US-BASED ORGANIZATIONS STAND IN SOLIDARITY WITH BOOKER OMOLE & DEMAND AN END TO HIS REPRESSION
We write as US-based organizations that have worked closely with Booker Omole, National Vice Chairperson and National Organizing Secretary of the Communist Party of Kenya. We stand in firm solidarity with Mr. Omole, who was unjustly detained as he prepared to travel to the People’s Republic of China. Omole was dragged off the plane and had his travel documents confiscated. He faces further repression with a hearing scheduled at 9:30 AM on Monday, September 9th, before the Directorate of Criminal Investigations.
This act of repression is a blatant attempt to silence a leader of the revolutionary movement fighting for the rights and dignity of the Kenyan people. We recognize that Mr. Omole is being targeted because of his fearless leadership in the struggle against capitalist exploitation, imperialist political and economic domination, and political repression in Kenya.
We condemn the Kenyan government’s ongoing efforts to suppress dissent, particularly through the arrest and harassment of political leaders like Mr. Omole, who have been at the forefront of protests sparked by oppressive tax hikes, rampant government corruption and repression, reflected in the Kenyan people’s outrage at the rising cost of living, debt crisis, and the murder of protesters.
Last May, President Ruto introduced the neoliberal Finance Bill, which was resisted by a popular movement that asserted that Kenyans were already struggling with the high cost of living, and the bill proposed unacceptable tax hikes on basic necessities like cooking oil and bread. After a public outcry, the government revised the bill, dropping some of the proposed taxes on essential goods and shifting the burden to imported items and internet usage. However, these changes failed to address the underlying issues of a neoliberal-capitalist development model designed to benefit largely western monopoly capital as well as a domestic comprador bourgeoisie. The masses continue to demand Ruto’s resignation and that meaningful reforms are implemented.
The people’s resistance is crystallised in 13 demands, which include calling for an end to extra-judicial killings, addressing the unemployment crisis, tackling rampant corruption, and rejecting Kenya’s subservience to foreign powers like the US and IMF, which have plunged the nation into economic subservience. We stand with the protest movement, which has decried the Ruto government’s auctioning of Kenya’s natural resources and assets to foreign interests, eroding the country’s sovereignty, and ignoring the people’s voices in critical national decisions.
Kenya’s role as a lackey to US imperialism has become increasingly evident. Shortly after introducing the Finance Bill, Kenya was designated a Major Non-NATO Ally of the United States. This status underscores Kenya’s deepening alignment with US imperialist interests, at the expense of its own people.
The Communist Party of Kenya under Mr. Omole’s leadership, alongside other revolutionary organizations, has taken a leading role in opposing this neocolonial trajectory. In particular, they have denounced Kenya’s decision to send police forces to Haiti as part of a US-led imperialist intervention. Kenya’s involvement in this occupation is nothing more than an extension of the same oppressive systems that the Kenyan people are resisting at home. As anti-imperialists, we recognize that the struggle in Kenya is part of a broader global movement for sovereignty, justice, and liberation from imperialist control and wealth drain.
We call for the immediate end to the judicial harassment and curbing of Booker Omole’s rights and demand the release of all political prisoners detained in Kenya. We reaffirm our support for the protesters’ 13 demands and our internationalist solidarity with the Kenyan people’s popular struggle.
National Lawyers Guild, International Committee
Committee of Anti-Imperialists in Solidarity with Iran (CASI)
International Action Center
International People’s Tribunal on US Imperialism: Sanctions, Blockades, and Economic Coercive Measures
The People’s Forum
Workers World Party
Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network
