THE AUDACITY OF GERMAN SETTLERS IN NAMIBIA

This viral clip features a German settler expressing astonishment at indigenous Namibians demanding settlers return occupied lands, demonstrating that the fight against colonialism continues more than a century later.

On 28 May, Namibia held its first G*nocide Remembrance Day to commemorate when German forces k*lled as many as 100,000 people of Herero and Nama ethnic origins between 1904 and 1908. This g*nocide is considered the first of the 20th century.

Similar to South Africa’s white-settler minority, who comprise less than 8 per cent of the population but own over 70 per cent of private farmland, Namibia’s 6 per cent of settler-colonialists own over 70 per cent of farmland, according to Namibia’s 2018 land statistics, and dominate businesses, according to former President Hage Geingob (1941-2024). 

Continued……Through brutality and cruelty, German settlers dispossessed indigenous Africans of their ancestral lands from 1884 to 1915. When Namibians resisted colonial rule, the Germans responded by meting out violence. German settlers k*lled the Herero and Nama in concentration camps and through military actions, with survivors forced to labour and subjected to diseases, abuse, exhaustion, s*xual exploitation, and medical experimentation. These camps are considered Germany's first concentration camps. Experts estimate German colonial forces wiped out up to 80 per cent of the Herero and 50 per cent of the Nama populations. The German military executed those who refused to surrender their land, imprisoned those who protested and drove the Herero into the Omaheke Desert, where many died of dehydration, starvation and food poisoning.

It was not until 2021 that Germany officially acknowledged its ugly history in Namibia, promising $1.2 billion in funding over 30 years, a mere $40 million a year on average, but only on the condition that Germany approve the expenditures. However, Germany has not returned looted land to its rightful owners to address the stark inequities between white settlers and Black people. 

Video credit: @vicenews

Sources

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2025/5/28/namibia-marks-inaugural-genocide-remembrance-day-with-call-for-reparations

https://thisisafrica.me/politics-and-society/whites-namibia-own-70percent-of-land

https://www.reuters.com/world/africa/namibian-communities-demand-return-land-dispute-over-german-genocide-legacy-2024-03-07

https://www.bbc.com/news/stories-56583994

https://www.reuters.com/article/world/namibia-to-make-white-owned-businesses-sell-25-percent-stakes-to-blacks-idUSKBN17F20F

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2017/3/16/namibia-tribes-lodge-case-against-germany-over-genocide

https://www.gov.na/documents/146489/243786/Genocide+Remembrance+Day+2025.pdf/943da8fe-f23f-ccf3-0765-522d4797a547?t=1748336599780

https://p-crc.org/2019/04/06/not-the-holocaust-but-the-herero

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2017/3/16/namibia-tribes-lodge-case-against-germany-over-genocide

https://www.bbc.com/news/stories-56583994

https://nsa.org.na/document/namibia-land-statistics-2018

https://www.ecchr.eu/fileadmin/Publikationen/ECCHR_NAMIBIA_DS.pdf

https://www.theholocaustexplained.org/what-was-the-holocaust/what-was-genocide/the-herero-and-namaqua-genocide

SENEGALESE STUDENTS CHASE OFF ISRAELI ENVOY

Student protests have long been a potent force for social and political breakthroughs, igniting broader movements to challenge the establishment that is often in cahoots with imperialist interests.

It’s no different with Senegalese youth standing in solidarity with Palestinians against Israel’s military onslaught in Gaza.

On 27 May, students at the prominent Cheikh Anta Diop University (UCAD) in Dakar demonstrated the West African state’s solidarity with Palestine when they chased away the Israeli ambassador from the campus. Yuval Waks was planning to deliver a talk on international relations practices at the institution.

Continued…….. Popular support for Palestine in Senegal has endured despite Dakar restoring diplomatic relations with Tel Aviv in 1995, 22 years after founding president Léopold Sédar Senghor (1906-2001) cut ties in 1973. The election of 45-year-old President Bassirou Diomaye Faye and 50-year-old Prime Minister Ousmane Sonko in 2024, propelled to power by largely youthful voters, saw a shift in Senegal’s relations with Israel. Under former President Macky Sall, Dakar mended a rift over the illegal Israeli settlements, with the West African state promising to back Tel Aviv’s candidacy as an observer at the African Union. In June 2024, Sonko called for Senegalese solidarity with the Palestinian people.

