We interrupt our usual broadcast to raise a matter that is of utmost to us here. Alarm has been raised to what is being seen as a move by the current regime and its minions to clamp down on free speech in the name of fighting terrorism. Early in the year, the high court sitting in Nairobi suspended parts of a controversial security law that had been passed in record time and received presidential assent soon after regardless of the several question marks raised by the civil society.
There have been reports of bloggers being harassed. As Voltaire said eons ago, I will defend your right to say whatever you have to say, but avoid the death if I can. I may not agree with it, but say, you must be allowed to say.
Looking at my twitter TL, the news isn’t encouraging
https://twitter.com/MwangiMuthiora/status/556727892453756928
https://twitter.com/MwangiMuthiora/status/556725980425764865
https://twitter.com/MwangiMuthiora/status/556725417852149763
https://twitter.com/Sir_Ludaz/status/556737906766016512
I wrote before we went for elections we would be fucked several times over, I didn’t think it would come to such serious fucks. I don’t know where it will end, but it doesn’t look good. I will peruse the amendment to see whether it defines calling Christians dumb as terrorism.
There are further commentaries on Aljazeera and Human rights watch.
The amendment[pdf]
I will end this post with the poem attributed to Pastor Martin Niemöller, for I think it is relevant here;
First they came for the Jews
and I did not speak out
because I was not a Jew.Then they came for the Communists
and I did not speak out
because I was not a Communist.Then they came for the trade unionists
and I did not speak out
because I was not a trade unionist.Then they came for me
and there was no one left to speak out for me.
Random thoughts 
Great post about a really fucked up situation. I’ll say this and I’ll keep saying it until they pull the last breath from me: Fuck religion. Fuck Allah. And fuck Christians. The whole lot are cantankerous assholes without a single piece of courage amongst any of em. Fuck em.
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Thanks mate. There really is something wrong with how govts are run or rather with the people elected to govern.
It’s all about self preservation.
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Who was it who said “A man is nothing until he has found something he is willing to die for”? King? I don’t necessarily agree with the statement, its far too simplistic, but freedom of speech is one such cause i’d be willing to defend with everything I had at my disposal.
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Yes, it is King, he said ‘A man who does not have something for which he is willing to die is not fit to live’.
I will avoid the death if I can
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For as long as possible, agreed.
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That way you may find another cause needing your support
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So true!
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Well said.
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Who does one elect in a land where all politicians are corrupt? I’m in the US, you’re in Kenya, it is the 21st Century; we have been on the moon, yet we are as much held in the grip of tribal rule as in the days when we still ran around with spears. Democrats, Republicans, Christians, Jews, Muslims – all are tribes, just larger ones than our ancestors knew.
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Only today, our tribes carry much bigger and more powerful spears than those of our ancestors. We kill and attack for the same idiotic reasons only with a much greater impact. I don’t think we’ll ever learn. But, then, I’m a pessimist, albeit a silly one.
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Am not even a pessimist. I doubt we will ever learn
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Tribes and at the top of the tribe is not the most intelligent of the group but an average mediocre person.
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Ah … the sweet smell of democracy.
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strange things my friend
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Wanna swap for Zuma and Malema?
RFLMAO!
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Keep those down south. We already have our hands full with the clan of idiots we have in parliament
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All I can think is, if your religion/god/whatever is so incompetent that they themselves cannot meet out justice for being offended, then why the fuck would you think you should do so? Your all powerful all knowing gods do not seem to care, what makes any puny little human think it their business? Do they know better than the gods they worship? How the hell does that work?
Censorship is the first sign of dire things to come. As if things aren’t bad enough already.
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And it is strange there are idiots here who see nothing wrong with the situation as it is. Some of them even claim to be learned!
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There is an all powerful being!! But if you allow this one, you got to let the rest stay up lol 🙂
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You have been forgiven your sins. Now go say 10 hail Mary’s, two our father and have a cold whiskey on the rocks after that, so says the pope 😛
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Can I skip the other stuff and just head for the bottle of Old Charter I have in the other room? Just asking!!
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well, why not
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…take care out there Mak.
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I will and at the moment I don’t think my blog attracts much attention from any of the idiots
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Let us hope it stays that way.
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Stay safe, Mak.
This violence is just terrible.
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Thanks for the concern. I will
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I did scan the amendment. One thing that caught my eye was the publication of offensive material. Who is to determine what is offensive? Ark’s recent post regarding the Crusade image shows how well there is no consensus between differing points of view, and yet it’s hard to maintain free speech once we go down a self-censorship road.
Difficult times Mak. You need to post pretty pictures and write short boring posts to stay safe 😉
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That is the question we must keep asking. Who is to decide what is offensive?
I think I should just invest in a camera and turn this to a photo blog
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I think who is to decide is a looooong blog post.
Should the lack of bill payments be highlighted? Yes.
Is that offensive? No. Fact.
Should religion be satirised? Yes.
Is that offensive? Yes.
But is religion fact? No.
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