19
Jul
Can Pigs Talk? This was the question posed to the Fellows by Dr Steve Ouma during the May workshop.
This was rather interesting considering that one of the fellows, Emily Kwamboka, had been part of the protest match that took their grievances to the very doors of parliament.
Emily has been a long time member of the Bunge La Mwananchi, The People’s Parliament. This is a movement that seeks to increase public participation and awareness of issues in the society. This movement was instrumental in the mobilization of the Kenyans that took part in the picketing excercise.
The Fellows responded as follows:
· Pigs can communicate amongst themselves
· Pigs can be used as metaphor or a symbol like was the case and hence ‘talk’
· Pigs can be a means of conveying a message.
As a reconstruction of the story of the pig(s)in the context they were used during the Occupy Parliament demonstration held on14th May 2013 below, what did we see?
In response to the above query, different meanings were extracted:
· When the fight reached the limit, the only ones left were the pigs. Hence the pigs were our partners in the protest as they were left standing when others were scattered by the police.
· The pigs were a very good indicator of what we were fighting against. They were symbolic of the protest while unaware of the danger they were in.
· In social activism, the more creative you are the more battles one can win.
· The theory of change for activists/social critics/pundits must be grounded theory as opposed to abstract theory. Theories of change are the way we are able to organise our thoughts; we must create a blend of practice plus thinking. For instance, does one have to be a woman to speak about women’s rights? Does one have to be a child to talk about children’s rights? The answer to these questions is no.