Behind the rake and sickle of Nairobi’s wastepickers |
Behind the rake and sickle of Nairobi’s wastepickers
The inseparable nature of the battles for civil and social rights can be seen in all its fullness in the struggle of Nairobi’s wastepickers, champions of mutual aid and standard-bearers of informal unionization.
Three million people of all ages – 60 percent of the city’s population – are crowded into some of the most densely populated urban areas on the planet, with an average of 28,000 inhabitants per square kilometer, and are forced to act as quasi-governmental entities to secure access to clean water, makeshift sewage systems, measures to prevent school dropouts and support for education, the taking of reliable censuses and, above all, the disposal of household and municipal waste.
This is the reality faced by residents of the informal settlements in the Kenyan capital (the so-called slums), where “informal” refers to the absence of permanent housing and infrastructure. The administration of the metropolis, which today stands out on the continent as a commercial and financial hub, does not provide welfare services in these areas, such as a public garbage collection system.
In addition to the various associations and groups that take on this burden, the inseparable nature of the battles for civil and social rights can be seen in all its fullness in the struggle of Nairobi’s wastepickers, champions of mutual aid and standard-bearers of informal unionization. The unique nature of their profession can be seen particularly clearly in the Dandora settlement, on the city’s eastern outskirts, which has grown up around the landfill of the same name.
The waste storage and disposal site, established in the 1970s, is organized through an autonomous system run by the workers: public companies are limited to transporting and unloading the trash,........