Young Kenyans have spent over a year protesting fatal police abuse and deepening economic hardship. DW's Felix Maringa meets some Gen Z activists in Nairobi organizing the once-decentralized movement for lasting political change.
00:00Joshua Ukayo and his team are in hospital to visit young people injured during recent protests in Kenya's capital, Nairobi.
00:09He's a lawyer and a leader of a group known as the Revolutionary Gen Z Movement, which has over 3,000 members across the country.
00:16They hand out essentials like soap and toothbrushes and promise supports.
00:21Joshua Ukayo knows how important this can be.
00:24He says he himself was abducted and tortured over the demos last year.
00:27He believes being part of an organized group is the only way to get the political and social change that Kenya's youth want and to protect protesters.
00:36We know if we organize, we are going to be two steps ahead of the state.
00:40We cannot just be going to the streets, people die, others are maimed, then we go back home and then plan another,
00:47and we never care on the best way to reduce the deaths or even cancel the deaths completely but still ensure that the message is conveyed.
00:55Organizing also helps us to be able to raise funds for some of these things that we are doing.
01:03Because if we are not organized, we are not able to brainstorm on ways to raise funds.
01:08They meet every Thursday evening in Nairobi's central business district in a forum dubbed Bunga La Gen Z, which is Swahili for Gen Z's parliament.
01:20Members come from various backgrounds and professions.
01:23They use the forum to speak about issues facing the country, police abuse and economic pain.
01:29They stream the event so more people can take part.
01:31Bunga La Gen Z was formed to offer Gen Z's a platform where they could have conversations on issues that affect them,
01:39conversations where we can agree to disagree and sort of come up with solutions in terms of issues that affect us.
01:47The plan is to ensure that we have a Bunga La Gen Z in every single word in Kenya.
01:53Well, it's difficult because you need financial resources to hit the ground and establish and mobilize.
02:00So we started with Nairobi, which is the easiest because in Nairobi people are online.
02:07The protests have become increasingly violent over the past year.
02:11In the latest unrest, demonstrators and police clashed, leaving many dead and injured.
02:16The group says being organized means they can help people who've been injured or offer legal support to those who've been arrested.
02:22An outward display of the organization is this uniform.
02:27For them, it's not only a sign of their resistance, but also a commitment to the constitution of Kenya,
02:32which they say has been violated by the political class.
02:35Joshua Kayo says getting organized is part of a long-term plan.
02:38We could have achieved so much had we been intentional about organizing and just strategizing and being able to foretell what the state might do in case of anything.
02:54Protests can be done even without leadership, without structure, without anything.
02:58But we're organizing to actually overhaul the system.
03:03And you cannot overhaul the system and leave a blank space.
03:07You don't leave a hollow space.
03:09You have to actually occupy those positions.
03:11Being decentralized has allowed the Gen Z protesters to challenge Kenya's political establishment.
03:17Not everyone in this leaderless movement is happy with the emergence of people stepping up to lead them.
03:21But members of the RGM say that organization is the only way forward.
