The original post “Solidarity with Booker Omole and the Communist Party of Kenya” was first published by Abahlali baseMjondolo on their website
On 7 July 2023, large numbers of Kenyans, mostly young people, took to the streets in protest against President William Ruto’s Finance Bill which, with the backing of the United States government and the International Monetary Fund (IMF), imposed brutal austerity on the Kenyan people. The Act also aimed to impose taxes on basic items, such as bread, cooking oil, and sanitary pads. The Finance Bill was a direct attack on the poor and the working class.
Refusing the ethnic politics that has always been used by elites to divide the poor and the working class in Kenya, the tens of thousands of young people who took to the streets built a non-ethnic politics of solidarity and care.
On the first day of the protests, at least six people were killed and 75 people arrested, including 37 members of the Communist Party of Kenya (CPK). At least 60 people were killed before Ruto withdrew the Finance Bill on 28 June 2024. Many others were arrested, and many were tortured.
The Ruto government is strongly supported by the US. Between 2010 and 2020, the US provided $400 million to the Kenyan government to strengthen its military, security, and intelligence services. The Ruto government went so far as to send Kenyan soldiers to Haiti to continue the oppression of the Haitian people, who have consistently been denied the right to elect their own leaders. This was a shameful betral of the principle of Pan-Africanist solidarity.
The Kenyan elite and their backers in the West were seriously rattled by the courage of young Kenyan people. The youth-driven electoral success of PASTEF in Senegal has increased their fear that young people will no longer accept neocolonial regimes in Africa.
As a result, there continues to be ongoing and severe repression against activists, including assaults, abductions, and torture. Since the withdrawal of the Finance Bill, leaders in the resistance across the country have gone into hiding. According to the Kenya National Commission on Human Rights, 82 individuals have been abducted since June 2024, with seven cases reported in December alone.
On 10 January at approximately 3.00 a.m., armed assailants equipped with night-vision goggles and firearms violently stormed the home of Booker Omole, the secretary general of the CPK. Booker survived the assassination attempt.
The failed assassination was targeted at the CPK leader because he has been at the forefront of questioning the government of Kenya and organising mass resistance to it. From Kenya to South Africa, Colombia, Brazil, and Haiti, those who work to build the power of the oppressed often face violent repression.
We condemn the assassination attempt on Booker Omole, whom we know well, and express our full solidarity with Comrade Booker, the CKP and all comrades and organisations facing repression in Kenya. Just as the forces of oppression are global, so too are the forces of resistance. An injury to one is always an injury to all.
Thapelo Mohapi 084 576 5117
Mqapheli Bonono 073 067 3274
Snenhlanhla Mncanyana 073 832 3331
