Continued……. After decades of so-called ‘aid,’ little progress has been made in Africa, while Western countries advance by exploiting its resources. For example, the foreign-backed proxy war over natural resources in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) has lasted over 30 years. Instead of addressing exploitation, the World Bank supports projects like the Inga Dam, which critics say facilitate further resource extraction under the guise of aid.

Western powers, led by the US and supported by Europe and the G7, control these institutions. They back initiatives like the Lobito Corridor, a 1,300-kilometre strip of land featuring a railway that snakes through Zambia, the DRC and Angola to ship Africa’s resources across the Atlantic Ocean. The World Bank also supported apartheid South Africa, a history it prefers to forget. 

Given that Africa pays out more in debt and resource extraction than it receives in aid, is it not time for the rest of the continent to reject these colonial-era models and pursue African-led development, like our siblings in the Sahel? 

Video credit: @lynnngugi on Instagram

Sources

https://www.aljazeera.com/opinions/2020/11/26/it-is-time-to-decolonise-the-world-bank-and-the-imf

https://peoplesdispatch.org/2023/04/19/sovereign-debts-colonial-roots-imf-and-the-engineering-of-a-permanent-crisis-in-africa/

https://thetricontinental.org/dossier-faustian-bargain-imf-africa/

https://debtjustice.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/The-colonial-roots-of-global-south-debt.pdf

https://www.brettonwoodsproject.org/2020/12/world-bank-reparations-demanded-for-murder-of-frontline-south-african-anti-coal-activist/

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

https://g7.utoronto.ca/dev/2024-annex-i-gpii.html

CONGO: VICTIM OF MAFIA-STYLE RACKETEERING

US President Donald Trump is basking in self-praise for what he describes as his 'wonderful treaty' between Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). To others, though, it looks more like a successful Mafia operation.

Among them is Kambale Musavuli, a political analyst at the Center for Research on Congo-Kinshasa. He compares Rwanda to a Mafia associate doing dirty work for the US godfather (‘Don’) by extorting mineral-rich DRC.

Just as the Mafia extends beyond national borders, so Rwandan President Paul Kagame and his close ally, James Kabarebe, support rebel factions in neighbouring DRC.

Kagame, who ascended through Uganda's military intelligence, has a well-documented history of military interventions in the Congo, initially backing Laurent Kabila and later changing allegiances, which contributed to the Second Congo War.

Continued……. Kabarebe, a former Rwandan general and current minister, notably held the position of Chief of Staff for the Congolese army in the 1990s - despite being a Rwandan citizen. He has been identified as a key figure behind the M23 rebel group and is involved in orchestrating the illegal mineral trade from the DRC.

Rwanda's strategy of supporting the M23 rebels mirrors Mafia-style racketeering and territorial dominance, ultimately benefiting the 'top boss' when the victim (DRC) is forced to pay the boss (Trump) a protection fee (minerals). The M23 rebels have established illegal taxation systems in the areas they control, reportedly generating nearly $1 million per month from mineral operations alone, in addition to taxing other valuable resources, such as charcoal and timber.

Video credit: AfroDominion Media

Sources

https://reliefweb.int/report/democratic-republic-congo/m23-rebels-take-hold-eastern-congo-islamic-state-capitalizing-chaos

https://greatlakescrisis.org/the-overlooked-story-of-ugandas-role-in-the-drc-conflict/

https://integralleadershipreview.com/8287-mafia-organization-governance-processes-and-leadership-function/


https://www.rusi.org/explore-our-research/publications/commentary/congos-fragile-truce-foreign-interference-and-conflict-minerals-drc

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2025/3/13/people-need-a-break-drc-conflict-reignites-dark-memories-of-congo-wars

https://www.newsweek.com/how-dispute-between-friends-congo-sparked-africas-deadliest-war-534272


http://www.hscentre.org/global-governance/rise-m23-ties-ethnic-tension-rwanda-drc/


https://www.britannica.com/biography/Paul-Kagame


https://lieber.westpoint.edu/conflict-eastern-drc-state-responsibility-rwanda-uganda/


https://www.hrw.org/news/2025/06/18/dr-congo-m23-armed-group-forcibly-transferring-civilians


https://reliefweb.int/report/democratic-republic-congo/m23-rebels-take-hold-eastern-congo-islamic-state-capitalizing-chaos

PALESTINIAN LANDS BEFORE ISRAEL DISPLACED THEM

The human cost of the Israeli state today, which sits on Palestinian land, has been the uprooting and destruction of millions of lives and communities!

This animation depicts what Tel Aviv looked like the 1948 Nakba (an Arabic word for 'catastrophe'), during which Z*onists burned and destroyed over 500 Palestinian towns and villages, displacing between 750,000 and 1 million Palestinians, with many forced to flee Palestine altogether. The Z*onists also destroyed or confiscated their archive of about 70,000 texts.

Despite nearly 75 per cent of the Palestinian population being expelled or fleeing during this period, the Z*onist expansion project continues to seek to erase the people of the Occupied Palestinian Territories while the West stands by and enables the Z*onist project.

