FELA KUTI: REVOLUTIONS PER MINUTE

Fela Anikulapo Kuti and his musical family have done much to shape Nigerian arts, culture and politics. His mother Funmilayo Kuti was a revolutionary who organised Nigerian women to fight neo-colonialism and capitalist exploitation. Fela Kuti in turn understood his role as an artist in the service of African liberation. Now his children carry on their father’s musical legacy, with son Seun Kuti also actively engaged in keeping alive the Pan-African and socialist politics of his family.

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BLACK DOES CRACK USE SUNSCREEN!

Despite the sun’s UV rays damaging everyone’s skin, a third of Blacks still don’t use sunscreen. What’s more, they aren’t encouraged to by doctors or the manufacturers. We look at why.

STRIVING FOR WHITENESS IN LATIN AMERICA

Harlem rap legend and activist Felipe Andres Coronel is better known by the stage name, Immortal Technique. Most of his lyrics focus on global politics, from an anti-colonial perspective.

During a podcast on the YouTube channel, American Cholo, he gave a master class on how racism derives from a centuries-long colonial system in what is now Latin America. In it, he details how commonly used terms, like ‘mulatto,’ are racist.

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HOW THE WEST FACILITATED UGANDA'S ANTI-HOMOSEXUALITY LAW

Ghana’s parliament recently followed Uganda in passing an anti-gay bill. It has yet to be signed by President Akufo Addo but has already drawn heavy fire from global rights groups, as has the new wave of homophobia sweeping across Africa.

Supporters of Ghana’s and Uganda’s tough anti-gay stances say that the LGBTQ movement is a corrupting, non-African influence imposed by the West. But could the same actually be said for homophobia? Could it be a colonial import to the continent - with negative African attitudes towards homosexuals shaped and fostered by European teachings? And could modern-day Western influences be radicalising these attitudes? Even today, groups such as US-based Family Watch International have been accused of lobbying for legislation criminalising homosexuality in Uganda, Kenya and Ghana.

You views matter to African Stream, please share them in the comments.

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MIRIAM MAKEBA: HAPPY BIRTHDAY MAMA AFRICA!

Today we celebrate Miriam Makeba’s birthday. Also fondly nicknamed Mama Africa, her voice transcended music, becoming a beacon of strength and unity. From the heart of South Africa’s struggle against apartheid to global stages, her songs resonated with the call for equality and social change. She stirred souls and consciousnesses alike with a voice that held both gentleness and might.

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Continued….The World Food Programme is warning that Gaza is on the brink of famine. Yet hundreds of trucks loaded with food and medical aid are stuck on the border with Egypt.

The death toll from Tel Aviv’s destructive war now exceeds 30,000 - including 21,000 women and children. Israel has also vowed to attack the southern city of Rafah, where 1.4-million Palestinians are stuck on the border with Egypt.

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RABAT STANDS WITH PALESTINE

On Saturday, people in the Moroccan capital Rabat rallied again in support of the Palestinians - demanding a ceasefire and urging their government to break ties with Israel.

March 2nd was designated a Global Day of Action for Palestine - with rallies held all over the world, including New York and Kuala Lumpur, while in some countries, events were held on Sunday, for example, in Australia.

Since October 7th, numerous similar rallies have been held across Africa.

Did you show support for Palestine this weekend?

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UK’S GALLOWAY WINS ON PRO- PALESTINE TICKET

British politician George Galloway has won a landslide victory in the northern English town of Rochdale - after running a pro-Palestine campaign, promising to advocate for Gaza.

Galloway represents the Workers’ Party of Britain. Rochdale was a Labour Party stronghold, but voters appear to have punished it (and the governing Conservatives) for its pro-Israeli stance, demanding a Gaza ceasefire only belatedly and still refusing to call what’s happening in the Strip genocide.

Galloway backed South Africa’s recent push to have Tel Aviv held to account at the International Court of Justice.

Continued….The veteran politician has a history with South Africa, having travelled the length and breadth of the country during the apartheid era in support of the ANC and other liberation groups in their struggle against White-minority rule and racist segregation.

In 2003, he was expelled from the Labour Party for his vocal opposition to the US-led war on Iraq - differing with the then-Labour prime minister, Tony Blair. Two years later, he embarrassed a US Senate committee in a now-viral clip, which claimed he profited from Saddam Hussein’s oil-for-food programme, when in reality it was the U.S who had profited from Iraq’s vast oil fields since the invasion in 2003.

How significant do you think Galloway’s win is, given his platform was highly pro-Palestine? Does it reflect people’s mood in the wider West?

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KENYA AND HAITI SIGN DEPLOYMENT AGREEMENT

Kenya’s president Ruto and Haitian Prime Minister Ariel Henry have signed an agreement to deploy Kenyan police to the Caribbean island nation as part of a UN-backed security mission to restore order. In a speech made on Friday at Nairobi’s State House after the signing, Ruto said he and Ariel Henry had discussed ways to fast-track the deployment - even though Kenya’s High Court recently ruled that sending the planned 1,000 officers would be unconstitutional.

Critics of the envisaged mission say it would violate Haitian sovereignty - and is really just a US operation with a Black face. While gang violence is rampant in Haiti, many of the guns used originate from the US, and previous meddling by Washington has fanned instability in the country. Ruto insists sending officers is an act of solidarity, not occupation. But African Stream has done vox pops in both countries and the people disagree.

