PALESTINE MURAL GOES UP IN NAIROBI

A mural in solidarity with Palestine went up on 14 March in the poor neighbourhood of Mathare, a collection of slums home to about 500,000 people in Kenya's capital of Nairobi.

Present at the event were Palestine's ambassador to Kenya, Hazem Shabat (@palestinekenya), and members of the grassroots group Women Collective Kenya (@womenco_ke) and the Mathare Social Justice Centre. The mural also contains a social media handle for graffiti artist Wama (@artbywama).

Heavily African-inspired, this mural shows people raising the victory sign with their fingers and waving a Palestine flag through a heart-shaped hole in a wall. So far, Israel's military operation since 7 October has killed more than 31,000 Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.

Mathare has long been a hub for progressive politics, hosting events about Sudan's civil war and Kenya's independence-era heroes, among other issues. It's also home to a vibrant social justice centre.

Being the oldest and second-largest of Kenya's urban slums, Mathare's legacy predates Kenya's independence, as it was through here that weapons found their way into Mau Mau independence fighters' hands in the mid-20th century.