Senegalese youth join their counterparts all over the globe demanding an end to Israel’s military onslaught in Gaza. The British medical journal, The Lancet, reported in July 2024 that the death toll could have surpassed 186,000. UN Women states that since 7 October 2023, Israel has k*lled more than 28,000 women and girls, averaging one woman and one girl every hour. Israel has k*lled nearly 3,000 Palestinians after re-imposing a total blockade on humanitarian aid in March, ending a ceasefire that began on 19 January. As of 12 May, the UN’s Integrated Food Security Phase Classification indicates that about 470,000 Palestinians are facing ‘catastrophic hunger’ and the entire population is experiencing ‘acute food insecurity.’

Video credit: @RT_com (X), Ambassade d'Israël au Sénégal (Facebook), @GeoPwatch (X)

Sources

https://trt.global/afrika-english/article/1e39424c43c4

https://www.aa.com.tr/en/africa/israeli-ambassador-chased-off-campus-by-pro-palestinian-protesters-in-senegal/3581465

https://www.nytimes.com/1973/10/29/archives/ghana-and-senegal-break-diplomatic-ties-with-israel.html

https://www.aa.com.tr/en/africa/senegal-s-prime-minister-calls-for-solidarity-with-palestinians/3245174

https://www.newarab.com/news/hundreds-rally-gaza-senegal-rare-west-africa-protest

https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20250416-senegalese-to-continue-protesting-against-genocide-in-gaza-groups-say

https://www.leftvoice.org/u-s-students-protest-israels-genocide-and-universities-complicity-in-commencement-speeches/

https://www.girlsglobe.org/2024/05/29/student-movement-for-palestine-voices-against-genocide/

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

https://www.icj-cij.org/node/203454

https://news.un.org/en/story/2024/03/1147976

https://www.un.org/unispal/document/ocha-un-chief-alarmed-by-worsening-hunger-crisis-in-gaza

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c3d4kz8p00eo

https://www.unwomen.org/en/news-stories/news/2025/05/un-women-estimates-over-28000-women-and-girls-killed-in-gaza-since-october-2023

RAMAPHOSA VISIT EXPOSES WASHINGTON'S THEA-TRICKS

South African President Cyril Ramaphosa’s 21 May visit to the White House turned out to be nothing short of feeding into a theatrical performance to advance imperial narratives on blatantly false claims. However, we expected that.

In this commentary, African Stream’s @sannario_ provides a breakdown of the charade that ensued, in which both leaders performed embarrassingly.

Continued……While US President Donald Trump recycled debunked allegations using articles and videos that relied on unfounded claims of a ‘white g*nocide,’ Ramaphosa failed to set the record straight by dispelling the white-settler lies and asserting South Africa’s position as a sovereign state working to redress the ugly legacy of apartheid. Instead, he timidly lent credence to the spectacle by engaging with the ridiculous proceedings.

Indeed, more than 30 years after South Africa dismantled apartheid, the white-settler minority continues to hold most of the country’s wealth, and South African natives remain impoverished and marginalised. While the US dismisses South Africa's inequality and promotes the false narrative of a non-existent ‘white g*nocide,’ it supports and funds Israel’s siege on Gaza. In March, the UN Special Rapporteur on the Occupied Palestinian Territories, Francesca Albanese, said ‘there [were] reasonable grounds to believe Israel is committing g*nocide.’

Sources

https://www.saps.gov.za/services/crimestats.php

https://edition.cnn.com/2025/05/21/politics/fact-check-white-farmers-south-africa-trump

https://www.reuters.com/world/us/trump-makes-false-claims-white-genocide-south-africa-during-ramaphosa-meeting-2025-05-21/

https://www.nbcnews.com/world/africa/trump-musk-south-africa-refugee-claims-white-farmers-genocide-rcna206327

https://www.reuters.com/world/us/trump-makes-false-claims-white-genocide-south-africa-during-ramaphosa-meeting-2025-05-21/

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

https://www.icj-cij.org/node/203447

https://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2025/02/let_s_talk_about_africa_which_is_where_tribalism_takes_you.html

https://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2025/03/black_terrorists_talk_seizing_the_means_of_production_in_south_africa.html

https://www.news24.com/southafrica/debunking/donald-trump-confronted-cyril-ramaphosa-with-a-collection-of-misinformation-20250522-0311

https://irr.org.za/media/how-many-more-must-die-2019-2013-farmers2019-plea-to-ramaphosa-agri-news-net

https://www.un.org/unispal/document/genocide-as-colonial-erasure-report-francesca-albanese-01oct24/

UNITY WINS: LANGLEY BACKTRACKS ON TRAORÉ LIES!

