EL SALVADOR JOINS AFROPHIBIA RACE

Any African who has travelled around the world knows how difficult it is getting from point A to point B 'while African.' Before traveling to almost any country outside the continent, Africans are subjected to some of the most cumbersome visa applications processes on planet earth. Weeks, even months can go by before an approval or denial is issued. However, if you are lucky enough to get the visa, then you still must deal with equally difficult transit regulations if your ticket is not a direct flight to your destination. It seems like countries are competing against each other to see who can implement the most hostile visa requirements to Africans. And El Salvador seems to have become a strong contender for the championship noscript.

Continued…. In early November, the Central American country announced that it was going to impose a $1130 travel fee on each and every African and Indian transiting through its airports. Authorities claim that the exorbitant fee is earmarked for improving aviation infrastructure in the country, but many wonder why only Africans and Indians are being subjected to this fee. Well, if it looks and smells like racism, it probably is. Watch our African sister, Tanekalouit-Touraouet, react to this strange fee.

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REMEMBERING NELSON MANDELA

Today is the 10th anniversary of Nelson Mandela (1918-2013) transitioning into an ancestor.

In this 2018 clip of PLO Lumumba giving a speech during a lecture memorialising the former South African president, he echoed what Mandela would have said about the current state of the continent. The Pan-Africanist pointed out to an audience in the South African city of Mthatha that Mandela would have reminded Africans of the history of how Europeans invaded the continent and stole our land.

What else do you think Nelson Mandela would say to Africans? Let us know in the comments.

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CONGO'S EXPLOPITED COBALT MINERS!

Cobalt is a rare mineral used in the production of almost all lithium ion rechargeable batteries that powers your smartphone, laptops and electric vehicles. But did you know that 70% of the world’s cobalt is produced in the Congo? And did you know that this noble metal is mined at dangerous, even life-threatening costs?

In this video, you’ll see how cobalt is mined off the backs of thousands of mainly Congolese children and in a country where most people earn less than a dollar a day. The toxic mines have kept kids from attending school, labouring instead in slave-like conditions and in abject poverty.

Continued….Packed like sardines in these mines, their plight sometimes goes forgotten as they work in grinding and degrading conditions. Pickaxes and shovels are used to hack and scrounge at the earth in trenches, pits and tunnels to gather cobalt to produce tiny, shiny, and fashionable electronic devices the world over. Driven by poverty, many children have forgone their primary studies to toil in these tunnels that, on occasion, have collapsed causing disfigured limbs in some cases and deaths in others.

May this video serve as a reminder to call out those that exploit Africans, its resources and economies. A reminder to speak out against the decades of exploitation that plague African states much like the Congo.

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VIGIL FOR SUDAN IN MATHARE GHETTO, KENYA

This is what Solidarity looks like!

On Saturday, 2nd December, a Pan-African Alliance led by Africans_Rising, hosted a Pan-African Solidarity Day with Sudan Mathare Social Justice Centre in the heart of one of Kenya's largest slums - Nairobi’s Mathare Ghetto.

A beautiful moment at the end of the event was when everyone lit a candle in vigil, and Sudanese refugee Duha recited a poem about Sudan.

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TRIPLE-POWER: BRING ON THE SAHEL CONFEDERATION!

Pan-Africanism is sweeping the Sahel. Three regional states - Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger - could be poised to form a confederation. The foreign ministers of each have just thrashed out the details at a two-day meet in Bamako - and will each now advise their respective bosses to proceed with the plan, with the eventual formation of a federation in mind.

The consequences of such a union would be huge - literally: a Sahelian Federation comprising the three would become the largest state in Africa and overtake India as the 8th largest in the world. It would bring together 70-million people - and enjoy an abundance of resources, from cattle and cotton, to gold, uranium and oil.

Continued….Mali is constructing West Africa’s biggest gold refinery, with Burkina also building one - while a 2,000 km pipeline from Niger to international markets has been commissioned.

Those steering the ship in Bamako, Niamey and Ouagadougou would make their Pan-African forbears - like Kwame Nkrumah, Patrice Lumumba and Thomas Sankara - truly proud.

One brother who clearly is up for a federation has made a beautiful video in which he illustrates what it would mean in geographic terms. Who else is up for it? Have a watch and let us know in the comments if you are!

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FREE CONGO FROM GERTLER AND GLENCORE!

DRC is going though so much pain at the moment, it’s easy to get overwhelmed - the genocidal violence in the east, the refugee crisis, the poverty, the child labour (slavery!) in the mines, the grim legacy of colonial rule…

In this video, African Stream’s Brenda Mwai focuses on two major thorns in DRC’s side, two arch exploiters of the country: diamond magnate Dan Gertler and multinational mining behemoth Glencore.

Her message is clear: Congo needs to be free of them if it is to lift itself out of its multiple crises. What do you think?

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MANDELA'S LIFELONG SOLIDARITY WITH PALESTINE

South African anti-apartheid icon Nelson Mandela took his last breath on 5 December 2013, closing the curtain on a life marked by the struggle against racial oppression and injustice.

Ten years after his death, Mandela's legacy looms large. What stands out is his solidarity with the people of Palestine, who fight Israeli aggression and occupation to this day.

Mandela's solidarity was not only in words, but in deed. During his presidency (1994-99), he hosted several Palestinian leaders, including Yasser Arafat, then-leader of the Palestinian Liberation Organisation (PLO). In 1999, Mandela travelled to the occupied territories, including the Gaza Strip, which Israel has been bombarding since 7 October.

Several years before that trip, he gave this historic interview in the United States, in which he drew parallels between South Africa's struggle and the Palestinian cause.

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