Continued….. His journey was far from straightforward. Nyerere emerged as a symbol of determination, challenging the imperialist narrative that claimed Africa was unprepared for self-governance. This powerful moment from a 1960 interview showcases a young Nyerere firmly rejecting colonialist assumptions, stating that Europeans granting independence was them restoring a right that had been unjustly taken. He argued that the question of African readiness for self-rule was irrelevant, as we had successfully managed our affairs long before colonisation.

Nyerere joined our ancestors on 14 October 1999 in London, leaving behind a legacy that continues to inspire.

Sources

https://www.eac.int/about-ncpr/julius-nyerere-biography

https://www.pambazuka.org/nyerere-nationalism-and-pan-africanism

https://www.vaticannews.va/en/africa/news/2019-11/the-legacy-of-mwalimu-julius-kambarage-nyerere.html

https://www.workers.org/2009/world/julius_nyerere_1105/

‘GO HOME? RETURN THE LOOT FIRST!’

Social-justice advocate and writer Ishmahil Blagrove has always been vocal about the mistreatment of immigrants in the UK and the British-state negligence that led to the deaths of 72 people in Grenfell Tower in West London. Right now in the UK, there is anti-migrant sentiment being flamed by South African-born billionaire Elon Musk, who is constantly sharing and retweeting disinformation about migrant communities. But, as you can see from this flashback clip of Blagrove at London’s famous Speakers’ Corner in Hyde Park, the racism and xenophobia in the country started long before Musk began tweeting.

Continued……A heckler tries to silence Blagrove and shouts out, “Go back home!” - and, off the cuff, Blagrove destroys him with a witty tale to remind him that it was the enslaving, looting Brits who came uninvited to Africa, overstaying their welcome for hundreds of years - so that he (Blagrove) has got every right to stay on in the UK for at least another 360 years, according to his calculations.

Video credit: ISHMAHIL BLAGROVE @ SPEAKERS’ CORNER

Hear Us Roar: https://news.1rj.ru/str/AfricanStream

CHIMAMANDA ON GAZA: DON’T SKIP THE BEGINNING!

In her 4 April 2025 interview with Al Jazeera’s Redi Tlhabi (@reditlhabi on X), award-winning Nigerian author Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie (@chimamandareal on X) didn’t just talk about her new novel, ‘Dream Count.’ She also tore into Israel’s ongoing massacre of Palestinians in Gaza.

According to medical journal The Lancet, Israel’s US-backed onslaught on Gaza had killed an estimated 186,000 people by July 2024. In a 5 April 2025 statement, the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics (PCBS) reported that Israel’s massacres since 7 October 2023, have left nearly 40,000 Gazan children orphaned, with over a third losing both parents. The orphan crisis in Gaza today is the largest in modern history, according to PCBS President Dr. Ola Awad.

Continued…….. Adichie expressed disbelief at how world powers who have the capacity to bring the ‘mass murder’ of civilians to an end, sit and watch the carnage continue, while constructing narratives that justify the indiscriminate targeting of an entire population. She warned that ‘the danger of a single story’ can be observed in the manner that the Palestinian narrative is often told, where campaigns by H*mas are emphasised, but not the decades of ethnic cleansing and occupation that came before them. This, she said, would be like beginning the story of Native Americans without first telling of European invasion and the g*nocide of Native Americans on their land.

Chimamanda’s remarks serve as a timely reminder that the story of Palestine does not begin with 7 October 2023, but dates back to events like the Balfour Declaration of 1917, the Nakba of 1947-49, and the subsequent theft, occupation and blockade of Palestinian territories.

Video credit: @ajenglish (x)

Sources

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mqA3vvZPhOo

https://www.google.co.ke/books/edition/Dream_Count/y-4jEQAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&pg=PA4&printsec=frontcover

https://www.aaiusa.org/library/history-didnt-begin-or-end-on-october-7th

https://www.aljazeera.com/features/2018/11/2/more-than-a-century-on-the-balfour-declaration-explained

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/7/8/gaza-toll-could-exceed-186000-lancet-study-says

https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(24)01169-3/fulltext

https://www.science.org/content/article/native-tribes-have-lost-99-their-land-united-states