Post by Onyango Oloo on Sept 26, 2005 21:45:09 GMT 3
A Digital Essay by Onyango Oloo, Monday, September 26, 2005
I will not wear sack cloth.
I will not gnash my teeth.
I will not wring my hands.
In other words, I am giving the ongoing festival of misery at the launch of the Orange Democratic Movement a wide berth.
Since the dramatic “Kisumu Declaration” launched the latest mainstream electoral pact on the Kenyan milieu on Sunday, September 25th, 2005, I have seen an accumulated pandemic of heart seizures vying with epileptic fits competing with panic attacks and jostling with diarrhea marathons as Kenyan pundits went into rhetorical over drive with their smorgasbord of motley reactions.
There are those who spat out cups of contemptuous makohozi dismissing the alliance as stillborn; there are those who greeted the dalliance with urinations of ululations; there are those who shed buckets of machozi convinced that our country was about to be flushed down a metaphorical lavatory.
Long term cheer leaders and cyber foot soldiers of the LDP and KANU are of course delirious with exuberant anticipation of glory days looming ahead.
Covert NAK operatives and overt mobilizers for the YES campaign have sprinted to the online forums with their instant analyses- much of which revolve around the notion that Kenyans are witnessing the reawakening of the old KANU beast of yesterdecade.
The ditherers are leaning ever so heavily on those creaking fences holding their finger to the hurricane flavoured air wondering whether they should be swept with the fences they sit on or jump off at the eleventh and a half hour to finally take a stand, this way or that…
Let me disclose my biases- this will help to clarify what my primary audience in writing this essay is.
Onyango Oloo is not really interested in the identity of the next Kenyan president or the next Kenyan prime minister.
What I am interested in is what I have been talking about for over two years now- the need to look Beyond 2007; beyond the next presidential and parliamentary elections.
I am interested in fast forwarding to take a sneak preview at the New Kenya- not at the next Kenyan head of state- the two possibilities as we found out ruefully post- December 2002 are not interchangeable.
In 2002 there was a massive countrywide mobilization which swept away a 40 year old dictatorship- as a prelude to setting up the current three year dictatorship.
In 2005 we observe a clear rift within the Kenyan elite as one faction of the ruling coalition strike a pact with the contingent they obliterated at the last polls to extinguish their erstwhile allies.
Once again the stadia are overflowing with hopeful wananchi hankering for a new dawn; once again on the cyberspace circuit, here we are, the familiar pundits from the familiar forums each of us weighing in, saying our bit, offering our ngotore kumi na tatu, giving our take- even if no one else apart from us takes our take...
This essay is for those Kenyans who consider themselves patriots and democrats. And when I say patriots and democrats, let me explain myself.
Patriot in this context is any Kenyan who loves Kenya and would want to see Kenya rise to her full political, economic, cultural, social, technological and ideological potential.
By which I mean, Kenyans who would want to see Kenya truly politically independent of Uncle Sam, the IMF, the World Bank the WTO and other forces of international finance capital to really determine our destiny;
By which I imply Kenyans who want to see our country become economically prosperous and our people gainfully and productively employed in a wide range of activities whether this be in private enterprise, community development, public sector service, technical expertise, agriculture, commerce, hi-tech digital communications, you name it;
When I speak of patriots I am talking of Kenyans who would want to celebrate our unity as a nation of four dozen or so nationalities, so called tribes;
I call you a Kenyan patriot if you are not a Mhindi hating racist or a Mhindi who is a Nyeuthi detesting bigot;
I call you a Kenyan patriot if you fight for the equality of Kenyan women and men, celebrate the rights of children and promote religious tolerance and mutual respect;
I call you a patriot when the interest of the Ogiek is just as crucial as the interest of the Mlum, Mrop, Msapere, Mkale or any Mwana wa Ingo;
You are a patriot if you see your oneness with your neighbour the Tanzanian, your jirani the Ugandan, your fellow Africans from Seychelles and Mauritius not to speak of the Rwandese, the Sudanese, the Eritrean, the Congolese and indeed each inhabitant of the continent and content of Africa;
I call you a Kenyan patriot if you recognize your global citizenship which claims your affinity to the far flung Kiwi, Aussie, Swiss, Finn, Pole, Korean, Japanese, Chinese, Indian, Emirati, Yemeni, Iraqi, Canuck, Yankee/Gringo/Gringa, Chicano/Chicana, Latino/Latina, Filipino/Filipina and all that comprises humankind;
I call you a Kenyan patriot if you spend hours staring into space in the wee hours of the morning wondering what George Bush and his corporate thugs have done to mother earth with their global warming, destruction of the wet lands as to unleash all these Asian Tsunamis, American Katrinas and Ritas;
You are a Kenyan patriot if you celebrate Kiswahili, mwomboko, mugithi, sukuti, benga, chakacha, rusha roho, traditional Samburu chants and Sheng flavoured hip hop tunes made in Dandora and Kongowea, Paul Machanga and Pand Pieri; that , or rather those were my many definitions of a Kenyan patriot.
