Change Is the Most Fought Thought in History

News:

Kenya’s streets remained a battleground as protests, sparked by controversial tax hikes, evolve into a wider outcry against deep-rooted economic disparities and a perceived lack of government accountability. At the forefront of this movement is a generation of young Kenyans, refusing to be silenced despite facing escalating police crackdowns. The protests erupted in response to a government-proposed finance bill that included a slew of tax hikes amidst an already challenging economic environment. The bill sparked public outrage, particularly among young people, who saw it as a move that would exacerbate an ongoing cost of living crisis in the East African nation.

Comment:

The recent demonstrations in Kenya by the Gen-Zs and Millennials is of a kind that the political class had not witnessed before. Demonstrations did indeed have real issues demanded that vividly made plain the colonial heavy influence in the sphere of the political-economy of Kenya. This situation is not unique to Kenya rather to all third world countries, where most of the political, social and economical policies are directly adopted to benefit the colonial West.

The draconian financial bill that triggered the anger in the general populace, a population that is almost 40% below poverty level and over 80% of the employment are in the informal sector with a meager wage, are to be heavily taxed from motor vehicle to bread. The heavy hand of the colonialist from institutions like IMF, World Bank and foreign policies have directly kept the grip and suffocated the livelihood of societies in the third world countries.

The call for change mostly among the youths demanding for accountability on how the country fell into the abyss of debt trap and calling the government of the day to alienate from Western hegemony is true face for the will for change. The most unfortunate aspect for this Gen-Z struggle is limited within the loop of Western thought, framework and structures, when indeed the change is a serious endeavor. Thinking about change is essential to the life because the stagnation of life and surrendering to fate are from the most dangerous pestilences which cause peoples and nations to perish, die out and to become forgotten in the course of events and time. For this reason, thinking about change is from amongst the most important kinds of thought and this kind of thinking is not favored by the sluggish and not accepted by the lazy because the cost of change is heavy and because those who are dominated by the norms see thinking for change as representing a harm upon them and a moving from one condition to another. For this reason, those who are declined and lazy fight this kind of thought whilst the so-called political class, elites and those who dominate over the necks of the servants and their sources of sustenance oppose it and stand in its way. And for this reason, thinking for change represented a danger for the one possessing it and it became the single most fought against type of thought in an unrelenting war.

It is of paramount importance for the Gen-Zs and all generations across the spectrum of the society to elevate the emotions to intellectual level to real understand the basis upon which the West dominate the world today. As this is the way only to guarantee the course of actions towards radical change. Islam as the only relevant ideology today, since it addresses Man as a human being with his inherent needs and wants. It addresses Man’s problem as they relate to him as a being with a specific nature.

Islam viewed Man from a holistic perspective and addressed the needs of Man as the basis for its solution. While capitalism did not view Man from a holistic perspective. It concentrated on certain aspects of Man’s needs while neglecting his other needs. For instance, in capitalism any commodity or service is considered beneficial and has to be produced as long as it satisfies a need for an individual in the society, e.g., wine, drugs, prostitution. Capitalism views the producer or provider of such services as the one who contributes towards solving the economic problem. The problem is addressed by increasing production and subsequently closing the gap between supply and demand. Increasing production to meet demand overlooks the impact of producing the material and services for society, while in Islam certain commodities and services have no value because of their negative effect on the society. Additionally, the tool through which Capitalism guarantees the acquisition of products or services is through money. So, whoever does not possess the price of something would be deprived of it. In Islam, the wellbeing of the individual and society at large is considered and thus one would acquire things needed either through the mechanism of price or through other mechanisms, such as Zakah or through the State’s treasury.

Written for the Central Media Office of Hizb ut Tahrir by
Ali Omar Albaity
Member of the Media Office of Hizb ut Tahrir in Kenya