KESDEMO CONDEMNS ATTACK ON THE STANDARD MEDIA GROUP
The savage attack on the Standard Media Group
on Wednesday March 2nd by a terror squad officially trained by the
The Kenyan
media is buzzing with comments and analysis about “attack on press freedom”,
“Kenya moving towards a dictatorship”, “This is the last straw” and other
related clichés. But for KESDEMO, the only new aspect
in the situation is the magnitude of the attack because not even former
Dictator Daniel arap Moi
used to burn newspapers scheduled for release.
Before the
defeat of the government at the referendum, KESDEMO
warned the Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) that if
the Movement’s leadership was prepared to open a confrontation in the streets
with the scared Dictatorship of Mr. Mwai Kibaki, then “The Orange leaders must be prepared to
witness the ugliest face of the government and be prepared to deal with any
political consequences… (KESDEMO
ODM
backed downed from mass rallies as these opportunists dropped demands for snap
elections. The Standard newspaper and
other sections of the media continued pursuing the government and what is
happening now is that The Standard is
paying the price for having overtaken ODM which has
been very passive after winning the referendum.
From KESDEMO’s Socialist perspective, the attack on The Standard is based on the fear of the
fragile capitalist ruling class in
This
barbaric and atavistic attack, whose responsibility the government has
arrogantly taken through Mr. John Michuki (the
notorious criminal heading the Internal Security Ministry), will temporarily
divert public attention from the mega corruption scandals of the Narc regime but it will not halt the process of the
collapse of the Kibaki dictatorship which got
underway long before the referendum.
The world
over, especially in the ex-colonial world, once the rotten ruling class feels
that its position is threatened, these hooligans have a pathological habit of
violating every rule (including the Constitution) if that is what it takes, not
just to maintain themselves in power but also to protect vested political and
economic interests.
It is for
this reason that many Socialists believe that the Constitution written by
criminals calling themselves “government” is a piece of paper to be implemented
by an armed ruling class, not in the interests of the exploited workers and the
poor but in the interest of the wealthy and rich looters in the so called
government.
In the case
of the attack on The Standard, the
colonial Constitution (which nevertheless protects press freedom) was set aside
to open the way for police to move in and burn Newspapers destined for
distribution while at the same time disabling a TV station. This process will
be repeated in the future over and over again as long as iron fisted greedy
capitalists rule
Obviously, ODM now feels that it should get back into the streets with
mass demonstrations, something it should have continued doing after winning the
referendum and which KESDEMO repeated several times
in our statements and other releases.
A demo has
been called for Tuesday next week “in support of press freedom”. However, ODM should expect further brutality through the instruments
of violence available for the State. Once confrontations hit the streets in a
sustained way, the overthrow of the Kibaki
dictatorship will depend on whether ODM will be in a
position to lead the “anti Kibaki revolution” through
mass mobilizations using any weapons available in the situation. But if they
back down once again, they will have to wait for elections at the end of next
year!
While KESDEMO strongly condemns the attack on The Standard in the strongest terms
possible, the Movement wishes to warn Kenyans that the worst of the Kibaki dictatorship is yet to come. The situation will
become deadlier and even bloody when members of the thieving
ruling class begins to see their exit from power looming in the horizon.
At this point, the paramilitary General Service Unit (GSU)
will be called in to deal with crowds with the Kenyan Army being on standby
just in case they are needed.
With the
latest attack, the Kibaki regime has sent signals
that it is time to send this corrupt Mafia group packing. The dilemma facing
Kenyan workers and millions of poor people around the country is that another Moi or Kibaki may be on stand by
to seize power in Kenya for another cycle of struggle “against dictators” to
begin. KESDEMO believes that while Kibaki must go, the whole political system that enables the
Kibakis to transform themselves into dictators,
attack press freedom, burn newspapers, disable TV stations and to loot the
economy with impunity should also go.
The
struggle against the Kibaki dictatorship and the
struggle to defend press freedom in
The attack
on the Standard should be the latest proof that
KESDEMO
believes that those who engineered and implemented this attack should be noted
so that they can be brought to justice in any post Kibaki
regime because Kenyans are seeing the last of what is known as the “Kibaki Presidency”.
Although KESDEMO has no ideological connections with The Standard, the Movement is part of
the many voices ready to defend the right of the Newspaper to exist. We condemn
the arrest of The Standard
journalists and the unpeakable State terror that the
Newspaper and its Journalists continues to experience under a brutal and
barbaric Narc regime that has repeatedly cheated
Kenyans and confirmed that Kibaki’s election was a
gigantic mistake.
Martin Ngatia:
Okoth Osewe:
KESDEMO
Central committee
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Published by Kenya Socialist
Democratic Alliance (KSDA)
email: harakatips@hotmail.com
