BOB MARLEY‘S POLITICAL REGGAE: ‘CRAZY BALDHEAD’

Our musical pan-African icon Bob Marley died on this day in 1981 at the tender age of 36. We look back at some of the deeper, political messages behind his songs, taking a deep dive into the lyrics of his revolutionary tune, Crazy Baldhead.

The noscript might make it sound like it's about neo-Nazis and skinheads. But 'baldhead' is actually Rasta slang for colonialists, and the words of the song are about fighting back against their cultural, political and economic grip on the Caribbean. Bob's music and lyrics were motivated by his Pan-African ideals.

Unfortunately, copyright restrictions meant we couldn't include the music, but please go hunt it out in the usual places if you don't know it already!

And, of course, let us know your favourite lines in the comments!

The Sahel is blazing with revolutionary fervor. Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger have torched the neo-colonial noscript and rewritten the destiny of their people. Part of the power of their example is the unity they have shown, merging first into an alliance, then into a confederation and, next (if all goes to plan), into a federal pan-African state. Had they stood alone, the flames of resistance might have flickered and gone up in a puff of smoke. Western interests that have benefitted from decades of exploitation might have been able to extinguish the flames currently burning bad resource deals and military agreements. But here we have just three African nations - ‘sticks’ - keeping those flames alive. There are 51 more to add fuel to this anti-imperialist fire! Now imagine when all 54 nations bind, not just in geography, but in purpose. That flame won’t just destroy neocolonialism. It would forge Africa’s true freedom.

ISRAEL'S IMPUNITY IS A CULTURAL PHENOMENA

This December 2024 video of a 14-year-old Israeli boy spitting in the face of a 7-year-old Ethiopian kid went viral after Israeli activist and journalist Daniel Amram (@danielamram6 on IG and @danielamram3 on X) shared it online. The attacker, who uploaded the video himself, is seen first interacting with the Ethiopian boy before spitting on him and calling him the N-word.

Here, independent journalist Erik Warsaw (@erikwarsaw on Instagram) comments on the disturbing incident, calling it a reflection of Israeli culture that normalises violence towards non-Jewish people.

Continued……. Indeed, many human-rights groups have called Israel an apartheid state for denying Palestinians their rights through laws that create physical barriers and unlivable conditions, such as the use of caloric restrictions.

Israel’s onslaught on Palestinians has been ongoing since 7 October 2023. According to the Lancet medical journal, Israel may have k*lled as many as 186,000 Palestinians as of early July 2024. However, Israel's ethnic cleansing has not only been against Palestinians. Ethiopian Jews have also faced persecution, including the systemic sterilisation of Ethiopian Jewish women. In 2013, an Israeli minister admitted that it had been injecting the women with the contraceptive drug, Depo-Provera, without their consent or knowledge. This admission came after a December 2012 documentary produced evidence that sparked outrage.

Despite these proven violations, Israel has yet to be brought to account and continues to be bankrolled and protected by the US. It is no wonder a 14-year-old Israeli felt emboldened to post the video on social media as a joke. 

The culture of impunity and lack of accountability in Israel starts from the decision-making body in Tel Aviv and trickles down to ordinary citizens.

Video credit: @erikwarsaw (IG)

Sources

https://www.instagram.com/a.kaballo/reel/DDesBMHihSF/israeli-spits-on-7-year-old-ethiopiana-14-year-old-israeli-boy-in-the-resort-tow/

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

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-21621388

https://www.uscis.gov/newsroom/news-releases/dhs-to-begin-screening-aliens-social-media-activity-for-antisemitism

https://www.adalah.org/uploads/oldfiles/newsletter/eng/jun07/ar1.pdf

https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/gaza-death-toll-could-exceed-186000-lancet-warns

https://tribune.com.pk/story/2514241/israeli-tiktoker-sparks-outrage-after-spitting-on-ethiopian-boys-face-in-disturbing-video

https://tandslaw.com/uscis-to-review-social-media-of-foreign-national-applicants-for-immigration-benefits-for-anti-semitic-activity/

https://www.africanews.com/2025/04/10/usa-screening-for-anti-semitic-activities-as-grounds-for-visa-refusal/

https://www.cfr.org/article/us-aid-israel-four-charts

https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/2013-01-27/ty-article/.premium/ethiopians-fooled-into-birth-control/0000017f-f512-d044-adff-f7fb92c30000

SAM NUJOMA BIRTHDAY

Namibia lost its former president and founding father, Sam Nujoma, on February 9, 2025. On what would have been his 96th birthday, we look at the life of a man dedicated to the liberation of his people.

Born on May 12 1929, to a poor pastoralist family, Nujoma was the eldest of 11 children. His educational opportunities were limited because Nujoma spent much of his early childhood looking after his siblings and tending to the family's cattle and traditional farming activities.

