The Kenyan and Mozambican uprisings of 2024 opposed government policies and agitated for anti-neoliberal alternatives that place the livelihoods and sociopolitical interests of people at the forefront. In both countries, non-governmental organisations (NGOs) dependent on overseas donors have been particularly vocal in speaking out against corruption and human rights violations of the government. As the 2024 upheavals radicalised, NGOs called for political and social reforms and an end to the violent crackdown of the army and police on unarmed protestors. Invariably, the politics and propaganda of these NGOs fit within the prescripts of their wealthy donors rather than realising the progressive anti-systemic demands of the insurgent activists.
In Mozambique, the battle for electoral democracy also became a platform to reject Frelimo’s neoliberal policies that people identify as the cause for their widespread misery. Even though about 56% of the electorate did not vote, there is no clear evidence that voters who stayed away from the polls did so as part of an organised anti-neoliberal campaign. The big talking point remains the electoral gains of PODEMOS (Povo Optimista para o Desenvolvimento de Moçambique), a relatively new opposition formed in 2018 by Fremilo dissidents and fragments of MDM (Movimento Democrático de Moçambique), a party founded in 2009. PODEMOS capitalised on popular discontent with neoliberalism and the violent crackdown on protests, but its organised strength inside anti-government mobilisations and demonstrations is unclear. Mass demonstrations subsided after the inauguration of President Daniel Chapo’s administration in January 2025, but the rallying cry “Frelimo must fall” is alive in the popular consciousness.
As Kenya’s protest movement spread into July 2024, insurgents’ demands radicalised beyond the call to scrap the tax bill (#RejectFinanceBill2024). They demanded the resignation of President William Ruto’s shaken government. At the height of this anti-government radicalisation, efforts to unite protest forces gained momentum. A united front of left political formations and social movements thus came into being, known as the National Provisional Coordination Committee of the People’s Assembly (NCCPA). While the NCCPA is a broad collective, a tighter coalition known as the Kenyan Left Alliance (KLA) boldly propagates an anti-capitalist and anti-imperialist agenda.
Popular opposition to electoral fraud or neoliberal policies of government (such as the tax hikes) broke out in a situation of mass resistance against cost of living and other livelihood crises. Some peasant movements and labour unions that spearhead resistance around such grievances in Kenya and Mozambique came out in solidarity with the youthful demonstrators. While leaders of Kenya’s main trade union federation, COTU-Kenya (Central Organization of Trade Unions), distanced themselves from the protest movement, individual unions of medical practitioners, teachers and civil servants directly supported the 2024 protest movement. Mozambique’s national trade union federation, OTM (Organização dos Trabalhadores de Moçambique), adopted a similar posture as an old ally of the governing Frelimo. A more powerful current of solidarity with the anti-neoliberal revolts echoed from the local affiliates of La Via Campesina, such as the Kenyan Peasants League (KPL) and UNAC (União Nacional de Camponeses) in Mozambique.
An Anti-capitalist Kenya is Possible! An Anti-capitalist Mozambique is Possible! A Luta Continua!