Continued……. However, his Senegalese counterpart did not share his anti-imperialist stance regarding France, causing the federation to splinter. Then, the Republic of Mali, as we know it today, was born.

Keïta became Mali’s first president in 1960. An ardent anti-imperialist, he forged a new sovereign currency for Mali, which lasted until his overthrow in 1968. The Keïta government transformed education, and government-supported farming cooperatives became the backbone of the economy. Mali became a close friend of revolutionary governments worldwide, from Cuba to Vietnam. The government organised youth weeks for ethnic groups and regions to represent their heritage while supporting the revolution.

Keïta never stopped fighting for a unified socialist Africa. In 1961, Mali joined the Union of African States, also known as the Ghana-Guinea-Mali Union. He was close with revolutionary Pan-African leaders, such as Ghana’s Kwame Nkrumah (1909-72), Guinea’s Ahmed Sékou Touré (1922-84), Egypt’s Gamal Abdel Nasser (1918-70) and Algeria’s Ahmed Ben Bella (1916-2012).

Today, as we remember Keïta, we join in solidarity with Mali’s current leader, Assimi Goïta, leading the country through a revolution in partnership with the Alliance of Sahel States (AES).

Sources

https://modibo-keita.site/la-quete-de-lunite-africaine/

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1qIyVGQtlsgntLEKBNTwtecZ8lKx_UoZ-/view?usp=drive_link

Modibo Keita - Portrait Inedit du President by Daouda Tekete

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

Africa Mia (2020), Richard Minier, Édouard Salier

http://www1.rfi.fr/musiqueen/articles/123/article_8341.asp

U.S. VS. CHINA & RUSSIA IN AFRICA

Western attitudes toward development in Africa have changed little since colonialism. The Lobito corridor is a case in point. 

As explained by journalist David Hundeyin (@DavidHundeyin on X), the key purpose for this rail line linking the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and Angola’s port town of Lobito is, like many colonial projects, extractive. The West Africa Weekly (@WestAfricaWeek on X) founder told Press TV that the corridor was designed to maximise the extraction of the DRC’s and Zambia’s resources, like copper, but it left little benefit to the people. As per Hundeyin, the Lobito corridor would have made more sense if it ended in Luanda, Angola’s capital city, where more people would have used it.

How different are China and Russia? While the Chinese have also been interested in securing minerals, resource extraction has not driven their engagement with Africa.

Continued……. They have laid down about 100,000 kilometres of roads and over 10,000 kilometres of rail in about 25 years. An example is the 1,860-kilometre Tazara railway connecting Tanzania and Zambia, constructed in the 1970s for $406 million when China had not yet welcomed the foreign direct investment it had used to develop its country rapidly. The New York Times called the deal ‘generous,’ with the loan being interest-free and featuring a five-year grace period.

Hundeyin also cites Russia, which, aside from its involvement in the liberation of Africa when it was part of the former Soviet Union, has become a security partner for Burkina Faso in the thick of a war to reclaim their country from t*rrorism. In 2024, Burkina Faso President Ibrahim Traoré said that Russia bears no paternalism, unlike France, which has reportedly blocked weapons deliveries.

Have a watch, and let us know what you make of it.

Video credit: @PressTV (X)

Sources
https://www.lobitocorridor.org/history-background

https://news.cgtn.com/news/2025-03-07/Chinese-FM-No-global-modernization-without-African-modernization-1BxFfuxzKRW/p.html

https://malawi24.com/2024/09/09/tazara-revitalization-a-beacon-of-china-africa-cooperation

https://archive.ph/lguqb

https://www.nytimes.com/1971/01/29/archives/tanzaniazambia-railway-a-bridge-to-china.html

https://x.com/i/status/1800843998141051293

ELON MUSK: CEO, LIES INC.

Elon Musk (@elonmusk) has posted another lie about South Africa to his 220-million followers on X. The billionaire claims the country of his birth has passed 142 laws discriminating against the non-Black population. In particular, he claims that his satellite Internet provider Starlink is being denied a licence there - because he’s not Black. What makes Musk’s falsehoods especially dangerous is that he has the ear of Donald Trump. The US President and his administration have targeted South Africa, relying on misinformation to justify measures such as stopping aid.

Musk’s claim about Starlink does not stand up to scrutiny. In South Africa, the firm is required to comply with Black Economic Empowerment (BEE) rules, an overdue corrective measure to colonial-era exclusion. These require foreign companies to reserve 30% ownership for historically disadvantaged South Africans.

Continued……. Starlink had requested an exemption, arguing that it was a barrier to market entry. According to online news platform The South African, Musk had not even applied for a licence by late March - despite earlier rants about South Africa’s supposedly ‘racist’ laws. If we peel back the mask, what is his real complaint? He wanted a free pass to undercut local investors.

