MUHAMMAD ALI VS VIETNAM WAR

Muhammad Ali - born Cassius Marcellus Clay Jr. in Louisville, Kentucky, in 1942 - rose from the bottom rung of the American South's racial segregation to become a three-time world heavyweight boxing champion and a 20th-century icon recognised around the world. However, Ali's impact extends beyond the realm of boxing.

Fifty-eight years ago this week, at the height of his fame, he refused to be drafted by the US military during the Vietnam War. His reason was straightforward: "I ain't got no quarrel with them Viet Cong… No Viet Cong ever called me N*gger."

Continued……. His comment challenged the duplicity of an American nation that demanded Black citizens be loyal but not granted equal rights. As a result, Ali lost his noscripts, was banned from professional boxing and was sentenced to five years in jail. His conviction was reversed by the US Supreme Court in 1971.

By refusing the draft, he became part of global movements against imperialism and racial subjugation. His defiance was admired by pan-African thinkers, revolutionaries and youth movements across our continent. Ali's refusal was an act of dignity in the face of state power —a political act of defiance as much as a moral principle.

Although he returned to the ring and reclaimed his noscripts, Ali never lost his activism. He protested against apartheid, supported African liberation movements and travelled to countries such as Nigeria and Zaire, where he fought the iconic 1974 'Rumble in the Jungle.' Ali was, to many Africans, not only a sportsman but proof that Black greatness can transcend White dominance globally.

Ali died in 2016 at age 74. But his voice - firm, unyielding, and pan-African - lives on. In a world community where militarism, racism and economic injustice still hold sway, Muhammad Ali remains an icon of courage, self-determination and defiance. He stood up when it counted, and he will be remembered for that.

Sources

https://nysba.org/understanding-the-impact-of-the-muhammed-ali-case/?srsltid=AfmBOopcA73lbooewPImGM8_KRE_r7jpMK7QrovTxraueMpRG0ctfaV3

https://www.peaceau.org/en/article/au-hails-muhammad-ali-as-true-pan-africanist

https://sapelosquare.com/2018/06/19/muhammad-ali-loved-africa-and-africa-loved-him

https://africasacountry.com/2016/06/the-rumble-in-the-jungle
https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2016/jun/04/muhammad-ali-obituary

https://www.npr.org/2016/06/04/171025748/boxer-muhammad-ali-the-greatest-of-all-time-dies-at-74

https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/2016/06/04/muhammad-ali-dies-obituary/85357592

Continued……And the damage doesn’t end at the surgical table. Many donors are now suffering long-term health complications, while brokers and international recipients walk away unharmed and unaccountable. This isn’t just a scandal. It’s a modern form of exploitation where Africa continues to bleed, organ by organ, for the comfort of elites abroad.

Swipe through for the harrowing details of this scandal.

Sources

https://www.spiegel.de/international/world/organ-trafficking-how-germans-buy-new-kidneys-in-kenya-a-a16089cf-5bb6-40d3-ac38-fac8ef3eff4d

https://www.dw.com/en/kenya-kidney-probe-launched-clinic-denies-allegations/a-72317858

https://www.dw.com/en/inside-a-global-organ-trafficking-network/a-72239158

https://lp.med-lead.de/

https://www.standardmedia.co.ke/article/2001516860/swarup-mishra-fate-and-fortune-of-man-accused-of-organ-trafficking

https://www.fke-kenya.org/policy-issues/youth-employment

IN SOUTH AFRICA, BLACK MAJORITY ARE THE REAL OPPRESSED

Thapelo Mohapi, the Secretary General of the Abahlali BasMjondolo, ‘The Residents of the Shacks’ in Zulu (@abahlalibasemjondolo on instagram and @abahlalibM on X), a pro-democracy South African grassroots movement of over 150,000 shack dwellers seeking to reclaim South African land, speaks on the widely regurgitated unfounded claims of a ‘white g*nocide’ in South Africa that has been echoed by ill-informed media figures and politicians like Tucker Carlson and Donald Trump.

In recent months, the Trump administration froze aid to South Africa under claims that white settlers are facing persecution. Julius Malema (@julius.malema.sello on IG, @julius_s_malema on X), president of the Economic Freedom Fighters (@effsouthafrica), has called this a US bullying tactic of revenge for South Africa taking Israel to the International Court of Justice over its military onslaught on Gaza.

