Echoes of resistance: A tribute to the victims of state violence in Kenya

Written by Gathanga Ndung’u, a community organizer and activist with Mathare Social Justice Centre (MSJC) and a political organizer with Revolutionary Socialist League – Africa (RSL).

Kenya gained its flag independence in 1963. The much-awaited sovereignty never came, as the tools of economic emancipation, such as land and industries, remained in the hands of the colonial powers, together with their local proteges, the comprador class, led by the first president, Kamau Wa Ngegi (alias Jomo Kenyatta). This betrayal came after one of Africa’s bloodiest liberation struggles waged by the Kenya Land and Freedom Army (KLFA), also known as Mau Mau, against the British government from 1952 to 1963. To date, land and other resources have been concentrated in the hands of a few political elites and their cronies, creating a highly unequal society.

The June 2024 protests did not erupt out of a vacuum. The 2024 Finance Bill was just a trigger of more than 120 years of systemic socio-economic and political repression in Kenya. June 25th, 2024, will forever remain etched in our hearts and minds as Kenyans. It is an indelible mark that will forever embody the courage of the Kenyan youths who took it upon themselves to change the course of our history as a country. Confronted with a dwindling job market, unfulfilled promises, enactment of anti-people neoliberal policies, misgovernance and corruption, open defiance of the constitution and laws, and unparalleled wanton wastage of national resources coupled with unbridled opulent showing off by public servants and the political class, the youths saw no hope in the “Hustler Dream”1.

In what started as disgruntlement and citizens’ concerns about the annual budget which sought to raise an extra USD 2.7 billion from taxation, and opposition to draconian and oppressive bills such as the Seeds Bill 2024, which criminalized sharing of indigenous seeds, among others, disgruntlement grew into a popular resistance backed by Kenyans from different social classes, ethnicities, creeds, and generations.

The 6th June protests were started by members of the Social Justice Movement and other organizers and activists from different organizations who stormed the gates of the National Assembly – the legislative arm of the Kenyan Government- to demand the rejection of the Finance Bill 2024 in its entirety. The peaceful protesters, who were only ‘armed’ with water bottles, whistles, and placards, were met with a ruthless police force that arrested tens of them with trumped-up charges of disturbing public peace.

This set the stage for more weekly protests, with 18th June changing the course of the largely peaceful protests. On this day, the protests went past 6 pm, continuing into the night in the capital’s Central Business District (CBD), something which was hitherto unheard of. It was during this protest that a police bullet felled the first political martyr of our time, despite being unarmed. The death of Rex Masai, a young man who had shown up to protest against what had become a tone-deaf government, was a tragedy. Masai lost his life to the same government that had promised to reform the police and put an end to these endless and senseless extra-judicial executions.

This action by the state, which was meant to instil fear and prevent more youths from joining what was becoming a popular struggle, boomeranged and instead led to the massive country-wide protests of June 25th, which would change the political history and trajectory of the country. His death brought to life the words inscribed on Pio Gama Pinto’s grave – Kenyan socialist and first political martyr to be assassinated by the first independence government on 24th February 1965 – ‘A light has been extinguished. Yet there arise a thousand beacons from the spark he bore.’

On June 25th, when the parliament was hurriedly passing the controversial Finance Bill 2024 under the influence of the executive, a popular movement was being birthed in the streets of every major town and cities in Kenya, including the president’s home backyard in Eldoret, Uasin Gishu County, which he had considered his political vanguard.

Yet again, this courageous stand was met with even more brutal repression, leading to more than 62 deaths, with six deaths happening in front of the gates of the National Assembly through snipers and other state machinery. This was after the youths heroically breached the parliament‘s wall for the first time in history, valiantly marching to the chambers as members of parliament scampered for safety. During this occupation of parliament by the youths, the mace, which symbolizes the assembly‘s power to legislate, was taken, which symbolically meant the people took back their donated powers through which the parliament uses to represent them.

After the 25th of June, the abductions, disappearances, and torture of many young activists became more common, with the weakened state becoming more vicious in attempts to clamp down on those purported to be the ‘leaders’, ‘organizers’, and ‘financiers’ of the uprisings.

