AFRICA CAN’T DEVELOP IN ISOLATION!

Would cutting off Africa from the rest of the world be a good development model for the continent? After all, it’s suffered terribly at the hands of colonialists, and some warn it mustn’t trust the likes of Russia and China. However, no country has ever developed in isolation, not even the United States.

Have a listen to our interview with Zambia’s Socialist Party President Fred Mmembe, who says the continent must embrace relations with the rest of the world. But it must do so with eyes wide open and mutually beneficial deals. Africa has resources, but it needs infrastructure and modern technology. The question is, from where should it seek help?

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PANDOR PRAISES MULTIPOLARITY!

In this clip, South Africa’s foreign minister gives a robust defence of a multipolar world.

Speaking at a recent ANC conference, Naledi Pandor explained why it was important that all states have a voice on the geopolitical stage - especially when it comes to things like the imposition of sanctions. If powerful states like the US try to impose their will on others by going round such checks and balances as the UN, then smaller nations will always be at risk of economic blackmail - if not worse.

However, is Pandor putting too much faith in the UN? Given the way some nations abuse their veto on the Security Council, some say it’s no longer the guard it once was. Your thoughts, as always, are appreciated.

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DO SOUTH AFRICANS THINK THEY'RE EUROPEAN?

Have you noticed how some people view South Africa as ‘different’ to the rest of Africa? Julius Malema, the leader of the Economic Freedom Fighters, says such a belief is a relic of colonial powers trying to keep the continent divided.

In this clip Malema urges South Africans to stop feeling as if they’re somehow closer to Europe than the rest of Africa. Unity, above all, is the only way forward. Do you agree? Please leave your thoughts below.

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WAR VICTIMS NEED HELP THIS RAMADAN

As we enter the holy month of Ramadan, we remember our brothers and sisters on the brink of death in Gaza, Sudan and the DRC. African Stream’s Ahmed Ghoneim calls out Muslim leaders for their inaction and demands they represent the will of their people.

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KENYANS SAY NO TO RUTO’S HAITI MISSION

Kenyans have embarrassed their president on his own X account. In a post, William Ruto doubled down on sending 1,000 police to Haiti as part of a US-backed mission. On the same thread, a user then polled people on whether they wanted the deployment to go ahead. A staggering 5,000 responded with 80 per cent of them saying NO!

Kenya’s foreign ministry had declared the mission was on hold after Haiti’s unelected Prime Minister, Ariel Henry, resigned. However, a few hours later, Ruto insisted officers would be sent as soon as a new Presidential Council was in place on the Caribbean Island.

It’s a decision that has little support in Kenya, which is facing its own security crisis. In recent months, bandit-related violence has killed 74 people and displaced more than 2,500 people in the North Rift area.

Continued….It’s prompted Kenyan MPs to lash out at the government’s failure to combat the problem. Despite that, Ruto seems more concerned with leading a US-funded mission to Haiti to ‘restore order’ there.

Previous interventions have been disastrous for Haiti, and Washington has a long, bloody history on the island. From occupations, robbery of gold and the overthrowing of democratic governments and installation of puppets.

What’s also depressing is the deafening silence from the African Union. It’s fallen away from the ideals and vision of leaders like Nkrumah, who intended the body to serve Africans everywhere, especially those from the first Black republic.

As for Ruto, it seems he can’t even serve the wishes of his own people.

U.S. COPS TRYING TO HIDE RACISM BY
LOGGING BLACKS AS WHITE?

It’s no secret that Black people in the US are overrepresented in prisons thanks to racial inequality in the country’s criminal justice system.

But it gets worse. Online users have apparently uncovered a worrying trend that suggests several US state Departments of Corrections, most notably Texas and New Jersey, have been misclassifying Black people as White in police records - seemingly in a ploy to seem less racist.

If proven to be true, this misrepresentation would artificially skew the demographic data on incarcerations, thereby creating a false impression of the level of equality in law enforcement activities and not showing the targeting of particular minorities - namely, Blacks and Hispanics.

Continued….It would not only distort statistics but also obscure the realities of racial profiling faced by Black communities in the US.

John Bachman, a News Max reporter, posted on his X page that - upon discovering the alleged scheme at the New Jersey Department of Corrections’ public information office - he spoke with director Amy Quinn, who said she’s looking into it and will get back. Until she does, the jury is out.

