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So I've been having intense conversations recently with people about @softiethefilm and what it means in terms of a body of work. People who have watched it can attest to feeling some element of anger, helplessness but also love and hope that stems out of struggle...
I remember days we'd talk about ideas on how to raise awareness of issues and also how to orchestrate protests where people would come to. @bonifacemwangi was always inventive and outspoken and spectacles created awareness. But I also remember not many people coming to protest...
It was always heartbreaking to see about a hundred people out on the streets but so many people all over the country complaining about the government online, in bars, marketplaces and basically everywhere else. It was as though there was no platform to protest because of fear...
One thing we always said is that we needed more numbers on the streets which would be supplemented by the work that goes behind the scenes to petition legally for change. Numbers on the streets means the police and politicians wouldn't laugh us away with their teargas and batons.
Alas, every protest I went for, we were always less than 300 people and it was always easy for the police to just overpower us, beat us down and make examples of us. Imagine if it was 30,000 people out there on the streets. We'd have stood together. They would have bowed...
I remember once being told "All you guys are doing on the streets is spoiling for the rest of us because we have to sit in traffic." I remember looking at this privileged human and just losing so much hope. I remember reading comments towards @bonifacemwangi which were pathetic.
Then started the threats here and there. I remember once getting a call from a blocked number and someone saying "We know where you live, where you work, we know what your parents do and what times you move." The next week after that, we were back on the streets protesting.
You know, maybe it wasn't the best of approaches but we were doing something and we were trying to show people not to live with fear from people who are supposed to take care of you. I remember my parents, my girlfriend at the time, my friends all worrying about us.
I remember the times we'd walk in peace towards parliament or through town and I remember the dread that sat heavy in my stomach when I saw the armed police units with their tear gas and their batons and their water canons. I remember how once it felt like a war zone...
...I remember the nausea of teargas in my lungs, the blurry eyes not being able to see properly, the pain of batons cracking against bone, the screams of people and the gunfire of teargas. And I remember laughing cops saying today they caught an Indian. It was amusement for them.
Anyways, I digressed. My apologies. Back to the story...we needed numbers to create a movement. We needed masses united against something oppressive to create freedom. We needed people to stand together and fight together through the struggle. It didn't work on the streets...
But now, the brilliant @sokosam and @IroBram and their team have given us another angle to see things from. A way for us to feel what that period felt like for @bonifacemwangi and @njerikan and their kids. And to see the real struggle of how freedom is fought for.
The importance of @softiethefilm is so incredibly deep. It is a revolution through storytelling and passion. It is the two sides of the coin that hold hope and despair. It is an eyeopener for people who were not or could not be on the streets during those times.
The film @softiethefilm is a form of intellectual and artistic protest against a still existing oppressive regime. It is a reflection of who we are as Kenyans too, both the bad and the good. It is so important for young people to see this film and feel the experiences.
As times evolve, as technology influences us, as dictatorial regimes still reign, it is important to use different tools to spread the same message of freedom and hope, of passion and courage, of love and humanity. I think @softiethefilm did all these things very well.
Honestly, kudos to the team who created this. Y'all are awakening one mind at a time. The journey is long and slow but every damn step forward, every person positively influenced and motivated to do something is a win.
You know, every person out there who is providing resources or better education or guidance or healthcare is a part of a greater revolution against a government that is supposed to do all these things. There are so many who fight in their own ways.