A Digitally Powered Protest

The 2024 uprising had many firsts and several achieveThe 2024 uprising had many firsts and several achievements in its organizing. This was the first country-wide protest ever seen with a reach in nearly all parts of the country. It also managed to breach the socio-economic, political, religious, and ethnic barriers that have long created divides during organizing. By harnessing the power of digital platforms, the state was confronted by an amorphous movement that it could not handle. It was christened ‘leaderless and party-less’, beating the traditional forms of organizing that revolve around tribal kingpins and political parties, which are easily compromised. Their attempts to counter the growing digital activism wave on social media platforms failed terribly as the political and civic education by activists and ordinary youths seemed to resonate with the masses. As a result, the government failed in the propaganda war against its people.

In 2024, memes were used as political tools of activism, helping to build the critical mass for a ‘national anger’ that was missing from previous years. Through these memes that were critical of the government, thousands of youths were mobilized across the nation through digital platforms.

From the use of memes, cartoons, and caricatures to critique the government and the president in particular, to the use of educational videos on various platforms and their translation to different ethnic languages to pass information on various controversial sections of the bill, and the stipulation of the constitution, the youths managed to reach even the hitherto unreached populations. Breaking down the constitution in a simple and understandable format for the majority of Kenyans ensured that the people, even those in the villages, understood how the bill would affect their day-to-day lives.

Through murals, graffiti, spoken word, music, poetry, dance, and comical skits, popular education spread like wildfire on the internet. On the ground, community assemblies, local protests, and civic and political education efforts intensified in spaces such as matatus2, markets, homes, and other public spaces as the government’s propaganda efforts failed.

Women played a critical role in organizing anti-femicide marches, which were the first large-scale protests in 2024. They were organized by young women and girls across several cities and towns in Kenya. These protests helped to build the momentum that was needed for the June-August 2024 anti-Finance Bill protests. They were then followed by Mau Mau3 Women protests in April against illegal evictions in Mathare after the devastating floods of 2024, which were led by octogenarian women who had fought in the liberation struggle against the British Empire in Kenya. These protests highlighted the critical role played by women in the 2024 organizing and the build-up activities. During the major protests, women also came in numbers to the frontline confronting the ruthless state police forces.

With these unfoldings, the youth changed Kenya, and as one protester said, “things will never be the same again.” A new dispensation has come: that of young people who have realized their agency and are ready to shape their future and their country‘s politics.

In 2026, the youths are continuing to organize and agitate. Most of the efforts are being channeled to broaden political and civic education to the general populace through all media. Even though democratic processes such as elections and public participations have limits, especially in neoliberal states such as Kenya, there has been a huge mobilization to effect incremental changes to leadership at the grassroots level. This has emerged as a short-term tactical political maneuver, as we strategically plan for long-term cultivation of a critical, conscious mass.

In Memory of the 2024 Anti-Finance Bill and 2025 Commemorative Protest Heroes

These achievements were not without their fair share of setbacks at a great human cost. From the outset of the protests, more than 61 people were killed, more than 72 were abducted, with 29 still missing to date, 601 sustained injuries, and more than 1376 arbitrary arrests were made. During the following year, 2025, when we held commemorations for the 2024 protests, 65 people were killed, more than 400 were injured, and more than 26 people were forcibly disappeared.

These scars will continue to be a reminder of the dark past and the human sacrifice that it took to liberate our country from the clutches of imperialist forces with their out-of-touch bourgeois class, which has ruled since the country‘s independence. As we celebrate these brave heroes of our time through murals, graffiti, songs, poems, and other forms of memorialization, the people of Kenya continue to organize in their faces to keep the sparks of revolution burning. As Milan Kundera asserts, the struggle of man against power is the struggle of memory against forgetting.

The onus of immortalizing our martyrs is thus left to our generation to make sure there is collective memorializing of the fallen Gen Zs while we keep their aspirations of a better country alive. As Frantz Fanon wrote: “each generation must, out of relative obscurity, discover its mission, fulfil it, or betray it”. Liberating the country was and continues to be the mission of our time as the young people of Kenya, as we fight to restore social justice, democracy, and humanize our living.

In Memory of Rex Masai Kanyike, Eric Shieni, David Chege, Denzel Omondi, Wanjiku, and many other Kenyans who lost their lives or who were completely disappeared by the state.

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[1] Hustler Dream: President William Ruto packaged himself as the chief hustler during the 2022 presidential campaign, owing to his rise from a poor background to the highest ranks in government. The hustler dream was his populist bait for the poor masses, promising to transform their lives through bottom-up economics.

[2] Matatus: Shared public transport vehicles in Kenya.

[3] Mau Mau: Colloquial name for the Kenya Land & Freedom Army which was the independence anti-colonial insurgent movement in Kenya from 1952 to 1963.