Document Link: Generation Zion

July 10th, 2024
Author: Timothy Bryant, Advocate.

Kenya has just gone through two hectic weeks of revolutionary agitation, last week of June, and 1st week of July, 2024.

We begin, in recognition of the 1982 coup, to Bob Marley’s song “zion train”.

Two thousand years of history (History)
Could not be wiped away so easily
Two thousand years of history (Black history)
Could not be wiped so easily (Could not be wiped so easily)
Oh, children, Zion train is comin’ our way, get on board now!
They said the Zion train is comin’ our way
You got a ticket, so thank the Lord!

Then we remember Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov.

“There are decades where nothing happens; and there are weeks where decades happen.”

Short recap

Vlad seems to have had recent Kenya history in mind. So much has happened in the last two weeks that ten years from now, we will have to suspend belief that it all happened so fast, without notice, without leadership and with such lethal force to the Kenyan apparatchiks.

The use of current social media, twitter, TikTok, Facebook, Whatsapp by Generation Zion achieved so much so fast to the point where an acute observer might hold genuine doubt has to whether Kenya will return to normal parliamentary democracy again. Legislative houses were
invaded and the invasion seen “live” on international tv and internet. Political figures had their houses and farms invaded, sometimes burned. Police used live rounds on young men and women while being filmed on international “live” television. TikTok hosted calls for planning meetings in Java coffee shops, which promptly turned into a live demonstration on Nairobi CBD streets. The initial politician view, expressed to their everlasting regret on Kenyan television, that these were spoiled kids from the upper middle class of Nairobi [true], was reversed on the political class when the so called “spoiled kids” were joined at the next demonstration by their comrades from Eastlands, Kibra, etc. We then saw that our leaders opine, wrongly yet again, that this was only in Nairobi yet the next demonstrations affected 37 counties in Kenya, out of a total of 47 counties.

Generation Zion held us spell bound, because their actions were not textbook agitation tactics. There was no political opposition party, no political leaders, no program of reform [initially], just a raw expression of dissatisfaction with the Kenyan status quo. We had noted earlier in 2022 that the new government would need to act, and act fast on corruption. We had advised that at least eighty (80) big names would need to fall in order to satisfy the public that the political campaign
sloganeering was serious and truthful. Alas, it was not to be. The Kenyan state in 2024 is full of worse characters, holding high offices [offices bought by crowdfunding allegedly] than it was in 2021.

This brings us to the current moment.

Advice to Generation Zion.

The anarchy of Generation zion is found in their slogans. Although it must be admitted that Kenya is rotten at the core, their slogans about the need to abolish everything is simply wrong. A state holding many nations within its borders still has current urgent needs that must be met on a daily basis. The freedom to demonstrate arises and is maintained because there is some parent or elder sibling who is working and bringing home the food for the demonstrator on a daily basis. A
continued state of anarchy will cause even the small livelihoods being made by most Kenyans to come to a sudden stop. As a quick example of anarchy, I refer to the raid upon the Embu KRA offices this last week. Although again, KRA is famous for its rapaciousness, the solution cannot
be to burn down all public property in which KRA carries out its functions. A state cannot function without tax collection, even if taxes are collected in a painful manner and spent on frivolous projects, the state will still need to pay salaries of nurses, policemen, teachers, customs officers,etc, etc.

Vlad said this on the anarchists.

“The philosophy of the anarchists is bourgeois philosophy turned inside out. Their individualistic theories and their individualistic ideal are the very opposite of socialism”

I have also reflected deeply on the likely future of this. Academic knowledge is one thing, but having a ring side view of hyper-change on your mobile phone is another. I thought of a wave in the sea, racing with white plumes and crashing thunder to the sandy shore. The grandeur of a majestic wave never leaves the mind. Once the wave crashes onto the sand, it appears to have gone the way of all waves. Its sounds and colours remain only alive in the consciousness of the observer. This might be Generation zion. They are complaining about issues arising from Kenya’s deep history. Events that occurred before they were born are now the subject of their raw emotions as they seek answers to unemployment, corruption, greed, despair. They have come on the scene very fast, and might sink back into their respective abodes just as fast.

If I leave it at that, you will conclude that I am a permanent pessimist. My last comment is that the sources of the individual wave lay hidden far out at see, a combination of wind, sea temperatures and deep oceanic currents. Likewise, even if the Generation zion wave ends, I fully expect more waves to come crashing in until Kenya achieves its promised  future. I started with a quote, let me end with one. I ask that where you read “America”, delete and insert Kenya.

“If America does not use her vast resources of wealth to end poverty and make it possible for all of God’s children to have the basic necessities of life, she too will go to hell.” – Martin Luther King jnr.