with the monetary allocation for maintenance of such institutions being used to purchase flashy cars, build palatial homes and fund expensive vacations.
Most people who have grown up in Kenya have been desensitized to government wrongdoings and are affected by an air of low–hanging political apathy which is further enhanced by the focus on making ends meet. Consequently there is hardly a chance to counter oppression. For the first few years of my life, I had barely paid attention to the plunder that politicians were responsible for. But once I processed it, the anger in my heart simmered like oil on low heat, gradually heating up over the years. Discovering how systems in Kenya work, I got increasingly angry, resisting the trap of apathy which I wasn’t sure I would survive.
Education is the Key
President Mwai Kibaki’s 2003 flagship project, the free education programme has certainly produced an enlightened mass of people. Education is key indeed. I remember being forced to recite poems in primary school about how education was the key to freeing ourselves. I’d get irritated since it made minimal sense to me at that point but now, I understand, in its entirety, the importance of comprehension. A generation of Kenyans has been empowered with basic skills and knowledge which they have applied to understanding their rights and to articulately address their concerns with the existing system. The organizational skills to mobilize against unjust systems reflects class consciousness as a result of education. If not for those who diligently went through the 2024 finance bill in its entirety last year and sounded the alarm, the nation would have breezed into a carefully orchestrated crisis.
Awakening to the class struggle for Kenyans has been gradual and is now at an all time high. Tension has been rising linked to the events of the first anniversary of the June 25th protests; there were a lot of deaths caused by the guns that the police wielded on that day. Without a central figure to look up to, people have recognized their collective power and the friction between them and the plundering few. This has enabled them to organize a resistance against the system, fueled by pure rage, due to shared suffering. Wananchi have become increasingly aware of their power as the majority and are now in a constant state of clamouring for change. They have realized that leaders are not appointed by a supernatural power; they are elected into office to serve and represent the interests of their constituents.
With this realization, we’re now being played just like in Hitman. Extra-judicial killings and arrests are being captured on camera and anti-citizen operations are seemingly funded by taxpayers’ money – ironically the same thing that citizens are fighting for the proper use of. There is predictably careful coordination of communication to misrepresent the purpose of the rising outrage. Since last year, the outraged have all been condescendingly branded as Gen-Z, who supposedly understand nothing of the struggles of the world and are out to make noise for fun and disrespect seniors. Attempts to infantilize the movement by outraged citizens, have only strengthened its cohesion, with class consciousness rising by the minute.
New Avenues for Resistance
Last year, in the quest to reclaim dignity and agency, Kenyans took to social media with the hashtag #RejectFinanceBill2024 on platforms such as X (Formerly Twitter), Facebook and Instagram. The hashtag was very crucial in communication, the coordination of peaceful protests, and the sharing of real-time updates when there was an incident of public concern, making it a very important tool of resistance.
Kenyans abroad took to the streets as well, outside their embassies, passionate about the cause. They also used their platforms to amplify the situation to the global community as well as to mobilize resources, in solidarity with their compatriots at home.
I applaud the people for their solidarity. Kenyans have come together to create models of a functional civic education system, legal system, healthcare system, and mobilize donations on a massive scale, all within hours. Never in my entire life have I seen something so encouraging in the country.
The struggle is horizontal— outstretching its hands from the middle to the top, and the bottom of the stratum, holding together an apex-lacking movement. The surface area is wider, and the possibility of a total push out rises by the hour, signaling potentially broad systemic change. Protesting generally is a testament to the power of education and awareness, despite the uncertainty of the journey ahead. The foundation has been laid and so there is a seed of hope for a better Kenya even as the world keeps watching keenly.
It is my hope that no more lives will be lost in this fight. The frog sits in water gradually coming to a boil, unaware he is making a dish of himself despite the shouts of bystanders.
As the days move and political consciousness rises, I’m curious to knows how things will play out. The nation is tired and all hands are on deck. What next for Kenya?
