Animating political protests through artivism in 21st century Nairobi, Kenya.

AuthorHalliday, Craig

Introduction

On Thursday 3rd November 2016, hundreds of people gathered for a demonstration against high-level corruption at Freedom Corner (a section of Nairobi's Uhuru Park, which has long been a site associated with peoples' fight for justice). Grasping placards and donning red T-shirts emblazoned with the protest's slogan, this mass of bodies visually emphasised and collectively embedded feelings of a community. (1)

Revolutionary protest songs blasted from a PA system. The words to these tunes--often corruptions of 'traditional' or Christian compositions--were echoed by protesters and invigorated through dance. These elements, and the ebullient crowd, created a mood akin to a festival, boosted by artistic theatricality, large effigies and performance. Speaking about corruption the previous month, Kenya's President Uhuru Kenyatta asked: "ladies and gentlemen, what do you want me to do?" (2) Aptly named President Uhuru Act on Corruption Now or Resign, the protest retorted Kenyatta's question and together those demonstrating planned to deliver a petition to Parliament. Signed by civil society organisations the petition demanded the Government's expedient and decisive action against grand scale corruption plaguing Kenya. However, the police violently coerced the protesters out of the park and made arbitrary arrests. Spirits waned. Attempts to reconvene were thwarted.

Unfortunately, the police have regularly disregarded the right of assembly enshrined in Kenya's constitution. Repressive and brutal policing has become normalised. What is evident, nevertheless, is an increase in political protests in Nairobi over the past decade. This spike ties to political scientists' suggestion that since 2011 Africa has experienced a 'third wave' of protests--the first wave having occurred during decolonisation, the second through democratic transitions to multi-party politics in the 1990s. (3) In Kenya, explaining this third wave is complex but certain influences can be identified.

The 1990s was a golden age of popular political activism in Nairobi as civil society ushered in fresh hope for democratisation in the postcolonial East African nation. (4) In 2002, Kenya's second President Daniel arap Moi's 24 years of authoritarian rule ended. The opposition were victorious at the ballot box, instilling a belief amongst the electorate that formal democratic processes could bring change. Following this was a lull in political activism and popular protests, as there was hope amongst the populace that progressive change would follow. This optimism quickly faded as a result of the post-election violence of 2007/8, which resulted in the deaths of over 1,000 and displacement of 600,000 people. But from this came a new idiom of political consciousness in Kenya which saw alternative discursive practices and physical and online sites for their expression forged. (5) Adding to this was the adoption of a progressive constitution in 2010, giving credence to people's fundamental civil and political rights, imparting checks on power, and bringing with it possibilities for reinvigorating democracy in Kenya. (6) It has, however, been argued that the Jubilee coalition--which came into power in 2013, led by Uhuru Kenyatta--has failed in its duty to uphold elements of the constitution, and as such critics point towards a regression of previously made democratic gains. (7)

It is against this backdrop that one is reminded of the political scientist Gene Sharp's warning that the ending of one regime does not bring utopia, but instead paves the way for continuous efforts to build more just social, economic, and political relationships whilst eradicating other forms of oppression and injustice. (8) Kenyans are well aware of the challenge of Gene Sharp and the new wave of political protests happening in Nairobi illustrate this fight for justice and a deepening of democracy.

At one level this is realised through the coming together of bodies on the street who enact their constitutional right to peaceful demonstration. (9) However, the late Claude Ake points towards further understanding as to how democracy may be invigorated through protests, and that is by creating new terrains for political engagement. (10) As suggested by Ake popular protests can affect society's political consciousness and imaginations, offering revelations to what is possible, whilst providing alternative visions of democracy and development. (11)

Occurring within Nairobi's 'third-wave' of urban protests are those--like the protest discussed above--associated with their radical use of art and performance. The driving force behind this is the civil society organisation PAWA 254 and Nairobi's emerging middle class, as well as activists and artists for whom such tactics contribute to animating twenty-first century activism. Yet the merging of art and activism in protests and the tactics employed in its use brings with it questions regarding the extent to which artivism is successful in animating political protests and its potential role in deepening democracy. Though before turning attention to these questions, considerations into the theoretical debates surrounding the concept of artivism and its associations are firstly taken into account.

