East African civil society on rebound as repression rises

Activists demonstrate outside the Tanzanian High Commission in Nairobi.

Photo credit: Wilfred Nyangaresi | Nation Media Group

Governments in East Africa have increasingly become repressive amid rising voices of protest, especially among the youth.

For a bit, the civil society looked helpless. Then a simultaneous solidarity among civil society groups ensued. It was a measure to survive or defend one another in the face of arrests, harassment, or state-led intimidation.