Continued……. He is most famous for leading a raid on the federal armoury at Harpers Ferry with the goal of inspiring a slave insurrection. Brown’s forces held out for two days but were eventually defeated by military forces led by Robert E. Lee. Many of Brown’s men were killed, including two of his sons, and he was captured. Brown was quickly tried and hanged.

John Brown was no saviour, he was a soldier in the war for African liberation. And in the annals of Black history, he is not remembered as a White ally, but as a freedom fighter who used his privilege to burn the system, not benefit from it. His raid didn’t succeed in the short term but it accelerated the start of the Civil War, which kicked off a few years later and sent a chilling message to slaveholders that their days were numbered. His example reminds us that it was, and still is, possible to repurpose your privilege and fight for justice.

Sources

https://medium.com/@samarakareemofficial/john-brown-1800-1859-a-sketch-of-theodore-weld-a-radical-abolitionist-and-his-role-in-american-b11aa0d3b021

https://www.nps.gov/hafe/learn/historyculture/when-john-brown-met-harriet-tubman.htm

https://www.biography.com/activists/john-brown-frederick-douglass-friendship

Well, the empire’s unholy marriage is cracking from within. US President Donald Trump has reportedly cut off direct contact with his long-time political ally, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and not a single tear has been shed across much of the Global South.

Israeli Army Radio’s Yanir Cozin (@yanircozin on X) reported on 8 May via his X account that close aides told Trump, ever allergic to being outmanoeuvred, that Netanyahu was ‘manipulating him.’ 

But this isn’t just ego versus ego. The fallout also exposes deep fractures in the US strategy in West Asia. Israel has offered no concrete plan for addressing the alleged threat of regional power Iran, no meaningful roadmap on addressing Yemen’s Ansar Allah movement (known as the Houthis) that has been blocking and attacking ships in the Red Sea, and indeed no credible vision for Gaza.

Continued……Ansar Allah shocked the world when it struck Israel’s Ben-Gurion Airport on 4 May while announcing it would expand its ‘naval blockade’ with an ‘aerial blockade’ to continue defending Gaza, which has been under Israel’s escalated siege and bombardment since 7 October 2023. Ansar Allah’s relentless pursuit for justice in Gaza may have led Trump to re-think the US relationship with Israel and sign an Oman-brokered ceasefire with Yemen.

Trump, who initially wanted Israel as a central part of new deals, now says he’ll pursue regional policy goals without Israel’s input, according to a damning piece by Hebrew-language daily newspaper Israel Hayom. That includes brokering a Saudi deal and entering nuclear talks with Iran.

Israel Hayom reported evidence of these new imperial fractures, describing Israeli officials being caught off guard by Trump’s announcement that the US had reached a ceasefire with Houthis in Yemen and by the start of US-Iran nuclear talks in April. 

As Pan-Africanist journalists, we recognise two colonial enablers falling out over ego and empire. This doesn’t mean justice is here. But when oppressors start fighting, it’s a window for resistance fighters to organise.

Sources

https://www.timesofisrael.com/liveblog_entry/report-trump-disappointed-with-netanyahu-will-continue-middle-east-policy-objectives-without-israel/

https://foreignpolicy.com/2025/05/09/netanyahu-trump-israel-conflict/

https://www.newsweek.com/houthis-declare-trump-ceasefire-failure-israels-netanyahu-2068787

https://www.israelhayom.com/2025/05/08/trump-sidelines-netanyahu-in-middle-east-policy-as-relations-deteriorate/

https://www.aa.com.tr/en/americas/trump-cuts-ties-with-netanyahu-over-manipulation-concerns-report/3561726

TRAORÉ & AFRICAN LEADERS IN MOSCOW FOR VICTORY DAY

Burkina Faso President Ibrahim Traoré landed in Moscow on 8 May for Victory Day celebrations. The day commemorates the victory of the former Soviet Union against N*zi Germany in a war that took as many as 27 million Soviet lives. The USSR is responsible for inflicting 80 per cent of all N*zi fatalities.

Before Germany turned against Europe, it had committed the first g*nocide of the 20th century, k*lling 100,000 Nama and Herero people in modern Namibia. Many of the N*zis’ racial ideologies and k*lling techniques can trace their origins to this g*nocide.

Back to the present, Traoré’s visit is a sign of deepening relations between Russia and Burkina Faso. Russia has sent military instructors and sold equipment, while Burkina Faso has accused France of blocking arms shipments. 

Continued……Burkina Faso also signed a 2023 agreement for Russia to build a nuclear power plant to help power a country where only 21.7 per cent of people accessed electricity in 2023. In early 2025, the government issued a gold mining permit to Russia’s Nordgold. 

Russia has engaged other members of the anti-imperialist Alliance of Sahel States (AES), such as constructing West Africa’s biggest gold refinery in AES member-state Mali beginning in 2023.

Reports said 29 countries were expected to participate in the commemoration. The Republic of Congo and Guinea-Bissau had been spotted arriving in Moscow. Other African countries reportedly attending included Egypt, Ethiopia, South Africa and Zimbabwe.

Sources
https://www.msn.com/en-us/politics/international-relations/moscow-s-victory-parade-africa-strengthens-ties-with-russia/ar-AA1ElBuM

https://journal-neo.su/2025/05/08/why-does-the-commemoration-of-the-end-of-the-second-world-war-still-concern-us-and-why

https://www.globalresearch.ca/eight-decades-ago-undermining-soviet-role-surrender-nazi-germany/5886242

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-67098444

https://ala-choice.libguides.com/c.php?g=1354626&p=10001551

https://africaxis.com/2023/11/mali-russia-gold-refinery

https://www.trt.global/afrika-english/article/0b03c85cc7f0

https://archive.ph/zVycq

https://www.minute.bf/burkina-la-france-a-bel-et-bien-bloque-la-livraison-darmestribune

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8PIWkEkn-7

The US government is considering a controversial plan to deport migrants to Libya, potentially using military flights.