Continued….. Mohapi tells BreakThrough News (@btnewsroom on X) hosts @EugenePuryear (on X) and @raniakhalek (on X) that what South Africans are seeking is justice over the grave injustices they have suffered at the hands of European settlers, whose theft has resulted in sharp inequality between Black South Africans and the white minority. The South African Department of Rural Development and Land Reform reported in 2017 that the latter owned over 70 per cent of private farmland while making up less than 8 per cent of the population, according to 2022 government figures.

In light of this, Mohapi further points out the irony in far-right racist South African groups posing as the victims of injustice.

Many have debunked the so-called white g*nocide claim. Further, in February 2025, the Western Cape High Court dismissed the allegations as ‘imagined.’

Video credit: @btnewsroom (YouTube)

Sources

https://abahlali.org

https://www.sbmintel.com/2025/03/africa-watch-no-evidence/

https://www.lemonde.fr/en/le-monde-africa/article/2025/03/13/in-south-africa-the-courts-dismiss-the-myth-of-white-genocide_6739091_124.html

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/mar/06/aid-trump-south-africa

https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2025-03-06-trumps-us-is-punishing-sa-for-supporting-palestine-against-apartheid-israel-says-malema

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-67922346

https://www.gov.za/issues/land-reform

https://www.gov.za/about-sa/south-africas-people

This week's words of wisdom are apt in light of recent US attempts to character assassinate Burkina Faso's leader Ibrahim Traoré. During a Senate hearing, the Pentagon's top commander for Africa - General Michael Langley - claimed that the revolutionary president was using his country's gold reserves to pay for private security. Resorting to slander like this is evidence of desperation. It recalls the US tactic of discrediting anti-imperialist leaders such as Libya's Muammar Gaddafi - before swooping in to supposedly 'save the day,' leaving nothing but destruction behind.

Africans and their allies globally have sworn to protect Traoré, who is widely viewed as a symbol of anti-imperialism and pan-Africanism. His leadership embodies a new era of emancipation aimed at eliminating the influence of White-supremacist forces and establishing sovereign African states that prioritise the welfare of their citizens above the greed of foreign powers and multinationals.

Continued……. Despite the US and others' efforts to use Black faces, such as General Langley's, to protect their interests, Africans are increasingly studying history and recognising imperialist strategies. There is a growing determination not to fall victim to Western propaganda again. Indeed, Africa today holds the stage, and imperial powers are evidently scrambling to maintain their dwindling control.

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

HOW THE WEST FROZE AFRICA IN TIME

Africans who were hailed as revolutionaries after independence were really just sensible men with a clear understanding of Africa’s needs, but they struck many as ‘ahead of their time’ because our continent was still being held back by neo-colonial exploiters and their puppets.

That’s the verdict of geopolitical analyst @ShahidkBolsen (X), who says our continent was ‘frozen’ in time, not allowed to progress and develop beyond the colonial era. He argues that the West’s relationship with Africa has historically been one of subjugation and extraction, keeping our continent in a state of stagnation through violence, coups and exploitative economic policies.

Continued…….. He says, ‘For Lumumba or Nkrumah, it was the 1960s, but for the West, it was still the 1860s, the 1760s, the 1660s.’

Pan-African leaders such as Burkina Faso’s Thomas Sankara, Ghana’s Kwame Nkrumah and Congo’s Patrice Lumumba were eliminated or removed from power by imperialists because their progressive policies were on course to stop the pillaging of our continent and unleash its massive potential for the benefit of its people.

Following in their footsteps, Ibrahim Traoré of Burkina Faso is emerging as a transformative leader spearheading a break from Western dominance. His efforts to regain control of his country’s resources and build alliances beyond the West are seen as acts of dignity and self-determination by many Africans. Alongside Assimi Goïta from Mali and Abdourahmane Tchiani from Niger, Traoré is advocating for African unity and sovereignty, gaining respect and support from anti-imperialists worldwide.