Nujoma was thrust into politics following his arrest in 1959 for taking part in a political protest. He fled to Tanzania after his release from exile, where he helped found the South West African People's Organization (SWAPO). He launched a guerrilla war against apartheid South Africa when the state refused to heed a 1966 U.N. resolution ending its mandate on the former German colony.

Continued……He spent 30 years in exile as a SWAPO leader before returning for the Parliamentary elections in late 1989. Months later, in 1990, as Namibia's independence was confirmed, he was elected president by lawmakers, serving in that capacity for 15 years until 2005.

His achievements include initiating land reform to resolve historic inequalities, with 12% of commercial farmland transferred from minority white settlers to Africans by 2007. He also championed women's rights, saying, "There is no shortage of competent and experienced African women to lead the way forward."

Thorny issues remain, such as the issue of land, but that is now our fight. Join us in wishing this ancestor a Happy Birthday!

Sources
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/sam-nujoma-namibia-anti-apartheid-activist-first-president-dies-at-95/

https://namibiatoday.com/sylvanie-beukes-revolutionizing-e-commerce-in-namibia/

https://actsa.org/africa-mourns-a-liberation-hero-sam-nujoma/

HOW IGNORANCE OF U.S. HISTORY ENABLES RACISM

The experience of Black people in the US impacted by slavery is not only starkly different from that of immigrants whose families moved there from the 1960s onwards, it also encapsulates a hard truth: that the US wasn't just built by enslaved Africans, it was engineered to keep them at the bottom. In this short video, Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) practitioner @rahimehramezany (Instagram) explains why - reminding us that the country has a violent history of targeting Black communities down the generations, involving chattel slavery, Black Codes, Jim Crow laws, redlining and the War on Drugs.

Continued…….. Chattel slavery, for example, stripped Black people of autonomy and tore families apart. The Black Codes and Jim Crow laws that followed enforced racial segregation, denying them basic civil rights well into the 20th century. This racism inevitably became structural, as exemplified by policies such as redlining, whereby Black communities were denied access to adequate housing, credit and economic advancement. It further ensured that descendants of enslaved Africans were kept in cycles of poverty that disenfranchise them generationally today.

DEI policies have been implemented in a bid to help level the playing field. But they are under attack in the US. Ignorance of the facts of US history continues to facilitate false claims in that debate - for example, that the crises facing Black communities in the US today result largely from their own failures rather than from systemic ones. This is made worse by fallacious comparisons with families who immigrated to the US from the 1960s onwards, who have often enjoyed success in their new lives, but who also didn’t undergo the ordeal of being Black in the US.

What do you think?

Video Credit: @rahimehramezany (IG)

Sources

https://federalism.org/encyclopedia/no-topic/black-codes

https://www.albert.io/blog/jim-crow-laws-ap-african-american-studies-review

https://crownedinblacklove.com/2025/02/16/how-redlining-affected-and-continues-to-impact-black-communities

https://www.addictioncenter.com/news/2021/08/war-on-drugs-impact-on-black-people

https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/freedom-riders-jim-crow-laws

https://education.nationalgeographic.org/resource/black-codes-and-jim-crow-laws

https://www.forbes.com/sites/janicegassam/2022/02/06/black-is-not-a-monolith-an-exploration-of-how-the-black-american-and-black-immigrant-experiences-diverge/

https://www.thebaltimorestory.org/history-1/1662-racial-chattel-slavery-permanent-and-inheritable

https://www.npr.org/2017/05/03/526655831/a-forgotten-history-of-how-the-u-s-government-segregated-america

https://www.brennancenter.org/our-work/analysis-opinion/race-mass-incarceration-and-disastrous-war-drugs

https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC9901820/

https://education.nationalgeographic.org/resource/mapmaker-redlining-united-states/

Continued……. The image of Ibrahim Traoré adorning Kenyan matatus demonstrates that Africa's anti-imperialist revolution is not just a political movement. It is also a cultural awakening, a reclaiming of narrative and a bold step towards a future where Africa truly charts its own path.

Have you spotted Traoré anywhere interesting lately?

Sources

https://kenyanforeignpolicy.com/burkina-fasos-junta-ibrahim-traore-admiration-in-nairobi/

https://www.csis.org/analysis/taking-charge-gen-z-leads-historic-protests-kenya

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

https://african.business/2024/05/politics/rutos-state-visit-cements-us-kenya-relations

https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2024/05/21/ykkp-m21.html

YOUNG BURKINABE INVEST IN
TRAORÉ'S VISION

The humble tomato reveals why Africa needs to ‘ketch up’ with revolutionary Burkina Faso.

Ghanaian YouTuber Wode Maya recently paid a visit to a tomato-processing factory in Bobo-Dioulasso. The facility sheds light on why people are so excited about what’s happening under 37-year-old pan-African president Ibrahim Traoré.

Firstly, all the employees are young Burkinabés. Secondly, a lack of formal education is no hindrance to finding work for people - what matters is the right attitude towards the country’s future (where the country’s resources work for the people and the people work for the country). Thirdly, the factory is owned by the people, who stumped up all the investment capital.