UNLOCKING AFRICA’S ECONOMY

Africa can only realise its potential by standing on its own two feet. Achievement does not mean flying to the moon, according to Pan-African scholar PLO Lumumba. Progress starts with the basics, like providing water to villages and using African chickens to lay African eggs instead of importing poultry products.

It’s a simple strategy the continent still fails to grasp, but it doesn’t have to be that way. And listening to Lumumba’s arguments, it’s hard to disagree.

A lot of African farmland grows profitable export crops like coffee and cocoa, while staples like wheat and rice are imported. However, most of these can and should be produced locally. If they are not, the continent remains hostage to global food supplies and rising prices.

Food, though, is just one example. As Lumumba explains, the concept of sovereignty can be applied across all sectors.

AFFIRMATIVE ACTION DEBATE

Affirmative action is a set of policies and practices aimed at promoting equal opportunities for underrepresented groups, particularly in education and employment, to address systemic discrimination. It originated in the United States during the 1960s as a response to the Civil Rights Movement. Over time, affirmative action policies have become a subject of debate and legal challenges, with some arguing they constitute ‘reverse discrimination’ against white and Asian people.

Continued….However, highlighting the fight for equal access does not excuse Reid for not covering the foreign-fueled humanitarian crisis in her father’s home country, the Democratic Republic of the Congo. US public radio network National Public Radio recently asked her about her Congolese background and she had nothing to say about the decades-long conflict. Beyond that, she has been dismissing dissenting voices as ‘Russian bots’ since Donald Trump won the 2016 US presidential election. Leaning on one’s identity, while demonising ordinary people, is on par with US neoliberal politics.

Why else might Reid be able to have a prime-time show on a corporate TV network? Let us know in the comments.

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‘YOU CAN’T HAVE PEACE UNTIL EVERYBODY’S EQUAL’

“You can have peace and be enslaved.” Pan-African activist Kwame Ture explains how actual freedom means liberation from injustice in this documentary drama film from 1968, “Tell Me Lies” by Peter Brook.

Ture seems to be playing himself as the lines he espouses in the film are consistent with everything he has said in his long life dedicated to the struggle for Revolutionary Pan-Africanism underpinned by a socialist development path.

He was one of the most visible leaders of the ‘Black Power’ movement - a phrase he coined - while he was prime minister of the Black Panther Party.

Continued….He later left the party, travelling and speaking all over the world and building the All-African Peoples’ Revolutionary Party (AAPRP) – the party founded and outlined by Kwame Nkrumah in his ‘Handbook of Revolutionary Warfare’ while in exile in Guinea in the late 1960s.

Formerly known as Stokely Carmichael, he changed his name to Kwame Ture using one name from each of his political heroes, Kwame Nkrumah (former President of Ghana) and Sekou Ture (former President of Guinea). He died 25 years ago from cancer, but exchanges like this one keep his revolutionary ideas alive in the consciousness of the masses.

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THE REVOLUTIONARY HISTORY OF DREADLOCKS

Dreadlocks are a common sight across our homes, schools, places of work and even of worship. It wasn’t always this way, and it took persistence and patience to mainstream an authentic African hairstyle. Stigma around dreadlocks was informed by colonialism, with effects that were felt decades after independence.

In this video, we look at the revolutionary history of dreadlocks in Kenya and further afield. Have a watch, and please share your thoughts.

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HISTORY OF ‘THE WHITE MAN’S BURDEN’

Englishman Rudyard Kipling first published his poem, ‘The White Man’s Burden,’ in 1899. The term was used to justify the supposed moral obligation of Western, predominantly white, colonial powers to bring their perceived superior culture and values to non-white, non-Western societies. All this paternalistic concept really did was make the case for imperialism and colonisation over the course of decades, in service of Western profit margins.

Here, we dive a little deeper to uncover the meaning of the poem. Let us know how you see the white man’s burden playing out today.

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THE POWER OF HIP HOP

In this video, author Nuri Muhammad from the Nation of Islam speaks about the power of hip hop and the formidable way it has shaped opinions and narratives, bringing about mass consciousness and a desire for change.

Hip hop has grown to be one of the most popular musical genres and has influenced both fashion and politics. Faced with economic hardships, racial discrimination and limited opportunities, the Black community drew on these challenging conditions to create music, poetry and dance that expressed its experiences and emotions.

But hip hop also became a movement for social change and empowerment. Its ability to shed light on social issues, provide creative avenues for expression and healing, and empower marginalised African communities has made hip hop an indispensable tool right up to the present day.