Another of his lies that’s had real-world consequences is that White South Africans of Dutch descent are persecuted. Members of that community have just been welcomed in the US, after Donald Trump invited them to claim asylum, repeating Musk’s claim. Musk referred to the country’s recent Land Expropriation Law as evidence. This allows land seizures in very limited circumstances and with compensation. The motivation of the law is to correct historical injustices that mean the lion’s share of South Africa’s valuable land is in the hands of the White minority. This owns 72% of commercial farmland, despite making up only 7.2% of the population. Black South Africans make up 81.4% of the population but control only 4%.

Many argue the law does not go far enough. For example, South Africa’s Economic Freedom Fighters party wants to scrap compensation, arguing the land was stolen.

Sources
https://www.joburgetc.com/business/eff-starlink-cryptocurrency-bbe-compliance-south-africa/

https://x.com/elonmusk/status/1922990397136990647

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c77887npl2mo

https://www.joburgetc.com/business/musk-bee-barrier-south-africa-starlink/

https://www.thesouthafrican.com/lifestyle/starlink-south-africa-internet-price-elon-musk-bee-latest/

https://x.com/Newzroom405/status/1903062901600002067

https://allafrica.com/stories/202502040285.html

Continued…….. https://www.africanews.com/2023/08/25/nigers-junta-expels-french-ambassador/

https://www.arabnews.com/node/2596150/world

40 YEARS AFTER THE MOVE BOMBING IN PHILADELPHIA

This week marks the 40th anniversary of the MOVE bombing in Philadelphia in the US state of Pennsylvania.

On 13 May 1985, 13 people lived inside the headquarters of MOVE (@themoveorganization on IG) at 6221 Osage Avenue, when nearly 500 police officers surrounded the building to execute arrest warrants for the charges of parole violation, contempt of court, illegal possession of firearms, and making t*rroristic threats

Founded in 1972 by John Africa, MOVE often fought city authorities over alleged housing and zoning violations. As a Black liberation group, MOVE advocated returning to nature, environmentalism, animal rights, communal living, and resistance against white-supremacist and imperialistic systemic oppression. The name, MOVE, signifies their belief that ‘everything alive - moves,’ emphasising active participation. Many members adopted ‘Africa’ as a surname.

Continued……When MOVE members didn’t surrender to police on that fateful day, officers opted for a violent removal despite knowing children were present. The situation escalated into a gunfight, with police firing over 10,000 rounds before shocking the world by bombing the house.

The resulting fire k*lled six adults and five children. The fire later spread to more than 60 nearby attached rowhomes, leaving some 250 people homeless. Eyewitnesses reported that police shot at victims trying to escape the flames. Ramona Africa, then 29, and a 13-year-old boy, Michael Moses Ward, were the only survivors. No one from the city or police department was ever criminally charged. In 2005, a jury awarded $12.83 million in damages to neighbours forced from their homes. In 1996, Ramona took the city to court and won a $1.5 million settlement. In 2020, the Philadelphia city council apologised for the bombing. 

Michael Ward died at age 41 in 2013, leaving Ramona Africa as the last living resident of the MOVE headquarters, still fighting for freedom.

Video credits: CBS Philadelphia (@cbsphiladelphia IG); NBC Philadelphia (nbcphiladelphia IG); VICE (@VICE on IG); ‘Let it Burn,’ George Washington University 2013

Sources

https://whyy.org/articles/move-bombing-anniversary-cobbs-creek-osage/

https://www.westphillylocal.com/2025/05/12/city-community-members-commemorate-move-bombing-victims-on-40th-anniversary

https://theanarchistlibrary.org/library/pedro-sanchez-ramona-africa-interview-with-ramona-africa-on-move

https://www.answercoalition.org/help_ramona_africa_fight_for_her_life

https://www.nbcphiladelphia.com/news/local/1985-move-bombing-philadelphia-40th-anniversary/4182667

https://www.latimes.com/local/obituaries/la-me-birdie-africa-20130926-story.html

https://www.phillytrib.com/news/local_news/osage-neighbors-have-witnessed-their-block-change-since-move-bombing/article_bb6ede92-678d-4632-aacb-f8dffcae4cc0.html

https://web.archive.org/web/20211110215354/http://content.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,141842,00.html

On 16 May 1983, a rebellion in Bor, (now South) Sudan, officially marked the founding of the Sudan People's Liberation Army/Movement (SPLA/M).

The key figures in the group were the late pan-African revolutionary leader Dr. John Garang de Mabior (1945-2005), alongside his comrades Kerbino Kuanyin Bol (1948-1999), William Nyuon (1930-1996), Arok Thon Arok (unknown-1998) and South Sudan’s current President Salva Kiir Mayardit.

Sudan's government had reneged on key provisions of the 1972 Addis Ababa Agreement with the Southern Sudan Liberation Movement (SSLM), commonly known as the Anyanya resistance that ended the First Sudanese Civil War. Violations included the failure to grant the southern region autonomy and the imposition of Sharia law.

