* REPORT : 111

Karachi - Nairobi - Cities

“The looting, arson and destruction of property that has taken place is not a simple law and order situation. It has to be understood that you cannot create small islands of insensitive and arrogant affluence in a sea of increasing poverty and deprivation on the one hand and a ruthlessly manipulated political and judicial dispensation on the other.”

No doubt many of you may think that this quote is a reference to the situation in Kenya – given the information SDI has been sending out in recent days.

In fact it is a comment from Arif Hasan, one of our colleagues in Karachi, Pakistan. ( Arif's writing is opposite column )

Actually it is a quote that reflects the socio economic realities of many cities and countries in the South. It is a bald summary of the conditions that govern our global political economy.

Many of you have asked what - if any - assistance you/we can provide to the urban poor in Kenya in the wake of the violence of recent days?

No meaningful and lasting contribution to change can happen unless we recognize and act from the understanding that Kenya or Pakistan are not aberrations, but are quintessential and violent manifestations of the contradictions that govern the global order.

They are also very real images of a more generalized future.

Of course we need to treat the symptomatic outbreaks in countries like Pakistan and Kenya by responding to the desperate plight of the marginalized and the poor who have been devastated by state and market orchestrated violence. But we also have to act at the local level in such a way that it becomes more and more difficult for the inhabitants of the small islands of insensitive and arrogant affluence to ignore the reality that it can no longer be “business as usual”.

Another quote from Arif Hasan in Karachi: “Travelling in different parts of Karachi and from the city to beyond Ghagar Phatak via the National Highway, as I did on Dec 30, 2007, you see nothing but burnt-out cars, trucks and trailers, attacked universities and schools, destroyed factories and government buildings and banks, petrol pumps and ‘posh’ food outlets — all symbols of exploitation; institutions where the poor cannot afford to study; businesses where they cannot get jobs; government offices where they have to pay bribes and where they are insulted and abused. This is not a law and order situation but an outpouring, not only of grief but of anger against corruption, injustice and hunger. Many of the food-carrying vehicles were looted and around their burnt remains there is still evidence of the flour and sugar they were carrying. It is important to note that along the highway no khokhas, small eating places and modest shops had been burnt or damaged.”

Arif continues to argue that the only solution for Karachi and for the province of Sindh, in which it is located, “lies in striving for a broad-based consensus on how the province is to be governed and developed.”

This consensus, Arif argues “should not be based on political opportunism and so-called pragmatism but on an understanding of history and on moral and ethical values which alone can guarantee development and relationships based on justice and equity.”

Arif is talking about Karachi, but he may just as well be talking about Nairobi – or the small planet that we all inhabit.

Interestingly enough Arif’s arguments and his recommendations for a solution are being taken up practically in Kenya by our partners Pamoja Trust and the Kenya Federation (Muungano). This is what Jane Weru, Pamoja director, had to say in a short letter she sent earlier today to the SDI Secretariat: “right now I think we need to look at each other and just begin to find a common language that will help us to see and appreciate that despite our tribes or political leanings we have a common humanity that transcends all these considerations. It is major challenge for the federation to hold, as tribe, class and politics has come between many of us.”

Pamoja Trust sent out a circular late yesterday afternoon. In it they echoed Arif’s words: “The post election violence resulted from the dispute between the two prevalent political parties vying to form Government. However, it is Pamoja’s view that the election dispute only provided an outlet for deeper societal problems. This view is supported by the fact that the violence was largely situated around poorer localities”.

This brings us back to the question: what can we do to help – at least at the local level? Based on Pamoja’s recognition that
(a) this is a structural problem that requires a structural answer and that
(b) many thousands of slum dwellers have had livelihoods, homes and lives destroyed in recent days. They are now seeking  to address the provision of relief both on an emergency relief level, but also on a longer term structural level.

Slum Dwellers International will stand behind Pamoja and Muungano as they seek to address these challenges. Following upon the relief, mobilization and advocacy strategies that Pamoja and Muungano have already proposed, SDI will try, at this point, to provide three kinds of support.

a. assistance in good community and NGO driven documentation/surveys that identify who lived where, and who worked where, and what restitution plans are beginning to unfold. This is to ensure that the looting and destruction of homes and businesses is not used “conveniently” to evict those who have been affected.
b. assistance to ensure that all aid moves beyond welfare to produce future communities that work together with support from Pamoja, Muungano, SDI and other progressive institutions.
c. assistance in using the negotiations with the state to channel resources for welfare in a transparent and clear fashion.

Photographs of Toi Market were taken earlier today by Pamoja staff member, Irene Karanja.