What future lies ahead for Kenya?

Nairobi, Kenya’s capital city.
Image credits: Jonathan Stonehouse

Having had a few weeks to reflect on circumstances in Kenya, one of Africa’s most popular tourist destinations, Harry Scrase looks at the future for Kenya for Exeposé Features.

Just a couple of weeks ago, on 21st September, Nairobi experienced a brutal and violent terrorist attack, the worst of its kind since the bombings on the US Embassy back in 1998. Unidentified gun men, from the Somali terrorist group, Al Shabab took hold of the Westgate Mall Shopping centre for three days, killing seventy-two people during this time.  Attacks like these, which would have come as huge surprises twenty years back have sadly become more and more commonplace. When we think of the lengths that people go to in order to gain their revenge, or to prove a point, it is incredibly disturbing to comprehend that people go to these kinds of extents. Furthermore, how is a country like Kenya ever supposed to be able to move forward in its status when events such as this and the sabotage of Nairobi’s main international airport Jomo Kenyatta just a few weeks prior, continue to pull the country in the wrong direction.

Al Shabab claimed that their reason for the attack in Nairobi was due to Kenya’s military having entered Somalia and been integrated into the African Union in Somalia. Somalia is a country which has now been waging civil war since 1991, there appears to be no rational thought to their actions. It has been in disarray for twenty-two years – longer than most of the student population has been alive. When we consider that many civil wars contain conflict between different religious sects battling against each other, we must remember that Somalia is a predominately Muslim country; how is it that they are capable of such conflict over such a large period of time, when religious prejudices may only be few. There must be other reasons than those given.

These terrorist groups maintain such a huge influence over the running of the more impoverished countries. The people of Somalia have very little and so when offered just a small sum of money for something, they will likely take it as they do not see a choice. It is possible in this way to begin to convince them, and round up more soldiers to fight for this terrorist group. Through the work of the group’s leaders, these people develop a certain conviction that the crimes they commit, which seem so very hideous to us, are merely an act of faith.

Surely the solution to these problems lies in the idea of education? The system is so very disjointed and the sole focus for people is to try and move on day by day, in hope that perhaps that one day will finally come where this prolonged civil war will finally reach closure. Someone needs to reach out to these people, and it needs to be explained to them that these violent acts of retaliation will not solve any of their problems. Evidently the countries’ problems will not be solved in the short term and many people appear to be unable to foresee a way out for themselves. They lack the opportunities that they see others gaining and consequently feel bitter; this is their way of acting out. Unfortunately for many Somalis, Al Shabab appears to be too great a force with too great an influence.

When a terrorist group like Al Shabab stones adulterous women, takes young girls as wives and recruits child soldiers, it seems very difficult to envisage a change in these kind of people – those who are constantly brainwashed into these cults and are willing to do anything to have power and use their name as a form of intimidation. Clearly Somalia has a mighty task on its hands in order to reverse its current situation. Then, and only then, in an ideal world it will be able to develop and the new generation will have more simple lives than the current crop.

For Kenya, a country that has become somewhat akin with disaster in recent years – the political unrest in 2007 and the Somali pirate attack on Lamu last year, these devastations only continue to increase the concept of ‘living on the edge’, that feeling of uncertainty and never being quite sure of what the next day will hold. It is so very ironic that the tourist industry out there, which pulls people to the idyllic coast of Diani and Waitamu and over to the Mara, perhaps the most famous park of its kind in the world, can still contain such a desperate and fearful side to it.

A different side to Kenya.
Image credits: Frontierofficial

In fact the most awful problem with some of the events which take place out there is that there are such huge cover-ups in order to paint as neutral a picture as possible to show to the outside world, constantly looking in and wondering if these failing countries can ever truly be fixed. The fire in Jomo Kenyatta is a prime example where it took the fire engines two and a half hours to arrive, by which time the main building was horrifically burned and consequently people were waiting four days in order to take their flights there, whilst the boarding lounge became a marquee. The amount of money that the country lost during this time was astronomical and evidently a huge hindrance to its position, both economic and political. It was almost comical to then hear that for every new flight directed into Mombasa, there were now six fire engines waiting; it almost seemed like a belief that what had happened could now be made up for by implementing these new forms of aid, yet clearly the damage had already been done.

Many Kenyan people were convinced that it had been carried out by supporters of Odinga, who lost out to Kenyatta in the election in March. At the time of the election Odinga’s men had attacked the police and it had resulted in two deaths, but a far cry from the 1200 who were killed back in 2007. Despite the fact that a more peaceful election was carried out, there is clearly still an underlying problem with the idea that violence and acts of sabotage will solve their problems.

