Activists

I've been in Kenya working with Article 19's East and West Africa offices and it's been an eye-opening experience to see at first hand how activism is done.

Keeping up with the news in workshop breaks

The workshop group included people from Kenya, Ivory Coast, Senegal and the UK. Many were lawyers, and some were grassroots activists. It was a very lively group. Two participants, Keffa and Leonard from IDPAC, a partner of Article 19, had been displaced from their homes due to political violence at election time - in Keffa's case, 3 times in 15 years. They shared stories with us of how activists they'd trained were standing up for their rights and effectively lobbying Kenyan officials to get the compensation they are entitled to.

Nairobi graffiti lampooning corrupt officials

There was some discussion of the upcoming trial of the Kenyan officials who are accused of deliberately organising the political violence and who are to be tried by the International Criminal Court in the Hague. Article 19's work is closely linked to major political issues and their work is always at risk of being derailed by new violence.

Andrew with Khadi and Bruno of the Senegal office

Even more immediate, one of the participants, Andrew Smith was tweeting and emailing his MP during the workshop and managed to get onto Politics Home, several national newspapers, the Huffington Post and interviewed on Shropshire Radio during the lunch break! Andrew had pushed his MP, a government Minister, to state his views on gay marriage (anti) - this had stirred up a storm in London since the government is officially in favour. And all while Andrew was apparently fully engaged in a workshop on project management in Nairobi! You can read his version of events and more on his views here.

It was a revelation to me how much can be done by the power of social media by just one committed person, asking a basic question of his elected representative: where do you stand?