The Battle for Laikipia Review: The Dark Shadow Of Colonialism Looms
Kenya’s Laikipia region has been a grazing route for Indigenous Samburu pastoralist communities for centuries. However, at the beginning of the 20th century came an influx of British settlers. The local population was stripped of their land and forced to work for white Westerners who claimed ownership of territory for themselves, while many were also killed. Though British rule ended in 1963, Laikipia now remains home to many white ranchers and conservationists who settled there during the British colonial era, and remained after Kenya’s independence. These third and fourth-generation descendants of British colonial settlers own more than half of this land to this day.
The new documentary The Battle for Laikipia tells a stark tale of what happens when this colonial legacy collides with the sharp end of climate breakdown.
The documentary charts five years of life in Laikipia, where pastoralists, ranchers and conservancies rely on grasslands to sustain their cattle and wildlife. All are pushed to desperation by three consecutive years of severe drought and looming elections, and conflict and violence soon ensue. The majority of pastoralists fight for their survival; many communities lose all of their livestock, leaving them unable to afford food, medical treatment or education for their children. Meanwhile, wildlife is decimated as they compete with cattle for pasture, and ranchers clash with Indigenous communities when they refuse to share the resources of their land with the nomadic pastoralists.
Directed by Oscar-nominated, Greek director and journalist, Daphne Matziaraki, and International Emmy-nominated Kenyan director and journalist, Peter Murimi, the documentary examines both sides of this conflict and the nuances that come with it masterfully. The Samburu herders and the white farmers and conservationists live side by side but rarely interact to solve shared problems. Instead, as tensions escalate, the camera follows a variety of individuals on both sides to see how they navigate the complexities of these relationships and pressures under dwindling resources.
It’s a deft, challenging and thought-provoking piece, but I have to be honest: it is difficult to feel a lot of sympathy for these white communities. While what we witness is a complex situation created by years of history and human choices, at no point do we see any white people acknowledge any colonial history, or even say the word colonisation out loud. What we do see is them describe their settler grandparents as ‘intrepid’ or ‘quirky’ for leaving Western countries for Kenya, or they argue that their family is ‘fourth-generation Kenyan’. At one point, when multiple white farmers and conservationists come together to discuss the situation, one white man – with an accent suspiciously close to Received Pronunciation English – states that pastoralism should be ended altogether and brought into commercial work because it’s in the ‘National interest’.
It’s hard not to wonder: whose interest? Whose nation?
At the same gathering it’s also explicitly stated that, in previous times of trouble, land sharing used to exist to support these nomadic communities. But we don’t see this at any point in the documentary. Instead when pastoralists, desperate for grass, stray onto private ranches they’re met with abuse, confiscated animals, and threats of violence. Murder takes place on both sides, but it is impossible not to notice how imbalances of power and resources have led Indigenous communities to seemingly take up arms in retaliation, rather than violence erupting from their side in a vacuum.
It is a tricky situation, and the documentary gives no concrete answers. The pastoralists argue that they should be able to roam freely and live in harmony with the land and wildlife, as they did before colonial rule. The white landowners argue that they’re Kenyan too, and that Kenya is all they’ve ever known. Coexistence and cooperation is potentially the only path forward, but it’s clear that this can never happen unless some form of decolonial practice is in place. These white people may have only ever known Kenya, but there’s a stubborn lack of willingness to engage with the inherent violence their land ownership and current lifestyles are built upon. It’s difficult to face up to violent and unethical heritage, particularly within your own family, but this documentary shows how cycles of violence continue until the hard work of facing and unlearning the legacies of white supremacy is done. The conflicts of today are inextricably linked to the past, but no one can move forward unless these systems are faced head-on and dismantled.
