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ABSTRACT
This paper focuses on Operation Usalama Watch, a counter-terrorism crackdown that was conducted in Eastleigh, the predominately Kenyan-Somali neighbourhood of Nairobi, in April 2014. Using the response to the operation as a case study, it seeks to build on criticisms of the Copenhagen School by arguing that the notion of the ‘speech act’ is limiting when considering alternative media through which subtle forms of dissent are channelled and counter-narratives are expressed. Moreover, it argues that conventional securitisation theory has predominately focused on discursive attempts to construct rather than deconstruct security threats. By drawing together, criticisms of securitisation theory, the scholarship on subaltern studies and the literature on youth politics in Africa, the political agency and forms of resistance used by young people that do not resort to overt contestation through speech become apparent. This paper argues that during the operation, young people in Eastleigh used novel and often informal mediums to speak back to power, challenge convention and ultimately contribute to a process of de-securitisation by creating a culture of resistance.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).
Notes
1 IPOA, Operation Sanitization Eastleigh Report, 2–3.
2 Anderson and McKnight, “Kenya at War,” 21; Warah, War Crimes, 125.
3 Amnesty International, Somalis are Scapegoats, 6.
4 HRW, “Kenya Halt Crackdown Against Somalis”; Amnesty International, Somalis are Scapegoats; KNHCR, The Terror of Fighting Terror with Terror; IPOA, Operation Sanitization Eastleigh Report.
5 HRW, “Kenya: Mass Deportation of Somalis,” 11.
6 Botha, “Political Socialization and Terrorist Radicalization,” 895.
7 Buzan, Wæver and de Wilde, Security: A New Framework for Analysis.
8 Ibid., 26.
9 Hansen, “The Little Mermaid,” 285; Taureck, “Securitisation Theory and Securitisation Studies,” 55.
10 Wilkinson, “The Copenhagen School on Tour in Kyrgyzstan,” 5.
11 Williams, “Words, Images and Enemies,” 512; 527.
12 Ibid., 526. (My emphasis.)
13 Roe, “Securitisation and Minority Rights: Conditions of Desecuritisation,” 285.
14 Duncombe, “The Politics of Twitter,” 425.
15 Scott, “Weapons of the Weak,” xvi.
16 Ibid., 35.
17 Ibid., xvi–xvii.
18 Balakian, “‘Money Is Your Government,’” 9.
19 Anderson, Remembering Wagalla: State Violence in Northern Kenya, 658.
20 Whittaker, Insurgency and Counterinsurgency in Kenya, “Rendering Difference Visible.”
21 See Elkins, Imperial Reckoning.
22 Billow Kerrow, “Is Operation Usalama Watch a Somali Gulag?” The Standard, April 13, 2014. Accessed May 2, 2016. http://www.standardmedia.co.ke/article/2000109277/is-operation-usalama-watch-a-somali-gulag.
23 See Murunga, “The Cosmopolitan Tradition”; Lochery, “Rendering Difference Visible”; Balakian, “‘Money Is Your Government’”; Carrier, Little Mogadishu; Lind, Mutahi and Oosterom, “Killing a Mosquito.”
24 HRW, “‘You’re All Terrorists,’” 12.
25 Interview with the author Eastleigh, Nairobi, April 15, 2016.
26 Mzalendo, National Assembly: Official Report.
27 Interviewed in Spring Valley, Nairobi, March 25, 2015.
28 Macharia Gaitho, “If the Head of the Snake Is Right Here in Eastleigh, Why Did We Go to Somalia?” Daily Nation, October 24, 2011. http://www.nation.co.ke/oped/blogs/-/446672/1261118/-/a3i326z/-/index.html.
29 Cited in Warah, War Crimes, 143.
30 Cited in Carrier, Little Mogadishu, 247.
31 Cited in Lochery, “Rendering Difference Visible,” 637.
32 KNCHR, The Error of Fighting Terror with Terror, 3.
33 IPOA, Operation Sanitization Eastleigh Report, 2.
34 Interviewed in Spring Valley, Nairobi, March 25, 2015.
35 Interviewed in CBD, Nairobi, April 6, 2016.
36 Interviewed in Eastleigh, Nairobi, March 30, 2016.
37 IPOA, Operation Sanitization Eastleigh Report, 2–3.
38 David Kimaiyo, “Detractors Should Stop Sowing Hatred Between Police Service and Communities.” Daily Nation, April 20 2014. Accessed May 30, 2016. http://www.nation.co.ke/oped/Opinion/David-Kimaiyo-Security-Crime-Police-Kenya-Al-Shabaab/-/440808/2286648/-/66vkk7z/-/index.html; Ministry of Interior (InteriorKE), “CS @joelenku: For the Last Few Months We’ve Had Heightened Insecurity. Time Has Come for a Mop up to Restore Order. #UsalamaWatch.” April 7, 2014, 18:11 UTC. https://twitter.com/InteriorKE/status/453233703326855169?s=20.
