Today is Juneteenth (19 June), also known as Emancipation Day, which commemorates the arrival of US troops in Galveston, Texas, to declare the abolition of slavery over two-and-a-half years after the Emancipation Proclamation took effect on 1 January 1863.

The document liberated at least 3.5 million enslaved individuals in Confederate states during the US Civil War (1861-65). Initially, Lincoln aimed to free enslaved Africans to bolster the US military, but his focus shifted to preserving the Union (the northern states), which ultimately meant ending slavery.

Many enslavers sought refuge in seceded Texas with their enslaved individuals, viewing it as a sanctuary for slavery. Ironically, Texas was part of Mexico’s territory. However, once Mexico abolished slavery in 1829, enslavers fought to be part of the United States to keep their slavery-based plantations intact.

Continued…….. Once Black people began reviving local Juneteenth celebrations in the late 20th century, US President Joe Biden established it as a federal holiday in 2021.

Sadly, freedom did not come with reparations or equality. Today, descendants of enslaved Africans continue to face physical and mental health issues, such as high blood pressure and kidney disease. Black households hold 10 times less wealth than white households, while Black men are four times more likely to be incarcerated than white men.

Could Juneteenth celebrations becoming popular renew the call for reparations?

Please share your thoughts in the comments.

Sources

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/juneteenth-name-origin-story-behind-holiday-noscript/

https://www.history.com/articles/emancipation-proclamation

https://www.loc.gov/collections/abraham-lincoln-papers/articles-and-essays/abraham-lincoln-and-emancipation/

https://www.thestoryoftexas.com/discover/campfire-stories/african-americans

https://www.thn.org/2021/06/18/juneteenth2021/

https://www.vox.com/2020/6/18/21294825/history-of-juneteenth

https://www.sentencingproject.org/reports/one-in-five-ending-racial-inequity-in-incarceration/

https://www.theneighborhoodacademy.org/editoruploads/files/Sledge%2C%20Aleeciyah%20SS%20Final%20Essay%20Final%202024.pdf

https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC8352535/

https://www.brookings.edu/articles/closing-the-racial-wealth-gap-requires-heavy-progressive-taxation-of-wealth

https://www.texasmonthly.com/being-texan/how-leaders-texas-revolution-fought-preserve-slavery

GOÏTA LAYS FIRST BRICK OF MALI
GOLD REFINERY

On 16 June 2025, Mali's president, Assimi Goïta, laid the foundation for a future many thought impossible: a national gold refinery, owned and operated by Mali, in the Sénou neighbourhood of the capital Bamako. This facility, which is majority owned by the Malian government in partnership with a Russian company, represents a milestone in Mali's quest for greater control over its mineral resources. In 2023, Mali adopted a new mining code that increased the country's maximal share over its gold mines from 15 to 35%, a bold move that rattled multinational giants. It also included new tax regulations for foreign companies, which has led to conflicts with Anglo-Australian company Resolute Mining and Canadian firm Barrick Gold.

Continued……Mali is part of the Alliance of Sahel States (AES) confederation along with Burkina Faso and Niger. Burkina Faso recently nationalised two gold mines and revoked three mining permits, while Niger nationalised two of its major uranium mines in 2024.

Sources

https://www.maliweb.net/economie/mines-dor-societes/lancement-des-travaux-de-construction-de-la-raffinerie-dor-du-mali-3106185.html

https://www.aa.com.tr/fr/afrique/mali-pose-de-la-première-pierre-de-lusine-de-la-première-raffinerie-nationale-d-or/3600911

https://www.agenceecofin.com/or/0409-121244-le-mali-obtient-l-application-du-nouveau-code-minier-a-une-mine-en-production

https://www.ft.com/content/a92e089f-beb4-4677-9537-f564bff06715

https://www.reuters.com/markets/commodities/mali-has-shut-barrick-golds-office-bamako-over-alleged-non-payment-taxes-sources-2025-04-15/

https://www.reuters.com/world/africa/burkina-faso-completes-nationalisation-five-gold-mining-assets-2025-06-12/

https://www.neimagazine.com/news/niger-seizes-control-of-somair-uranium-mine/

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/6/21/niger-revokes-french-nuclear-groups-licence-at-major-uranium-mine

Pan-Africanists and lovers of justice are celebrating that Belgian prosecutors on 17 June recommended that the Brussels Council Chamber refer a 14-year-old lawsuit to the Brussels Criminal Court that Pan-African revolutionary Patrice Lumumba’s eldest son filed against 10 Belgians he accused of playing a part in his father’s assassination. 

