Continued….The legacy of North Korea’s steadfast support of African liberation includes training militants in Angola, Mozambique and South Africa, among other pivotal spots on the continent. In Senegal, a North Korean company helped build the continent’s largest statue, the African Renaissance Monument, towering in the Soviet art style of Socialist Realism. It was completed in 2010. The statue stands 50 meters tall, making it higher than both the Statue of Liberty in New York City and Brazil’s Christ the Redeemer.

Let us know your thoughts on North Korea’s contribution to the African liberation struggle.

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WHY IS AFRICA CLOSED TO AFRICANS?

We hear a lot about Africans having a hard time travelling abroad but far less about the difficulties they face visiting other African countries. It’s a bigger problem than you might have imagined - and one it’s high time to address.

ALABAMA BRAWL NIGER STYLE

One of our favourite posts of 2023 was when merged two stories together and made this hilarious meme video where we took the now-viral clip of the Alabama Street Brawl and combined it with how Mali, Guinea and Burkina Faso declared that they would join forces with Niger to defend the nation against a possible ECOWAS attack led by Nigeria.

The original video went viral because it showed Africans collectively coming together to defend black security, set on by a mob of white people for just doing his job. We are constantly told that Africans are disunited, but this was a very visceral display of that unity, with a 16-year-old brother even jumping from a boat and swimming to support the security guard who was being attacked. Another theory is that after scores of videos circulated on social media of Africans in America and elsewhere being brutalised by police officers and racists, it is refreshing to see a video of Africans fighting back and embodying the words of Malcolm X:

Continued…“I don’t call it violence when it’s self-defence; I call it intelligence.”

If the video has taught us anything, it’s we must come together and defend one another, whether on the streets or that we come together as Africans to defend Niger from Western aggression. We must develop the appropriate attitude of “touch one, touch all” when defending African people and states from imperialism.

Mali and Burkina Faso did the right thing by rushing to Niger’s defence as soon as imperialist forces threatened it. Guinea quickly followed suit. When we unite to fight our shared enemies, we become a real force to reckon with. Divided, we are weak; united, we are strong. As President Ibrahim Traoré of Burkina Faso stated, “Africa needs to be able to unite, and the more united we are, the more effective we are.”

THE AMAZIGH NEW YEAR CELEBRATION

The Amazigh people of North Africa celebrate the arrival of the year 2974 on January 12th! That’s according to their calendar. Their new year - known as Yennayer - has been an official day off in Algeria since (the Gregorian) 2018.

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DEATH OF AFRICANS ‘GOOD’ FOR PLANET

The mainstream media churned out many a headline in 2023 that our editors felt the need to fix for them. Everyone from the BBC and France 24 to Bloomberg and the New York Times, has been at the receiving end of African Stream’s red pen. But the headline correction that stood out most for us this year was this one from the Atlantic.

The original loudly proclaimed that war in Congo has “kept the planet cooler” - i.e., has been good for Mother Nature… as if the devastation inflicted on the Congolese were a price worth paying for a healthier environment.

To be fair, the subheading was: “The grim ironies of climate change.”

But bear in mind that the conflict in Congo has cost nearly 6 million lives and displaced almost 7 million. (No sane Western editor would run with “The Holocaust’s environmental benefits” as a headline - even if there had been some such imagined consequences!)

Continued….The article’s writer matter-of-factly observed that war had hindered the economic exploitation of the Congolese rainforest. What Ross Anderson missed, though, is that DRC timber is one of the resources fuelling conflict as rival armed groups jostle over the charcoal and timber trade. Not very climate-friendly, is it?

And, however hard the war is raging, Western conglomerates have not ceased their relentless exploitation of Congo’s men, women and children - sending them to toil in dangerous and super-polluting mines. Moreover, in the greed-driven quest to exploit Congolese resources, countless villages have been wiped out, patches of forest cleared, and rivers poisoned by mineral extraction.

But the main point is this - Western editors and journalists, please write about Africans in a way that grants them the human dignity they deserve.

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NIGER CAPTURES FRENCH CROISSANTS

Winding down the year, we look back at one of the strongest and most successful scenes of collective action. Upon the French refusing to exit Niger, the people took it upon themselves to make them eat their words. For weeks, Nigeriens camped outside French sites, including in this video where a delivery of croissants was intercepted by Nigeriens.

It was no isolated incident as water deliveries to the French embassy were intercepted as well. Word is the situation was so dire the French had to resort to eating dog food.

The campaign worked, and the French ambassador soon left, closely followed by French soldiers, with the last expected to leave by end of year.

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Africa is often blamed for the world’s overpopulation but in reality, it has the biggest space to accommodate more people. This week African Stream looks at the facts surrounding the overpopulation problem on the motherland.

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BUSHMEAT MARKET TOUR

For many Africans, bushmeat is an essential part of their diet - and, some would argue, far superior to the industrially-farmed livestock popular around the world. Whether it’s crocodile, monitor lizard, porcupine, grasscutter, monkey, snake or pangolin - it can transform your ordinary jollof rice into a prized delicacy.

Watch as we visit a Nigerian bushmeat market and chat to its lively sellers, operating in plain sight of day, despite the authorities banning their trade over health and safety concerns.

WARNING: CONTAINS SCENES OF ANIMAL SLAUGHTER

WHY WE HAVE TO TELL OUR OWN STORIES

As we wrap up the year, we touch on a crucial topic: Taking control of our own narrative! Not only in cinema but in the news, academia and beyond. Here’s a breakdown at why Africans must tell their own stories.

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SEVERUS: THE AFRICAN CAESAR

Did you know that Britain was once ruled by an African? Meet Lucius Septimius Severus - the man from what is now Libya who rose to become a Roman emperor. He possessed military skill and introduced progressive policies, as well as commissioned some of the empire’s finest architectural delights. And, like many an emperor, he had his decadent streak! African Stream’s very own empress Brenda Mwai brings us his story.

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