39 Douglas, Purity and Danger, 35.
40 Ibid., 35.
41 NTV Kenya, “Interview: CS Joseph Ole Lenku Speaks on Operation Usalama Watch.” April 7, 2014. Accessed May 6, 2016. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bFublr9aOoQ.
42 Interview with Yusuf Hassan in Spring Valley, Nairobi, March 25, 2015.
43 Buzan, Wæver and de Wilde, Security: A New Framework for Analysis, 29.
44 Naimasiah, “The Long History of the Garissa Attacks.”
45 ILO’s World Employment and Social Outlook.
46 Honwana, The Time of Youth, 3–4.
47 Ibid., 4.
48 BBC, “Kenya’s Gangster-Killing Cop: Hunting Down Criminals in Nairobi.” September 10, 2018. Accessed September 28, 2018. https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-45472469.
49 Honwana, “Youth, Waithood, and Protest Movements.”
50 Seekings, “Beyond Heroes and Villains,” 2.
51 Mutuma Mathiu, “Are We Just Going to Sit Around and Wait to be Blown to Bits by Terrorists?” Daily Nation, March 20, 2014. Accessed May 9, 2016. http://mobile.nation.co.ke/blogs/Are-we-just-going-to-sit-around-and-wait-to-be-blown-to-bits/-/1949942/2252048/-/format/xhtml/-/uw6jti/-/index.html.
52 NTV Kenya, “Interview: Billow Kerrow Condemns Eastleigh Arrests.” April 5, 2014. Accessed May 6, 2016. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n_Mstl5fGXA.
53 Bruzzone, “Kenya’s Security Crackdown.”
54 NTV Kenya, “Interview: CS Joseph Ole Lenku.”
55 Douglas, Purity and Danger, 36.
56 Cited in Warah, War Crimes, 134.
57 Douglas, Purity and Danger, 35.
58 Keguro Macharia, “Anti-Terror Swoops Dehumanise Somalis.” The Star, May 9, 2014. Accessed May 6, 2016. http://www.the-star.co.ke/news/2014/05/09/anti-terror-swoops-dehumanise-somalis_c937155.
59 Interview with Muna Abdi in Eastleigh, Nairobi, March 30, 2016; Interview with Abdulaziz Bishar in Eastleigh, Nairobi, April 15, 2016.
60 Interviewed in Westlands, Nairobi, March 24, 2016.
61 L. Wanyeki Muthoni, “Brutalising Somalis over Sugar Smuggling Sweet!” The East African, May 31, 2014. Accessed May 6, 2016. https://www.theeastafrican.co.ke/tea/oped/comment/brutalising-somalis-over-sugar-smuggling-sweet--1325046.
62 Agamben, State of Exception.
63 David Kimaiyo, “No Ethnic or Religious Profiling in Crackdown.” Daily Nation, April 19 2014. Accessed May 6, 2015. http://www.nation.co.ke/oped/Opinion/No-ethnic-or-religious-profiling-in-crackdown/-/440808/2286060/-/view/printVersion/-/ykptdjz/-/index.html.
64 NTV Kenya, “Interview: CS Joseph Ole Lenku.”
65 KNCHR, The Error of Fighting Terror with Terror, 4.
66 Interviewed in Spring Valley, Nairobi, March 25, 2015.
67 Interviewed in Kilimani, Nairobi, March 29, 2016.
68 Reid, War in Pre-Colonial East Africa, 8; Bierkschenk and de Sardan, Studying the Dynamics of African Bureaucracies, 14.
69 Balakian, “‘Money Is Your Government,’” 91.
70 Weber, “Performative States,” 90.
71 Carrier, Little Mogadishu, 216.
72 Scott, Weapons of the Weak, 288; Carrier, Little Mogdishu, 237.
73 Interviewed in Kilimani, Nairobi, April 6, 2016.
74 Interviewed in Lavington, Nairobi, April 18, 2016.
75 Interviewed in Spring Valley, Nairobi, March 25, 2015.
76 Rawlence, City of Thorns, 230.
77 Interviewed in Westlands, Nairobi, April 1, 2016.
78 Uhuru Kenyatta TV, “Ulinzi Unaanza na Mimi, Ulinzi Unaanza na Wewe.” June 3, 2014. Accessed May 10, 2016. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2X6xFNwjaSk.
