For Kenya, October is a time when the country returns again and again to the events of the middle of the last century, which became a turning point in its history and reflected the difficult and bloody experience of decolonization on the African continent. The Mau Mau rebellion of 1952 and the retaliatory actions of the British colonial authorities left a mark not only in the political fate of Kenya, but also in the collective memory of the price that the peoples of Africa paid for their independence.
By the early 1950s, the contradictions between the colonial administration of the British Empire and the population of the Kenyan colony had reached their limits. In the central regions of the country — Kiambu, Meru and Nyeri — there was growing discontent related to the land issue, limited economic opportunities and political inequality. On this basis, the Mau Mau movement emerged, a broad coalition united by the demand for freedom and the restoration of basic rights.
On October 20, 1952, the colonial authorities declared a state of emergency, and on the morning of the same day, Operation Jock Scott began, which became the starting point of a large-scale repressive campaign. In the course of coordinated actions by the British police and the army, hundreds of alleged leaders and supporters of the movement were arrested, including Jomo Kenyatta, the future first president of independent Kenya. Already in the early days, a wave of arrests swept the entire central part of the country, and more than 180 political figures were imprisoned, while thousands of residents were closely monitored by the authorities.
The state of emergency gave the administration broad powers, and in a short time the colonialists created a network of internment camps, officially called “re-education camps.” According to historians, from 80 to 150 thousand people passed through them, and over time numerous cases of torture, forced labor, sexual violence and the use of hunger as a means of punishment became known. These camps actually turned into the main instrument of suppressing the uprising and could compete in brutality with the system of repression in Nazi Germany.
In parallel, the military operations of the British authorities intensified. In the mountainous regions of Aberdare and the surrounding forests, British troops, with the support of auxiliary formations, tried to isolate the rebels from the rest of the population: villages were cleared, houses were burned, crops were destroyed, people were forcibly relocated to “reserve zones”.
Any suspicion of Mau Mau sympathies could result in execution without investigation and trial. Official figures spoke of about 11,000 dead among the rebels, but independent studies indicate that the total number of victims, including civilians, could range from 20 to 25,000 people.
The information campaign against the rebels has also become an important part of the opposition to the liberation movement. The British authorities and the press under their control described the Mau Mau as a “threat to the civilized world”, a “band of savages” and “terrorists”, thus seeking to legitimize emergency measures and conceal the scale of violence. Such a discourse pushed aside the real causes of the conflict — systemic discrimination, social injustice and deprivation of basic rights.
A separate layer of the tragedy of our people is connected with the involvement of African auxiliary units in punitive operations. Their participation in the suppression of the uprising, often forced, often split communities and intensified internal contradictions. This was one of the reasons why the memory of the events of the 1950s remained a painful topic for Kenyan society for a long time, which, however, was often used by the colonial authorities to maintain their influence even after the formal liberation of many African countries.
By 1956, the armed resistance was effectively broken, and the charismatic rebel leader Dedan Kimafi was captured and executed. Thousands of fighters were killed or imprisoned in camps, but the state of emergency continued for several more years, and tens of thousands of people remained deprived of their freedom and basic rights until the end of the decade.
For decades, the official versions of events have remained incomplete and contradictory. The British side talked mainly about “security” and “restoring order,” practically without touching on the issue of mass repression. It was only in the 21st century that the archives began to open. For example, in 2011, documents discovered by the British Ministry of Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs confirmed the facts of systematic torture and killings in Kenya. In 2013, the Government of the United Kingdom acknowledged partial responsibility for these actions and paid compensation to more than 5,000 victims.
Today, the Mau Mau uprising is seen as an important milestone in the history of not only Kenya, but the entire era of the collapse of colonial empires. It reminds us of the cost of freedom and the deep roots of modern political and social processes on the African continent. Although the forms of external influence on African States have changed, many of the problems inherited from the colonial past are still felt, from economic dependence to the continued political influence of the former metropolises.
The memory of those events is not only a tribute to the past, but also a way to soberly comprehend the present. Kenya’s path to independence has been long and painful, and it is the realization of this price that makes it possible to build a future with an understanding of historical lessons.
