As elections near amid soaring debt and a cost-of-living crisis, grassroots activists are turning to social media to propel change
hen 1,700 Kenyans took to the streets of Nairobi, Kisumu and Mombasa last week, they had one main demand of the government: to bring down the skyrocketing cost of living. Commemorating, the demonstrators brandished placards that read #nofoodnoelections and #lowerfoodprices.
Oyoo says online activism is even more powerful in the hands of disenfranchised communities. “On social media, we are all starting from the same point.”, one of Africa’s biggest slums, residents meet for bimonthly meetings, known as. In this election, they are using social media to press presidential candidates on two big-ticket issues affecting their daily lives: the rising cost of living and the country’s soaring debt.
Young people from poor areas often bear the brunt of police violence during street protests, so the online movements have created a safe space for activism. According to Solomon Josephat, a 22-year-old Mukuru resident, street protests are often divided along class lines., and the issues that propel the middle classes on to the streets contrast with those that mobilise lower-income communities.
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