When I spoke with a taxi driver out there on my way to the airport, he clearly seemed very agitated by the situation in which his country finds itself, echoing the beliefs of many that it will continue to struggle to overcome its third world status, despite the now high prices of rent and the almost European cost of produce out there. He complained of the consistent corruption that rules the country. Money has been given to the government five times now to build a larger road system in Nairobi; yet every time it has been donated, the money has vanished, leaving the capital with an extremely poor infrastructure. This is yet another example of how hard it is to live an everyday life in hope of justice and fair decisions. A corrupt system which continually causes riots, tension, uproar and terrorist attacks can never exist to thrive in a positive manner.

The reality of the situation is that innocent people are being killed in crimes committed in cold blood every time. The trauma which many families faced lying down (and even faking death in order to survive the siege) is sickening. Children in particular should not be facing crimes like this, ones which will continue to scar them, having watched people be massacred right in front of their very eyes. Some believed that Al Shabab had been planning an attack for sometime before the siege took place, and this kind of preconceived fear will only permeate further now that one has taken place on such a vast scale.

There is a long way to go before Kenya can start to make any real progression, and although events like this do bring people together as a community, they also fuse people with doubt and fear, two very harmful actors.

Harry Scrase

Trashterpieces: Commando

In a new regular feature, Alex Phelps reports on the movies adored by millions of insomniacs, junkies and geeks the world over. These are the films that fans rave about but critics deride; the cult heroes way down the bottom of IMDB; the low-budget creations of unschooled directors with big dreams. So without further ado, welcome to “Trashterpieces”.

Out there you can find a whole array of classic and memorable films such as Citizen Kane, Beasts of the Southern Wild, Vertigo and what not. These kinds of films can be called true masterpieces that have shaped and impacted the industry in enormous ways.

However, there are some films out there that will never receive critical acclaim or prestige, yet they are beloved, and in their own way they end up being some of the best entertainment cinema can offer you. These films are ‘trashterpieces’ and in this review I will look at my absolute favourite, Commando, starring the boss himself Arnold Schwarzenegger.

Image credit: Film Buff Online

The premise is as simple as simple can be (one expects this when Arnie is involved). Arnie is a retired member of a crack commando team that is being killed off one by one. Along the way his daughter is kidnapped and he goes to rescue her from the bad guys with as many guns as his biceps can carry.

But moving on from that unimportant thing we call plot, let’s get onto what makes this movie so good: Arnie himself. He’s the high king of crap, the master of puns and the emperor of the action genre. He beats people up but has a heart of gold, he’s a terrible actor but we just love to see more and more of him. He practically pioneered the concept of a trashterpiece, making some of the most beloved and terrible films that are still enjoyed today. Commando is the very epitome of that kind of whimsical and wonderful shod that Arnie churns out film after film.

Commando has pretty much every action cliché in the book. You have explosions, bad guys in suits, a mansion to shoot up, kidnapped children, one-liners – the list is endless. It’s just so over the top that it almost seems to be making fun of itself; it knows that in this world you never have to reload a gun and you most definitely don’t need to aim one either. This self-satire is what makes it so enjoyable; I mean, the opening scene is Arnold is carrying a frigging tree. He has it just slung over one shoulder casually as if it were a trip to Sainsbury’s.

The supporting cast are great; Alyssa Milano plays his daughter who is suitably feisty yet overly cute (in one scene her

and Arnie feed a deer like a twisted version of Bambi). The villains are so incredibly over the top, especially the main bad guy Bennett. He screams every sentence and wears what appears to be chain mail; either way he is just plain awkward, and yet so hilariously exaggerated that you can’t wait to see him in the same room as Arnie.

This movie is also famous for producing some of Arnold’s most memorable quotes. My favourite has to be “Remember when I said I’d kill you last…I lied”. He then proceeds to drop the bad guy off a cliff. There are just tons of one liners that barrage you throughout the film, and all of them are equally cheap and hilarious.

Commando is just so perfectly awful. It gets the balance right between action and silliness. In one scene Arnie just stands in the middle of an open field with a machine gun taking down faceless soldiers one by one. I think I counted 74 deaths in about five minutes. It’s so stupid, but that is the heart of its charm. So grab your useless striped camouflage and your coconut oil and take a look at what is probably the quintessential Arnold film! Bring guns.

 

Reading the Unexpected: An interview with two narrators of the Holocaust

Inspired by the Holocaust Memorial Week of 21-27th January, Georgina Holland began to explore the difficult subject through literature. One month on, she discusses two great books which take a surprising new look at the history of WW2, and questions the writers behind them…

During the Holocaust memorial week of January, I attended a book talk by British author and historian Keith Lowe. Listening to Lowe talk about his research, the testimonies of Holocaust survivors, his findings, as well as to the reactions of those in the audience, inspired me to read into a subject that I only really had an understanding of from time spent in history lessons. In doing so I came across two books, a fiction and a non-fiction, which approached the topic with a surprisingly fresh and innovative approach. Both texts caught me by surprise and taught me that such events can be explored outside of the classroom.

