Abstract
Conceptualizations of social movements and revolution are intermingled in the struggles for just social order. This study sought to untangle the often unclear and contradictory conceptualizations of revolution and social movements through the experiences of activists engaged in popular struggles in the post-independence era in Kenya. This entailed interrogating how revolution and social movements are conceptualized by scholars and activists, and how varied understandings have influenced actual social movements.
Social movements in the context of this study have been deduced as varieties of collective struggles autonomous of the state that are directed toward goals on social change. Revolution in this study comes out not as mere conquest of political power or transfer of power, but as various forms of emancipation of the here and now, alongside the liberation of cultural and structural sites and systems of oppression and exploitation. The liberated zones (Cabral, 1973; Mugo, 2012) occasioned thereof by social movements are viewed as means and processes of revolution. This study advances the need for the revolution to evolve through daring and creative forms by social movements based on concrete realities, while involving people as agents of their own liberation.
From the narratives and conversations with participants, this study has two main findings. First, issues and struggles by social movements and the pursuit of revolution are similar across generations in the post-independence era in Kenya. Second, description and categorization of social movements engaged in a variety of popular struggles and those in revolutionary struggles are similar. This implies that there are no clear-cut differences between social movements that are engaged in popular struggles and those engaged in revolutionary struggles. There are revolutionary potentials in the popular struggles by varieties of social movements. This points to the convergence in conceptualizations of social movements and revolution in the context of Kenya, and in extension in Africa, and in post-independence contexts in the Global South. This convergence is aligned to Colin Barker (Barker, 2013:42) who asserts “that questions about revolution and social movements in Marxist conceptions did not form two distinct literatures, as is common in most contemporary theorizing of social movements. Revolution and social movements are parts of the same story.”
This study locates political processes theory as being appropriate to explain the phenomenon of social movements. The theory is cognizant of the centrality of politics in all aspects of human lives and endeavours. However, for political processes theory to be grounded adequately in Africa and in related post-independence contexts, it needs to be balanced on three pillars borrowing from elements of other theories in the manner of theory-bridging approach. These elements are: political engagements (political opportunities theory); mobilizing structures (resource mobilization theory); and, framing identities (framing and identity theories).
In the context of this study, social movements are discerned as developing in phases of political and social struggles, rather than in an upsurge commonly referred to as waves. The metaphor of phases locates the agency of the people to drive social change and revolution. On the whole, this study finds that social movements, at least in Kenya, Africa, and in related post-independence contexts deepen, expand and advance possibilities and opportunities for the revolution.