In the frontline of justice: protests, panic and peace
“We wanted our voices heard, but then they brought tear gas”
When I met with Pharris, I knew I was speaking with someone who not only witnessed an urban crisis but also lived through it. In the confusion, the smoke, the tear gas, the injuries, the screaming and the resilience.
Our conversation centered on the recent Financial Bill 2024 protests in Nairobi, where he had joined peaceful demonstrators only to be met with state violence and police brutality. The interview was raw. He described running for cover together with his friends and how one of his friends broke a leg in all the commotion. He also described the shock of having to witness live bullets flying around in a supposedly democratic space.
However, in all this chaos was a shimmer of hope. Pharris described what followed the panic, and it is something that is really touching. He recalled the quick mobilization of the community; youth distributing water and masks, businesses providing shelter, medical tents emerging on sidewalks, among many other instances. It was clear that in the absence of the state, the city’s heart kept beating driven by its people.
As an urban planner, Pharris provided solutions on how a city’s structure can be of importance especially during emergencies like protests. He said that for Nairobi to be safe especially when there are future protests it should have walkable streets, public spaces which can also be used as emergency shelters and surveillance for safety. He also called for monuments that remember not just heroes but the pain of the ordinary citizen. For him memory is not nostalgic, it is civic.
What stood out for me was his critique of the government’s cost-first logic. How preparedness is seen as a luxury and not a necessity. “We only act after a tragedy and by then, it is too late”.
