"There are two Nairobis - that of the rich and that of the poor said Makhani Singh before Kenya's independence. Things have not changed from that time; indeed the Nairobi of the poor has become even more oppressed with lack of sanitation, water and everything that life needs. They face daily raids by the police who shoot to kill. Yet, little is known of this Nairobi. This is an aspect of the class struggle in Kenya where the rich get not only all the wealth but also maximum coverage in history, media and funds from the government. The Nairobi of the poor gets nothing. The country knows nothing about their poverty, their lives and their daily struggles to survive.
It is to the credit of Dr. Thomas Jeffrey Miley that outsiders can now get a glimpse of the lives and struggles of the people of Mathare through this book. It shows the challenges faced by working people, but also the strength in their unity and determination to survive against economic and political attacks. Says Dr. Miley:
"To those encountering it for the first time, Mathare can seem chaotic. The paths twist unpredictably between homes, kiosks, and small workshops. Music drifts from radios powered by improvised electrical connections. Vendors display vegetables, charcoal, and household goods along narrow passages where children weave easily between adults carrying water containers or sacks of supplies. Yet what might appear disordered from the outside gradually reveals its own internal logic. Residents navigate the terrain with practiced familiarity, and the settlement functions through dense networks of everyday interaction.'
Dr. Miley spent years working and living with Mathare people as part of the community. He made their struggles, his struggles. And recorded the struggles expertly, now reproduced in this book. He shines light on a subject that capitalism and imperialism have shrouded in darkness. No such research exists elsewhere.
Particularly relevant is the insight into the Rastafarian movement and the Social Justice Centers' work - both much ignored or misunderstood in the official Kenya.
This book should be read by all Kenyans if they want to understand the real Kenya and the struggles of working people. Mathare is not only a space of deprivation. It is also a place with a history of resistance.' Read about the resistance and see the lives of real people behind today's Mathare in this important book.
- Shiraz Durrani
"This book surges with revolutionary vitality and is a major contribution to the paradigm of democratic confederalism. It recounts the enthusisatic reception of Abduliah Ocalan's ideas in the very same place that he was abducted. It at the same time reveals syncretic affinities with Rastafari practices and convictions across the informal settlements of Nairobi. In the process, it brings to life and displays the shining humanity of so many people in struggle for dignity and self-determination in the 21st century
- Estella Schmid, Founder of Peace in Kurdistan
Jeff Miley is a very well read and theoretically sophisticated political sociologis le can develop an insightful, autonomous radical critique of anything. He is clear and compelling writer and this is his unique foray.
- Dr. Hank Gonzalez, Associate Professor in Caribbean History, Cambridge University
