Pheroze must be proud of Butere girls' spine to express themselves

History judges harshly those who try to crush freedom of expression in children. The  scenes from Butere Girls High School this week were appalling.

The poet in Pheroze Nowrojee, who died recently, would have been incensed. I also suspect he would have been deeply proud of the girls’ principled stand. “Echoes of war” was a little-known play before the Butere High School Principal was instructed to stop her students from submitting it for this year’s Kenya Schools and Drama Festival.

Set in the fictitious Velvet Emirates, Gen Z find their attempts to rescue a war-torn and divided kingdom thwarted at every turn by the older generation.

The play powerfully adapts artistry, songs and music from last year’s Gen Z protests. If the attempt was to suppress the play’s message, it utterly backfired.

A set of clumsy and then violent authoritarian actions has increased public interest ten-fold. According to court proceedings, the play was adjudicated and approved to participate at sub-county, county and regional levels only for the School Principal to abruptly close the entire school of 1,642 students to deny 50 actors the opportunity to rehearse and perform.

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At this point, a ten-year old injustice, dramatically boomeranged. Anifa Mango, an alumni student-actor who had experienced the power of the High Court in stopping censorship of the “Shackles of Doom” play in 2013 swung into action. The former student, now a millennial advocate marched to court and secured court orders that the school be reopened, that the Principal ignore external pressure and the students perform the play in its original form.

In a colossal overreach of state power, scores of police officers (curiously many brought in from Nairobi) teargassed children, assaulted journalists and arrested playwright and former Senator Cleophas Malala in violation of the court order.

The festival organisers then scheduled the play to a time there was likely to be no audience.

What the secondary students did next will inspire several generations of artists. Rather than perform without their playwright, the actors stood together to sing the national anthem. One student stepped forward to announce “Butere Girls will stand strong, the message of Echoes of War shall find another platform. God bless Kenya,” and then, they all exited the stage.

The significance of a Millennial protecting Alphas inspired by Gen Z activism would not have been lost on Pheroze Nowrojee. Pheroze (84) died this week on a visit to America.

The author-poet and senior counsel impacted on four generations of friends, lawyers, judicial officers, human rights defenders, journalists, community organisers, medics, politicians among others. Their tributes online sketch a life boldly lived and wisdom generously shared.

Third generation Indian Kenyan and Yale University trained, Pheroze believed advocates must challenge misgovernance, corruption and impunity. Regardless of the topic, his arguments were consistently morally anchored in constitutional and rule of law principles. While he represented the powerful and vulnerable with equal professionalism, he strongly believed victims of injustice deserved his time the most.

In one of our first encounters, he patiently listened to the 26-year-old Irungu speak of the power of politics and politicians. He then interrupted to say very deliberately, “Politics is not a profession. Seek a profession and then bring progressive politics to that space.”

An irrepressible optimist, intense conversations with Pheroze often left me and many others with a renewed sense of clarity and agency.

In death, Nowrojee’s stature will elevate in contrast to his humility in life. His legacy will endure through the lives he touched, the jurisprudence he influenced, the causes he championed, and the books he authored.

His life’s mission lives on also, in the legal activism of advocate Anifa Mango and the courage of those Butere girls.

With their shouts of “We are just children, and we demand our rights. Let us speak how we feel about our country”, our Constitution just found another generation to defend it.

It is worth remembering this too as he is cremated today in Arlington, Virginia.

Rest in Power Pheroze Nowrojee.