FUN TIMES WITH BLOOD DIAMONDS

'Blood diamonds' are the term for gemstones mined in a war zone and sold to finance an insurgency, an invading army's war efforts, terrorism, or a warlord's activity. Statistic vary, but as much as 15 per cent of diamonds in the world have their origins in conflict.

Nevertheless, a young person from the United States recounts a recent date with a blood-diamonds dealer, who took her from South Africa to Uganda to exchange the gems for cash.

SOMALIA & CUBA’S ROCKY RELATIONSHIP

The presidents of Cuba and Somalia were all smiles at the recent COP 28 summit in Dubai. They met on the sidelines as if old-time friends. But it wasn’t always like that. For decades the relationship between their countries was on the rocks over geopolitics.

But things have been patched up, their interests have married again and a win-win future is being promised.

Let us know your thoughts below.

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NIGER SEVERS MORE FRENCH LINKS

Niger’s new military government continues to sever ties with former coloniser France. It's now completely pulled out of The International Organisation of the Francophonie, which promoted French language, culture and co-operation on foreign policy issues. The move comes after Niamey expelled French troops and diplomats following last summer’s coup.

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This is Margaret Douglass. She was jailed in Virginia in 1854 for teaching Black children in the U.S. how to read - something that was illegal under anti-Black literacy laws in force in many southern states at the time.

Despite the law, a year earlier, she and her daughter had set up a school for free African children in Norfolk, VA. Twenty-five kids enrolled.

But then the police turned up, and the school was shut down. Douglass and her daughter were up before a grand jury, and she received a one-month jail sentence.

After her release, she wrote a memoir. In it, she shed light on White anxieties about educated Blacks - saying many southerners feared that this would lead to more slave revolts. They feared the idea of Africans acquiring knowledge, and this did not end with slavery.

Continued….Kwame Nkrumah's editorial assistant, June Milne, claimed his book 'Neo-Colonialism, The Last Stage of Imperialism' spurred the US into sponsoring the coup that removed him. It caused such a stir on its release that America cancelled its aid to Ghana before the CIA sponsored a coup to remove Nkrumah from office.

Knowledge is power, and power is what they couldn't stomach us having.

Tupac Shakur said it best when he rapped:
"It just don't pay to be, a truth-tellin' MC
They won't be happy 'til I'm banned
The most dangerous weapon: an educated Black man"

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ARGENTINA NOT JOINING BRICS - CHANCE FOR AFRICA?

Argentina did not join the BRICS economic club on New Year's day as planned - after its new president, Javier Milei, cancelled the move in late December 2023.

Argentina was among six countries invited in August 2023 during the BRICS summit in South Africa to join the group.

Milei has embarked on a radical policy shift away from a rising multipolar world, and is hedging Argentina's bets with the US. He is also a staunch supporter of Israel, pledging to move his country’s embassy to Jerusalem.

Now Argentina will miss out on friction-freer trade with BRICS members, who account for 46% of the global population.

Continued….That, say analysts, means it will be less able to profit from its vast lithium reserves, as demand for batteries for electric vehicles and energy-storage systems grows. Argentina is forecast to surpass Chile to become the second-largest lithium producer in the world by 2030. It currently has 13 lithium projects in the pipeline, more than any other country.

Could Argentina’s BRICS exit open the door for a resource-rich African country to take its place? There is no shortage of African states that can offer what Argentina was set to bring in.

Think of the Democratic Republic of Congo. With its abundant mineral resources, is this a chance for Kinshasa to free itself from the clutches of Western hegemony and join BRICS? Can Zimbabwe, with a lithium reserve of 42-million tonnes - one of the world’s largest hard-rock lithium resources - finally escape US sanctions by becoming a BRICS member? Namibia, Ghana and Mali also have considerable lithium resources to meet global demand.

Let us know what you think!

Cartoon Credit @vicmann.

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POPE CALLS OUT ‘USELESS SLAUGHTER’ IN PALESTINE

Pope Francis, head of the Roman Catholic Church, has spoken out against the ongoing genocidal war against Palestinians in Gaza by Israeli forces, humanising the victims by saying the world needs to look them in the eye to see the ugliness of war.

This is a significant message coming from the spiritual leader of around 1.3 billion church members worldwide, 256 million of them in Africa alone.

Africa has added the greatest number of Catholics to the church’s membership over the years, according to Vatican statistics.

Continued….Pope Francis has also given more pastoral attention to Africa recently, making a visit to the Democratic Republic of the Congo—heavily Catholic—and South Sudan in early 2023.

Pope Francis’ message also coincides with the start of hearings at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) on 11-12 January. South Africa filed a case on grounds that Israel is violating the 1948 Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide.

As of press time, a total of 23,357 Palestinians and 1,139 Israelis have been killed since 7 October. Israel declared a total blockade of Gaza, cutting off food, water, electricity and medical supplies, in violation of Geneva Conventions that prohibit collective punishment of civilians during war. That is an escalation of a blockade that began in 2007. Israel also has routinely bombed schools, hospitals, refugee centres and residential buildings, in what it says are operations to eliminate Palestinian resistance group Hamas.

What do you think of the pope’s message? Let us know in the comments.

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US LAYWER: SA WILL WIN ISRAEL GENOCIDE HEARING

All eyes will be on The Hague tomorrow (January 11th). The International Court of Justice will begin hearing South Africa’s case of genocide against Israel following its brutal bombing of Gaza that’s killed over 22,000 Palestinians.

But what are the chances Israel will face any kind of prosecution? Have a listen to American human rights lawyer Francis Boyle who outlines how it could result in Israel’s suspension from the UN, sanctions and individuals convicted of war crimes. He also says the US could find itself on the hook, after funding, arming and backing Israel’s massacre.

However, there’s one caveat. He also warns the court’s president has the power to influence the proceedings in favour of America and its Middle East ally.

Continued….Whatever happens, Pretoria’s application has widespread global support, including from Bolivia, Venezuela and Jordan. And we shouldn’t forget South Africa’s former apartheid regime was once supported by the West, but finally crumbled under international pressure. Could Israel’s leaders suffer a similar fate? Watch this clip and give us your assessment.

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On the 10th of January 1942, simmering racial tensions in Alexandria, Louisiana - where unsuspecting Black US servicemen found themselves in the ‘wrong’ part of town - boiled over into a violent confrontation known as the Lee Street Massacre. The spark, apparently, was a White woman’s accusation that one of the soldiers had stepped in front of her car. After a disagreement with a White military police officer, a chaotic - and deadly - bloodbath ensued, as he ordered his men to open fire on the unarmed crowd.

While official reports claimed no fatalities, eyewitness accounts painted a darker picture. Witnesses spoke of bodies scattered along the pavement - with an estimated 20 Black servicemen dead. The sanitised narrative was challenged, and the truth about the incident - fuelled, as it was, by the racist treatment of Black soldiers, both in Alexandria and within the military itself - eventually emerged.