Do you agree with Muhammad? Let us know your most empowering artists in the comments.

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This week’s African proverb comes from South Africa. It evokes a striking image - but people interpret it in different ways.

Many see it as a reminder that African women often face additional hardships compared with the menfolk - they get paid less, are subjected to more abuse, are given little support with child rearing and sometimes cannot access sanitary products.

Others see it as an empowering mantra, saying that women have tougher characters and are less likely to give up.

But some spin it less positively - as saying women will put up with more… for example, in a marriage, even an abusive one.

What’s your own take?

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ANOTHER HERO EXECUTED BY THE BRITISH

Kenyan Freedom fighter Dedan Kimathi took his final bow 67 years ago.

The leader of the Mau Mau rebellion, he was a radical force against British imperialism and ultimately sacrificed his life fighting for Kenya’s independence.

The coloniser killed him by hanging, and buried his body in an unknown location. Almost seven decades later, his grave’s whereabouts remain a mystery. It’s rumoured the British buried him at Kamiti Maximum Security Prison, but efforts to have the body exhumed have had no luck.

African Stream’s Brenda Mwai brings us the lowdown on why Dedan Kimathi matters. May he rest in power!

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SOUTH AFRICA F.M.: WORLD WOULDN’T ALLOW AFRICA TO OPERATE LIKE ISRAEL

Africa would never be allowed to get away with the murders Israel has been committing in the Gaza Strip, said South African Foreign Minister Naledi Pandor.

On the sidelines of the African Union’s 44th Executive Council on 14 February in Addis Ababa, she decried the world’s failure to hold Israel accountable as it bombards and holds siege more than 2 million Palestinians.

Despite Israel claiming its operation is designed to root out militant group H*m*s, 70 per cent of the nearly 30,000 Palestinian fatalities have been women and children.

In January, the International Court of Justice ordered Tel Aviv to take measures to avoid acts that could amount to genocide during its military assault, which began on 7 October. However, Israel has appeared to have ignored the ICJ provisions, leading Pandor to add that a peace force should be in the Gaza Strip to ensure no more deaths.

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DR CONGO LATEST NEWS

Fears of a war in the Great Lakes region heightened after Kinshasa accused Rwanda of a drone attack at the Goma airport on Friday, February 16th 2024. Residents reported hearing ‘two loud explosions’ at around 2 AM. While no military aircraft were damaged, a civilian plane was hit. Rwanda did not immediately respond to the allegations.

Rwanda has been accused of deploying sophisticated mobile surface-to-air missiles during the attack, thus endangering civilian lives. Nineteen civilians and two South African soldiers have recently died in bombings attributed to the M23.

Thousands of people have fled from neighbouring towns towards Goma in the latest clashes between Congolese troops and the M23.

Continued…..The rebel group has reportedly cut off all routes to and from the city except for a single roadway leading to Rwanda. The town of Sake, just 20 km (12 miles) from Goma, has seen intense fighting in the last ten days.

With over seven million Congolese being displaced by the ongoing battles, aid groups are warning of a dire humanitarian situation as more refugees stream into overstretched camps.

President Felix Tshisekedi, who recently won a disputed second term in office, vowed to invade Rwanda if the neighbouring country did not cease meddling in the restive eastern DRC. However, Kigali denies supporting the M23.

‘FREE CONGO!’ PROTESTS ERUPT IN PARIS

Hundreds of protesters hit Parisian streets on 17 February, heading toward the Rwandan embassy to denounce the African state’s alleged complicity in the resource extraction and violence occurring in the eastern part of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). This is just one in many recent actions Congolese people have taken calling for the liberation of their country.

The Congo has been drained and pillaged for multiple generations to fuel the Global North’s technological advancements. Belgium built some of its initial wealth and standing as an industrialised state by plundering Congolese ivory and rubber in the 19th century and early 20th century. The native Congolese were subjected to brutality, such as amputations, if they could not fulfil rubber quotas. That international scandal forced the colonial system to rebrand itself and find less apparent ways to perpetuate the same violence.

Continued…..Since the mid-20th century, colonial rule has given way to neo-colonialism. The violence required to extract resources for the global capitalist economy has created a refugee crisis, with about 7 million Congolese internally displaced. Children have been documented digging for minerals, such as cobalt, so industrialised countries can reap profit. Meanwhile, neighbouring Rwanda and Uganda are accused of playing middlemen that help the West secure access to Congolese resources.

Until the DRC is free, we will continue to fight, mobilise and organise wherever we may be.

How do you see best to defend Africa against resource extraction that doesn’t benefit the people? Let us know in the comments.

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