It has been a month of political upheaval in some African countries. But it is a period of political action that feels less like a season, and more like the new normal. This week, I try to pull together the strands of what is unfolding.
“All generalisations are false” goes the old saying, “including this one”. African politics is never uniform, but there are patterns and commonalities among some countries with similar demographic and economic profiles. Over the past year, there have been a number of protests, including in Kenya, Morocco, Cameroon, Madagascar and, most recently, Tanzania.
Protesters are overwhelmingly from younger generations, particularly gen Z, and the price that they have paid is high. In Tanzania, anger that erupted after an election that excluded opposition candidates from the ballot has been met with a deadly crackdown. Reports of death tolls so far vary, but estimates are staggering, exceeding 1,000 people killed by security forces. In Kenya, scores have been killed and hundreds detained in rolling protests over the past year and a half
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