Continued……. The mutiny in Bor had been secretly planned for a long time but was not to be carried out yet. Kerbino, a colonel for the Sudan Armed Forces (SAF), decided to start it early, on 16 May. Garang, also an SAF colonel, had taken leave from his Khartoum station and travelled to Bor - his hometown - to try and change Kerbino’s mind. But Kerbino pushed ahead with the rebellion anyway, and Garang joined in. Garang later became the movement’s leader.

Unlike the earlier Anyanya movement, which primarily sought southern independence, the SPLA/M surprised many in July 1983 when it issued its first manifesto. It called for a united, socialist Sudan that would end oppression not only in the South, but across all marginalised regions, including the Nuba Mountains, Blue Nile and Darfur.

Former SPLM spokesperson Yasir Arman has said that Garang was a pan-African who saw it as a ‘contradiction to call for a united Africa, but not Sudan.’ He went on, ‘[Garang's] pan-Africanist ideology was deeply influenced by his time in Tanzania, a hub of pan-African thought during the 1960s and 1970s, where he met great pan-African scholars like Walter Rodney [1942-1980].’

However, after his suspicious death in a 2005 plane crash and the failure of numerous peace deals, South Sudanese overwhelmingly voted for an independent nation in 2011.

Sources

FIRST HAND ACCOUNT BY FORMER SPLM SPOKESPERSON, YASIR ARMAN.

https://peacekeeping.un.org/sites/default/files/past/unmis/referendum.shtml

https://www.cmi.no/file/1867-Addis-Ababa-agreement.pdf

https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/abs/root-causes-of-sudans-civil-wars/addis-ababa-agreement-the-regional-governments-197283/A9E8251ED9C9F823FF26CB78F8883A49

https://peacemaker.un.org/sites/default/files/document/files/2024/05/sd720312addis20ababa20agreement20on20the20problem20of20south20sudan.pdf

https://www.thoughtco.com/john-garang-de-mabior-43576

GAMAL ABDEL NASSER REFUSED TO MANDATE HIJAB IN EGYPT

Egypt’s second president, Gamal Abdel Nasser (1918-70), was not only a revolutionary leader who played a key role in the 1952 revolution that overthrew Egypt’s monarchy and led to the British Empire pulling out of the country, but he was also a staunch pan-Africanist. Nasser advocated for the unity of Africans and came to the aid of fellow revolutionaries like the Democratic Republic of the Congo’s Prime Minister Patrice Lumumba (1925-61), providing refuge to his family in Cairo after his assassination by US-, UK- and Belgian-backed Congolese forces in 1961.

Continued………. Under the leadership of Nasser, the Free Officers Movement overthrew Egyptian King Farouk I in 1952. Egypt underwent a transformative period that shaped its political and economic trajectory for decades to come. Aiming to dismantle the feudal system, revolutionary land reform moved land from the hands of the elite to peasants in what came to be known as a socialist Arab state. Nasser is most fondly known for nationalising the Suez Canal, which helped generate around $100 million per year and became a symbol of national pride.

In this clip, Nasser shares a light-hearted moment from a conversation when the leader of the Muslim Brotherhood asked him in 1953 to mandate the hijab (Muslim head scarf) for women in Egypt. However, Nasser rejected this as he believed it should be left to individual choice. The late Egyptian leader often expressed that the Muslim Brotherhood was deceptive, only seeking to exploit religion to further their ambitions and the interests of colonists and Arab reactionary groups.

Sources

https://www.ebsco.com/research-starters/history/gamal-abdel-nasser

https://merip.org/1982/07/egypts-transition-under-nasser

https://history.state.gov/milestones/1953-1960/suez

https://jacobin.com/2021/11/egypt-gamal-abdel-nasser-world-politics-arab-socialism-anti-imperialism-history

https://www.egypttoday.com/Article/1/54557/How-Abdel-Nasser-described-Muslim-Brotherhood

https://themuslimvibe.com/faith-islam/in-history/meet-hakim-bi-amr-allah-the-donald-trump-of-islamic-history

https://www.dailynewsegypt.com/2022/06/30/dr-congo-independence-lumumba

BURKINA FASO'S PEOPLE MILITIA TRAINING TO BUILD THE COUNTRY

On 28 April, Burkina Faso unveiled the Faso Mêbo programme, an initiative for the Volunteers for the Defence of the Homeland (VDP), a people's militia, to receive training and jobs in road construction, infrastructure development, and city beautification. 

In this clip from a livestream co-produced with @authentic_african (IG), Ouagadougou-based African Stream journalist Inemesit Richardson (also president of @burkinabooks on IG) spoke about this new programme.

For three weeks, the government trained the youths in military tactics and combat techniques and provided education on civics and patriotism. On 28 April, it graduated the programme’s first 450 people in Ouagadougou.