MALI’S SURPRISE FOOTBALL ARMY

There’s plenty of passion ahead of AFCON’s quarter-finals. But instead of hatred, fans of two rival teams are showing a whole lot of love. Burkinabes have come out in support of Mali who beat them to reach the last eight. And they’ll be backing The Eagles when they face hosts Ivory Coast on Saturday. Understand their Pan-African history and you’ll understand why. It must be one of the biggest bromances in football!!! Can you think of one bigger?

1/4 final draw.

Nigeria v Angola
DR Congo v Guinea
Mali v Ivory Coast
Cape Verde v South African.

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BLACK ERASURE IN ARGENTINA

Argentina is Blacker than it likes to admit. “Mexicans descend from the Aztecs, Peruvians from the Incas, but Argentinians descend from ships from Europe,” so goes an old saying that encapsulates Argentina’s perception of itself as a nation of White Europeans that never had Blacks. Afro-Argentines formed almost half of the population of Argentina in 1778, but an evidently systematically implemented anti-Blackness policy reduced them to 30% of the population by the time the country gained independence from Spain in 1816.

Several decades of racial politics and alleged extermination campaigns followed where they were slowly yet steadily wiped out and their rich Black culture erased from the nation’s collective consciousness. Today, statistics show Afro-Argentines form a paltry 0.4% of Argentina’s total population, making it the Whitest country not just in Latin America but the Whitest country outside of Europe.

Continued….Evidently, there were no racially-oriented laws in Argentina, such as South Africa’s apartheid or the Jim Crow laws in the United States, but the country created a lot of obstacles that prevented Black people from accessing lands, the labour market and education. Over the centuries, Black and indigenous people chose to strategically increasingly mix with and pass off as White to escape marginalisation. Some of the country’s biggest stars can trace their lineage back to Black slaves. However, compared to other South American teams, the all-White, always-White roster of the soccer team must have piqued your curiosity.

This Whitening process was attempted throughout much of the Americas, in places such as Brazil, Uruguay as well as the United States, when the American Colonization Society set up Liberia as a home for freed slaves. What makes Argentina’s story unique in this context, however, is that it successfully pushed to build its image as a White country. Ex-president Domingo Faustino Sarmiento once said towards the end of the 19th century that it would be impossible to see Blacks in Argentina unless one travelled to Brazil. African Stream’s Brenda Mwai lays out the case.

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KAMALA: BLACK FACE OF US IMPERIALISM

US veep Kamala Harris is often mocked for her word salads and oddly nervous laughter, but she plays a vital role in promoting US imperialism. Beneath that disarming exterior lurks a more sinister political operator. We look at her quietly destructive role in Latin America and the Caribbean.

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BALDWIN: THEY PAINTED US AS SAVAGES

History doesn’t repeat itself, but it often rhymes, as US writer Mark Twain once said. This 1965 debate at Cambridge University (UK) between author James Baldwin and US conservative writer William F. Buckley could have occurred today. Baldwin points to African liberation movements’ successes after World War II, granting Africans in the United States with a form of dignity. Continental Africans took steps toward creating an alternative pole to that which Europe and the United States dominated. Before then, he says, Africans were painted as lacking history, savages saved by Europe and brought to United States.

Continued….Today, Africans in the Sahelian countries of Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso are throwing off the yoke of neocolonialism, starting with kicking out the French military, demoting the French language’s status, discussing using local currency and building a regional confederation. Should history be an indicator, it is incumbent on Africans everywhere to lend support to the Alliance of Sahel States, as previous liberations in one part of Africa have improved Africans’ conditions in other parts of the world. It is even more important, as the imperialist powers have shown they will not go down without a fight. Only a strong, dignified Africa can guarantee the dignity of Africans throughout the world.

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SOMALIA: WORLD’S TOXIC DUMP SITE

Somalia is a dumping ground for Western toxic waste. For decades foreign firms have illegally ditched dangerous materials off the East African coast to avoid complying with expensive environmental regulations. As a result, wildlife has been destroyed and new diseases have ravaged local populations. Here’s what you need to know.

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TRUE STORY BEHIND NETFLIX HIT ‘THE MAURITANIAN’

Have you watched the new Netflix hit, ‘The Mauritanian’? In case you missed it, the film is based on a true story about a Mauritanian man, Mohamedou Ould Slahi, who was detained without charge for 14 years in Cuba’s Guantánamo Bay—territory the United States occupies—during the US ‘War on Terror.’ So, who was he and why did the United States hold him for that long? Brenda Mwai breaks it all down.

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