DSM Ifako Ijaiye, Lagos, Branch Mobilises for Action against Tinubu’s Anti-People Policies
Comrades of Ifako Ijaiye Branch of the Democratic Socialist Movement (DSM) on Saturday July 20 held tabling (sales of organization’s paper and circulation of leaflet) at Abule Egba Bus Stop in Lagos. It was part of the activities of the organisation to encourage and mobilise mass resistance against the anti-poor capitalist policies of Bola Tinubu government which have caused serious devastation in the living standard of majority of the working people
By DSM Reporters
The tabling was also to reach out to workers youth, and people in the community with the socialist alternative to capitalist policies responsible for the current deep crisis.
The leaflet we circulated also canvases a list of immediate demands that the working people and youth should fight for.
Two comrades, Davy Fidel and Gideon Adeyeni, have separately done short reports to give account of the activity. They captured the current mood on the street.
Davy reports: “The leaflet circulated is on the subject matter of ‘No to high cost of living and mass suffering. Join the movement to stop Tinubu’s bad policies. Fight for Socialist change. People who collected the leaflet from comrades read it carefully and were displeased with the economic realities and policies of Tinubu’s government.”
In his own account Gideon writes, “our leaflet, which had the headline NO TO HIGH COST OF LIVING AND MASS SUFFERING, was well received by the people, with some persons engaging us to learn more about how to resist this current hardship together, while some others simply nodded, gave a thumbs up or simply said ‘we are with you, we are fighting together’”.
From Gideon’s experience, the public mood has changed into a fighting one compared to what obtained a few months ago. In his words, “Not a single person I engaged said ‘let’s give the president some time’ or ‘the government is trying their best, let’s be patient’ as I had heard on some occasions during similar engagements in the past”.
The leaflet was produced a few months ago but its message resonates more easily now with the people as it appears a tripping point has been reached and increasingly more and more no longer have wherewithal to withstand the excruciating economic hardship.
So, Gideon concludes: “From the action today, I can say that no doubt there is mass anger in the country. And this is also reflected in the growing call for similar mass action as we saw in Kenya in the past weeks.”
The date of the DSM branch tabling had been fixed before the call for a nationwide protest, inspired by the example of Kenya, began to do the rounds. But it came timely to contribute to mobilizing support for the planned August protest now tagged #EndBadGovernaceinNigeria.
Members of the DSM nationally have been centrally involved in different activities and discussions to build coalition of left forces to play roles in the protest. See for example the recent News Central Television’s interviews of DSM executive member H. T. Soweto (One minute in) and that of the Youth Rights Campaign (YRC)’s National Coordinator, comrade Adaramoye Michael Lenin (Seven minutes in).