If anyone doubted that Pan-African unity could prevail, US Africa Command's General Michael Langley backpedalling on his baseless accusations against Burkina Faso’s revolutionary president, Ibrahim Traoré, is all the evidence we need!

Langley is in the Kenyan capital of Nairobi for the African Chiefs of Defence Conference 2025, an event attended by US military brass and defence ministers from 38 African countries. In his 27 May interview with Kenya-based Citizen TV, Yvonne Okwara (@yvonneokwara on X) asked him to clarify his 3 April claim at the US Senate Committee on Armed Services hearing that he ‘doesn't mind calling out’ corrupt African leaders, alleging Traoré is using the country’s recently reclaimed gold reserves to protect a ‘junta regime.’ 

Continued…. Perhaps due to the outpouring of support for Traoré (@capitaineib226 on X) and Burkina Faso’s revolutionary process on the Internet and during solidarity actions held in the aftermath, most notably on 30 April across the continent and the diaspora, Langley seemed to backtrack.

In this clip, he claims his words were merely a 'cautionary' message, even going so far as to praise Burkina Faso's progress, a U-turn from his 3 April statement. 

Since Burkina Faso, Mali, and Niger ousted Western-aligned leaders in recent years, they have embarked on decolonisation processes that have involved reclaiming natural resources, building infrastructure and booting foreign troops. On 6 July 2024, the three states established the Alliance of Sahel States (AES) to move toward a federal, Pan-African state on their territories. They have announced a radical goal of eventually uniting the continent under one governance.

Unlike before, when we watched imperial powers smear our revolutionaries to justify oustings or assassinations, this is a new era.

While it is satisfying to hear Langley back off, we are also aware that imperialists have a lengthy history of employing manipulation tactics to pacify the masses. Therefore, we must remain vigilant and continue to stand firmly behind the AES, which is paving the way for a new, dignified chapter for the African people in the 21st century.

Video credit: @citizentvkenya

Sources

https://www.africom.mil/document/35810/4325fulltrannoscriptpdf

https://www.africanews.com/2025/04/30/thousands-of-people-rally-in-support-of-burkina-fasos-transitional-president/

https://www.thezimbabwemail.com/opinion/why-the-west-fears-captain-ibrahim-traore-burkina-fasos-revolution-is-africas-awakening

https://www.mod.go.ke/news/president-ruto-opens-african-chiefs-of-defence-conference-2025

4 MUST-READ BOOKS BY NGŨGĨ WA THIONG'O

Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o, a towering figure in African literature and a staunch anti-imperialist who advocated for Africans to use African languages, died on 28 May in the US state of Georgia. 

Born James Thiong'o Ngũgĩ in British-ruled Kenya in 1938, the country's struggle for independence shaped his life and work. Ngũgĩ’s writings served as a mirror to society, challenging both colonial rule and post-independence leaders serving former colonisers. 

His novels like ‘Devil on the Cross’ (1980), written on toilet paper during a prison stint, expose the brutal grip of capitalism and corruption, while ‘Decolonising the Mind’ (1986) remains a foundational book of essays on postcolonial thought, urging African writers to reject colonial languages in favour of their own. Ngũgĩ’s decision to abandon English and write in his native Gikuyu was radical, aligning language with the cause of liberation.

Continued……In his novel, 'Petals of Blood' (1977), the characters fight African elites who are aligned with colonial powers.

In another novel, ‘Matigari’ (1986), Ngũgĩ weaves the tale of a freedom fighter returning to a newly independent fictional country, only to find it still in the clutches of colonialism. Hoping for peace but confronted by institutional violence and betrayal, the main character’s story becomes a parable for generational resistance and the need for continuous struggle against oppression. 

These works only scratch the surface of Ngũgĩ’s (@NgugiWaThiongo_ on X) literary legacy, which continues to resonate with their themes of justice, decolonisation and the betrayal of the postcolonial promise.

