The Merriam Webster Online Dictionary defines the word “Woke” as: aware of and actively attentive to important societal facts and issues (especially issues of racial and social justice).
Last week’s Gen Z protests brought woke-ism to Kenya in the most incredibly fascinating way. In case you are the only visitor in Jerusalem who doesn’t know about the peaceful protests last week, I cannot help you. Let your fingers do the walking for you and find your way to the social media virtual realm because that is where all the action is happening. The issue that should have any organisational leaders worried today is that while we were watching the peaceful protests on the streets of various towns in the country, the real violence was happening off the streets and in a virtual realm.
Earlier this month, the telephone numbers of politicians and public figures were leaked online and circulated widely with tips being openly shared online on what damage could be done with this kind of information. The tongue-in-cheek advice did not stop there as the online warriors had nothing but time and online street smarts going for them so they dug up history. One politician, whose rise to fame was as a mid 1990s comedian specialising in political parody, trashed the protests as being fake. Before you could say redykulass, a clip from the politician’s 90 show was shared online juxtaposed to his parliamentary claims of fakeness. The clip was one of his classical parodies on the buffoonery of politicians at the time. The internet never forgets.
Another nominated senator who famously campaigns for women’s right to feminine hygiene products decided to go after a “blogger’ who shared her number and had him arrested for breach of data privacy. She herself had posted her own number on a social media platform a day before as she corralled support for her campaign, asking people to keep calling and keep texting her.
Having been “awokened” to the fact that she had posted her number already, she quickly deleted her own post. Before you could spell “Always”, keyboard warriors had already taken screenshots of the post and proceeded to call out her hypocrisy by sharing the screenshots widely. Because the internet never forgets.
A first-term member of parliament who is a successful entrepreneur that ran and won on an independent ticket decided to vote yes to the Finance Bill last Thursday. The list of all the MPs who voted yes was in circulation on social media faster than you can say sportpesa. The keyboard warriors went to work, whipping up a boycott frenzy of businesses associated with him including a popular nightclub. Someone pulled up a tweet from two years ago where his spouse was congratulating him at his MP swearing-in ceremony and asked the spouse a difficult question about her choices. Because the internet never forgets.
YouTube and TikTok have democratised the content creation space by providing free platforms for absolutely anyone to take a video on a phone and publish it to the world. Careers have been created for anyone who is skilled enough to read the room and know how to entertain, educate or just inform. And the same platforms create the space for these content creators to monetise their creativity through the sharing of advertising revenue.
What the Gen Z have managed to do in a short time is to wake us all up to what the true democratising power of social media is beyond its informative, educative and entertaining aspects. It can uplift a brand and provide immeasurable props to coffee shops and mosques that give critical aid to injured protestors. It can be weaponised and shoot down a brand faster than a police water cannon falls peaceful protestors on Kenyatta Avenue, Nairobi. It can wrap its supporting arms around felled demonstrators and fund raise for those held in jails or injured in hospitals.
We now have a generation who takes control of their own narrative and will not allow us to control that story for them. They are tax-paying, national ID-carrying members of the public who can no longer be told that they can’t sit at the adults' table. It’s business unusual for government functionaries and corporate business leaders. We don’t understand what’s coming down the road and about to hit us in the form of future customers and future taxpayers. If you are in leadership, you need a Gen Z mentor. They will help you navigate this new order. And please remember, the internet never forgets.