The lawsuit accuses the 10 people of war crimes, torture and inhumane treatment. It also stated that the Belgian state was part of a conspiracy to k*ll Lumumba (1925-61), the Democratic Republic of the Congo's first prime minister.

Prosecutors claimed to have a written request from 92-year-old former diplomat Etienne Davignon, who seeks to postpone the case. He is the last remaining of the 10 named in the lawsuit. 

Continued……The Belgian-, UK- and US-backed kidnapping and assassination of Lumumba in January 1961 shocked the continent. All that remained of the beloved figure was a tooth that Gerard Soete, a Belgian police officer, had stolen from his body before he reportedly dissolved Lumumba’s corpse in acid and burned it. Belgium returned the tooth to the Lumumba family for a proper burial in 2022.

A 2000–2001 Belgian parliamentary investigation had concluded that several Belgian ministers and officials were ‘morally responsible’ for Lumumba's death. In 2002, the Belgian government formally apologised.

Sources

https://www.arabnews.com/node/2604846/world

https://www.worldstockmarket.net/dr-congo-patrice-lumumba-60-years-of-unfinished-history

https://www.namibian.com.na/lumumbas-son-seeks-belgian-justice

https://www.brusselstimes.com/1608532/lumumba-assassination-case-comes-up-on-17-june-at-the-brussels-council-chamber

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2001/nov/17/humanities.research

https://www.thenewhumanitarian.org/ar/node/198988

https://www.ecchr.eu/pressemitteilung/justice-for-the-assassination-of-patrice-lumumba

https://www.dw.com/en/who-killed-patrice-lumumba-dr-congos-first-prime-minister/a-72949990

TED CRUZ REVEALS HYPOCRISY ON RELIGIOUS EXTREMISM

Cheerleaders for imperialist wars of aggression hypocritically accuse Muslims of religious extremism while they use wrongly interpreted Biblical texts to justify their warmongering.

US Senator Ted Cruz (@SenTedCruz on X) is baying for Iranian blood by supporting Israel's aggression against Iran, a position that he claims a noscriptural text about blessing Israel mandates. Journalist and commentator Tucker Carlson (@TuckerCarlson on X) challenged Cruz's interpretation, questioning him directly applying a religious text to modern geopolitical realities.

Continued……By pressing Cruz to articulate how this Biblical command translates into unqualified support for Israel, Tucker has become amongst many who have scrutinised Christian Z*onism, an influential evangelical Christian movement based on the belief that the modern state of Israel is a fulfilment of Biblical prophecy. 

Christian Z*onists unwaveringly support Israeli policies, which include an ongoing military onslaught in Gaza, despite its grave impact on Palestinians, including Palestinian Christians. 

In October 2024, a commission mandated by the UN Human Rights Council called on all states and international organisations, including the UN, to bring to an end Israel's unlawful presence in the Occupied Palestinian Territory. The panel based its report on an advisory opinion of the International Court of Justice, which ruled Israel's occupation unlawful. 

The Carlson-Cruz exchange reveals Washington's baseless foreign policy in West Asia, where it has waged its ‘Global War on Terror’ (GWOT) against neighbouring Muslim-majority countries. In September 2024, the US secured an $8.7 billion aid package for Israel. Meanwhile, Washington's war on terror has k*lled over 800,000 people, according to the Costs of War Project. 

In 1982, former US Secretary of State Alexander Haig (1924-2010) called Israel 'the largest American aircraft carrier in the world that cannot be sunk, does not carry even one American soldier, and is located in a critical region for American national security.' 

