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. 

Continued…….. Faso Mêbo has been in the making for several months. Burkina Faso Prime Minister Jean-Emmanuel Ouédraogo first announced it on 16 October 2024. In March 2025, the government said that in preparing for this project, it had acquired more than 900 vehicles, including 4x4 ​​pick-up trucks, recycling machines, bulldozers, hydraulic excavators, loader shovels, graders, concrete mixers, crane trucks, dump trucks, tank trucks, tank transporters, workshop trucks, compactors and more. The government handed over approximately $341 million of equipment to the Faso Mêbo programme.

‘The aim is to be able to [construct] between 3,000 and 5,000 kilometres of roads per year in Burkina Faso,’ Faso Mêbo National Coordinator Zonoma Ahmed Sakandé was quoted as saying in a presidential statement issued on 27 March.

To watch the full video, check out the African Stream Editor-in-Chief Ahmed Kaballo's YouTube channel (@ahmedkaballo4170).

Sources

https://www.presidencedufaso.bf/initiative-presidentielle-faso-mebo-450-vdp-de-la-construction-prets-pour-les-chantiers/

https://web.facebook.com/watch/?v=1313451776704522

https://www.presidencedufaso.bf/remise-dequipements-a-linitiative-presidentielle-faso-mebo

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DMiuWU2Kcig

AFRICANS REJECT DEAL TO EASE WEST’S CARBON GUILT

Reducing carbon emissions is one way to help the climate. Paying for so-called carbon credits and offsets is touted as another. However, the reality is that not only does this enable the rich to keep on polluting, but it also often impacts the lives of communities where counter-emissions projects are implemented. One example is the ‘Soils for the Future’ programme, in which Kenya tries to secure ancestral lands for local tribes to implement green policies. On 1 May in Kajiado County, locals fought back - organising a major protest against a proposed deal to see the land surrendered for limited compensation.

Continued……The irony is that Africa bears the brunt of climate change, but causes a fraction of the world’s pollution compared with highly industrialised regions - yet we are expected to go green before attaining full development. It’s high time the West started compensating us for the environmental damage it’s inflicting on us, don’t you think?

Let us know in the comments.

Sources

https://nation.africa/kenya/health/no-carbon-credits-chaos-erupts-over-40-year-land-deal-in-kajiado-5025656

https://www.dlapiper.com/en-us/insights/publications/2025/04/all-eyes-on-carbon-markets-amid-belated-progress-and-domestic-challenges

https://www.oaklandinstitute.org/report/stealth-game

https://www.the-star.co.ke/sasa/2015-05-13-history-of-inter-communal-conflicts-among-pastoralist-communities

https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2024/05/carbon-credit-scam-financial-cost-virtue-signaling-little/

https://www.uneca.org/stories/17-out-of-the-20-countries-most-threatened-by-climate-change-are-in-africa%2C-but-there-are

https://ourworldindata.org/co2-emissions

On 13 May, Finland returned a ceremonial seat that French colonial forces had looted from what is now Benin. Officials from both countries hailed the transfer as a significant step in restoring the West African state's cultural legacy.

The Katakle, a three-legged stool, traces its origins to the Kingdom of Dahomey, established in the 17th century along the coast of present-day Benin. The Katakle is a ceremonial portable throne representing stability and authority.

In 1892, French colonial troops seized 27 artefacts from the Kingdom of Dahomey royal palace, including two Katakles, which the French moved to the Ethnographic Museum of the Trocadero in Paris.

France declared in 2018 that it would return 26 of the 27 pieces, which it did in 2021. However, one Katakle wound up in Finland.

Alain Godonu (@Alain Godonou on Linkedin), director of Benin’s museums, estimated in 2007 that 90 per cent to 95 per cent of Africa's cultural treasures are in major museums outside the continent.

Continued……. A 2018 study by Bénédicte Savoy from France and Felwine Sarr (@FelwineSarr on X) from Senegal revealed France has over 90,000 artefacts from what is termed ‘sub-Saharan Africa,’ with 70,000 of those located in the Paris-based Musée du Quai Branly-Jacques Chirac. The remaining pieces are in various places around Paris, as well as in port cities.

The wanton looting of Africa's treasures robbed us of our cultural and historical identity, with colonialists replacing them with Western culture and norms.

Western museums have typically resisted calls to return items to their nations of origin, often arguing that those countries lack the necessary resources to care for such works. But what makes them think the original owners would fail to look after these precious items?

Sources

https://archive.ph/cuED8

https://www.euronews.com/culture/2022/07/15/should-european-museums-return-african-heritage-items

https://www.aljazeera.com/features/2021/10/12/stealing-africa-how-britain-looted-the-continents-art

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/feb/18/dahomey-france-should-return-much-more-looted-african-art-film-maker-mati-diop-says

https://www.theeastafrican.co.ke/tea/news/west-africa/france-hands-back-26-treasures-looted-from-benin-3614126

https://archive.ph/bvi6z

https://peopledaily.digital/news/it-is-time-to-return-africas-stolen-artifacts

NIGERIA’S NIGER STATE GOVERNOR CALLS FOR ARRESTS ON DREADLOCKED CITIZENS

A recent directive by the Governor of Niger State in Nigeria’s northwest, Umaru Bago, calling for the arrest of individuals wearing dreadlocks in the state capital Minna as a part of a broader crackdown on violent crimes, sparked widespread public outrage and accusations of discriminatory profiling. The governor’s remarks, perceived as targeting a specific appearance associated with the youth, drew widespread condemnation from the public, who called the move unjust and insensitive. The governor later retracted his comments following backlash. In a statement, Bago said his initial statements were not directed towards law-abiding citizens, but the crackdown was aimed at criminals who use dreadlocks as cult symbols.