79 Interviewed in CBD, Nairobi, March 29, 2016.
80 Gabrielle Lynch, “Why the Kenya-Somalia Border Wall is a Bad Idea.” Daily Nation, May 1, 2015. Accessed May 6, 2016. http://www.nation.co.ke/oped/Opinion/Why-the-Kenya-Somalia-border-wall-is-a-bad-idea/-/440808/2703636/-/fpr9ihz/-/index.html.
81 Honwana, The Time of Youth, 4.
82 Honwana, “Youth, Waithood, and Protest Movements.”
83 Honwana, The Time of Youth, 18.
84 Honwana, “Youth, Waithood, and Protest Movements.”
85 Honwana, The Time of Youth, 7; 16.
86 Kenyaimnotaterrorist, “Kenya I’m Not a Terrorist.”
87 Interviewed in Eastleigh, Nairobi, March 30, 2016.
88 Interviewed in Spring Valley, Nairobi, March 25, 2015.
89 Duncombe, “The Politics of Twitter,” 411; 421.
90 Interviewed in Eastleigh, Nairobi, March 31, 2016.
91 Interviewed in Kilimani, Nairobi, March 29, 2016.
92 Interviewed in Eastleigh, Nairobi, March 31, 2016.
93 Interviewed in Eastleigh, Nairobi, April 15, 2016.
94 Kenyaimnotaterrorist, “Kenya I’m Not a Terrorist.”
95 Ibid.
96 Ibid.
97 Interviewed in CBD, Nairobi, April 11, 2016.
98 Ina Cawsgurow, “Nduli: A Swahili Song on the Plight of the Kenyan Somalis by Ina Cawsgurow.” September 15, 2014. Accessed May 6, 2016. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IahwJ5aP5u0. (Translation my own.)
99 Interviewed in CBD, Nairobi, April 11, 2016.
100 Adow, “Not Yet Kenyan.”
101 Lochery, “Rending Difference Visible,” 617.
102 Ega, “What It’s Like to Be Somali.”
103 Rapando (@_rapando), “@AntiBigwig So I Have to Walk with a Kipande? I Think I Am Living in the 1950s.” April 6, 2014, 03:57 UTC. https://twitter.com/_rapando/status/452656224744783873?s=20.
104 Eric Gitari (@EricGitari), “Kenya @ 50, also 50 Days of Kasarani Concentration Camp. Human Beings Can Be Held Fifty Days Without Charges or Trial.” May 23, 2014, 4.28 UTC. https://twitter.com/EricGitari/status/469847234579038209?s=20.
105 Interview with Muna Abdi in Eastleigh, Nairobi, March 30, 2016.
106 Interviewed in CBD, Nairobi, April 11, 2016.
107 Cawsgurow, “Nduli, A Swahili Song.”
108 Scott, “Domination and the Art of Resistance,” xii.
109 Boniface Mwangi (@bonifacemwangi), “A Terror Attack Happens in Eastleigh and Cops Do a Swoop, Arresting Hundreds. They Should Have Done the Same in Westlands After Westgate.” April 1, 2014, 11:01 UTC. https://twitter.com/bonifacemwangi/status/450950987046723584?s=20.
110 Interviewed in Eastleigh, Nairobi, March 30, 2016.
111 Mbembe, On the Postcolony.
112 Interviewee wished to remain anonymous.
113 Interviewed in CBD, Nairobi, April 11, 2016.
114 Balakian, “’Money Is Your Government,’” 101.
115 Scott, “Weapons of the Weak,” xvii; xv.
116 Abrahamsen, “African Studies and the Postcolonial Challenge,” 208.
117 Williams, “Words, Images, Enemies,” 527.
118 Al Jazeera, “‘Never Again’: Protesters March Against Kenyan Police Brutality.” June 8, 2020. Accessed June 13, 2020. https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2020/06/protesters-march-kenyan-police-brutality-200608162743597.html.
119 Duncombe, “The Politics of Twitter,” 425.
120 Lonsdale, “Agency in Tight Corners.”
121 Williams, “Words, Images, Enemies,” 527.
122 Comaroff and Comaroff, “Reflections on Youth,” 28.