Video credit: @tcnetwork (X)

Sources

https://www.chron.com/politics/article/tucker-carlson-ted-cruz-iran-20382993.php

https://www.cruz.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases/sen-cruz-statement-standing-with-israel-after-prime-minister-netanyahus-address-to-congress

https://blogs.lse.ac.uk/lseupr/2025/02/07/the-politics-of-apocalypse-the-rise-of-american-evangelical-zionism/

https://religionmediacentre.org.uk/factsheets/factsheet-christian-zionism/

https://news.un.org/en/story/2024/09/1154496

https://news.un.org/en/story/2024/10/1155861

https://news.un.org/en/story/2024/10/1155861

https://www.ohchr.org/sites/default/files/documents/hrbodies/hrcouncil/coiopt/2024-10-18-COI-position-paper_co-israel.pdf

https://warpreventioninitiative.org/peace-science-digest/how-successful-was-the-global-war-on-terror-evidence-of-a-backlash-effect/

https://www.ajc.org/news/what-every-american-should-know-about-us-aid-to-israel

https://runnermag.ca/2015/03/israel-is-americas-aircraft-carrier-in-the-middle-east

Continued…….. Sources

https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1979/11/18/women-blacks-ordered-freed-in-iran/66947cbd-c9b1-4933-ac10-0e400c67e215/

https://www.britannica.com/event/Iran-hostage-crisis/Conflict-and-resolution

https://www.pbs.org/newshour/world/in-first-cia-acknowledges-1953-coup-it-backed-to-overthrow-leader-of-iran-was-undemocratic

https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/students-iran-hostage-crisis/

https://apnews.com/general-news-6149da2418b140c2b1d5b0ca5779bac5

https://www.ebsco.com/research-starters/history/iran-hostage-crisis

https://www.nytimes.com/1979/11/20/archives/iranians-who-seized-us-embassy-release-4-women-and-6-black-men.html

GEORGE GALLOWAY: 'THE WORLD IS LARGER THAN THE WEST, PIERS!'

In this recently aired episode of ‘Piers Morgan Uncensored’ (@piersuncensored on X), while speaking on the support Iran has in its response to Israel's attacks and aggression, George Galloway (@GeorgeGalloway on X), leader of the Workers Party of Britain, delivered a searing reality check to the British journalist, exposing the arrogance of Western-centric worldviews.

Galloway boldly challenged Morgan's presumptuousness in arbitrarily deciding which countries deserve legitimacy. Western hegemony, relentlessly propagated by figures like Morgan, shamelessly romanticises Western leadership, arrogantly positioning it as superior to the voices and sovereignty of the Global South. Yet, as Galloway aptly pointed out, this narrative is a dangerous illusion.

Continued……. Western powers such as the US and the UK cloak themselves in the façade of civilisation and democracy, all the while propping up, funding, and enabling brutal regimes. Israel being the largest recipient of US foreign aid since World War II despite Israel’s occupation of the Palestinian territories is a glaring example.

Furthermore, the West's self-proclaimed status as the bastion of freedom and human rights has been exposed as a grotesque hypocrisy. Since Israel's siege of Gaza began on 7 October 2023, the world has witnessed how its allies have systematically silenced dissent through the arrests of activists like US legal resident Mahmoud Khalil, as well as the UK and Austria’s detention of journalists, such as Richard Medhurst, for speaking out against Israel's devastating assault. This blatant suppression of free speech contradicts Western claims of moral superiority. It reveals a ruthless double standard designed to protect their geopolitical interests at the expense of justice and truth.

It’s no wonder that the Global South and Russia support Iran, as it represents the fight against imperial forces.

Video credit: @piersuncensored on X

Sources

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vrCACy3fExk

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cgj5nlxz44yo

https://www.npr.org/2025/06/13/nx-s1-5432706/judge-orders-release-of-columbia-activist-mahmoud-khalil-detention

https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2025/05/16/aefh-m16.html

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

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025/may/07/uk-sent-israel-thousands-of-military-items-despite-export-ban-study-finds

https://apnews.com/article/iran-explosions-israel-tehran-00234a06e5128a8aceb406b140297299

https://www.pressenza.com/2025/06/iran-is-not-alone-this-war-is-a-historic-moment-for-the-global-south-to-end-imperialism/

On 21 May, Uganda's parliament approved a bill permitting military tribunals for civilians if they are found with military equipment, such as guns or uniforms, just months after the Supreme Court deemed such trials unconstitutional. Yet on 16 June, President Yoweri Museveni signed the bill into law. 

Following the parliament's approval, army spokesperson Colonel Chris Magezi posted on the X platform, asserting that the law ‘is a reaffirmation of our military’s time tested, successful, and revolutionary disciplinary processes. The law will deal decisively with armed violent criminals, deter the formation of militant political groups that seek to subvert democratic processes, and ensure national security is bound on a firm foundational base. If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it!’ The same colonial logic used by British, French, and Belgian regimes to criminalise resistance and label revolutionary leaders as “armed criminals.”

