Kenya Socialist Web Site HARAKATI ISSUE NO. 7 (December 1999/January 2000)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- KENYA: PERSPECTIVES ON ARMED STRUGGLE
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No doubt armed struggle is a recognised method of struggle that has succeeded
in bringing many liberation movements to power across the world. Russia, Cuba,
China, North Korea, Spain and other numerous historical examples across the
world show the huge possibilities of overthrowing Dictatorial regimes by
taking up arms. In Columbia and Mexico, armed leftist guerillas have been
waging a guerilla war against capitalist regimes in the region for decades.
Some of these Movements control vast territories. The military threat posed
to the Turkish State by armed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) forced Imperialist
forces to help Turkey capture Abdullah Ocalan (the PKK leader) who was kidnapped
in Kenya in February 1999 through the collaboration of the Dictatorial regime
of Daniel arap Moi.
In South East Asia, East Timor has just gained it's independence after a
protracted armed struggle that eventually forced the Suharto regime to allow
for a referendum on the question of Timorese independence. Guerilla wars are
continuing in the Philippines and Sri Lanka where hundreds of civilians continue
to lose their lives in protracted armed conflicts. In Britain, the IRA's
prospect of participating in the running of the Irish government is a direct
product of decades of bloody terrorism and urban guerilla warfare. Peace
talks between armed BASQUE separatist Movement and the Spanish government
have just collapsed, opening the way for fresh bloodshed.
In Africa, the Mau Mau of Kenya took up arms in a bloody war against British
colonialists before the Movement was betrayed by home guards. Mozambique,
Angola, Namibia, Algeria, Ethiopia and Uganda are examples where organised
armed liberation movements succeeded in coming to power. Robert Mugabe of
Zimbabwe had to arm his movement to seize power while the case of Amilcar
Cabral and his guerilla Movement in Guinea Bissau still remains the subject
of hot debate. Eritrea, the newest State in Africa, got it's independence
after the Eritrean Liberation Front waged a 30 year armed insurrection against
the deposed Bonapartist regime of Mengistu Hail Mariam. Because of the numerous
dimensions of the "military option" in revolution, we will deal here with
the question of armed struggle very generally.
Can an old Dictatorial regime that Daniel arap Moi heads in Kenya be overthrown
through guerilla war fare? Is an armed struggle necessary in Kenya and does
overthrowing a regime through this method of struggle automatically lead to
a revolutionary transformation of society? These questions are important because
workers and the oppressed in Kenya are losing hope in the ability of the
capitalist opposition to give direction in the face of deep crisis. The issue
of armed struggle is finding it's way in different Kenyan discussion forums
both at home and abroad. In Kenya, the American-sponsored National Council
Executive Committee (NCEC) has publicly called for the Kenyan Armed Forces
to intervene in the country's politics, thereby exposing the confusion and
naivety that exists in the country as to the role of the standing army in
a capitalist State, the futility of military intervention in the democratic
process and what needs to be done to solve the crisis in our country.
The frequency of armed skirmishes between "cattle rustlers" and security
forces in North Eastern Province together, with the spreading of anti-government
leaf-lets by previously unknown groups claiming to be armed has raised the
question as to whether rudimentary guerilla activity already exists in this
Province. In the recent past, a government helicopter has been downed by "armed
bandits", killing top government officials while the government has sent
permanent armed detachments to the area to maintain security. Leaflets have
also been spread in other parts of the country like Nakuru encouraging the
Army to rebel against Moi's dictatorship and seize power. At least one Kenyan
claiming connections with a Kenyan guerilla movement is seeking asylum in
Uganda.
In urban areas, thousands of sophisticated arms (including AK 47 rifles
and automatic sub-machine guns) have found their way on the hands of idle
unemployed youth who are using them to commit crime in order to survive.
The situation is so serious that Asian capitalists in Kenya are fleeing to
Europe and other destinations because the rising crime wave has destroyed
the peaceful environment necessary for the quiet exploitation of the poor.
Sporadic Kidnapping and bloody murders of leading Asian capitalist have led
to at least one demonstration by the Asian bourgeoisie in Nairobi. The point
here is that the smuggling of arms and ammunition to urban centres is already
a reality. What is missing is a coordinated plan to engage in organised military
activities of the urban guerilla type.
In Africa, the experience of guerilla wars has shown that this method of
struggle has the capacity to overthrow those regimes and ruling classes lacking
a powerful social base in the population and which have been unable to reinforce
themselves adequately with the aid of foreign powers. This was especially
so in the case of Uganda where Dictator Yoweri Museveni seized power in 1986
by defeating a rag-tag army that had become exhausted from years of hopeless
ethnic conflicts. In the Democratic Republic of Congo, Laurent Kabila came
to power without much opposition after defeating a demoralised Mobutu army
that had not been paid their salaries for months.