Have a watch, and let us know your reactions.

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SUDAN’S ARMY CAPTURES BROADCASTING HQ

Sudan’s army has seized control of the national radio and television HQ - wresting it from its civil-war rival, the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) paramilitary.

The capture of the state broadcast building on Tuesday, March 12th, came three days after Sudanese Armed Forces General Yasser al-Atta rejected a UN Security Council call for a Ramadan truce.

The army has recently made gains, recapturing territory from the RSF in parts of Omdurman and the capital Khartoum. The RSF welcomed the UN appeal for a truce but the army rejected it, seemingly wanting to maintain its initiative.

Continued….As fighting rages on, some 25-million people - half of Sudan’s population - need immediate humanitarian assistance and protection. UN aid chief Martin Griffiths says the UN’s humanitarian response in the country is curtailed by a lack of funding, with only 4% of the $2.7-billion it needs in 2024 currently available. In total, the UN says up to $4.1 billion are needed to assist all needy Sudanese, including refugees abroad.

The war has killed over 13,000 and displaced almost 11 million - most of them internally. It’s the world’s highest internal displacement crisis, according to UN agencies.

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Today marks six years since Afro-Brazilian political leader Marielle Franco's assassination.

On the night of 14 March 2018, the 38-year-old Rio de Janeiro city councilwoman was shot and killed in a car alongside her driver, Anderson Pedro Gomes, after she spoke at a round-table event about Black women's empowerment.

Two former military police officers are awaiting trial for the murders. Evidence reportedly shows one of the accused had been monitoring Franco for months. Both are allegedly members of a far-right militia group to which reports say former President Jair Bolsonaro is linked.

Franco had represented the Socialism and Liberty Party (PSOL) on the city council starting in January 2017.

Continued….During her short tenure as councilwoman, Franco introduced 16 bills—five of which she solely authored—that sought to address the impacts of race, class and gender oppression. Most celebrated are proposals to provide childcare, train adolescents to join the labour force, and support victims of sexual harassment and violence. She also spoke out about police brutality and extrajudicial killings. Right before her murder, she was appointed as the rapporteur of a city council committee to look into a February 2018 federal army deployment in Rio de Janeiro state.

Before joining Rio de Janeiro's Municipal Chamber, she was known for advocating for LGBTQ rights. She was a human rights defender, sociologist and socialist.

A bronze statue was erected as a tribute in 2022 in the city's Buraco do Lume park, where the councilwoman spoke to her constituents every Friday.

Long live the undying spirit of Marielle Franco!

HOW LBJ TRIED TO CENSOR CIVIL RIGHTS HEROINE

Today we remember Fannie Lou Hamer, a civil-rights leader and community organiser who passed away on March 14th, 1977.

During the 1960s, Black Southerners came together to organise and resist White-supremacy and systemic violence against African-Americans. Hamer was one of the founders, and the vice-chairperson, of the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party, a political force created to challenge the racist mainstream Mississippi Democratic Party.

Continued….In 1964, in a bid to change things, she gave powerful testimony testimony to the Democratic National Convention, explaining her hardships - and why the Mississippi Dems needed to reform.

This was televised - or it was supposed to be, until she was cut off air by an ‘urgent’ TV press conference that had been convened by President Lyndon B. Johnson. This turned out to be a complete damp squib - Johnson merely reminded reporters that it had been nine months since Kennedy’s assassination! That gave the game away: LBJ simply hadn’t wanted Hamer’s words to reach the wider nation.

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S/AFRICA OPPOSITION ASKS U.S. TO MONITOR FORTHCOMING ELECTIONS

The South African government has dismissed calls by the country’s main opposition party to invite US and EU election monitors to the upcoming general election.

On 7th March, the Democratic Alliance wrote a letter to US Secretary of State Antony Blinken - requesting that Washington send a team of observers for the May 29th vote to ‘safeguard against any attempts to disrupt the democratic process.’

An irritated President Cyril Ramaphosa slammed the DA’s appeal as ‘disingenuous’ and an attempt to ‘sell the country to other powers in the world.’

South Africa’s foreign minister expressed surprise at the DA’s request, claiming that the country had in the last three decades conducted elections regarded as free and fair by all stakeholders, including observers drawn from across the world.

What’s your view? Is this just pre-electoral politicking? Or is there a genuine concern about the upcoming ballot?