Video credit: Shahid Bolsen/Middle Nation

Sources

https://roape.net/2023/11/02/revolutionary-movements-in-africa-an-untold-story/

https://historycollection.com/10-african-revolutionaries-changed-world/

https://www.dw.com/en/130-years-ago-carving-up-africa-in-berlin/a-18278894

https://www.cia.gov/resources/csi/studies-in-intelligence/studies-in-intelligence-68-no-1-extracts-march-2024/review-the-lumumba-plot-the-secret-history-of-the-cia-and-a-cold-war-assassination/

https://actionaid.org/publications/2023/fifty-years-failure-imf-debt-and-austerity-africa

Continued……The centres aim to increase knowledge of Pan-Africanism, socialism, anti-imperialism, and women’s emancipation struggles in the Sahel to train cadre who are ideologically and organisationally prepared to defend, advance, and unify the Alliance of Sahel States (AES), Africa’s newest self-determining alliance.

African Stream journalist Inemesit Richardson, also president of @burkinabooks, was on site for the inauguration.

Sources

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mX45OXthC4g

https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=pfbid0p6ZjAR1j5ZYbLTC1QbiXb7BYqEdsKvQXXL5xgKnnfoEKFoVrps6AsizTkeEDwu6Vl&id=100064361124609&sfnsn=wa&mibextid=6aamW6

https://www.facebook.com/share/v/1DdXoQiw6E/ (beginning at 37:15)

THOMAS SANKARA’S IDEAS SPREAD AT NIGER’S REVOLUTIONARY TRAINING CENTRE

A revolutionary Pan-African political education centre was inaugurated on 15 April in Niamey, Niger, to educate students as part of the broader attempt in Africa’s Sahel region to fortify the revolution that kicked off a few years ago with people-backed coups d’état that ousted Western-aligned leaders.

The Thomas Sankara Centre for African Liberation and Unity, run by @burkinabooks (IG), is the second location of its kind.

After developing a similar library and political education centre in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, the project has expanded to work with Niger’s student population in Niamey. 

REMEMBERING THE 1866 MEMPHIS MASSACRE

Today marks the 159th anniversary of the Memphis Massacre, a three-day outbreak of White supremacist violence that began on the afternoon of 1 May 1866, in Memphis, Tennessee.

The violence was sparked when local police attempted to disperse a gathering of Black Union soldiers and their families. They were gathered to celebrate their recent discharge and assert their new rights as free citizens. This type of public assembly was common in the Reconstruction-era South, where newly freed Blacks often used gatherings to organise politically, socially, and enjoy basic freedoms that had been denied under slavery.

Continued….. The crowd refused to disband, and though the officers initially withdrew, one accidentally shot himself in the leg. This incident was falsely blamed on the Black soldiers, and panic quickly spread throughout the city with rumours of a planned Black uprising.

Within hours, a mob composed of White police officers, firemen and civilians formed and launched violent attacks in Black neighbourhoods. What began as aggression toward Black soldiers quickly escalated into a broader assault on the entire Black community. Over the course of three days, 46 Black residents were murdered, around 75 more were injured, and multiple Black women were r*ped. Black homes, schools and churches were looted, burned and destroyed. White Northerners - particularly missionaries and educators working in Black schools - were also attacked. Federal troops were ultimately required to bring the violence to an end.

The massacre had far-reaching national consequences. A Congressional committee, led by Radical Republicans, launched an investigation. The committee’s report singled out Irish-American police officers as key aggressors and pointed to tensions between Irish immigrants and Black workers competing for labour as a root cause. However, the investigation overlooked the role of other White Southerners in the violence and the broader resentment towards the empowerment of Black soldiers in post-Civil War Memphis.

No criminal charges were brought against the perpetrators.

Sources

https://www.battlefields.org/visit/heritage-sites/1866-memphis-massacre

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Memphis_massacre_of_1866

https://www.memphis.edu/memphis-massacre/

BURKINA FASO’S ELDERS: ‘WE SUPPORT OUR PRESIDENT’

Burkina Faso’s Popular and Progressive Revolution is a movement of the youth. Its leader, President Ibrahim Traoré, at 36, is the world’s youngest head of state. However, the struggle is also intergenerational, and senior citizens expressed their support for the revolutionary process as they marched on 26 April in the city of Bobo Dioulasso.