And yes I am also interested in channeling my thoughts to Kenyan democrats.
Now a Kenyan democrat is not merely someone who believes in the magic opportunity of turfing leaders out of power through the ballot box- those come fungu peni, or as the Walami say, a dime a dozen.
The kind of Kenyan democrat I am talking about is a Kenyan who believes it is time for the ordinary Mwananchi to sleep in the State House.
Can a man on a baisikeli living in a shack in Korogocho be elected President?
Can a woman surviving by selling chang'aa in Changamwe become an MP?
If you think the very imagery is far fetched, then no, you do not fit the description of the democrats I am seeking to converse with.
When I am talking about democrats I am talking about those Maasai who are dreaming of the day they will bum rush William Ole Ntimama or George Saitoti when either of them are giving one more empty speech, grab the microphone from them and say: “Sikiliza Mzee, wacha niongee!”;
When I am talking of democrats I am talking of that young woman who wants to stop her ears and scream: “When will ANYONE give me a chance to say something in this crowded room?!!!”
When I am speaking of a Kenyan democrat I am thinking of the twenty something young man who commutes everyday from Kangemi to downtown Nairobi to try out his radical lyrics with his underground hip hop crew;
When I am talking of Kenyan democrats I am talking of the Conjestinas and other talented athletes wallowing in poverty because our world famous sports studded country does not have a government in place that respects its sportsmen and sports women… you get my drift.
And to clarify, Kenyan democrats are found in every social stratum, so you university educated Shakespeare quoting, Black Berry toting, Trans-Atlantic shuttling blogging and chat room dwelling compatriots do not feel excluded- I do not romanticize anyone because I know that some of the worst killers of democrats are recruited among the elements déclassé desperados and some of the most sincere defenders of progressive traditions stroll the leafy cul de sacs of Loresho in Nairobi, Milimani in Nakuru and Kizingo in Mombasa.
Most importantly I call you a democrat if you know that there is MORE to democracy than periodic elections, infernal factional fist fights and a desperate aping of Westminster models.
I am looking for Kenyan democrats who are familiar with the democracy practiced in Cuba and being realized in Venezuela and West Bengal.
So if you find yourself included please hop in as we continue the ride. If not, get out of my face already!
To proceed.
Last year the Yellow Movement was launched.
Yesterday the Orange Movement was launched.
Today is time Kenyans unleashed the RED Movement.
Yes, Red as in the colour of a SOCIALIST movement; Red as in the colour of anti-imperialist mass mobilization; Red as in one of the colours of Pan Africanism; Red as in radical; Red as in revolutionary; Red as in militant, as in patriotic as in popular democratic.
Socialists do not come in their thousands at first- we can usually fit in one mkokoteni with room to spare for a long time; anti-imperialists are not found on every street corner- they stand out in the crowd because they say something beyond Moi Chini and Kibaki Must Go!
Revolutionaries are not distinguished by their sheer numbers but by the potency of their ideas, the sophistication of their analysis, the thoroughness of their organization, the clarity of their political platforms; the sustainability of their strategies and tactics and by their principled wisdom as they go about building short term and long term coalitions.
For far too long the Kenyan Left has ceded a lot of territory to the mainstream politicians- many of whom were once brilliant socialists, anti-imperialists and militant democrats.
One of the things that would distinguish the leadership of the Orange Movement from a potential Red Movement is that the former is led by politicians while the latter is led by political activists who may or may not venture into mainstream politics.
Since 1991 Kenyan Leftists have been whining that the mainstream politicians have repeatedly hijacked popular struggles for their myopic interests.
