‘TIGHTEN YOUR BELTS!’ RUTO PREACHES AUSTERITY WEARING $2,800 BELT

Kenya’s President Ruto has come under fire for sporting a $2,800 (KSh. 425,000) Stefano Ricci crocodile belt while urging Kenyans to ‘tighten their belts’ at a church service in the capital Nairobi. This out-of-touch display is reminiscent of Marie Antoinette’s ‘let them eat cake.’

Ruto’s government, in a year, has imposed taxes on basic commodities and stripped subsidies, sending sky high what was already an unsustainable cost of living for the average Kenyan.

The president has embarked on more than 42 foreign trips in a year, as well as surpassed and supplemented the Presidential Office’s budget.

Continued….Government officials have been seen driving top-of-the-range vehicles in a country where many struggle to afford a single meal, tertiary education is in a funding crisis and the youth unemployment rate is soaring.

With Ruto’s campaign promise to roll out a ‘bottom-up’ economic model nowhere close to realisation, does his administration have its priorities right?

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Talk about putting your head in the sub-Saharan sand. Just before his recent trip to ally Nigeria, French Foreign Trade Minister Olivier Becht said France is 'absolutely not being driven out Africa, and we are not in decline at all.'

Well, for some reason, he’s ignoring the three recent anti-French coups in Niger, Burkina Faso and Mali which resulted in the expulsion of French troops.

He's also ignoring figures for the last two decades. The New York Times reported France accounted for 10 per cent of Africa’s international trade in 2000, but that’s been slashed by half. And it said future market trends don’t look good either. African banks are replacing French ones, while French construction companies are losing out to Turkish and Chinese firms.

Becht even had the audacity to claim: 'We make some of the best products in the world', 'which meet environmental standards', 'which take account of local populations' and 'which seek to create added value'.

Continued….Really? Didn’t France extract uranium for decades from Niger which somehow remained one of the world’s poorest and least developed countries?

Do you think his comments seem delusional?

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CHIHOMBORI ON TRAUMA OF COLONISATION

The legacy of colonisation not only left countries impoverished but also made it difficult for former colonies to push back. But that’s changing. According to Arikana Chihombori - a Pan-Africanist and former diplomat - people across Africa are waking up to the true extent of the mistreatment they’ve suffered at the hands of (neo-)colonialists, and are demanding a new way of doing things.

She gives the example of Niger, whose revolutionary new government has kicked back hard against French exploitation. She likens it to a class of students realising that together they can stand up to the school bully. Slowly but surely our collective trauma is turning into our strength - as it fuels our desire for justice.

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It is with a heavy heart that we have received the tragic news that our dear colleague and friend Roqiya Sabeg passed away on Friday, 24th November. Roqiya was 29 and a brilliant journalist who represented FIFA, African Stream, Al Jazeera and TRT World during her career.

A Muslim woman of Algerian descent raised in the UK, Roqiya was a passionate anti-colonialist who dedicated her life to standing up for the oppressed around the Global South.

For African Stream, Roqiya covered protests against police brutality in France, Algeria's war of independence and a piece on the woman who established the world's first university in North Africa.

One of her last requests was to focus on the Israeli war in Gaza, comparing it to the Algerian war of independence against France's brutal colonialism.

Continued….During this massacre of innocent Palestinians, Roqiya represented journalists around the world and made a courageous public statement against Israeli apartheid and oppression - a powerful speech which was covered by the world's biggest outlets.

It is hard to believe that such a kind and beautiful soul full of life was taken from us at such a young age. It remains a lesson for all of us not to take any day in our lives for granted. We would like to dedicate this post as a tribute to her life and legacy - which will never be forgotten.

Please kindly donate to a charity in her memory via the link below and we ask you all to keep her in your prayers as much as possible. May God grant her family and friends the patience to make it easy for them all in this difficult time.

We have left the link to her GoFundMe page in our bio.

إِنَّا لِلَّٰهِ وَإِنَّا إِلَيْهِ رَاجِعُون

ISRAEL PUNISHES DEAD PALESTINIANS

Death is generally seen as a final break from the troubles and indignities of this world. However, if you’re a Palestinian who dies under Israeli detention or is killed by Israeli forces during an alleged attack, the oppression continues even after you are dead.

