Onyango Oloo Administrator Jukwaa Administrator member is offline
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No JUSTICE, No PEACE!! « Thread Started on Jan 3, 2008, 1:15pm »
Onyango Oloo Dissects The Wrong-Headed "SAVE OUR COUNTRY" Media Blitz
Nairobi, January 3, 2008
During my 18 year sojourn in Ontario and Quebec, I became quite immersed in a wide array of social justice struggles-from Indigenous People’s rights, anti-globalization, working class struggles, anti-apartheid to anti-racist movements.
The Canadian anti-racist movement, while different and autonomous from its sister movement south of the 49th Parallel, has been inspired by the African-American led struggles for civil, social, economic, cultural and political rights.
Icons like Malcolm X, Martin Luther King, Rosa Parks, Sojourner Truth, Ben Chavis, Jesse Jackson Jr., Fredrick Douglass, Harriet Tubman, Angela Davis, George Jackson, Huey P. Newton are household names in the African-Canadian, Caribbean Canadian, Asian-Canadian and Native Canadian communities.
As many of us know, one of the most ubiquitous rallying cries and chants during anti-racist rallies, protests and demonstrations is the slogan, “No Justice, No Peace!”
I remember the summer of 1989 being amidst angry protestors around the Queen’s Park subway in Toronto, making our way up the street to the Royal Ontario Museum chanting these and other slogans to vent our ire about a racist exhibition at that Museum which really demeaned continental Africans and people of African descent in general.
To some, the phrase, “No Justice, No Peace!” is just another tired slogan, to be grouped with “A People United, Shall Never Be Defeated!” or “An Injury To One Is An Injury to All”.
These cynics are of course obtuse, because they do not appreciate the blood, the sacrifice and the torture which infused the historical origins of those chants. The second phrase emanated from the anti-imperialist and anti-fascist struggles of Latin American women and men confronting the US backed dictatorships of Central and South America. The third slogan is from South Africa where the militant workers in that struggle-soaked nation were right at the front-lines of the South African national liberation movement.
This morning I want to talk about “No Justice, No Peace!” in the context of the ongoing social and political turmoil in Kenya.
And I am doing it because I have been reeling with DISGUST, recoiling in horror at a new campaign for “Peace” launched primarily by Kenya’s media houses, principally the Nation Media Group, the Standard Group and the folks who run KISS 100 FM and the Nairobi Star.
Now to be fair to people like Julie Gichuru at NTV and the KTN anchors, they appear sincere and earnest enough. It is good intentions all through.
At least at the surface level.
When you do scratch beneath that surface however, you are confronted with something else- a blatant attempt to restore social control and buttress the class domination of the comprador and petit bourgeoisie in Kenya.
Please stay with me if you are temporarily befuddled.
Most Kenyans know that the spontaneous anti-government insurrections were sparked off by the decision of the Electoral Commission of Kenya to steal the Presidential vote at the behest of Mwai Kibaki and his PNU cohorts.
We also realize that criminals and tribalists from a variety of ethnic backgrounds have hijacked these protests to rape, loot and plunder and attack members of specific ethnic groups.
One would expect that ANYONE interested in a peaceful solution to the crisis in Kenya would begin with where “the rain began to beat us” to quote Chinua Achebe for the billionth time.
One would further expect that only a transparent restitution of justice would jump start a sustainable peace and national reconciliation process.
At a minimum, there would have to be some kind of a public acknowledgment that the flawed Presidential election results must be rectified.
That seems to be the consensus in Kenya, and judging by media reports, among the publics of Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda and many other African countries.
The indictment by the EU observer mission would seem to indicate that the capitals of capital have no doubt in their minds that Kibaki stole the elections.
Given the above, one would expect that a "peace process" cum media blitz dubbed “Save Our Country”jumpstarted last night by the main Kenyan media houses who were in the forefront of exposing the anomalies and irregularities would pay attention to the question of justice even as strove to put out all the infernos raging across Kenya.
What has happened instead?
A mealy mouthed editorial piece on peace carried simultaneously across different Nairobi media that insults the collective intelligence of Kenyans.