Well that may be so, but what have we on the Left done?
Let me tell you.
In late 1991, after the repeal of Section 2A of the constitution legalized multiparty politics there was a very vigorous discussion in then semi-clandestine Kenyan Leftist demi-monde. What were we to do?
I was then a member of an outfit called UWAKE which included in its top ranks at least two current Members of Parliament- one of whom was actually a cabinet minister not too long ago. We had units in Kenya, in Tanzania, in Uganda, in Southern Africa, in Scandinavia, in Canada and in the United States. Through our underground channels we debated fiercely what to do. Some of us wanted us to follow the lead of Umoja and Mwakenya and boycott the entire multiparty euphoria because like Ngugi said at that time, Kenyans had to be wary about Moism without Moi. Others wanted to immediately jump out of clandestinity and join Ford-Asili, Ford-Kenya and all those other mainstream upstarts. There are those who wanted to retain our independent existence and perhaps come out of the political closets gradually after a careful assessment of the concrete situation.
Long story short, before we had a chance to consummate these discussions, a section of our leadership based in East Africa arbitrarily decided to disband UWAKE! Just like that. One day we were all members of a compact Marxist-Leninist formation and the next day we became political waifs without a political home. And our leaders fanned out- one basically was a ghost writer for one of the Presidential aspirants of 1992; another one became a key lieutenant of the other FORD Presidential candidate- others became advisors and strategists for an assortment of candidates- three or four ran for parliament- at one point in the late 1990s one of our former cadres was a KANU MP and assistant minister while another one was a FORD-K MP and cabinet minister while a third one became the Secretary General of another new mainstream political party.
In one sense we had simply evolved with the times and to a certain extent we were secretly proud that so many of our members and supporters as well as members of other formerly Leftist groups including Mwakenya were very active in mainstream politics-especially in the 1992-1997 period.
But the stark reality is that the multi-party euphoria thoroughly DISORGANIZED the Kenyan Left as we scrambled to latch on to short term political agendas led by politicians who had long held the socialist underground in undisguised contempt. We were now dancing to their tune, singing their song. We deluded ourselves that we needed this opening up of democratic space, with a handful of us convinced that sooner or later we would be able to infiltrate and take over these mainstream outfits and push our own explicitly socialist and anti-imperialist agendas.
Well that did not happen. Even the most radical of the so called Young Turks had a healthy disdain for Marxism- and remember this was the immediate post Fall of the Wall period where everybody was shouting their anti-communist credentials from the rooftops.
So the organized Kenyan Left that had remained intact throughout the darkest years of the Moi-Dictatorship- 1982-1990- were suddenly obliterated because we allowed ourselves to be gobbled by FORD and all her children; DP and her clones and even KANU! I remember how traumatized some of us were when one of our ex- members announced that he was going to take a second stab at a parliamentary seat on a KANU ticket- he had been runner up in his first try in 1992. We were simply horrified. He explained to us that he was in a KANU zone and that is why he opted for the ruling party- in any case he pointed out that his previous party was simply a KANU clone. He won handily and soon enough he became an assistant minister. Almost as predictably, his politics started veering sharply to the right. Far from “infiltrating” KANU, the ruling party had CO-OPTED him.
By the time the 1997 elections came around, there had been a lot of shifting sands. Our comrades from the underground phase who were based in Nairobi became the bedrock of the Change the Constitution movement. It is not often appreciated that the 4 Cs was kicked off as a LEFTIST project by people who had spent years in the Kenyan Marxist underground. Kenyan socialists then as now, prefer working in the shadows, making things work behind the scene while mainstream populists take all the credit. How many people can name the two women socialists who practically ran the secretariat of George Anyona’s Kenya Social Congress?
When the history of the Kenyan socialist movement is finally written people will truly appreciate the democratic contributions of socialists like Makhan Singh, Pio Gama Pinto, Willy Mutunga, Ngugi wa Thiongo, Wanjiru Kihoro, Adongo Ogony, Karimi Nduthu, Kaara wa Macharia, Wafula Buke, Njuguna Mutahi, Ngang'a Thiong'o, Alamin Mazrui, Micere Mugo, Kathini Maloba, Mwandawiro Mghanga, Oduor Ong'wen, Wahu Kaara, Edward Oyugi, Zarina Patel and many others who actually PREFER to remain nameless for now.
