#METOO MOVEMENT IN CAMEROON

Cameroon is experiencing a revival of MeToo-style activism - after a high-profile businessman was accused of multiple rapes. It’s encouraged other women to come forward and share their own harrowing experiences. The alleged abuser - Hervé Bopda - has since been arrested, after an online campaign calling for him to face justice went viral. The question is, will Cameroonian society at large now undergo a shift regarding men who exploit their positions of power to abuse women?

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DICK GREGORY: BROTHERS DIDN’T SHOOT MALCOLM X

This week marks 59 years since our revolutionary ancestor, Malcolm X, was assassinated.

The late great Dick Gregory, a renowned actor, comedian and activist, was Malcolm X’s close friend. In this passionate and revealing address, Gregory tells the story of how the people forced the US government to reveal the facts about Malcolm X’s 1965 assassination. Information obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request demonstrated bullets that took Malcolm X’s life were shot from above him, rather than from the guns of brothers who stood below the stage.

Continued…..Decades later, Malcolm X’s family has begun the process of suing the New York Police Department, the CIA and the FBI for their role in the Organization of Afro-American Unity founder’s assassination. This comes on the heels of two brothers, who had served prison time and were exonerated in the case, winning settlements in 2022 totalling $36 million from the governments of both New York City and New York State. One of the men filed a federal lawsuit in November to enquire about the FBI’s role. He seeks $40 million.

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U.S. AMBASSADOR CALLS FOR ‘FINAL SOLUTION’ TO PALESTINE QUESTION

Moments after vetoing a UN Security Council resolution calling for a ceasefire in Gaza, US ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield told the press that Washington would pursue what she termed as a ‘final solution’ to the conflict.

That reminded some of the ‘Final Solution to the Jewish Question,’ a N*zi plan to exterminate the Jewish population in Europe. Whether she meant that or not, it came across as a tone-deaf response negating the grave situation facing Gaza’s people and ignoring the United States’ role in perpetuating the brutal Israeli occupation Palestinians have endured for more than 75 years.

Since 7 October, Washington has reportedly supplied 21,000 precision-guided munitions, including 100 2,000-pound ‘bunker buster’ bombs designed to penetrate hardened structures or underground targets.

Continued….The remaining weapons are reportedly able to sustain 18 more weeks of bombardments. This is on top of the $3.8 billion the US annually gives Tel Aviv to beef up its military. Plus, billions more in US military aid have been proposed since the escalation began.

Israel has killed close to 30,000 Palestinians and has forced 1.9 million—85 per cent of Gaza residents—to flee their homes. More US arms are reportedly on the way as Tel Aviv prepares to invade Rafah, where 1.5 million Palestinians are trapped on the border with Egypt.

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PT. 2: WHO EXACTLY IS INVOLVED IN DRC LOOTING?

The conflict in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) is barely discussed, and when it is, it’s usually painted as complex and opaque. No more. Two representatives from Friends of the Congo joined African Stream for our second podcast episode. In this clip, Kambale Musavuli neatly tied together the foreign interests at play, from the mines to Tesla’s electric vehicles and Israel’s occupation of Palestine.

A figure that stands out is Israeli businessman Dan Gertler, who makes about $250,000 a day from royalties on Congolese minerals, while 62 per cent of Congolese live on $2.15 per day. Musavuli said Gertler uses some of the money to finance the construction of walls and settlements in occupied Palestine.

As the West now feigns concern over regional actors’ participation in the conflict, Musavuli illustrates how Western companies actually make a killing from the instability.

Let us know what you think about this connection.

LONDONERS MARCH FOR PEACE IN SUDAN

The Sudanese diaspora is trying hard to raise awareness and encourage action over the disastrous civil war raging in their home country and the humanitarian crisis gripping it. In London last weekend, protesters marched though the British capital, chanting messages of solidarity and calling for aid, diplomacy and a return to civilian rule - as well as for outside actors like the UAE to stop assisting the belligerents.

The conflict between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) has claimed thousands of lives and displaced a staggering 7.8-million people internally - with over two million on top having fled the country. Infrastructure has been pounded and over 20-million face food insecurity. There are also allegations of genocide by the RSF in Darfur.

Continued….Yet for some reason African tragedies fail to move the international community - the redoubled efforts to provide humanitarian aid and the global pressure to end the fighting that we see with other conflicts is simply not brought to bear.

Bravo to @londonforsudan, @sudaneseresistancefront and others for mobilising Londoners - let’s see more of this! Please share your support in the comments

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The Economist, a British weekly magazine, is asking its readers if Julius Malema is the most dangerous man in Africa.