Sample this:
“Political leaders on both sides must be told in no uncertain terms that they are currently in great danger of losing their credibility in the eyes of Kenyans and the international community because systemic killing of the innocents sweeping Kenya, destruction of the economy and the spread of disaffection throughout the land. No grievance and no cause is worth the innocent blood of Kenyan children. The orgies of looting, burning, rape and wanton, well-orchestrated blood-letting are undermining the moral basis of the politicians’ cause...”
-Excerpt from an editorial jointly run in the Daily Nation and Nairobi Star (Thursday, January 03, 2008)
HELLO??!!
Since when did “politicians on both sides” coerce ECK to steal the Presidential vote?
The culpability rests solely with President Kibaki. From the fascist diktats of Michuki, Muthaura, Murage and Co. we know that the ODM leadership has NOT had a chance to publicly address their followers and therefore cannot be accused of “orchestrating” or “instigating” anything.
Yes, the blood of innocents is flowing freely with mobs setting alight a church full of women and children and targeting innocent wananchi based on their ethnicity and regional origins.
But who is talking about the orgy of POLICE and PARA-MILITARY EXTRA-JUDICIAL EXECUTIONS?
By yesterday, there were over ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY BULLET RIDDLED BODIES in the New Nyanza Hospital in Kisumu including corpses of INFANTS. Who shot to death those innocent unarmed civilians? The police have been executing ghetto youth in Kibera, Kawangware and elsewhere. Who employs and commands these killers in uniform?
Reports from Kisumu insist that the Kibaki regime may be using crack NRA troops from neighbouring Uganda to slaughter Kenyan citizens. When I first raised this issue online twenty four hours ago, some were quick to dismiss the very possibility. Today the Nyanza Provincial Police Officer is on the defensive, admitting she is aware of these widespread allegations even as she strenuously denies them.
In this regard I must state that I was somewhat disappointed by the public statement released yesterday by Kenyan Nobel Laureate Wangari Maathai.
While I commend her for speaking up and appealing to Kibaki to take charge, I am disappointed that what motivated her was not so much the reality that the whole of Kenya is burning but rather that “her people”, the Central Kenyan communities were being targeted. Surely one can make a very strong case that the Luo communities residing in Kisumu, Migori, Homa Bay and elsewhere are being similarly targeted, this time by THE STATE itself.
In fact, in the letters to editors page of the Standard there is this letter from a Kisumu resident of South Asian heritage which says, inter alia:
“…The recent riots are not Kisumu riots. Even the killings are State-operated to gain political mileage to discredit ODM’s Raila Odinga and his supporters.”
-Mahesh R, Kisumu, p.8. Letter, The Standard, Thursday, January 03, 2008
Raila Odinga has publicly stated that he is ready to meet with international mediators with a preference for Kofi Annan and in fact as I write these lines is meeting with Archbishop Desmond Tutu at Pentagon House. Earlier this morning Amos Kimunya was interviewed by the BBC and he was quoted as saying that the Kibaki regime does NOT see the need for international mediators because they (PNU) can deal with the matter internally- a claim which is mocked by the ongoing protests. The same Kimunya has accused the international observers as being biased towards ODM after the EU team publicly denounced the anomalies in the tallying of the presidential results. President Kufuor of Ghana, the current AU Chairman was scheduled to be in Kenya today, but the Kibaki regime BLOCKED his coming.
Are these guys SERIOUS???!
Let us go back to the editorials. This is a passage from the Standard’s:
“…Employ a reputable international arbiter, NOT to determine who won the presidential poll, but to work out a road-map that will bring Kenya back from the brink and a mutually acceptable proposition for sharing power…Notwithstanding the inflation of figures in a number of areas, both ODM and PNU garnered 4 million plus votes in the presidential ballot, meaning the country is split right down the middle. The position of President is not vacant. Kibaki was declared President whether or not the presidential ballot was flawed…”
-Standard editorial, Thursday, January 03, 2008
It is right in this excerpt that the mask slips to reveal the PNU putrid underbelly of the much ballyhooed “Save Our Country” onslaught.
Huh?
So we should not “determine who won the presidential poll” eh? How then, dear Standard editors, will we work out a road-map that will bring back Kenya from the brink?