The post 1997 period saw many Kenyan Leftists become very active in the civil society organizations that mushroomed especially after 1994. Together with other compatriots, some of these comrades are today part and parcel of formations like the Yellow Movement and I am pretty sure they are in the thick of things that go under the rubric of the just launched Orange Movement.
But with all due respect to Raila Odinga and the rest of the leadership of the brand new Orange Democratic Movement, I really think it is time for a Red Movement.
The Orange Democratic Movement is focused on winning political power in 2007; the Red Movement should be about what happens Beyond 2007.
Am I being a spoiler?
Hardly.
From experience, the only time mainstream politicians agitate for true and thorough going reforms is when they are PUSHED from the LEFT. Left to their own devices, mainstream Kenyan politicians stay in the Centre or actually SWING TO THE RIGHT- if they were not right there on the Right to begin with. More than that, revolutionaries and anti-imperialists are more about democratizing society from the roots, beginning with democratizing the economic relations in society than mainstream politicians who are prone to cattle trading, a kind of never ending nipe nikupe scratch my back I will scratch yours quid pro quo.
When this nipe nikupe back scratching exercise commences, that is when you start seeing mainstream politicians dropping the ball- that is how a progressive lawyer like Kiraitu Murungi and a democratic Nyayo survivor like Mirugi Kariuki dropped the reform agenda- they got power and they got intoxicated and told their former comrades and friends to EFF OFF.
I know that some of my friends will take umbrage with my call for the formation of a Red Democratic Movement- a day after the launch of the Orange Democratic Movement. They may call me a spoiler, an adventurist, naïve, amateurish. I hope they shower me with more names because I want to gauge the limits of their name calling creativity.
The fact remains that we on the Kenyan Left have served a very, very, very long apprenticeship in the shadows of oppositional mainstream politicians.
It is about time we struck out on our own and set up our own shops. And in doing this, we can borrow one or two leaves from the South African Communist Party which has its own agenda while remaining in a rock steady partnership with the ruling African National Congress.
Onyango Oloo
Toronto
I will not wear sack cloth.
I will not gnash my teeth.
I will not wring my hands.
In other words, I am giving the ongoing festival of misery at the launch of the Orange Democratic Movement a wide berth.
Since the dramatic “Kisumu Declaration” launched the latest mainstream electoral pact on the Kenyan milieu on Sunday, September 25th, 2005, I have seen an accumulated pandemic of heart seizures vying with epileptic fits competing with panic attacks and jostling with diarrhea marathons as Kenyan pundits went into rhetorical over drive with their smorgasbord of motley reactions.
There are those who spat out cups of contemptuous makohozi dismissing the alliance as stillborn; there are those who greeted the dalliance with urinations of ululations; there are those who shed buckets of machozi convinced that our country was about to be flushed down a metaphorical lavatory.
Long term cheer leaders and cyber foot soldiers of the LDP and KANU are of course delirious with exuberant anticipation of glory days looming ahead.
Covert NAK operatives and overt mobilizers for the YES campaign have sprinted to the online forums with their instant analyses- much of which revolve around the notion that Kenyans are witnessing the reawakening of the old KANU beast of yesterdecade.
The ditherers are leaning ever so heavily on those creaking fences holding their finger to the hurricane flavoured air wondering whether they should be swept with the fences they sit on or jump off at the eleventh and a half hour to finally take a stand, this way or that…
Let me disclose my biases- this will help to clarify what my primary audience in writing this essay is.
Onyango Oloo is not really interested in the identity of the next Kenyan president or the next Kenyan prime minister.
What I am interested in is what I have been talking about for over two years now- the need to look Beyond 2007; beyond the next presidential and parliamentary elections.
I am interested in fast forwarding to take a sneak preview at the New Kenya- not at the next Kenyan head of state- the two possibilities as we found out ruefully post- December 2002 are not interchangeable.
In 2002 there was a massive countrywide mobilization which swept away a 40 year old dictatorship- as a prelude to setting up the current three year dictatorship.
In 2005 we observe a clear rift within the Kenyan elite as one faction of the ruling coalition strike a pact with the contingent they obliterated at the last polls to extinguish their erstwhile allies.