Video credit: @Yplusmedia on Instagram

Continued………Sources

https://imeu.org/article/quick-facts-the-palestinian-nakba

https://www.un.org/unispal/about-the-nakba

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2022/5/15/nakba-mapping-palestinian-villages-destroyed-by-israel-in-1948

https://www.jewishvoiceforpeace.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/JVP-Nakba-Fact-Sheet.pdf

YOUR MOBILE - PAID FOR IN BLOOD?

Did you know that your Tesla, your iPhone or even your favourite Google product may have all been paid for with the lives of children worked literally to death?

If you ask the mega corporations and the US justice system, there's nothing to answer for here. But the abundant presence of certain minerals in our everyday gadgets is hard to explain otherwise. Congo, where kids are sent into dangerous mines for a pittance, is torn by conflict over its enormous mineral wealth. And it is a key artery in the global tech supply chain.

It's a story of exploitation and abuse for profit - taking place right now in the heart of Africa.

Sources

https://www.hrw.org/news/2022/07/14/child-labor-and-human-rights-violations-mining-industry-democratic-republic-congo

https://www.cnn.com/2024/03/05/tech/big-tech-child-labor-congo-lawsuit

https://www.globalwitness.org/en/campaigns/natural-resource-governance/itsci-laundromat/#resource-library

Continued……. https://www.miaminewtimes.com/news/south-florida-rapper-newage-jerkboy-dies-days-after-police-dog-bite-23268360

https://www.timesnownews.com/world/us/us-buzz/what-happened-to-newage-jerkboy-florida-rapper-reportedly-killed-in-policedogattack-article-151764647

https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/ferguson-report-rampant-racism-scathing-findings-probe/story?id=29385473

https://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/police-dog-bites-black-man

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-nation/wp/2015/03/04/the-12-key-highlights-from-the-dojs-scathing-ferguson-report/

WHAT TIGER WOODS' 1996 INTERVIEW TELL US

This exchange from professional golfer Tiger Woods’ 1996 interaction with professional golfer and TV commentator Curtis Strange frequently resurfaces on the Internet, revealing the persistently negative attitudes that Black people face when making their mark on the world. Whether in sports, academia, or other fields, overt resistance challenges their confidence, abilities and achievements, as content creator @iamquaison points out here. 

Following this interview, a young Woods went on to win the 1997 Masters Tournament, becoming the youngest player to win this tournament and the first Black golfer to win one of the four men's major professional golf tournaments worldwide. This triumph marked the beginning of a legendary career that would establish him as one of the greatest golfers. Years later, the joke was on Strange, now 70, who admitted he was wrong to dismiss 21-year-old Woods. 

Continued….. However, the display we see here is one that Black people around the world, particularly those living in Global North countries, face all too often. It is a manifestation of centuries of racial capitalism. Assuming a Black person isn’t as talented enough or moral enough may not seem like a big deal. However, this attitude justifies governments to oppress our people for profit. For example, while Black people in the US make up roughly 14 per cent of the total population, they account for 37 per cent of the prison population, according to the Prison Policy Initiative, a US-based non-profit organisation that documents the harm of mass criminalisation.

Video credit: @iamquaison

Sources

https://www.prisonpolicy.org/research/racial_and_ethnic_disparities/#:~:text=You%20can%20also%20see%20a,who%20are%20Black%3A%2037%25%20%2B

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/04/04/sports/golf/tiger-woods-1997-masters.html

https://www.essentiallysports.com/golf-news-i-learned-years-after-his-infamous-youll-learn-warning-to-tiger-woods-curtis-strange-was-forced-to-take-back-his-words-in-2016

https://www.prisonpolicy.org/research/racial_and_ethnic_disparities

FACES IN AFRICA

Africa is a continent full of beauty — not just in its landscapes, but in its people. We hit the streets of Nairobi and asked locals if we could take their portraits. These are just a few of the everyday faces we met for our Faces of Africa series — Nairobi edition. The dream was to do this in every capital city across our beloved continent. Who knows, maybe one day we still will.

DRC-US MINERAL DEAL EXPLAINED

The Democratic Republic of the Congo is offering the US exclusive access to its critical minerals. In return, Washington promises to help 'stabilise' eastern Congo. We sat down with two powerful voices, Kambale Musavuli (@kambalem on IG), political analyst at the Center for Research on the Congo-Kinshasa and Maurice Carney one of the co-founders of Friends of the Congo (congofriends on IG) to help unpack what this deal really means. They challenge the mainstream narrative and expose how US interests have long fueled the very instability they now claim to solve. Is this another neocolonial play cloaked in diplomacy?

Have a watch, and please let us know what you think.

POWELL AND LANGLEY: HIRED KILLERS

Colin Powell was a ‘hired killer.’

That was Kwame Ture’s (1941-1998) assessment of the first Black US Secretary of State, who famously helped manufacture consent for the US war in Iraq with a vial of powdered anthrax, later revealed to be fake.

Ture would have turned 84 today. Born on 29 June 1941 in Trinidad and Tobago, Ture moved to the US as an 11-year-old and later settled in the African country of Guinea.

In this 1991 clip, filmed during the first Gulf War (2 August 1990-28 February 1991), Ture argued that Powell (1937-2021) was an enemy of and traitor to Black people for accepting a high position in the US military, a key instrument of imperialism.

Powell oversaw the destruction of Iraq twice: In 1991, as the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and in 2003, as Secretary of State when he used the vial of anthrax to claim Iraq possessed weapons of mass destruction.