Even queasier is the cheesy full page ad by the Concerned Citizens for Peace addressing two men-Mwai Kibaki and Raila Odinga- to do something.
The very content of the ad betrays its elitist, undemocratic character.
The 2007 Kenyan civic, parliamentary and presidential polls was a national affair involving MILLIONS of Kenyan citizens. What is happening in Kenya is NOT a PRIVATE FIST FIGHT involving the Othaya and Lang’ata MPs, but rather a NATIONAL CRISIS that has the future of MILLIONS UPON MILLIONS of Kenyan women, children and men at stake.
To try and lock out the Kenyan people from an urgent democratic impasse and reduce it to a two man tussle is a grave insult to the Kenyan people.
By the way, WHERE is President Kibaki, the apparently “popularly, democratically and fairly elected leader”?
From the look of things right now one would be forgiven if they thought that Major-General Hussein Ali is the acting Head of State with chief government propagandist Dr. Alfred Mutua as his deputy.
In the few times I have seen Kibaki he is holed up at State House flanked with senior military officers giving the distinct impression that he is their hostage.
It is now approximately 12:15 as I keyboard these lines and reports on the television indicate that there are ongoing skirmishes between the police and pro-ODM youths along
Thika Road, Mbagathi Way, Kibera, Eastlands and the City Centre. In other words, there is a minor uprising in Nairobi and not just the capital but also Kakamega, Bungoma, Mombasa, Kisumu and elsewhere.
On December 30th I spoke about Kibaki’s Coup.
Four days later the presence of police, para-military and military formations underscores my point about the overthrow of democratic rule.
What is actually laughable is the phenomenon of a horde of PNU election losers led by Kibaki down to his deputy Awori and FORMER cabinet ministers Tuju, Kombo, Kituyi, Shakombo etc MASQUERADING as a legitimate “government”.
Surely, if Kibaki had the mandate that PNU hawks like [b]George Nyamweya claims he has, he should have formed a government by now. He should have by now been addressing his 4.5 million supporters at heavily attended mass rallies by now. Instead, Kibaki skulks stealthily in State House afraid to meet the very Kenyan citizens he claims to lead. [/b] Which brings me back to the slogan:
“No Justice, No Peace!!”
Until we resolve the simple question of who Kenyans actually elected President on December 27, 2007, there WILL BE NO PEACE in our country.
In my considered opinion, the SAVE OUR COUNTRY campaign is a slick, dishonest appeal by the pro-Kibaki comprador and petit-bourgeois business elite hoodwinking Kenyans to ACCEPT the fraudulent election results and legitimize PNU’s criminal civilian coup.
Why should Kibaki or Raila share power?
At the December 27th elections, Kenyans overwhelming voted for a new government:
That government is the Orange Democratic Movement led by its flag bearer, Raila Amolo Odinga.
Once again I say: NO JUSTICE, NO PEACE!
A PEOPLE UNITED, SHALL NEVER BE DEFEATED!
AN INJURY TO ONE, IS AN INJURY TO ALL!
Onyango Oloo Nairobi, Kenya
« Last Edit: Jan 4, 2008, 11:24am by Onyango Oloo »
Re: No JUSTICE, No PEACE!! « Reply #1 on Jan 3, 2008, 1:48pm »
It is just yesterday that i told my pal that if kibaki still has some brains left in his skull he should let kenyans go ahead with this peaceful demonstration but if all that i know about kibaki is anything to go by, then the country has just slipped off our hands.
Re: No JUSTICE, No PEACE!! « Reply #3 on Jan 3, 2008, 2:10pm »
Oloo I too had the same ideas as I read that piece and others in the papers yesterday. The liberal notion that no one is wrong and everyone is right works only for those with dominance over others. It is similar to the flawed notion that in cases of male violence against women in the domestic sphere every one is equally culpable as captured in the passe term "domestic violence". No the woman, the kids, the men and the pets weren't engaged in violence. Naming things for what they are and drawing the logical conclusion of "no justice no peace is how Kenyans must proceed.
