Podcast Summary: The AIAC Podcast

Episode: We Must Learn to Sit in the Dark Together

Host: Will Shoki (Africa Is a Country)
Guest: Joe Kabuti (The Elephant, Kenya)
Date: October 21, 2025

Episode Overview

This episode features a roundtable discussion from the inaugural Festival of Ideas in Nairobi, where the Africa is a Country editorial team sits down with Joe Kabuti, a leading commentator from The Elephant. They reflect on the evolving Kenyan public sphere, the emergence of a Gen Z-led movement demanding a new social contract, and the broader challenges facing independent media and civic space across Africa. The conversation weaves together historical context, contemporary crises, and the pressing need for new forms of collective imagination and resistance.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Historical Context: Shifting Promises and Disillusionments

[02:47–21:10]

• Post-Cold War Kenya: Kabuti traces the legacy of the early 1990s, when liberal democracy and donor-driven civil society flourished as a reaction to authoritarianism and structural adjustment programs.

  “Reading Karl Marx was bad and wearing Reebok was good. We watched Jordan and less Matt Stalin... the liberal democratic dispensation in America ushered in actually met with a lot of joy.”
  (Joe Kabuti, 03:09)

• Rise and Blunting of Reform: The 2000s saw euphoria—think Binyavanga Wainana and Kwani—culminating in the 2010 Constitution. But a counter-reform movement co-opted gains, and by 2014-2015, civil society was branded "evil society" as space shrank under renewed repression.

• Civic Space Under Pressure: Journalists and editors were pushed out not for HR infractions, but for crossing red lines. New media spaces like The Elephant emerged to sustain critique despite an atmosphere of government intimidation.

• COVID and Digital Evolution: The pandemic accelerated political and social change, with digital platforms (Twitter/X, WhatsApp, etc.) reconstructing public discourse. New forms of activism, especially among youth, emerged as the "old narratives" failed to hold.

2. The Gen Z-Led Revolt and the New Social Contract

[21:10–34:52]

• Youth at the Forefront: The Gen Z movement is largely the children of the generation that drafted the 2010 Constitution, but their demands are deeper and more philosophical. They seek a genuine, lived social contract—beyond legal documents—to address issues like police brutality, constitutional implementation, and economic reform.

• Systemic Stagnation: The state, media, and civil society all face calls for transformation. However, the old guard resists, creating a standoff:

  "The old world is dying and the new world is not yet born. Now is the age of the monsters."
  (Joe Kabuti, quoting Gramsci, 22:52)

• No Western Allies: This uprising isn’t backed by Western donor funding as the previous wave was, making the movement’s resilience striking and uniquely home-grown.

3. Challenges Facing Independent Media and Civic Sphere

[44:59–60:24]

• Financial Precarity: Alternative media faces existential threats as donor funding disappears and advertising moves elsewhere. Internal reflections on survival, identity, and reform are urgent and often painful:

  "If we accept change, what do you do with our history? ... If we are supposed to now reconfigure our whole media model... what do we do, the history?”
  (Joe Kabuti, 50:19)

• Media’s Role in the New Social Contract: Gen Z doesn’t just want the state transformed—they demand reform of all institutions, from the church to the media itself.

  “The social contract [Gen Z] are pushing is for reform not just of the state... but reform of the whole edifice, including the media.”
  (Joe Kabuti, 47:04)

• Evolving Funding Models: Experiments in community journalism are underway, but the sector as a whole is hesitant and searching for a sustainable path forward.

4. Philosophical Depth and Digital Consciousness

[53:10–58:07]

• Unprecedented Political Consciousness: Gen Z demonstrates high philosophical engagement—far beyond elite university circles—spanning urban and (increasingly) rural youth.

  “They are partying and drinking, but they're having gross conversations... taking walks to the park... meditations on Descartes... just your usual graduates having that.”
  (Joe Kabuti, 53:12)

• Character of the Movement: The revolt is not strictly anti-capitalist but seeks a more democratic, inclusive form of capitalism:

  “It's not an anti-capitalist movement, but a redistribution movement. I want to be part of this thing."
  *(Joe Kabuti, 57:07)

5. Rural vs. Urban Dynamics

[41:37–44:59]

• Widespread Participation: 37 out of 47 counties participated in Gen Z protests, showing the spread beyond Nairobi and other cities.
• De-agrarianization: Rapid urbanization is transforming the countryside; most rural voices in agriculture or logistics have limited political leverage.

6. State Response and Language of Power

[31:03–34:52]

• Muzzling Dissent: The Kenyan state targets activists with intimidation, abductions, and co-optation (scholarships, money).
• Religious Rhetoric: State actors use moralizing, theological language (e.g., “pray the spirit of social media out of Kenya”) to delegitimize protestors:

  “The language... is used aggressively to try and muzzle, but also to shift blame.”
  (Joe Kabuti, 32:42)

7. Theological Reflection and the Age of Monsters

[21:10, 60:26–65:23]

• Metaphors for the Moment: Kabuti invokes both the Biblical and Gramscian imagery:

  “We have to learn how to sit in the dark together.” (Teju Cole, quoted at 24:57)

  “This kind of stuff goes through prayer and fasting... by prayer, I mean deep meditation—creating pockets of silence in the newsroom... by fasting I mean ridding ourselves of unnecessary baggage.”
  (Joe Kabuti, 23:37 and 24:20)

• Rise of Theological Politics: Religion is re-emerging as a central force in governance and meaning-making, more potent than in the liberalized post-Cold War period. The Pentecostal preacher now rivals the university professor as meaning-maker.

8. Future Directions: Multipolarity & New Lenses

• Beyond Left & Right: The current age demands ideological innovation beyond traditional left-right (or North-South) paradigms, given the influence of multiple global powers and hybrid forms of capital.

  “We have to locate this new paradigm with new philosophical lenses... I think the usual left/right frames are less useful now.”
  (Joe Kabuti, 58:10)

Notable Quotes & Moments

• "The old world is dying and the new world is not yet born. Now is the age of the monsters." (Gramsci, quoted by Joe Kabuti, 22:52)
• “We have to learn how to sit in the dark together.” (Teju Cole, quoted by Joe Kabuti, 24:57)
• “If we accept change, what do you do with our history?” (Joe Kabuti, 50:19)
• “This is the first generation that is philosophically oriented… unless you answer the philosophical question, we’ll be here.” (Joe Kabuti, 33:18)

Timestamps for Key Segments

• [00:17] — Introduction by Will Shoki
• [02:47–21:10] — Joe Kabuti on Kenya’s Post-independence Reform Trajectory and Shrinking Civic Space
• [21:10–24:57] — Gen Z’s Revolutionary Moment and the "Age of Monsters"
• [24:57–33:18] — Foreign Capital, Social Contract, and Gen Z’s Demands of Other Institutions
• [35:59–44:59] — Decline of Student & Labor Movements, Rural-Urban Shifts
• [44:59–53:10] — Media's Role, Funding Models, Internal Reform
• [53:10–58:07] — Pervasive Political Consciousness, Nature of Gen Z Movement, New Ideological Frames
• [60:24–65:24] — Role of Religion, Theological Politics, Multipolarity

Conclusion

The episode is an in-depth, honest meditation on Kenya’s past, present, and unknowable future. It centers the intergenerational struggles over power, meaning, and reform, and ends with a call to solidarity in uncertain times—"to learn to sit in the dark together." The story of Kenya’s Gen Z revolt is neither a simple rerun of previous struggles nor a clear-cut leftist revolution, but a complex negotiation of history, identity, and hope—one that demands collective patience, new narratives, and transformed institutions.