Once again the stadia are overflowing with hopeful wananchi hankering for a new dawn; once again on the cyberspace circuit, here we are, the familiar pundits from the familiar forums each of us weighing in, saying our bit, offering our ngotore kumi na tatu, giving our take- even if no one else apart from us takes our take...
This essay is for those Kenyans who consider themselves patriots and democrats. And when I say patriots and democrats, let me explain myself.
Patriot in this context is any Kenyan who loves Kenya and would want to see Kenya rise to her full political, economic, cultural, social, technological and ideological potential.
By which I mean, Kenyans who would want to see Kenya truly politically independent of Uncle Sam, the IMF, the World Bank the WTO and other forces of international finance capital to really determine our destiny;
By which I imply Kenyans who want to see our country become economically prosperous and our people gainfully and productively employed in a wide range of activities whether this be in private enterprise, community development, public sector service, technical expertise, agriculture, commerce, hi-tech digital communications, you name it;
When I speak of patriots I am talking of Kenyans who would want to celebrate our unity as a nation of four dozen or so nationalities, so called tribes;
I call you a Kenyan patriot if you are not a Mhindi hating racist or a Mhindi who is a Nyeuthi detesting bigot;
I call you a Kenyan patriot if you fight for the equality of Kenyan women and men, celebrate the rights of children and promote religious tolerance and mutual respect;
I call you a patriot when the interest of the Ogiek is just as crucial as the interest of the Mlum, Mrop, Msapere, Mkale or any Mwana wa Ingo;
You are a patriot if you see your oneness with your neighbour the Tanzanian, your jirani the Ugandan, your fellow Africans from Seychelles and Mauritius not to speak of the Rwandese, the Sudanese, the Eritrean, the Congolese and indeed each inhabitant of the continent and content of Africa;
I call you a Kenyan patriot if you recognize your global citizenship which claims your affinity to the far flung Kiwi, Aussie, Swiss, Finn, Pole, Korean, Japanese, Chinese, Indian, Emirati, Yemeni, Iraqi, Canuck, Yankee/Gringo/Gringa, Chicano/Chicana, Latino/Latina, Filipino/Filipina and all that comprises humankind;
I call you a Kenyan patriot if you spend hours staring into space in the wee hours of the morning wondering what George Bush and his corporate thugs have done to mother earth with their global warming, destruction of the wet lands as to unleash all these Asian Tsunamis, American Katrinas and Ritas;
You are a Kenyan patriot if you celebrate Kiswahili, mwomboko, mugithi, sukuti, benga, chakacha, rusha roho, traditional Samburu chants and Sheng flavoured hip hop tunes made in Dandora and Kongowea, Paul Machanga and Pand Pieri; that , or rather those were my many definitions of a Kenyan patriot.
And yes I am also interested in channeling my thoughts to Kenyan democrats.
Now a Kenyan democrat is not merely someone who believes in the magic opportunity of turfing leaders out of power through the ballot box- those come fungu peni, or as the Walami say, a dime a dozen.
The kind of Kenyan democrat I am talking about is a Kenyan who believes it is time for the ordinary Mwananchi to sleep in the State House.
Can a man on a baisikeli living in a shack in Korogocho be elected President?
Can a woman surviving by selling chang'aa in Changamwe become an MP?
If you think the very imagery is far fetched, then no, you do not fit the description of the democrats I am seeking to converse with.
When I am talking about democrats I am talking about those Maasai who are dreaming of the day they will bum rush William Ole Ntimama or George Saitoti when either of them are giving one more empty speech, grab the microphone from them and say: “Sikiliza Mzee, wacha niongee!”;
When I am talking of democrats I am talking of that young woman who wants to stop her ears and scream: “When will ANYONE give me a chance to say something in this crowded room?!!!”
When I am speaking of a Kenyan democrat I am thinking of the twenty something young man who commutes everyday from Kangemi to downtown Nairobi to try out his radical lyrics with his underground hip hop crew;
When I am talking of Kenyan democrats I am talking of the Conjestinas and other talented athletes wallowing in poverty because our world famous sports studded country does not have a government in place that respects its sportsmen and sports women… you get my drift.
