November 3rd 2004

JOINT STATEMENT ON MAPAMBANO NEWSLETTER

Having recognized and understood the need for an alternative revolutionary voice in the Kenyan media, we, the undersigned, have collectively decided to proceed with plans to launch the Mapambano Newsletter, a publication whose main agenda will be to provide an alternative ideological perspective of news and analysis in Kenya.

Although there is ample evidence to prove that the deformed capitalist system of government in Neo-colonial Kenya is rotten, there is no alternative press that can effectively expose the extent of this rot or show the way out of the crisis. The massive news and analysis that millions of Kenyans are exposed to lacks the revolutionary twinge that can enable Kenyans to seriously see capitalism as the main problem in our country and ignite them to abolish this exploitative system.

Without an anti-capitalist perspective that brings out the contradictions of capitalism in clear language and spells out the process how capitalism is responsible for the political and economic crisis in Kenya, we believe that it will not be possible for Kenyans to join the anti-capitalist crusade in our country. What will happen is that liberation from this decayed system will be postponed while the suffering of the masses of the Kenyan people will be prolonged.

In the circumstances, we believe that the introduction of Mapambano is necessary, not just to fill the huge vacuum that exists in the media today but also to prepare Kenyans for the kind of revolution whose goal will be to overturn a political system which has given a corrupt ruling class an endless opportunity to deceive the population with ethnic politics as this “political class” engage in acts of looting and plunder of the economy. We are saddened that despite the existence of more than 45 political parties in Kenya, there is no party that can provide light to show a way out of the dark capitalist tunnel that Kenyans are stuck in. The problem is that all parties are practicing politics from a capitalist perspective.

We are equally concerned that the ruling class is promoting ethnic politics as a matter of political survival without the alternative of class politics being put forward simply because there is no publication that is properly equipped to present this alternative to the Kenyan masses.

If anything, the capitalist monopoly of the media has blunted the political sensibilities of millions of Kenyans who are constantly misled into questioning the conduct of greedy politicians instead of challenging the concept of a system that promotes corruption, man to man exploitation, mass poverty, mass unemployment, land and wealth grabbing by the rich, homelessness, crime, mass deprivation, hopelessness among the youth and a host of other vices that will never be put to an end without a revolutionary upheaval.

As Kenyans who have understood the dimensions of the crisis in our country, we are disturbed that the deformed system of capitalism in Kenya is not facing any open opposition despite the obvious failures of this system and the inability of three subsequent governments to transform the poor economic and social conditions of Kenyans using this outdated system.

Both the Kenyatta and the Moi dictatorships failed to use this system to advance the interests of Kenyans. If anything, the Moi dictatorship used this system to role backwards the gains of the colonial revolution. What we are seeing in the “emerging Kibaki dictatorship” is a tendency that cannot be differentiated from past dictatorships.

We are tired of watching our country being sold to imperialism through hundreds of imperialist institutions led by the World Bank and IMF without serious warning or opposition being raised. Although our economy is under the tight grip of Western multinational companies, the capitalist media is notorious in projecting these International sharks in the high seas of capitalism as “Foreign investors” whose agenda is to help develop Kenya.

Mapambano will seek to make the connection between the suffering of our people and the conspiracy linking the ruling class and forces of imperialism that are benefiting from the exploitation of human and natural resources in our country. The need to cut this connection will become much more clear if the role this link is playing in the situation is exposed and understood. The main aims of Mapambano will be as follows:

To provide an alternative Left-oriented point of view of news and analysis of events happening in Kenya and the world.
To act as a tool for political education of the people of Kenya who are currently living in a situation ripe for another revolution.
To provide a platform for progressive, patriotic and anti-imperialist Kenyans whose views cannot find room in the mainstream Kenyan media but whose views are relevant to the revolutionary struggle in Kenya.
To expose the conspiracy between the ruling class in Kenya and imperialism and to outline how this conspiracy can be put to a permanent end.
To serve as a point of reference for Kenyans seeking for a real alternative to the rotten and deformed system of capitalism in Kenya that is responsible for the suffering of millions of people in our country.
To inform the International opinion about the revolutionary struggle in Kenya and to link up the anti-capitalist struggle in Kenya with the International anti-capitalist Movement that has made significant gains in the last few years.
To provide answers to Kenyans who are tired of the system and who are looking for ways of fighting capitalism in our country.
To show that there is an alternative system to capitalism which has ravaged our country and to encourage Kenyans to open their minds to alternative ideological thinking especially those opposed to capitalism.
To fight the anti-socialist propaganda that has been inculcated in the psychology of Kenyans by the capitalist media for the last four decades and to defend the ideas of socialism against empty attacks from capitalist apologists and other right wing demagogues.

Our view is that Mapambano alone will not bring about the overthrow of capitalism in Kenya. A revolutionary Movement or Party will have to exist on the ground to lead the actual anti-capitalist struggle. Our position is that the existence of Mapambano will point the way towards the building of a revolutionary anti-capitalist structure needed to liberate Kenya and her people. We appeal to Kenyans who believe that they can play a role in the situation to link up with us for further exchanges. Our task is difficult. But we have to begin from somewhere.

1. Okoth Osewe – Stockholm, Sweden

2. Onyango Oloo – Montreal, Canada

3. Orina Nyamwami – Nairobi, Kenya

4. Ronald Elly Wanda – London, Britain

5. Alex Owiti – Brazil including Latin America

6. Stephen Obaje – Kisumu, Kenya

7. Peter Nelson Juma - Kenya

8. Dickens Kwama – At large

Statement also avaliable at: http://www.kenyasocialist.org