Appeasing the dictator « Reply #5 on Jan 3, 2008, 2:22pm »
Thank you OO
Those trying to appease the dictator should read this:
"They came for the Jews, and I did nothing because I wasn't a Jew. They came for the Gypsies, and I did nothing because I wasn't a Gypsy. Then they came for the cripples and the mentally challenged, I did nothing for I am sound of body and mind? Finally, they came for me, and there was no one left to help [me]." Alison Weir
This illegal regime is not even a week old but is has already gone after the media, the poor in the slums, issued shoot to kill orders on demontrators and starving looters, tried to annihilite protesting Kenyans in Nyanza.
Previously they had ASSASINATED SUSPECTED Mungiki youths [ we did nothing because we were not mungiki]
To those advocating appeasing it, what makes you think they will not come for YOU and YOUR FAMILY? after they are done with us?
Oloo, I agree with you entirely. Some ill-intentioned Kenyans here and abroad who talk as if Raila stole anything, like Kalonzo Musyoka the Christian beau, who claimed that he spoke to Raila and found him 'more moderate' than before, yet they never met or spoke, are improperly implying that to demand justice is to be immoderate or power-hungry. The cause of the problem is Kibaki's THEFT of the election. To ask Raila to do something is to give too much credit to the man. The illegitimate president sits at state house and gives orders to police so let him take charge. But the simplest solution is quite obvious - the man shoud simply resign and go to othaya.
I keep wondering why 'mediators' and the media are beating about the bush when the skunk is clearly visible.
************ #6 Today 06:17:21
5thGLG Regular
Re: No JUSTICE, No PEACE!!
This slogan is more appropriate than "No Raila No peace" for we don't know who won the elections. Kibaki is illegitimate until proved otherwise. Raila isn't legitimate until proved otherwise.
Re: No JUSTICE, No PEACE!! « Reply #7 on Jan 3, 2008, 3:51pm »
Kibaki is set to stick at statehouse by any means necessary.This can be told looking at his face and the pace by which he rushed the ceremony. So far, the kenya media is bias in favour of the incumbent, am sorry to say this. When the press types an article entitled "Think about our country", The suggestion is that we forget about Justice or Injustice and take the country the way it is.. Then this is a disservice to that country itself.
As I write, am ready to do everything,including death, but to ensure that justice prevail. I don´t know who won the election, that´s why I am against Kibaki rushing to state house.
I want Justice to prevail. The ECK, The International Community, The KHRC and the kenya observers all points to the fact that the elections were rigged in favour of Kibaki. So why should we be reminded to consider peace before this very minimum problem is addressed? Not even Raila Odinga should be lured by Moody Awori´s biased address orchestrated by the mt. kenya mafia
Obama for America Correspondence Team « Reply #9 on Jan 3, 2008, 4:09pm »
Obama for America Correspondence Team <no-reply@barackobama.com>
Dear Friend,
Thank you for contacting me. I have been deeply troubled by the recent news out of Kenya. The instability and tragic violence pose an urgent and dangerous threat to the people of Kenya, and to Kenyan democracy. My family’s thoughts and prayers go out to all who have suffered, and to the families of the victims. The Kenyan people have a proud history of supporting the growth of democracy in their country. Their thirst for democracy was on display in this most recent election, when they turned out to vote in record numbers, and in a peaceful and orderly way.
Despite irregularities in the vote tabulation, now is not the time to throw that strong democracy away. Now is a time for President Kibaki, opposition leader Odinga, and all of Kenya’s leaders to call for calm, to come together, and to start a political process to address peacefully the controversies that divide them. Now is the time for this terrible violence to end.
Kenya’s long democratic journey has at times been difficult. But at critical moments, Kenyans have chosen unity and progress over division and disaster. The way forward is not through violence - it is through democracy, and the rule of law. To all of Kenya’s people, I ask you to renew Kenya’s democratic tradition, and to seek your dreams in peace.
Thank you again for contacting me, and for your concern.
Sincerely,
Barack Obama
---------------------- Paid for by Obama for America
Re: No JUSTICE, No PEACE!! « Reply #10 on Jan 3, 2008, 4:33pm »
It would appear that Oloo is celebrating the current violence. Form 16As were not doctored in Kondele, or Kwa Maiko or Langas. ODM members should focus their anger at Kibaki, you should walk on State House and install your man there, as this is the reason you are killing innocent civilians going about their lives. You should take direct action at the aggressor, not the ''collateral''.
