Kenya: Creativity and Political Repression: The Confusion of Fact and Fiction

In: Race & class: a journal on racism, empire and globalisation, Band 37, Heft 4, S. 61-71

Abstract

Examines the nature of political repression in Kenya with specific focus on the role of journalists & writers of both fiction & nonfiction. Based on an analysis of government cases against opposition writers, it is suggested that fact & fiction have become almost indistinguishable in Kenyan courts. Although Kenya adopted a multiparty democratic system in the early 1990s, this shift has only masked the true presence of a tyrannical one-party system characterized by a new wave of government repressions such as firebombings of magazine offices, banning of newspapers, the suppression of groups researching public policy & corruption, arrests of opposition leaders, & the fabrication of a guerrilla movement. Even fictional writing has assumed a revolutionary tone, & a number of fiction writers have been arrested & executed. Despite the massive censorship measures employed by the government, it is concluded that Kenyan citizens are aware of the nonrealistic nature of their media sources, & have learned to question & reexamine stories of "courtroom confessions" & "accidental deaths.". 12 References. T. Sevier