They held signs praising President Ibrahim Traoré, the Burkinabé military and the Volunteers for the Defence of the Homeland (VDP), a people’s fighting force.

Burkina Faso ousted a Western-aligned leader in 2022 through a people-backed coup d’état, bringing Traoré to power.

Continued….. On 6 July 2024, the country co-founded the Alliance of Sahel States (AES) with Mali and Niger, both of which booted Western-aligned leaders in similarly people-backed coups. Since then, the countries have expelled French troops and reclaimed natural resources from foreign corporations. They aim to establish a federal Pan-African state as the first step toward building continental unity. The three countries are the flag bearers of the Pan-African revolution underway on the continent.

Video credit: @rtburkina

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

Seen yesterday in London’s historic rally in support of the revolutionary process in Burkina Faso and its leader, Captain Ibrahim Traoré.

The talented Conroy Green painted the portrait of Traoré. You can find him on IG @conroy_green

On 30 April 1975, Vietnam defeated US imperialism as the North Vietnamese forces liberated the city of Saigon (now Ho Chi Minh City) in the south of the country. This ended an almost a three-decade-long struggle, first against the country's French colonisers and then against the US military. 

The US invasion in Vietnam k*lled at least 3.8 million Vietnamese people, forced roughly 11.7 million South Vietnamese from their homes, and injured up to 4.8 million due to exposure to Agent Orange and other chemicals. Nevertheless, Vietnam triumphed, shattering the illusion of Western invincibility and serving as a model for revolutionaries across the colonised world. Argentine revolutionary Ernesto ‘Che’ Guevara (1928-67) famously declared, ‘Create two, three, many Vietnams.’

Continued……Vietnamese revolutionaries were also friends of Africa. In his memoirs, Ho Chi Minh (1890-1969), fondly referred to as ‘Uncle Ho,’ wrote that while in New York, he enjoyed listening to passionate African activists and organisers rallying their people in Harlem. He also mentioned a profound admiration for Jamaica-born Pan-Africanist Marcus Garvey (1887-1940), whom Ho Chi Minh credits for contributing to his anti-colonial fervour and commitment.  

Later, as the president of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam (or North Vietnam), Ho Chi Minh was close to several African revolutionaries. Mali's great Pan-African leader, Modibo Keïta (1915-77), who visited Vietnam in 1964, was one of Uncle Ho’s close allies. However, Guinea, under the leadership of President Ahmed Sekou Touré (1922-84), became the first African country to establish diplomatic ties with Vietnam. Sekou Touré visited the Southeast Asian country in 1960. Many other African revolutionaries from Ghanaian leader Kwame Nkrumah (1909-72) to Angolan President Agostinho Neto (1922-79) and the MPLA maintained positive ties with Vietnam throughout the liberation struggle.

Long live the beautiful friendship between the African and Vietnamese people!

Sources

https://www.zinnedproject.org/news/tdih/vietnam-declared-independence/

https://theintercept.com/2025/04/30/vietnam-war-anniversary-landmines-bombs/

https://shec.ashp.cuny.edu/items/show/518

https://www.blackagendareport.com/unknown-connection-between-marcus-garvey-and-ho-chi-minh

https://nationalhumanitiescenter.org/humanities-moment/the-ho-chi-minh-and-marcus-garvey-connection/

https://baotanglichsu.vn/fr/Album/49/quelques-images-sur-le-president-ho-chi-minh-envers-le-musee-dhistoire-du-vietnam-et-le-musee-de-la-revolution-du-vietnam-musee-national-dhistoire-du-vietnam-actuel

https://modibo-keita.site/soutien-aux-mouvements-de-liberation-nationale/

https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Relations_entre_la_Guinée_et_le_Viêt_Nam

https://web.archive.org/web/20110728155636/http://www.vietnamembassy-angola.org/nr070521165956/ns070920094601

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Angola–Vietnam_relations#cite_note-b-2

https://www.eaumf.org/ejm-blog/2018/2/21/february-21-1966-nkrumah-departs-for-peace-mission-in-hanoi

http://baochi.nlv.gov.vn/baochi/cgi-bin/baochi?a=d&d=Qik19600917.2.3&srpos=&dliv=none&e=-------vi-20--1--img-txIN------