I began with Keith Lowe’s own book; Savage Continent. This was a book which explored an unexpected era – the Holocaust’s aftermath. Lowe focuses in on Europe in the years 1944-1949; a time of chaos, political upheaval, legal uncertainty, and unconstrained violence. Lowe explained that his aim with Savage Continent was to deal with the consequences of the war and of the Holocaust, to highlight how the war did not end neatly, and, in many parts of continental Europe, how it didn’t really end at all. He explained, “we have a cosy idea that May 8th came along and there was a big party […] and everything went back to normal”. “There was the party” he tells us, “but they woke up with the mother of all hangovers.” In Germany for example, there was no police, no electricity, no government; whole institutions were wiped out in Eastern Europe. “This book is about that period of chaos where nobody knows what the future will hold.”

And this is what really set the book apart for me – it deals with the unexpected. Not only does it deal with the reader’s expectations of what a history book about WWII will discuss, but it challenges the misconceptions of how the war ended and what happened next. In particular, Lowe excels when dealing with the issue of those who survived the Holocaust and their ‘what happened next’. He tells us that Jews returned home not to “sympathy”, but instead to an “embarassed silence”. For example, Lowe describes the difficulty for Jews who survived the war but returned home to find that there belongings had been taken up by former friends and neighbours. During his research, he came upon an old joke in Budapest: “A Jew returns from the concentration campus and sees his friend. His friend says to him, ‘it’s so good to see you, how are you?’ The Jew replies, ‘it was awful, and now all I have is the shirt on your back.'”

If you are looking for a book which will delve into the unexplored history of the Second World War, then Savage Continent is the book for you. It’s approach is entirely unexpected and sheds new light on a subject which has  been analysed (and rightly so) time and time again. When asked if anything in he was surprised by his findings, Lowe admitted that even he was shocked at the level of destruction: “I was ignorant as to the extent of the damage in Italy”, for example.  Lowe was also surprised by the tactics that he would have to employ during his research, learning that “it’s what is left unspoken that sometimes gives the biggest clue.” And that is what Savage Continent seems to me to do, to explore the unspoken and analyse the unexpected.

From an unexpected historical text, to a emotional work of fiction, I turned next to a novel in my quest to read into the Holocaust and its history. I came upon Richard Foreman’s Warsaw. The book focuses on three characters in the Warsaw ghetto, 1942: Adam Duritz, a corrupt Jewish policeman; Thomas Abendroth, a German soldier; and Jessica Rubenstein, a beautiful and vulnerable Jewish girl. For these characters their only salvation in a hostile environment which breeds corruption, as well as disease and death, will be love. I questioned Foreman on his motives for writing the book, his approach in doing so, and his experiences in writing about such an emotional and difficult era of history. Surprisingly his research began not with Germany, but with Russia: “in a sense the book is partly a homage to certain 19th century Russian novelists I read in my early twenties, the research was already half done from devouring Russian literature years ago. In regards to the more conventional research into the history behind the Warsaw Ghetto I was fortunate in knowing a number of World War Two historians who could point me in the direction of the best books to read.”

At no point does Foreman soften the subject of the Holocaust. Although peppered with stories of love, this is certainly not a romantic story of good overcoming evil, and  his descriptions of the treatment of Jews can, at times, be extremely graphic and sobering. I asked Foreman if these scenes were as difficult to write as they are to read: “The chapters and scenes were planned beforehand in many respects, which perhaps lessened the drama or trauma I felt when writing certain sections of the books. But even now there are scenes in the novel which can provoke powerful emotions when I approach Warsaw as a reader, as opposed to writer. Although I have never been a Jewish policeman or German soldier I would be lying if I said that the book is not autobiographical in some ways. Reading and writing Warsaw was an act of catharsis, as well as creativity. It took a lot out of me. I’m just glad that when people read it the book gives something back.”

What I loved about Warsaw was its brave approach to the subject of the Holocaust; particularly in the handling of the character of a German soldier which is, in many ways, a positive one. Foreman told me that “should Warsaw have been written shortly after the war I may have received criticism for creating the character of Thomas – a “good” German soldier – but I think both British and German readers are now ready for such a sympathetic portrait.” And this is where the motive of both books can be linked, in their innovative approaches to creating a portrait of the Holocaust and its history.  As Foreman explains; “I was conscious of trying to expand the reader’s understanding of the Third Reich, as well as of the Warsaw Ghetto.”

Upon purchasing both books I had expected to come away with a better understanding of the history of the Second World War and to have read a book which attempts to put into words the narrative of those who experienced it. In many ways this is exactly what I got, but I also gained so much more. Whether through an exploration of an era which is often misunderstood, or by telling the story of a group that was denied a voice, both Lowe and Foreman provided me with a new means of understanding WWII and its aftermath. I would thoroughly recommend both of these texts to those who are also interested in expanding their understanding of a period of history which is marked by war, death, and the unexpected.

By Georgina Holland – Exeposé Online Books Editor

Click here to purchase Richard Foreman’s e-book ‘Warsaw’ for just £2.99
Click here to purchase Keith Lowe’s Save Continent via Amazon