What are your thoughts?

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DON’T BLAME SLAVERY ON AFRICA

Who’s to blame for the European slave trade?Apparently, some Africans are blaming themselves and say their ancestors were the ones who sold slaves to the Europeans. Here, our sister outlines how and why the role of colonial powers in the appalling practice should never be forgotten. In the 1400s, Europeans scouted for land occupied by indigenous people and abducted, abused and enslaved around 13 million.

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DEL MONTE’S TRAIL OF AFRICAN BODIES

Guards at American food giant Del Monte’s large farm in Kenya are accused of culpability in a number of suspicious deaths. With families failing to find justice, some suspect outright murder and a cover-up. African Stream’s William Sakawa reports.

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GENOCIDE SURVIVORS EVICTED

​Rwanda is less than a tenth the size of the UK but is home to about 14-million people - that’s almost one-fifth of the UK’s population. However, the British government still wants to push ahead with a controversial scheme to deport asylum seekers to the East African country.

Despite a fierce backlash from rights groups, international agencies, Rwandan opposition politicians and even the UK Supreme Court - which has ruled the plan unlawful - the two governments are hellbent on implementing it. In Kigali, a hostel that has been housing survivors of the 1994 genocide for nearly three decades has had them evicted to make room for asylum seekers who arrive on England’s coast.

Continued….According to the UK’s National Audit Office, it will end up costing about 600-million pounds (760-million dollars) to deport the first 300 refugees. There is no cap on the number of migrants, and thousands could potentially pour into Kigali within the first five years of the plan. The only opposition party that ran against Rwandan President Paul Kagame in the last election, the Democratic Green Party of Rwanda, is accusing the UK of violating its international obligations by shipping its unwanted migrants 4,000 miles away to Rwanda.

Check out our exclusive report from the ground in Rwanda, where we explore the devastating consequences that this policy is having in Rwanda itself. And please share your views and insights into this issue.

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VENEZUELA BLASTS KENYA’S U.S.-BACKED HAITI MISSION

In a twist of irony, while African countries are scrambling to enforce Western imperialism in Haiti through a planned deployment of Kenyan police, a country further south is standing up for the predominantly Black state.

In this 1 March clip, Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro stated his opposition to the move, pointing to the failures of past foreign interventions.

In one of the most famous cases, UN occupation forces caused the deaths of at least 10,000 Haitians after they dumped sewerage in Haiti’s water supply. Extrajudicial killings and child rapes were rampant during previous deployments, too. During the US military occupation in the early 20th century, it conducted what may have been the first US aerial bombardment in Haiti.

Continued….With Haiti’s estimated $20 billion in precious metals, farmland, as well as its strategic location, some suspect the deployment is meant to aid Western looting. The same countries financing the operation are responsible for the dysfunction. For example, France forced Haiti to pay ‘reparations’ for winning freedom from enslavers. The United States has looted Haiti’s gold, deposed democratically elected leaders like Jean-Bertrand Aristide, and supported unpopular presidents like François’ Papa Doc’ Duvalier and his son, Jean-Claude’ Baby Doc’ Duvalier.

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KAMALA HARRIS CALLS FOR 6-WEEK GAZA CEASEFIRE

Too little, too late? That’s the sentiment online after cheers emanated from the crowd as US Vice President Kamala Harris called on 3 March for an ‘immediate ceasefire’ in Gaza. A recent US poll shows 65 per cent of people support a comprehensive ceasefire; Harris touted one lasting six weeks.

Many see the 6-week duration as a way to entice Arabs and Muslims to support US President Joe Biden, given that the timeframe would coincide with the almost 5-week Muslim holy month of Ramadan. After weeks of mobilising Arab and Muslim communities in Michigan, more than 100,000 people cast ‘uncommitted’ ballots during the state’s Democratic Party primary held on 27 February. However, that did not prevent Biden from sweeping the majority of delegates as he continues on to other state primaries ahead of the November election.

Continued….The surge in action against the Democratic Party’s presumed presidential nominee has come as Israel has killed more than 30,000 Palestinians—more than 70 per cent of whom are women and children—since the 7 October escalation in the 75-year Palestine-Israel conflict. Despite this, Tel Aviv has continued to say the bombardments are meant to eliminate H*m*s militants.

In January, the International Court of Justice slapped provisional measures against Israel, saying its actions were ‘plausibly’ in violation of the 1948 United Nations Genocide Convention.

The vice president was speaking in Selma, Alabama, during the commemoration of ‘Bloody Sunday.’ That is when Alabama state troopers and a common-law posse used batons and tear gas to attack about 600 primarily Black civil-rights marchers 59 years ago on the Edmund Pettus Bridge.

What do you think of Harris’ call for a ceasefire? Let us know in the comments.

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The United States has sanctioned Zimbabwean President Emmerson Mnangagwa; his wife, Auxillia; nine government officials and three companies for alleged human rights violations and corruption. In a twist, the US lifted 2003 sanctions imposed in response to late President Robert Mugabe's 2000-01 land redistribution campaign.

US Deputy Treasury Secretary Wally Adeyemo announced the fresh sanctions on 4 March, saying they were meant to punish the 'criminal network' around Mnangagwa. However, Zimbabwean spokesperson Nick Mangwana doubted the country's pain would dissipate, saying on X, 'We are all under sanctions.'