It’s a year to the day that Gen Z protesters stormed the Kenyan parliament - and people are back on the streets to mark the occasion.
Rights groups say 60 people were killed in the police crackdown on the protests last year. Their ‘crime’ was to demand a functional and just nation. The initial spark was opposition to planned tax hikes (intended to please the International Monetary Fund). But 25 June 2024 is now seared into the national consciousness as a symbol of state violence and repression. However, it has also become a day symbolic of resistance and of commemoration for the young revolutionaries who gave their lives.
The harsh economic realities that first drove Gen Z onto the streets haven’t improved. Up to a million young people enter the job market in Kenya every year, yet the majority do not secure employment. Healthcare remains largely inaccessible to the majority, and approximately 36% of the population lives in extreme poverty.
Rights groups say 60 people were killed in the police crackdown on the protests last year. Their ‘crime’ was to demand a functional and just nation. The initial spark was opposition to planned tax hikes (intended to please the International Monetary Fund). But 25 June 2024 is now seared into the national consciousness as a symbol of state violence and repression. However, it has also become a day symbolic of resistance and of commemoration for the young revolutionaries who gave their lives.
The harsh economic realities that first drove Gen Z onto the streets haven’t improved. Up to a million young people enter the job market in Kenya every year, yet the majority do not secure employment. Healthcare remains largely inaccessible to the majority, and approximately 36% of the population lives in extreme poverty.
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Continued….. Meanwhile, the gap between the ‘haves’ and the ‘have-nots’ keeps widening, fuelling frustration and unrest.
Kenyan MPs remain some of the world’s highest paid relative to the country’s GDP. They push for higher wages for themselves, despite nearly every corner of the capital Nairobi’s business district - where the parliament sits - reminding them how hard life is for young people: homeless, glue-sniffing, intoxication and begging.
Approximately 75% of Kenya’s population is aged 35 or below. This youthful majority is determined to reclaim the country and steer it onto a path that truly serves and works for the common man. Swipe left to see some images from today’s demonstration and how today, just like a year ago, the protestors are still met with violence instead of solutions.
Kenyan MPs remain some of the world’s highest paid relative to the country’s GDP. They push for higher wages for themselves, despite nearly every corner of the capital Nairobi’s business district - where the parliament sits - reminding them how hard life is for young people: homeless, glue-sniffing, intoxication and begging.
Approximately 75% of Kenya’s population is aged 35 or below. This youthful majority is determined to reclaim the country and steer it onto a path that truly serves and works for the common man. Swipe left to see some images from today’s demonstration and how today, just like a year ago, the protestors are still met with violence instead of solutions.
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WHITE PEOPLE COLONISED INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY
In this clip, TikTok user Amy Chen (@circusfaery33) succinctly responds to an ignorant comment claiming that the Global South owes Europe for the invention of mobile phones.
Western tactics of exploitation are numerous and often deeply embedded in global systems. Among these is the concept of patents, which allows entities from the Global North to monopolise the ownership of intellectual property, including inventions and cultural symbols that originate from the Global South. Appropriating intellectual property perpetuates the myth of Western superiority, resulting in a skewed historical narrative that wrongfully credits Europeans with innovations and civilisations.
In this clip, TikTok user Amy Chen (@circusfaery33) succinctly responds to an ignorant comment claiming that the Global South owes Europe for the invention of mobile phones.
Western tactics of exploitation are numerous and often deeply embedded in global systems. Among these is the concept of patents, which allows entities from the Global North to monopolise the ownership of intellectual property, including inventions and cultural symbols that originate from the Global South. Appropriating intellectual property perpetuates the myth of Western superiority, resulting in a skewed historical narrative that wrongfully credits Europeans with innovations and civilisations.
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Continued……. For example, Western narratives often omit that Egyptian and Eastern civilisations influenced much of Greek philosophy. Moreover, although Greeks are typically credited for the study of philosophy, some of Europe's most notable scholars, such as Plato, travelled to Egypt to receive tutelage. Furthermore, the Dogon people of Mali were aware of the Sirius star system long before modern astronomy recognised it.
What Europe really ‘accomplished’ was to help destroy African civilisations, perpetuating the falsehood that the continent was uncivilised before colonial contact, thereby justifying colonisation.
Video credit: @circusfaery33 (TikTok)
Sources
https://www.cengn.ca/information-centre/innovation/timeline-from-1g-to-5g-a-brief-history-on-cell-phones/
https://www.counterpointresearch.com/insight/global-handset-production-2021
https://www.patentlyapple.com/2022/09/while-china-accounted-for-67-of-global-handset-production-in-2021-due-to-apples-iphone-theres-a-slow-shift-to-other-count.html
https://thethirdeye.co.zw/jesse-russell-the-man-who-changed-the-world-of-mobile-phones/
https://aaregistry.org/story/cell-phone-pioneer-jesse-russell-born/
https://nsbp.org/blogpost/1997746/444194/February-13-2022--Dr-Henry-Thomas-Sampson-Jr
https://socratesjourney.org/plato-in-egypt-the-greatest-philosopher-3/
https://philarchive.org/archive/MULTGO-13
https://www.jstor.org/stable/283753
What Europe really ‘accomplished’ was to help destroy African civilisations, perpetuating the falsehood that the continent was uncivilised before colonial contact, thereby justifying colonisation.
