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Thursday, August 07, 2008

Triumphs

(1)
Three hours after I rolled out the Direct Action Campaign (aka Three Deliciously Naughty Things) yesterday, Prime Minister Raila Odinga encountered Ann Njogu (human rights lawyer/activist who was beaten and sexually assaulted by police on July 8th) at the office of a foreign ambassador. He said:

Ann, I didn't know what had happened - I just learned by sms (text message)!

Scepticism at his "ignorance" aside, this rocks. It's a three-hour turnaround on our direct action strategy, after weeks of ploughing through the mire of the police and court systems. Just yesterday morning, at Nairobi's Central Police Station, my colleagues were pushed around from office to office, encountered repeated stonewalling, and flat-out refusal by the officer in charge to accept and file their official complaint of police violence. After several hours, they had no option but to leave, complaint unfiled.

Odinga asked Ann Njogu to deliver the civil society Memorandum on Police Violence to his office, where she was cordially received. We're asking him for a face-to-face meeting with civil society, for a serious discussion on escalating police violence, and his responsibility to stop it.

(2)
The court hearing in Kibera on Tuesday, of Ann Njogu and Others vs. Republic of Kenya, was attended by Officer Richard Mugwai, the senior police officer who sexually assaulted Ann Njogu and led the beating of all seven activists on July 8th. After the hearing, Mugwai beckoned over Okiya Omtatah Okoiti, one of the 7 activists (whose face is still marked from Mugwai's violent attack), and said:

Please do not deal with me as an individual. Please deal with the police force.

This tells us that our strategy of naming individual police officers who violate human rights, and holding them directly accountable, is definitely finding its mark. It will have a ripple effect throughout the Police Force.

It is vital that we sustain the momentum begun by the Three Deliciously Naughty Things. It is encouraging to know that our message has got through to at least one key office-holder, Raila Odinga. Now we need to keep up the flow of messages, through all channels, until the criminal violations committed are actually redressed, and the culture of police impunity and state violence is dismantled.

Wednesday, August 06, 2008

Three Deliciously Naughty Things

you can do to make every Kenyan deliriously happy.

(1) Send a text message TODAY, to Kenya's President and Prime Minister. Use the one below, or craft your own.

Mr. Kibaki / Mr. Odinga - we hold u accountable 4 police violence, sexual assault, against Ann Njogu n other civil society activists. Act NOW 2 uphold human rights 4 all Kenyans!

To President Mwai Kibaki (via his spokesperson, Alfred Mutua):
Cellphone number + 254 721 240 443

To Prime Minister Raila Odinga
Cellphone + 254 733 620 736


2) Send an email

To President Mwai Kibaki
president@statehousekenya.go.ke

To Prime Minister Raila Odinga
railaodinga@yahoo.com

Suggested Message:

Forward the press statement from the International Center For Transitional Justice below, with the opening line:

Mr Kibaki / Mr. Odinga, I urge you to act immediately and decisively to address police violence and sexual assault on Kenyan civil society activists. Please see the statement below from the International Center for Transitional Justice.

Signed: Name, Organization / Affiliation (if any), City, Country

3) If you are a Kenyan repeat steps 1) and 2) with your own MP and other parliamentarians. Contact details for Kenyan MPs here.

4) If you live outside Kenya, repeat steps 1) and 2), directing the texts and emails to the Kenyan Ambassador or High Commissioner in your country.

5) If you are a foreign national living in Kenya, repeat steps 1) and 2) with the Ambassador or High Commissioner of your country in Kenya.

You'll feel a little surge of glee each time you hit the send button. It'll get stronger with each action step. After the third, you'll have to get up and dance around the room. You might be impelled to seek out the nearest huggable person and hug them. That's the joyful energy that direct action for justice unleashes.


ICTJ Statement: Investigate Policy Brutality in Kenya

NEW YORK, Tuesday August 5, 2008 – The Kenyan government should immediately open an investigation into the recent beating and sexual assault of civil society activists by police, the International Center for Transitional Justice (ICTJ) said Tuesday.

"We join Kenyan human rights leaders in strongly condemning the police attacks on civil society activists as they prepared to hold a peaceful rally," said Suliman Baldo, Director of ICTJ's Africa Program. "The government must immediately investigate the attacks, as well as end the growing trend of police brutality and intimidation against Kenyan civil society."

On August 4, 2008, the 400 member organizations of Kenya's National Civil Society Congress demanded action from Kenyan president Mwai Kibaki and Prime Minister Raila Odinga in an open letter condemning "documented and verified acts of police terror, intimidation, violence and impunity."

In one such incident on July 8, 2008, Kenyan police stormed into a Nairobi hotel where a group of civil rights activists were planning a peaceful anti-corruption rally. Police beat seven of the activists, and one officer also sexually assaulted Anne Njogu, Executive Director of Nairobi's Centre for Rights, Education and Awareness for Women.
Ms. Njogu and her colleagues were taken to a police station in Gigiri, where police again attacked the activists, beating them with police batons and kicking them.

"The sexual assault against Ms. Njogu is part of an appalling wave of violence against women in Kenya," said Debra Schultz, Acting Director of ICTJ's Gender and Transitional Justice Program. "The Kenyan government must take steps to end impunity for gender-based crimes wherever they are committed."

About the ICTJ
The International Center for Transitional Justice (ICTJ) assists countries pursuing accountability for past mass atrocity or human rights abuse. The Center works in societies emerging from repressive rule or armed conflict, as well as in established democracies where historical injustices or systemic abuse remain unresolved.

Monday, August 04, 2008

Buy my book in Nairobi


Migritude I: When Saris Speak is now in stock at Nairobi's most fabulous independent bookshop, Bookstop, at Yaya Centre.

Bookstop (3rd Floor, Yaya Center) was cited by Ode Magazine in its list of the world's best independent bookshops. Stop by to chat to the inimitable owner, Chan Bahal, and buy a copy, or two, or three....

Ask for a copy of the DVD of the show as well, and get it at a super-discounted price!
 
         
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