But there's a hiccup.

The once most prosperous African state has been embroiled in chaos since the US-led NATO intervention in 2011 that helped rebels topple and k*ll revolutionary leader Muammar Gaddafi (1942-2011). Since then, the country has fractured, faced a civil war, lacks infrastructure maintenance and hosts open-air slave markets. Human rights organisations have cited Libya's unstable political situation, ongoing armed conflict and the documented mistreatment of migrants in detention centres. But because they are deporting some of the ‘most despicable human beings,’ in US Secretary of State Marco Rubio's words, perhaps US authorities see Libya as a perfect dumping ground.

Continued……. The US State Department had criticised Libya's human rights record as late as 2023. Washington is scouting for countries willing to receive deportees. The US has cited countries like Angola, Benin, Equatorial Guinea, Eswatini, Libya, and Rwanda as potential African destinations. Rwanda is already in talks to take in deported migrants, months after fumbling an asylum deal with the UK.

It is also unclear what legal process would be followed before deportations and how many migrants and nationalities would be involved.

Just as the US ignored international law in the destruction of the once-stable Libya, legal processes for unwanted migrants likely won't matter to decision-makers in Washington this time around.

Sources

https://www.reuters.com/world/us/us-may-soon-deport-migrants-libya-military-flight-sources-say-2025-05-07/?taid=681ab79db5a38200014fb8aa&utm_campaign=trueAnthem%3A+Trending+Content&utm_medium=trueAnthem&utm_source=twitter

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/trump-administration-may-soon-deport-migrants-to-libya

https://archive.ph/5ZIyN

https://www.brookings.edu/articles/everyone-says-the-libya-intervention-was-a-failure-theyre-wrong

https://www.amnesty.org/en/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/mde190032012en.pdf

https://foreignpolicy.com/2021/03/20/nato-killed-civilians-in-libya-its-time-to-admit-it

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/apr/12/barack-obama-says-libya-was-worst-mistake-of-his-presidency

MANDELA CALLS OUT THE U.S.

On this day in 1994, anti-apartheid icon Nelson Mandela was inaugurated as the first democratically elected president of South Africa. He is remembered as the man who helped lead the country out of the crimes and excesses of apartheid. Western mainstream media may portray him as a smiley grandfatherly figure who liked to dance and forgive his oppressors, but we remember him as an anti-imperialist until the end.

In this video, Mandela calls out the United States as a warmonger - a country that supports carnage, repeatedly breaks the rules and is more than willing to go to any lengths, even at the expense of fundamental human rights, to push its hegemonic agenda.

He lambasts the US for its invasion of Iraq and the war it initiated 22 years ago. This unnecessary military campaign resulted in the deaths of anywhere between one- and two-million men, women and children.

Continued……. When former US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright was asked if US sanctions that claimed the lives of up to 500,000 Iraqi children were justified, she responded, 'We think the price is worth it.'

Mandela was instrumental in tearing down South Africa's oppressive apartheid regime, as well as speaking up for other oppressed peoples, such as the Palestinians. His commitment to the Palestinian cause remained unwavering till the end. This commitment was on full display when he uttered these words: 'But we know too well that our freedom is incomplete without the freedom of the Palestinians.'

Video credit: Democracy Now

Sources

https://www.newsweek.com/watch-madeleine-albright-saying-iraqi-kids-deaths-worth-it-resurfaces-1691193

PROVEN RACIAL BIAS IN MEDICAL CARE

In this clip, psychiatrist Dr Kali Hobson (@DrkaliMD on TikTok and Instagram) demonstrated the startling difference in how medical practitioners address pain in white children versus Black children in the US.

Although Hobson presented a hypothetical scenario here, decades of data have demonstrated this racial disparity, particularly in the case of appendicitis, an inflammation and infection of the appendix organ that can cause excruciating pain. 

Continued…….
A 2016 study found Black children with appendicitis are less likely to receive medication for moderate pain compared to their white peers. They are also significantly less likely to receive opioids for severe pain. These findings come even after adjusting for factors like pain severity, insurance status and triage level (how hospital workers observe the patient at intake).

Similarly, studies show that Black women in labour and postpartum are less likely to receive medication for pain relief.

Without empirical data, scientists for centuries have pushed forth pseudo-scientific (false) claims based on alleged biological differences between white and Black people. A leading claim is that Black people tolerate more pain due to thicker skin or less sensitive nerve endings. Despite absolutely no scientific evidence existing to back up these myths, the legacy of this r*cist perception continues to lead to disproportionately poor health outcomes for Black people in the West.

Video credit: @drkalimd (Instagram)

Sources

https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC4843483

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1526590024005182

https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamanetworkopen/fullarticle/2793179#google_vignette

https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC4829078

https://www.reuters.com/article/business/healthcare-pharmaceuticals/black-hispanic-mothers-report-more-pain-after-delivery-but-get-less-pain-medica-idUSKBN1XM2R3

https://www.yahoo.com/lifestyle/black-women-are-less-likely-to-receive-epidurals-during-labor-heres-why-194638403.html

https://www.cedars-sinai.org/newsroom/black-and-hispanic-women-receive-lower-doses-of-postpartum-pain-medication-according-to-new-study

https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC6905121

https://www.statnews.com/2016/04/04/medical-students-beliefs-race-pain