And to clarify, Kenyan democrats are found in every social stratum, so you university educated Shakespeare quoting, Black Berry toting, Trans-Atlantic shuttling blogging and chat room dwelling compatriots do not feel excluded- I do not romanticize anyone because I know that some of the worst killers of democrats are recruited among the elements déclassé desperados and some of the most sincere defenders of progressive traditions stroll the leafy cul de sacs of Loresho in Nairobi, Milimani in Nakuru and Kizingo in Mombasa.
Most importantly I call you a democrat if you know that there is MORE to democracy than periodic elections, infernal factional fist fights and a desperate aping of Westminster models.
I am looking for Kenyan democrats who are familiar with the democracy practiced in Cuba and being realized in Venezuela and West Bengal.
So if you find yourself included please hop in as we continue the ride. If not, get out of my face already!
To proceed.
Last year the Yellow Movement was launched.
Yesterday the Orange Movement was launched.
Today is time Kenyans unleashed the RED Movement.
Yes, Red as in the colour of a SOCIALIST movement; Red as in the colour of anti-imperialist mass mobilization; Red as in one of the colours of Pan Africanism; Red as in radical; Red as in revolutionary; Red as in militant, as in patriotic as in popular democratic.
Socialists do not come in their thousands at first- we can usually fit in one mkokoteni with room to spare for a long time; anti-imperialists are not found on every street corner- they stand out in the crowd because they say something beyond Moi Chini and Kibaki Must Go!
Revolutionaries are not distinguished by their sheer numbers but by the potency of their ideas, the sophistication of their analysis, the thoroughness of their organization, the clarity of their political platforms; the sustainability of their strategies and tactics and by their principled wisdom as they go about building short term and long term coalitions.
For far too long the Kenyan Left has ceded a lot of territory to the mainstream politicians- many of whom were once brilliant socialists, anti-imperialists and militant democrats.
One of the things that would distinguish the leadership of the Orange Movement from a potential Red Movement is that the former is led by politicians while the latter is led by political activists who may or may not venture into mainstream politics.
Since 1991 Kenyan Leftists have been whining that the mainstream politicians have repeatedly hijacked popular struggles for their myopic interests.
Well that may be so, but what have we on the Left done?
Let me tell you.
In late 1991, after the repeal of Section 2A of the constitution legalized multiparty politics there was a very vigorous discussion in then semi-clandestine Kenyan Leftist demi-monde. What were we to do?
I was then a member of an outfit called UWAKE which included in its top ranks at least two current Members of Parliament- one of whom was actually a cabinet minister not too long ago. We had units in Kenya, in Tanzania, in Uganda, in Southern Africa, in Scandinavia, in Canada and in the United States. Through our underground channels we debated fiercely what to do. Some of us wanted us to follow the lead of Umoja and Mwakenya and boycott the entire multiparty euphoria because like Ngugi said at that time, Kenyans had to be wary about Moism without Moi. Others wanted to immediately jump out of clandestinity and join Ford-Asili, Ford-Kenya and all those other mainstream upstarts. There are those who wanted to retain our independent existence and perhaps come out of the political closets gradually after a careful assessment of the concrete situation.
Long story short, before we had a chance to consummate these discussions, a section of our leadership based in East Africa arbitrarily decided to disband UWAKE! Just like that. One day we were all members of a compact Marxist-Leninist formation and the next day we became political waifs without a political home. And our leaders fanned out- one basically was a ghost writer for one of the Presidential aspirants of 1992; another one became a key lieutenant of the other FORD Presidential candidate- others became advisors and strategists for an assortment of candidates- three or four ran for parliament- at one point in the late 1990s one of our former cadres was a KANU MP and assistant minister while another one was a FORD-K MP and cabinet minister while a third one became the Secretary General of another new mainstream political party.
In one sense we had simply evolved with the times and to a certain extent we were secretly proud that so many of our members and supporters as well as members of other formerly Leftist groups including Mwakenya were very active in mainstream politics-especially in the 1992-1997 period.
But the stark reality is that the multi-party euphoria thoroughly DISORGANIZED the Kenyan Left as we scrambled to latch on to short term political agendas led by politicians who had long held the socialist underground in undisguised contempt. We were now dancing to their tune, singing their song. We deluded ourselves that we needed this opening up of democratic space, with a handful of us convinced that sooner or later we would be able to infiltrate and take over these mainstream outfits and push our own explicitly socialist and anti-imperialist agendas.
