Today Nairobi, Kenyan cops with attack dogs, truncheons, & firing tear gas attacked & chased schoolchildren protesting the seizure & land grab of their school playground by a property developer. The children, who were between 8 & 13-years old, pushed over the newly-built wall separating the playground from the school buildings. Several children required medical treatment & two were arrested.

For the past several months, there have been protests in Kenya against the austerities imposed on higher education–with riot cops chasing protesters into classrooms with tear gas canisters. This is the first time 8-year-olds are reported as entering the fray. There is probably no more promising development in Africa against the depredations of neoliberal plunder & IMF-World Bank austerity programs.

To whichever Hollywood celebrity is covering Kenya for the US State Department, we say “Eat that, buster!”

(Photo by Tony Karumba/AFP)