Video credit: @circusfaery33 (TikTok)
Sources
https://www.cengn.ca/information-centre/innovation/timeline-from-1g-to-5g-a-brief-history-on-cell-phones/
https://www.counterpointresearch.com/insight/global-handset-production-2021
https://www.patentlyapple.com/2022/09/while-china-accounted-for-67-of-global-handset-production-in-2021-due-to-apples-iphone-theres-a-slow-shift-to-other-count.html
https://thethirdeye.co.zw/jesse-russell-the-man-who-changed-the-world-of-mobile-phones/
https://aaregistry.org/story/cell-phone-pioneer-jesse-russell-born/
https://nsbp.org/blogpost/1997746/444194/February-13-2022--Dr-Henry-Thomas-Sampson-Jr
https://socratesjourney.org/plato-in-egypt-the-greatest-philosopher-3/
https://philarchive.org/archive/MULTGO-13
https://www.jstor.org/stable/283753
CENGN
Timeline from 1G to 5G: A Brief History on Cell Phones - CENGN
The timeline from 1G to 5G took just over 40 years, changing the history of cell phones as each new cellular generation was introduced.
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‘SETTLERS - JUST COMMON THIEVES!’
In this clip, Palestinian doctor, academic and author Ghada Karmi challenges Dani Dayan, an Israeli settler. She accuses him of being nothing more than a 'common thief' - pointing out that he lives on stolen land, drinks stolen water and eats stolen fruit.
Since 1948, generations of Palestinians have been dispossessed of their lands - with villages systematically depopulated and destroyed to make way for Israeli settlers. Karmi herself is a survivor of this 1948 'Nakba' ('catastrophe' in Arabic) -during which more than 700,000 Palestinians were driven away from their land to pave the way for the creation of the state of Israel - and had to seek refuge elsewhere. Her words cut through political euphemisms to lay bare the lived reality of Palestinians dispossessed of land, water and home. Meanwhile, the likes of Dayan - who have roots elsewhere (he was born in Argentina and is of Ukrainian descent) - claim they are indigenous to the lands they occupy.
In this clip, Palestinian doctor, academic and author Ghada Karmi challenges Dani Dayan, an Israeli settler. She accuses him of being nothing more than a 'common thief' - pointing out that he lives on stolen land, drinks stolen water and eats stolen fruit.
Since 1948, generations of Palestinians have been dispossessed of their lands - with villages systematically depopulated and destroyed to make way for Israeli settlers. Karmi herself is a survivor of this 1948 'Nakba' ('catastrophe' in Arabic) -during which more than 700,000 Palestinians were driven away from their land to pave the way for the creation of the state of Israel - and had to seek refuge elsewhere. Her words cut through political euphemisms to lay bare the lived reality of Palestinians dispossessed of land, water and home. Meanwhile, the likes of Dayan - who have roots elsewhere (he was born in Argentina and is of Ukrainian descent) - claim they are indigenous to the lands they occupy.
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Continued……Dayan represents a state which was given more than half of Palestinian land in 1947 by the newly-formed United Nations and, through wars and occupations, has pushed those borders ever outward, well beyond what was determined in the UN Partition Plan. Since 7 October 2023, Tel Aviv has killed tens of thousands of Palestinians in Gaza, levelling entire neighbourhoods and using hunger as a weapon of war.
Karmi reminds us that, for Palestinians, the land is not a bargaining chip. It is memory, loss and belonging.
video credits: @aljazeeraenglish
Sources
https://youtu.be/m6lwgCs2PNM?si=dYRoOkpw-0EFBHsi
https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/campaigns/2017/06/israel-occupation-50-years-of-dispossession/
https://casebook.icrc.org/a_to_z/glossary/settlements#:~:text=The%20international%20humanitarian%20law%20of,and%20F.
https://www.aljazeera.com/features/2017/5/23/the-nakba-did-not-start-or-end-in-1948
https://www.westminster.ac.uk/current-students/events/the-palestinian-nakba-and-the-right-to-freedom-of-expression#:~:text=Dr%20Ghada%20Karmi%2C%20a%20survivor%20of%20the%20Nakba
https://www.hrw.org/news/2023/12/18/israel-starvation-used-weapon-war-gaza
https://www.britannica.com/topic/Partition-of-Palestine#:~:text=United%20Nations%20Resolution%20181&text=Nations%20Resolution%20181-,%E2%80%A6,a%20legal%20basis%20for%20the%E2%80%A6
https://history.state.gov/milestones/1945-1952/creation-israel#:~:text=On%20November%2029%2C%201947%20the,mandate%20was%20scheduled%20to%20end.