Israeli authorities allegedly refuse to release the bodies of dead Palestinians until they have served their ‘full sentence’. And it means relatives sometimes don’t receive the body of their loved ones for decades.

According to the Palestinian National Initiative, 142 dead Palestinians are being kept in refrigerators while more than 200 are buried in so-called numbered graves, where they are only identified by a number.

Continued…..It’s widely seen as a form of posthumous punishment, denying families an opportunity to give dignified burials. Israel has also used the practice - which breaches international law - as leverage in political negotiations.

Mustafa Barghouti, from the Palestinian National Initiative, recently explained the grim policy on Al Jazeera.

In the tumultuous waters of the Horn of Africa off the coast of Somalia, what the mainstream media dubs ‘piracy’ has reemerged. But for many in the Somali community, at home and in the diaspora, they are not pirates but patriots who should be hailed for being unofficial guardians against illegal fishing and polluting.

In a region plagued by civil war and political instability, these so-called pirates have, in the past, positioned themselves as defenders of their maritime resources. With foreign vessels exploiting Somali waters for illegal fishing, some locals view the vigilantes as a line of defence against the plundering of their seas and the dumping of toxic nuclear waste.

Continued….The resurgence of Somali vigilantism at sea is perhaps unsurprising. An EU-naval mission (Operation Atlanta) has been mandated to police Somali waters, but foreign vessels still catch stocks worth $600 million via illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing.

The recent attempted hijacking of an Israeli-linked commercial vessel, the Central Park, in the Gulf of Aden on Sunday was carried out by five Somalis and not Yemeni Houthis, as initially reported.

‘KAREN’ ABUSING PALESTINE SUPPORTER GOES VIRAL

Well, it turns out anything non-white people do, including peaceful pro-Palestine protests, can easily trigger ‘Karens’

Here, a woman unleashes a tirade of abuse at a demonstrator in Georgetown, Washington, who was peacefully protesting on a sidewalk.

The level of racism and Islamophobia is off the charts. And the clip, posted just a few days ago, has gone viral.

Unfortunately, many Palestine supporters have faced abuse as they take a stand against Israel’s onslaught of Gaza, which has killed over 15,000.

The protester is called Hazami and shows an ice-cool reaction. How would you respond in this scenario?

'ISRAEL UPHOLDING LAW IN GAZA' - UK MINISTER

According to the UK, Israel is not breaking international law as it continues to pummel the Gaza Strip.

So far, over 15,000 Palestinians have been killed during the onslaught. And five countries, including South Africa, have called on the International Criminal Court to investigate.

But despite accusations Israel is committing the crime of collective punishment against Palestinians, London has doubled down.

During this interview on Sky News, the UK’s Trade Secretary said Tel Aviv has always acted within international law and ‘applauded them for doing so’.

She's unfazed by the fact two-thirds of Palestinians killed are women, children and the elderly. And a near-complete blockade has cut off food and energy supplies to Gaza.

READY FOR RE-COLONISATION?

Ready for re-colonisation? Thought not. P. L. O. Lumumba explains why it will happen if we as Africans don’t get our act together.

BURKINA FORCES HOLD OFF 3,000 TERRORISTS DJIBO TOWN SECURED

Burkina Faso’s Armed Forces have released a video of a huge contingent of motorbike-riding terrorists descending on the northern town of Djibo. For hours, the local garrison, with air support, mounted a stiff resistance against the onslaught from more than 3,000 assailants. Thankfully the army was victorious, and Djibo remains in government hands.

Burkina Faso is reeling from a security crisis that stems from NATO’s arming of Libyan rebels to overthrow Gaddafi. More than 30% of the country lies in rebel control, a situation that led to the coup that saw Captain Ibrahim Traoré rise to power. Thanks in part to a new security alliance with Mali and Niger, the war to regain territory has seen progress, with insurgents no longer able to pass as freely through the three countries’ porous borders.