In Mozambique and Angola, guerilla war led to the revolutionary overthrow
of capitalism. This was mainly due to the weakness of the capitalist class,
the total collapse of the colonial state, the impact of the guerilla war and
the revolutionary movement of the Portuguese working class that was intrinsically
opposed to Portugal's continued war and colonisation of Angola. Because they
borrowed their revolutionary models from the former Stalinist Soviet Union
that was already staggering under the weight of bureaucracy, Mozambique and
Angola ended up with Bonapartist single party dictatorships that totally sidelined
the working class from the running of society.
Kenyan working class and the youth recognise the fact that armed force can
lead to Dictator Moi's overthrow. However, examples of genocide in Rwanda,
total chaos in neighbouring Somalia, blood bath in Liberia and the fiasco
in other armed conflicts in Africa have all prevented armed struggle from
being seen by Kenyans as a viable option of bringing political change in the
country. Many armed "wars of liberation" in Africa have, in the past, been
waged without a revolutionary programme aimed at transforming society. Unfortunately,
these fratricidal wars have constantly been used by the capitalist media
that has implanted in the consciousness of the masses the false notion that
armed struggle is an invitation to chaos.
From our view, the most formidable opposition any armed Movement will face
in Kenya is military opposition from British and American imperialism. This
is because Kenya is of immense political and strategic importance to both
American and British imperialism. Britain controls half of foreign investments
in Kenya (estimated at 500 million pounds) while the US controls half of the
remainder. This is besides the fact that the CIA uses Kenya for it's East
and Central African operations. These combined imperialist interests have
forced the US into maintaining a permanent base of solders at the port of
Mombasa. The port has now been privatised to make it easy for US and British
imperialism to use it much more effectively without government interference.
To expand their understanding of possible guerilla terrains, Britain operates
regular military exercises in North-Eastern Province while the US continues
to send it's military personnel to "train" Kenyan solders in readiness for
"peacekeeping" operations in Africa.
If we look at Zimbabwe, the methods of guerilla war failed to overthrow
capitalism but instead, led to compromise with the ruling class and with
imperialism. While the Zimbabweans could sing the national anthem and raise
their flag as a "free" nation, the fundamental tasks of the revolution -
land to the landless, jobs for all, power to the people and other promises
upon which Zimbabweans shed blood remained unfulfilled. The guerilla leadership
led by Robert Mugabe reached a "settlement" with the bourgeoise because of
the passivity of the working class throughout the process of revolution.
Despite these setbacks witnessed in armed struggle in different parts of
the world, KYMS does not rule out possible outbreak of an armed struggle
in Kenya. The movement finds it necessary to contribute to the debate on
armed struggle by putting forward its general perspectives on this question.
KYMS believes that armed struggle has to be developed as the struggle of
the working masses, as an expression and extension of the organised strength
of the working people, their social aims and their need to change society.
If armed struggle is limited to armed action of guerilla detachments, the
problem is that the regime will find an excuse to amass deadly military weapons
and personnel intended fundamentally for use against the mass movement of
the oppressed. However, when the mass movement has gained the capacity to
use armed force, the question will be the amount of preparation that will
be needed for the arming of the workers and youth; importing and stockpiling
of the necessary arms as well as acquiring and making arms from all possible
sources within the country. The issue that will have to be sorted out will
be the carrying out of military training within Kenya in conjunction with
the building of underground political networks of the revolutionary movements
together with concrete designs of tactics and strategy.
Any serious movement contemplating armed struggle has to put in place a
revolutionary programme that will have to be implemented upon seizure of
power. This is important in preventing the development of a distorted revolution
that might give rise to a new form of dictatorship over the workers and the
youth. KYMS's military policy is based on preparing the forces for the future
armed insurrection against KANU or any capitalist State that succeeds it.
However, the movement is opposed to any reckless and adventurist policies
in the mass movement which may immediately provoke massive military retaliation
against Kenyan workers and the youth, still in relatively early stages of
mobilising their forces. The idea is to prepare with the eventual aim of
insurrection in mind. When President Museveni seized power using force, he
had to compromise with Western imperialism because Museveni's movement did
not have a revolutionary programme that had to be implemented upon a power-take-over.
Now, Museveni has transformed his regime into a one party dictatorship fed
by IMF and World Bank, invited Asian capitalists from Europe to exploit the
country's resources and rooted an authoritarian regime.
In the cause of the development of the revolutionary situation in Kenya,
occasions for the effective use of arms will continue to arise. However, any
effective armed onslaught against the armed capitalist State (with or without
Moi) will require an underground preparation of the nuclei of trained workers'
militias and the youth. A plan for caching arms will have to be in place
before sporadic attacks against state installations can begin. As the revolutionary
situation matures, co-ordinated offensive actions would also begin as difficult
questions of tactics and attention to circumstances and detail are worked
out.
Guided by a clear programme for workers power, an armed struggle in Kenya
remains a possible method of overthrowing capitalism in the country and setting
the stage for the re-building of a new society where people can live together
as equal human beings. KYMS will continue to support this method as an option
alongside other methods of struggle like mass insurrection, general uprising
civil disobedience and other democratic options open in the situation.
Published by Kenya Socialist Democratic Alliance
(KSDA)
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