To answer this question, we first must ask, dangerous for who? For the imperialist and white settlers or for the Black Africans that Malema is fighting for? For the former group (or gang), it’s easy to see why they would consider Malema dangerous. For decades, if not centuries, they have always feared the emergence of African leaders who are articulate, charismatic, unapologetic, people who are unafraid to address issues that many in the West would rather keep quiet—the white man’s burden. But this is precisely what Malema, the leader of one of the fastest-growing political movements on the continent, the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF), is doing.

He has been asking tough questions about the post-apartheid South African economy. He has called for the nationalisation of mines and banks, which currently are under the tight control of primarily white South Africans and foreign firms.

Continued….He advocates for land redistribution to end the present anomaly in its ownership structure, which is rooted in apartheid-era legislation. This anomaly has led to white settlers owning more than 70 per cent of the land when they comprise less than 10 per cent of South Africa’s population.

These are questions and issues that an imperialist mouthpiece such as the Economist does not want to come to the fore. If you think about it, they’re the type to shake the table wherever imperialists devour African resources.

It’s unsurprising that the editors at the Economist would consider a man like Malema to be dangerous. In short, he is a threat to the continued looting of South Africa, as well as the entire African continent. It’s a reminder of the words of the Nation of Islam leader Minister Louis Farrakhan, ‘There is no greater honour than to be despised by the wicked.’

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MACKY SALL TO STEP DOWN IN APRIL

Senegal's president, Macky Sall, said on 22 February that he will step down once his second 5-year term ends in April. This comes after a high court recently ruled against Sall's attempt to delay the 18 February elections to mid-December.

Before this, months of protests would end in demonstrators being arrested or killed. In June 2023, a video appeared to show Senegal police using an 8-year-old boy as a human shield in the face of spirited opposition.

Sall also said he was ready to release from prison a prominent opposition figure, Ousmane Sonko, seen as radically anti-French. Paris maintains a dominating presence in Dakar and throughout West and Central Africa, which it once colonised. France prints the CFA franc currency used across the regions, and significant French businesses operate in Senegal.

So far, no election date has been announced. We will keep you up to date on developments. But, in the meantime, let us know what you think.

CONGO STANDS ITS GROUND AGAINST RWANDA AT THE UN

At the UN security council meeting on 20 Feb 2024, Rwanda accused the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) of committing genocide against ethnic Tutsi populations by allegedly supporting the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR). But the DRC was quick to remind Rwanda that its East African neighbour has no right to meddle in the internal affairs of the Central African state. Meanwhile, human rights organisations have increasingly accused Rwanda of violently and illegally intervening in Eastern Congo through their alleged- proxy M23 rebel group. Many activists are growing weary of Rwanda’s alleged-role as a western-backed proxy state active in the plunder of Congolese resources on behalf of imperialist powers.

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AMERICA WAR PROFITEERING ON ISRAEL-GAZA WAR

In this video, Author Billy Carson discusses why he’s not a fan of religion or the United States making killer sales from wars. In his estimation, religion is like an ember that has sparked far too many global conflicts, fattening the pockets of the US military industrial complex and other war profiteers.

Take the oppressive apartheid regime in South Africa for example. The oppressors used the biblical Tower of Babel story to push the idea that apartheid pleased God for the separation of people into different races and languages was endorsed by noscriptures. Meanwhile, it was former US president, Dwight D. Eisenhower, who said the arms industry represents a hidden force within the US and that it will profit handsomely through government interests? Well… That was in 1961. And the same Eisenhower ordered the assassination of Congolese Independence leader Patrice Lumumba.

Continued…..Much of the Congo’s debacle can be traced back to the US, Belgian and other western governments and firms. They’ve all profited handsomely from the Congo’s vast resources in order to build bombs ever since the Second World War, all the way to its precious cobalt for the development of batteries and other components needed by the hi-tech industry.

Fast-forward to February 2024 and the US senate recently approved a $14bn spending bill to further support Tel Aviv. Many say the package deal is America’s way of prolonging Israel’s assault on the Gaza Strip, where nearly 30,000 Palestinians have been killed, mainly women and children. While arms manufacturers stand to reap more hefty profits, the Israeli government seeks to occupy what little remains of Palestine.

Between 2013-2023, 68 percent of Israel’s weapons came from its main benefactor, the United States, a country that supplies Tel Aviv $3bn annually in military aid.

With the ICJ’s call for Israel to “take all measures within its power”, to cease the genocide that has seen nearly 30,000 Palestinians sent to an early grave, the hope is that mounting global pressure will eventually prevent future sales of arms and military aid to Israel.