Much of this progress is taking place following the expulsion of French troops.

Continued….NATO member France proved incapable of containing the security crisis it had created in the Sahel and is accused by Mali and others of actively supporting the terrorists. A few weeks ago, Mali recaptured Kidal, a town the military was forbidden to enter by France in 2021.

With France’s departure, these three Sahelian countries have charted a different security path. In Burkina Faso’s case, this included the enlisting of volunteers from the population and the entry of Russia as a military partner. To many Sahelians, the results speak for themselves.

DIED FOR FREEDOM, NOT TO VOTE

You often can find Dhoruba bin Wahad, former political prisoner and co-founder of the Black Liberation Army, speaking out to set the record straight on what he considers a misinterpretation of the goals of the African liberation struggle in the United States.

For example, our people 'dying for the right to vote' is commonly cited as why Africans should dedicate themselves to the US political system. But, bin Wahad, as well as other human rights defenders, such as Kwame Ture, Malcolm X, and Jamil al-Amin, have said this phrase falls short of the intentions of liberation fighters. They were clear that their participation in the Civil Rights Movement was not simply about gaining access to the right to vote. It was seen as one of many potential tools for liberation to which African people in the United States had not yet gained access. 'By any means necessary' means you exhaust every option available to you.

Continued….However, Dhoruba offers that the right to vote has been decontextualised over the years. Does the tactic work? We don't know because it has been touted as the only solution for Africans, the majority of whom are poor and working class in the United States. Malcolm X, Ture, and al-Amin have said strong independent organisations are a prerequisite for effectively leveraging the power of the right to vote. In the shadow of an intense and ongoing period of state repression that began in the 1960s, many do not believe such an organisation has been sustained for the liberation struggle.

With the 2024 US presidential elections on the horizon, what lessons can we take from these veterans of our people’s struggle?

WHITE PRIVILEGE FOR DUMMIES

Some people actually still think that White privilege is a myth - created by ‘angry’ people of colour as a tool to bash Whites.

They believe, for example, that poverty rates are higher among Africans because they make the racist assumption that we are somehow lazy. Never do they entertain the possibility that we are, in fact, hindered every step of the way by systemic political and economic oppression rooted in slavery, colonialism and neo-colonalism.

In this clip, spoken-word artist Kyla Jenée Lacey breaks down the concept of White privilege for those who still do not get it or believe in its existence.

2 AFRICAN MEN FREED IN U.S.

Many cheered as two African men were exonerated a few days ago in the United States. Jabar Walker was released after serving 28 years in prison for a crime he did not commit. Accused of killing of two men in 1995, inconsistent witness testimony was used to place Walker behind bars. A witness statement in his favor was ignored, while another witness admitted to taking what amounted to a bribe from the district attorney's office. Meanwhile, Wayne Gardine, a Jamaican national, also was exonerated after being imprisoned in 1994 on a drug trafficking charge. He won parole last year, but the US government immediately placed him in an immigration detention center to begin the process of deporting him to the Caribbean island of his birth. His immigration status continues to remain uncertain, despite the exoneration, according to a New York Times report.

Continued….Wrongful conviction of minorities, especially Africans, is prevalent in the United States. An infamous case is that of 14-year-old Emmett Till, abducted, tortured and lynched in 1955 for allegedly sexually harassing a white woman in the US state of Mississippi. Years later, the woman, Carolyn Bryant, revealed to a historian and author that she had fabricated parts of her testimony.The same goes for Clarence Brandley, an African who was wrongly convicted and sentenced to death in 1981 for rape and murder in the US state of Texas. Brandley was released in 1990 and sued state-government agencies for $120 million, which he did not obtain.

The US prison system has been used to continue the forced labour of Africans after slavery was abolished in 1865. That's because the country’s 13th amendment allows slavery as punishment for a crime. Africans in United States are incarcerated at five times the rate of their white counterparts, providing labour for a lucrative prison-industrial complex.

Since 1989, more than 3,400 people have been exonerated, according to the US-based National Registry of Exonerations. That means wrongfully charged people have spent more than 30,000 years in prison.