Video credits: @cccb_barcelona (IG) / @cececebe (X); 'Africa Addio,' Cineriz (1966)

Sources

https://archive.ph/7GcKs#selection-805.10-805.28

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/159334.Devil_on_the_Cross

https://www.businessradar.co.ke/blog/2025/05/28/the-ngugi-wa-thiongo-imprisonment-why-was-he-jailed-in-kenya-everything-you-need-to-know/

https://www.gradesaver.com/devil-on-the-cross/study-guide/summary

https://sujarithasaravanan.blogspot.com/2019/02/decolonising-mind-by-ngugi-wa-thiongo.html

https://www.gradesaver.com/matigari/study-guide/summary

Continued……Sources
https://www.incotedivoire.net/article-flash/Agreement%20signed%20between%20the%20Senate%20of%20C%C3%B4te%20d%E2%80%99Ivoire%20and%20Corsair%20Group

https://pressecotedivoire.fr/22479-convention-corsair-institutions-de-la-republique-les-deputes-pdci-levent-tout-equivoque-se-desolidarisent-de-ce-projet-indigne

https://x.com/marcus_herve/status/1924426211947597888

https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SP.DYN.LE00.IN?locations=FR

https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SP.DYN.LE00.IN?locations=CI

S.AFRICA LAWYER DISPELS LAND EXPROPRIATION MYTHS

South Africa's Land Expropriation Act, which was signed into law in early 2025 as part of efforts to provide redress for the country's historical land injustices, has generated considerable debate in recent months. The act allows the government to expropriate privately owned land for public purposes or in the public interest, with nil compensation in rare cases.

Some, such as the Donald Trump-led United States governments and right-wing organisations inside South Africa, claim the law is part of what they allege to be 'persecution' of the country's white settlers. However, a closer look at the act shows that this is far from the truth.

Continued……For instance, in this interview with Newzroom Afrika (@newzroomafrika5914 on YouTube), renowned South African lawyer Tembeka Ngcukaitobi (Ngcukaitobi1 on X) highlights that the act will most likely not result in any active settler-owned land taken away by the state without compensation.
Ngcukaitobi explains that, despite right-wing elements portraying the act as radical, it is actually mild, as the nil compensation part will only apply to idle and abandoned land, implying that most settler farmers whose land is in active use will not be affected.

This explanation aligns with arguments that have been put forward by progressive organisations such as the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF), who say the law does not go far enough to address the land dispossession that Black South Africans were subjected to during centuries of European settler colonialism, which ramped up into apartheid between 1948 and 1994.
They argue that the act will not alter the country's current land ownership structure, where white settlers own more than 72 per cent of the land according to a 2017 government land audit, despite making up only about 7 per cent of the population as per the 2022 national census.

Credit: Newzroom Afrika/YouTube

Sources

https://www.dw.com/en/south-africas-land-law-in-the-spotlight-amid-trump-row/a-72634031
https://www.politicsweb.co.za/documents/expropriation-act-a-legislative-copout-by-anc--eff
https://x.com/EFFSouthAfrica/status/1886359317021945948
https://www.statssa.gov.za/?p=16716

Continued….. African Lion exercises also took place in Ghana, Senegal and Tunisia.

This US military exercise comes despite the United States doing more harm than good by destabilising the Sahel region. Following the 2011 US-led NATO invasion in Libya that backed 'rebels' who murdered Pan-Africanist Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi (1942-2011), t*rrorist violence surged dramatically in the region, particularly in Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger. Subsequent Western military occupations failed to curb this violence, contributing instead to growing instability and prompting the three Sahelian states to expel Western forces following recent people-backed coups d’état that ousted Western-aligned leaders.

Sources
https://www.israelhayom.com/2025/05/25/idf-moroccan-army-collab-for-african-lion-training-exercise/

https://x.com/MenchOsint/status/1926577926075457751

https://www.wilsoncenter.org/blog-post/sahel-now-accounts-43-global-terrorism-deaths

https://theintercept.com/2023/04/02/us-military-counterterrorism-niger

https://www.idf.il/en/mini-sites/our-corps-units-brigades/infantry-brigades/golani-serving-with-pride-since-1948

https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20241122-israel-army-alarmed-by-death-toll-among-golani-brigade-soldiers-report

https://www.army.mil/article/285824/african_lion_2025_concludes_showcases_us_ability_to_project_power_with_allies_and_partners_across_africa

ROBBED IN FRANCE, BUT LOOK AT THE HEADLINE

A British man on his way to Africa by skateboard got robbed in France, but where does the headline focus? Africa. Why doesn’t it mention France, the site of the robbery? 

Intentional or not, it is not difficult to see how readers skimming headlines might assume an African robbed the Brit.

The key detail was stashed in the BBC article. Sam Allison, who is attempting to skate from Brighton, England, to Tangier, Morocco, was robbed, leaving him with only his phone and wallet while camping in France. BBC reports he is attempting to raise money for a charity to support wellness in the skateboarding community.

BBC’s headline framing isn’t just misleading. It subtly reinforces existing biases that associate Africa with danger or misfortune, even when it has nothing to do with the event in question.