Karmi reminds us that, for Palestinians, the land is not a bargaining chip. It is memory, loss and belonging.
video credits: @aljazeeraenglish
Sources
https://youtu.be/m6lwgCs2PNM?si=dYRoOkpw-0EFBHsi
https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/campaigns/2017/06/israel-occupation-50-years-of-dispossession/
https://casebook.icrc.org/a_to_z/glossary/settlements#:~:text=The%20international%20humanitarian%20law%20of,and%20F.
https://www.aljazeera.com/features/2017/5/23/the-nakba-did-not-start-or-end-in-1948
https://www.westminster.ac.uk/current-students/events/the-palestinian-nakba-and-the-right-to-freedom-of-expression#:~:text=Dr%20Ghada%20Karmi%2C%20a%20survivor%20of%20the%20Nakba
https://www.hrw.org/news/2023/12/18/israel-starvation-used-weapon-war-gaza
https://www.britannica.com/topic/Partition-of-Palestine#:~:text=United%20Nations%20Resolution%20181&text=Nations%20Resolution%20181-,%E2%80%A6,a%20legal%20basis%20for%20the%E2%80%A6
https://history.state.gov/milestones/1945-1952/creation-israel#:~:text=On%20November%2029%2C%201947%20the,mandate%20was%20scheduled%20to%20end.
Amnesty International
Israel's Occupation: 50 Years of Dispossession
Mass human rights violations during the 50-year occupation of the West Bank and Gaza Strip have devastated the lives of millions of Palestinians.
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WOULD KAMALA HARRIS HAVE BOMBED IRAN?
People upset by US foreign policy under Donald Trump are wistfully imagining how things might have been different under his presidential election rival Kamala Harris. But this is fantasy.
For example, Washington backed the Israeli onslaught on Gaza from the get go - right after 7 October 2023 - when Harris was Joe Biden’s VP. Moreover, she’s always supported giving Israel weapons, even amid global horror at Tel Aviv’s actions in Gaza.
So what about Trump’s bombing of Iran, egged on by Benjamin Netanyahu? As TikToker @deandreee_ reminds us in this video, Harris has publicly branded Tehran America’s ‘greatest adversary.’ In October 2024, she told 60 Minutes (CBS) that preventing Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons would be a top priority for her administration. Indeed, she refrained from ruling out military action against Iran, stating that ‘all options are on the table.’
How do you think she would have reacted to Netanyahu’s pleas?
People upset by US foreign policy under Donald Trump are wistfully imagining how things might have been different under his presidential election rival Kamala Harris. But this is fantasy.
For example, Washington backed the Israeli onslaught on Gaza from the get go - right after 7 October 2023 - when Harris was Joe Biden’s VP. Moreover, she’s always supported giving Israel weapons, even amid global horror at Tel Aviv’s actions in Gaza.
So what about Trump’s bombing of Iran, egged on by Benjamin Netanyahu? As TikToker @deandreee_ reminds us in this video, Harris has publicly branded Tehran America’s ‘greatest adversary.’ In October 2024, she told 60 Minutes (CBS) that preventing Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons would be a top priority for her administration. Indeed, she refrained from ruling out military action against Iran, stating that ‘all options are on the table.’
How do you think she would have reacted to Netanyahu’s pleas?
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ISRAELI RACISM: A THING OF THE PAST?
Twelve years ago, Israel acknowledged that it had administered birth control injections to Ethiopian-Jewish immigrants without their knowledge or consent. Initially, the government had rejected the allegation.
Suspicions were first raised by Israeli journalist Gal Gabbay, who spoke with over 30 Ethiopian women - in a bid to understand the significant decline in birth rates in the community within the span of a decade. She uncovered that thousands of Ethiopian Jews had been receiving Depo-Provera (hormonal birth control) injections every three months for years at Israeli clinics.
Twelve years ago, Israel acknowledged that it had administered birth control injections to Ethiopian-Jewish immigrants without their knowledge or consent. Initially, the government had rejected the allegation.
Suspicions were first raised by Israeli journalist Gal Gabbay, who spoke with over 30 Ethiopian women - in a bid to understand the significant decline in birth rates in the community within the span of a decade. She uncovered that thousands of Ethiopian Jews had been receiving Depo-Provera (hormonal birth control) injections every three months for years at Israeli clinics.
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Continued……..
In this video, author and influencer @marquettdavon (IG) raises the issue with an Israeli citizen, who dismisses talk of the sterilisation programme as a conspiracy - noting that he has Ethiopian friends who’ve never mentioned it, and that, in any case, it was long ago.
As @marquettdavon then points out, the territorial claims of the Torah were also made ‘long ago’. If you want to own your past, own all of it.
Credit: @marquettdavon (IG)
In this video, author and influencer @marquettdavon (IG) raises the issue with an Israeli citizen, who dismisses talk of the sterilisation programme as a conspiracy - noting that he has Ethiopian friends who’ve never mentioned it, and that, in any case, it was long ago.
As @marquettdavon then points out, the territorial claims of the Torah were also made ‘long ago’. If you want to own your past, own all of it.
Credit: @marquettdavon (IG)
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US strikes on Somalia have surged under Donald Trump - as they did during his first term. US presidents one after another haven’t been able to leave the African country alone - ever since the 1993 ‘Black Hawk down’ humiliation. Though posturing as an anti-terrorism campaign, Somali civilians keep getting caught in US crosshairs - with rights groups alleging possible war crimes. Swipe through for the key facts.
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