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THE BOOK THAT GOT NKRUMAH DEPOSED?

Today marks 58 years since Pan-African icon and Ghana’s founding leader Kwame Nkrumah was removed from office in a military coup engineered by the CIA.

After leading Ghana to independence from British colonial rule in 1957, Nkrumah embarked on a mission to unite the African people on the continent and the diaspora. It was his firm belief that Africans share not only a common history, but a common destiny.

He was one of the founding leaders of the African Union’s predecessor, the Organization of African Unity, in 1963. In a key speech at the opening summit, he eloquently made the case for African unity. He explained that true independence and prosperity could only be attained if African nations united on both the economic and political front.

Continued…..He said this was the only way they could defeat the menace posed by the neo-colonial system, which was hell-bent on maintaining its control over the continent, even as most countries attained ‘flag independence.’

To the CIA, revolutionary Pan-African leaders like Nkrumah were a danger that needed to be ‘neutralised.’ Their words were perceived to threaten the US establishment.

But don’t take our word for it - take it from Kwame Nkrumah’s editorial assistant, June Milne. As she relates in this clip, his book ‘Neo-Colonialism, The Last Stage of Imperialism,’ in which he detailed how Western countries were looting Africa’s resources, was the last straw for the US, and is what spurred it into sponsoring the coup that removed him.

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Faced by a mass exodus of nurses and midwives, Nigeria’s government is implementing tough measures to stem the 'brain drain' of its medical personnel, who are increasingly looking for better working conditions away from home. But the medics are up in arms over Abuja’s stringent new rules, which make it significantly harder for them to work overseas. It’s a tricky issue. What do you think the right approach is?

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MARKED MEN: MALCOLM X AND PINTO

On the anniversary of his assassination, we look back at the legacy of Pio Gama Pinto. He was one of Kenya’s leading socialist voices and, in the spirit of internationalism, developed a brotherly relationship with the revolutionary activist Malcom X. In this clip, Dick Gregory, a Black writer, activist and social critic, explains their close bond.

This was first formed during Malcolm X’s 1959 visit to Kenya. Pio Gama Pinto, a Kenyan revolutionary of Asian origin, was deeply involved in Kenya’s struggle for independence. Both men were fighting similar fights against oppression. Together, they planned a joint strategy to combat injustices. Notably, Pinto advocated taking the US to the UN for its treatment of Black people. Tragically, within three days of each other, in February 1965, both were assassinated, highlighting the danger their voices posed to powerful interests. Pinto’s killing was Kenya’s first political assassination.

Continued…..An accomplished journalist and propagandist, Pinto used his energy to publicise the cause of African freedom through political pamphlets and press articles. When, in 1952, the colonial government declared a state of emergency and detained most African leaders, he was involved in funnelling weapons to Mau Mau fighters.

Pio Gama Pinto had to die because he was perhaps the perfect African socialist in a Kenya whose independence was hijacked by capitalist elites. He was virtually at war with those accused of land-grabbing - including Kenya’s first President Jomo Kenyatta and his ‘Kiambu mafia’ (a group of the elite from Kenya’s Central province) - and with Western capitalism led by the US and British governments.

Pinto was shot on 24th February, 1965, as he drove out of his Westlands home in Nairobi. Though departed, his legacy lives on in the millions of Africans keeping up the fight for a fully liberated and dignified Africa. Rest with the ancestors, Pio Gama Pinto.

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ECOWAS VIOLATED INTERNATIONAL LAW

Many African Stream followers may know the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) has enacted sanctions and other measures to punish the Sahelian states of Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger for recent popular coups.

President Ibrahim Traoré of Burkina Faso told a Burkinabé crowd that such measures violate international law, adding, ‘You cannot close ports to a landlocked country.’ He may have been referring to the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea.

Multiple coups have rocked West Africa since ECOWAS was established in 1975. However, the regional body has not responded to previous coups with sanctions and threats of military intervention.

Why do you think ECOWAS imposed such measures on Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger? Let us know in the comments.

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GUINEA BISSAU’S UNSHAKABLE CARMEN PEREIRA

Carmen Maria Pereira was a relentless fighter during Guinea-Bissau’s struggle for independence from the Portuguese.

At an early age, she joined the resistance movement, becoming a member of the African Party for the Independence of Guinea and Cape Verde (PAIGC) - a party that produced some of Africa’s finest female freedom fighters, such as Titina Silá.

Pereira would go on to serve as Guinea-Bissau’s president - though only for three days.

She may not be with us now, but the people of Guinea-Bissau remember her as a radical spirit in the face of injustice. May she Rest in Power.

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