Art, activism and carnivalesque protests

In 2011, the photographer-turned-activist, Boniface Mwangi, founded PAWA 254 in Kenya's capital city Nairobi. (12) Mwangi's aim for PAWA 254 included the building of activists', creatives' and citizens' capacity to bring about social change through artivism--which is the bridging of art and activism. (13) The concept of artivism is not specific to Mwangi or PAWA 254 and has similarly been termed as 'activist art', (14) 'artistic activism', (15) 'community art', (16) 'performative democracy' (17), 'cultural resistance' (18) and 'cultural activism'. (19) A commonality between these approaches is their focus on the ways in which art provides new understandings of common concerns, and how political action can become creative in its fight against perceived injustice. (20) Artivism often creates new or alternative ways of political intervention and civil disobedience, which moves beyond conventional forms of activism. (21) Also representing a shift from convention is art's detachment from its orthodox home of the gallery and museum and associated accolades. Instead, artivism is concerned with the domain of daily life, and innovatively using public space. (22) Artivism demands that art is not compelled to simply represent change, but instead becomes part of an action which engages with society's transformation. Scholars of artivism suggest that this is achieved by drawing on a range of potentiality: to unite people, to question the status quo, to disrupt everyday life, to instruct or persuade, to improve public understanding of civic issues, and to create new or different physiological experiences. (23) Consequently, it has been argued, artivism with its counter-hegemonic tendencies, represents an important dimension of radical politics. (24)

Interpretations of artivism are, however, not without criticism. For instance, Boris Groys notes that the artworld critiques it as a lowering of aesthetic quality, whereas political scientists criticise it as a distraction from the practical goals of political protest. (25) In response, it can be argued that artivism's interdisciplinary nature and methodology should not be understood within the purview of one subject but rather be seen as an 'indiscipline' in its refusal to be restricted by the discipline of art or political science. (26) This matters because in today's world, as the political theorist Chantelle Mouffe reminds us, political questions are those which affect our everyday lives now and in the future and, as such, are not issues to be left exclusively in the hands of experts. (27)

As this article will demonstrate, artivism is often theatrical. It can be funny and creative at the same time as it can ridicule and mock; artivism can bring people together in new, creative and often powerful ways, but it can also divide and antagonise. As may be expected of an indiscipline, artivism is at times messy and disordered; but it does, nevertheless, offer opportunities to expand on the ways of engaging with politics and help to both understand and practice social change. The element of artivism apparent in protests happening in Nairobi is expressed by activists as giving protests a 'face-lift'. Furthermore, the atmosphere and aesthetics of these protests are regularly attributed to analogies of carnival by those who participate in them. (28) In the words of one activist:

"There is a notion that demonstrations are violent but when you include symbolism and performance they become like a carnival. People at the protest start having fun... the use of art and performance puts them on a different level. This carnival aspect changes the mood. People are still angry and frustrated--that is why they are there --but the art and performance provides a different way of looking at the problem, it provides a moment when people can also have fun, it kind of ridicules the issues but without losing sight of what we are there for." (29)

Mikhail Bakhtin's theory on medieval carnival in Europe is frequently cited as a framework within which both the global north and south can think about and understand contemporary protests shaped by artistic considerations. In Bakhtin's classic work, Rabelais and His World (Russian; 1965), his concept of carnival is characterised by the creation of an alternative space, one typified by freedom, by moments where anything goes, and where lines between performer and spectator are erased. As Bakhtin argues: 'In carnival everyone is an active participant, everyone communes in the carnival act... The laws, prohibitions, and restrictions that determine the structure and order of ordinary... life are suspended during carnival'. (30) Widening this...

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