12 months ago, OO was the champion of the cause of justice and right to life at The social forum. Fast forward to 2008 and here he is celebrating the dehumanization of the poor. I think we all stand to benefit more from a solution obtained in an environment of peace and calm. Let as deal with this ''injustice'' in a prudent way. Lets not reverse every gain we have had because of this single injustice. Lets seek redress in diplomacy and judicial instruments. Lets stop the meltdown. That is why the clarion call ''save our country'' is commendable.
Re: No JUSTICE, No PEACE!! « Reply #11 on Jan 3, 2008, 4:35pm »
OO,
Your question....Since when did “politicians on both sides” coerce ECK to steal the Presidential vote?
...brought the memories of teacher Paulo on Pedagogy.....
Violence is initiated by those who oppress, who exploit, who fail to recognize others as persons — not by those who are oppressed, exploited, and unrecognized. It is not the unloved who initiate disaffection, but those who cannot love because they love only themselves. It is not the helpless, subject to terror, who initiate terror, but the violent, who with their power create the concrete situation which begets the “rejects of life.” It is not the tyrannized who initiate despotism, but the tyrants. It is not the despised who initiate hatred, but those who despise. It is not those whose humanity is denied them who negate humankind, but those who denied that humanity (thus negating their own as well). Force is used not by those who have become weak under the preponderance of the strong, but by the strong who have emasculated them.
Onyango Oloo Administrator Jukwaa Administrator member is offline
Joined: Aug 2005 Gender: Male Posts: 3,124
To Enigma on Wilful Distortions « Reply #12 on Jan 3, 2008, 5:06pm »
Quote:
It would appear that Oloo is celebrating the current violence. Form 16As were not doctored in Kondele, or Kwa Maiko or Langas. ODM members should focus their anger at Kibaki, you should walk on State House and install your man there, as this is the reason you are killing innocent civilians going about their lives. You should take direct action at the aggressor, not the ''collateral''.
12 months ago, OO was the champion of the cause of justice and right to life at The social forum. Fast forward to 2008 and here he is celebrating the dehumanization of the poor. I think we all stand to benefit more from a solution obtained in an environment of peace and calm. Let as deal with this ''injustice'' in a prudent way. Lets not reverse every gain we have had because of this single injustice. Lets seek redress in diplomacy and judicial instruments. Lets stop the meltdown. That is why the clarion call ''save our country'' is commendable.
My compatriot "Enigma":
Greetings.
I can not let you get away with that GARBAGE, you know.
Show me WHERE I "celebrate the current violence". I do not know where you are posting from but I am in Nairobi and some of the people who have been killed are my friends; my brother in law who happens to be from Sagana had his bar looted in Mombasa and I am the one who reported it; my friend John the shopkeeper in South B had his kiosk burnt down and I am the one who told the world about it.
Please write things which you can support with a scintilla of evidence.
The days when trash talkers would don handles like "Enigma" to lie online are long gone.
As for my views, I need not add anything just now to the thread you are responding to.
I wish you had actually bothered to read my contribution before going on your lying spree.
Onyango Oloo Nairobi, Kenya
« Last Edit: Jan 3, 2008, 5:09pm by Onyango Oloo »
Re: No JUSTICE, No PEACE!! « Reply #13 on Jan 3, 2008, 5:10pm »
The problem has not been addressed. We have an illegal occupant in State House. A reference to the courts will not solve it but only stir it to a different height. Why? those courts are flooded with his cronies.
Kenyans need to take action if the criminals feel reluctant. Desmond Tutu has been rejected by kibaki. What next? Kibaki is not in that office for anything good.
These are the last kicks of a dieing donkey. The status quo is fading away very soon.
Re: No JUSTICE, No PEACE!! « Reply #14 on Jan 3, 2008, 5:36pm »
OO,
Garbage or not, you seem to want this standoff to persist. Why is it then that you find fault with the efforts by the media to appeal for sanity and peace. Why then do you oppose the resolution of this travesty through the courts?
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