Continued……However, human-rights defenders say the government will use this law to persecute dissidents in a country where Museveni has reigned for almost four decades.

In January 2025, the Supreme Court ruled civilian tribunals unlawful, stating that military courts lacked the impartiality and competence necessary for proper judicial functions. Museveni openly dismissed this ruling, while opposition leaders accused him of leveraging the bill to suppress dissenting voices ahead of the upcoming presidential and legislative elections next year. 

In November 2024, opposition politician Kizza Besigye and his aide Obeid Lutale were arrested in Nairobi and transported to Kampala, where they faced charges before a military tribunal for illegal possession of pistols, attempting to buy weapons abroad, threatening national security and treason. They denied guilt, claiming the charges were politically motivated. After a 10-day hunger strike, Besigye's case was moved to a civilian court. 

Since 2002, over 1,000 civilians have been prosecuted in Ugandan military courts.

Sources

https://www.citizen.digital/news/museveni-signs-law-reintroducing-military-trials-of-civilians-n364739

https://nation.africa/africa/news/museveni-signs-law-allowing-military-courts-to-try-civilians-5083690

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c0r1rrjzpllo?at_link_type=web_link&at_bbc_team=editorial&at_campaign=Social_Flow&at_link_id=BF862314-4ABE-11F0-9C8B-886F67FE9F30&at_campaign_type=owned&at_ptr_name=twitter&at_medium=social&at_link_origin=BBCAfrica&at_format=image

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/may/01/uganda-opposition-accuses-president-military-courts-quash-dissent

https://x.com/ChrisOMagezi/status/1924860018790183265

IS SUDAN A FACTOR IN ICJ JUDGE'S RESIGNATION?

On 11 June, Somali-born International Court of Justice judge Abdulqawi Ahmed Yusuf, who dissented from the court’s recent decision to dismiss Sudan’s g*nocide case, tendered an early resignation, effective 30 September. His term would have ended on 5 February 2027.

Many have speculated that the court's ruling led to his decision.

Since the outbreak of Sudan’s proxy war on 15 April 2023, overwhelming evidence has implicated the United Arab Emirates as primarily backing the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) paramilitary, who stand accused of g*nocide.

Among the mounting pieces of evidence are on-the-ground findings of weapons marked as originating from Abu Dhabi in recaptured RSF-occupied areas, alongside a New York Times investigative report that used satellite images to track arms shipments allegedly disguised as humanitarian aid from the UAE through the Chadian border.

Continued……. Sudan’s military government accused the UAE of enabling the RSF to commit g*nocide against the indigenous non-Arab peoples of Darfur. However, it is worth noting many have accused both warring parties, the RSF and the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF), of committing atrocities against civilians.

The foreign-backed proxy war has led to the collapse of the country’s social fabric and infrastructure, triggering one of the 21st-century’s worst humanitarian and displacement crises, according to the UN. The proxy war has k*lled as many as 150,000, per former US envoy Tom Perriello. Over 30 million people, or 65 per cent, now face ‘acute hunger.’ 

Do you think the ICJ’s ruling influenced Yusuf’s decision?

Sources

https://www.icj-cij.org/node/205545

https://allafrica.com/stories/202506120120.html

https://www.caasimada.net/judge-abdulqawi-ahmed-yusuf-to-resign-from-icj/

https://www.icj-cij.org/case/197

https://ohrh.law.ox.ac.uk/a-manifest-lack-of-justice-the-icjs-decision-in-sudan-v-united-arab-emirates/

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2025/1/10/sudan-rsf-tried-to-polish-its-image-but-its-crimes-are-being-recognised

https://www.ejiltalk.org/judicial-restraint-and-jurisdictional-clarity-decoding-the-icjs-decision-in-sudan-v-united-arab-emirates/

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2025/5/5/icj-dismisses-sudans-genocide-case-alleging-uae-backing-of-rsf-rebels

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/05/05/world/middleeast/un-court-sudan-genocide-uae.html

https://www.ftlsomalia.com/somali-judge-abdulqawi-yusuf-resigns-early-from-icj/

https://www.icj-cij.org/sites/default/files/press-releases/0/000-20250611-pre-01-00-en.pdf