Well that did not happen. Even the most radical of the so called Young Turks had a healthy disdain for Marxism- and remember this was the immediate post Fall of the Wall period where everybody was shouting their anti-communist credentials from the rooftops.
So the organized Kenyan Left that had remained intact throughout the darkest years of the Moi-Dictatorship- 1982-1990- were suddenly obliterated because we allowed ourselves to be gobbled by FORD and all her children; DP and her clones and even KANU! I remember how traumatized some of us were when one of our ex- members announced that he was going to take a second stab at a parliamentary seat on a KANU ticket- he had been runner up in his first try in 1992. We were simply horrified. He explained to us that he was in a KANU zone and that is why he opted for the ruling party- in any case he pointed out that his previous party was simply a KANU clone. He won handily and soon enough he became an assistant minister. Almost as predictably, his politics started veering sharply to the right. Far from “infiltrating” KANU, the ruling party had CO-OPTED him.
By the time the 1997 elections came around, there had been a lot of shifting sands. Our comrades from the underground phase who were based in Nairobi became the bedrock of the Change the Constitution movement. It is not often appreciated that the 4 Cs was kicked off as a LEFTIST project by people who had spent years in the Kenyan Marxist underground. Kenyan socialists then as now, prefer working in the shadows, making things work behind the scene while mainstream populists take all the credit. How many people can name the two women socialists who practically ran the secretariat of George Anyona’s Kenya Social Congress?
When the history of the Kenyan socialist movement is finally written people will truly appreciate the democratic contributions of socialists like Makhan Singh, Pio Gama Pinto, Willy Mutunga, Ngugi wa Thiongo, Wanjiru Kihoro, Adongo Ogony, Karimi Nduthu, Kaara wa Macharia, Wafula Buke, Njuguna Mutahi, Ngang'a Thiong'o, Alamin Mazrui, Micere Mugo, Kathini Maloba, Mwandawiro Mghanga, Oduor Ong'wen, Wahu Kaara, Edward Oyugi, Zarina Patel and many others who actually PREFER to remain nameless for now.
The post 1997 period saw many Kenyan Leftists become very active in the civil society organizations that mushroomed especially after 1994. Together with other compatriots, some of these comrades are today part and parcel of formations like the Yellow Movement and I am pretty sure they are in the thick of things that go under the rubric of the just launched Orange Movement.
But with all due respect to Raila Odinga and the rest of the leadership of the brand new Orange Democratic Movement, I really think it is time for a Red Movement.
The Orange Democratic Movement is focused on winning political power in 2007; the Red Movement should be about what happens Beyond 2007.
Am I being a spoiler?
Hardly.
From experience, the only time mainstream politicians agitate for true and thorough going reforms is when they are PUSHED from the LEFT. Left to their own devices, mainstream Kenyan politicians stay in the Centre or actually SWING TO THE RIGHT- if they were not right there on the Right to begin with. More than that, revolutionaries and anti-imperialists are more about democratizing society from the roots, beginning with democratizing the economic relations in society than mainstream politicians who are prone to cattle trading, a kind of never ending nipe nikupe scratch my back I will scratch yours quid pro quo.
When this nipe nikupe back scratching exercise commences, that is when you start seeing mainstream politicians dropping the ball- that is how a progressive lawyer like Kiraitu Murungi and a democratic Nyayo survivor like Mirugi Kariuki dropped the reform agenda- they got power and they got intoxicated and told their former comrades and friends to EFF OFF.
I know that some of my friends will take umbrage with my call for the formation of a Red Democratic Movement- a day after the launch of the Orange Democratic Movement. They may call me a spoiler, an adventurist, naïve, amateurish. I hope they shower me with more names because I want to gauge the limits of their name calling creativity.
The fact remains that we on the Kenyan Left have served a very, very, very long apprenticeship in the shadows of oppositional mainstream politicians.
It is about time we struck out on our own and set up our own shops. And in doing this, we can borrow one or two leaves from the South African Communist Party which has its own agenda while remaining in a rock steady partnership with the ruling African National Congress.
Onyango Oloo
Toronto
-you know our people, they read between lines including reading blank pages yaani-they will see text where there is NONE. The same people miss to see and READ LEAR BOLD words in texts and on the POLITICAL WALL! 
