PALESTINE MURAL GOES UP IN NAIROBI

A mural in solidarity with Palestine went up on 14 March in the poor neighbourhood of Mathare, a collection of slums home to about 500,000 people in Kenya's capital of Nairobi.

Present at the event were Palestine's ambassador to Kenya, Hazem Shabat (@palestinekenya), and members of the grassroots group Women Collective Kenya (womenco_ke) and the Mathare Social Justice Centre. The mural also contains a social media handle for graffiti artist Wama (@artbywama).

Heavily African-inspired, this mural shows people raising the victory sign with their fingers and waving a Palestine flag through a heart-shaped hole in a wall. So far, Israel's military operation since 7 October has killed more than 31,000 Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.

Continued….Mathare has long been a hub for progressive politics, hosting events about Sudan's civil war and Kenya's independence-era heroes, among other issues. It's also home to a vibrant social justice centre.

Being the oldest and second-largest of Kenya's urban slums, Mathare's legacy predates Kenya's independence, as it was through here that weapons found their way into Mau Mau independence fighters' hands in the mid-20th century.

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REMEMBERING OYINKANSOLA ABAYOMI

It’s been 34 years since Lady Oyinkansola Abayomi passed away. But her gallant efforts in championing the development of women in Nigeria have not been forgotten.

She was a feminist and nationalist and campaigned for their education. She also founded Nigeria’s Women’s Party which fought for equal rights and opportunities.

Born in 1897; her parents may have had an inkling she was going to stand out from the crowd and gave her six names: Ajibati,Ajibike,Morenike,Moronkeji, Olaosebikan and Oyinkansola.

She travelled to London in her early life and studied music at the Royal Academy of Arts. While in the UK she also joined the Girl Guides and later became the chief commissioner of the organisation in Nigeria.

Continued….The following decades saw Lady Abayomi embark on a political career. Her campaigning for women saw her knighted by the Queen of the United Kingdom in 1954. Oyinkan was also honoured at home with five chieftaincy noscripts, including Iya Eko of Lagos and Iya Abiye of Egbaland.

She died at the ripe age of 93 on March 19th, 1990.
We remember you, Oyinkan. May you continue to rest in peace.

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HAITIANS CONDEMN U.S DESTABILIZATION OF ISLAND

Kenya’s President Ruto is charging ahead with the planned deployment of Kenyan police to occupy Haiti on American orders. He calls it a duty to a brotherly African nation. Haitians are having none of it, however. Watch as they state their reasons for wanting the US as far away from Haiti’s affairs as possible.

From the deaths of more than 10,000 due to a cholera outbreak caused by UN troops, theft of Haiti’s resources, regime change operations and fatherless children left behind, the island has seen it all. Previous interventions have been disastrous for Haitians, but profitable for the West. American organisations, for example, reaped billions of dollars in the name of charity after the 2010 Haiti earthquake. For the millions of Haitians, their lives did not improve as a result.

Continued….This new foray into the Caribbean under the guise of Pan-Africanism has received condemnation both in Kenya and Haiti. Listening to Haitians speak on the legacy of previous foreign occupations, it’s a puzzle why the international community and African Union, most unfortunately, are allowing it to happen.

Have a watch and let us know what you think.

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MEDIA HIDES LIBYA FLOODS CONTEXT

Today marks 13 years since NATO attacked Libya in response to warfare that kicked off in 2011 between the Libyan government and militants.

However, the effects of that intervention still haunt what was once Africa’s most prosperous country.

In September 2023, Libya suffered one of the deadliest natural disasters of recent times when about 11,300 people died and about 10,100 went missing after Storm Daniel landed on 10 September, dumping 414 millimetres (16 inches) of rain in 24 hours. The rainfall in the eastern port city of Derna caused two dams to burst, wiping out whole neighbourhoods and destroying civilian infrastructure.

Continued….In this clip, Max Blumenthal, founder of independent media outlet The Grayzone, said that former Information Minister Moussa Ibrahim Gaddafi had mentioned the dams were due for a 2012 inspection. However, after the US-led coalition attacked Libya in 2011, it was impossible to follow through with needed infrastructure work.

Blumenthal commented that US war hawks, such as Samantha Power, who worked as a senior aide at the US National Security Council, and President Barack Obama, are responsible for Libya’s 2011 destruction and its aftermath. He added they must be held accountable for the flooding deaths.

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ISRAELI POLICE KILL BOY LIGHTING FIREWORK

On March 12th, Israeli police shot dead a 12-year-old boy who lit a firework during Ramadan in the West Bank. Rami Hamdan al-Halhouli was branded a terrorist by Israel’s National Security Minister, who claimed he’d aimed the fireworks at officers. However, footage shows them being let off into the sky.

Rami’s grieving father described his son as a smart student who wasn’t a troublemaker. He says that night he’d simply broken his fast and gone outside to light a firework to celebrate.

Over 400 Palestinians have been killed in the West Bank since on October 7th’s escalation in the conflict.

Will Rami ever get justice?

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MUSEVENI: HOW NATO SCUPPERED AFRICAN MISSION TO SAVE LIBYA

Thirteen years ago today, NATO doomed Africa’s richest nation to failure - as it launched its intervention to topple Pan-African leader Muammar Gaddafi from power. This didn’t just spell disaster for Libya, which was eventually overrun by extremists who brought back open slave markets, but for the wider region as well, as the security crisis spilled over into the Sahel, leaving a trail of tens of thousands of African bodies. To this day, the likes of Burkina Faso and Mali are having to fight jihadist insurgents as a result of NATO’s 2011 regime change.

The worst of it is that it could all have been prevented - if, as Uganda’s president explains in this clip, Africans had been left to their own devices.

Continued….Yoweri Museveni relates how six African presidents had decided to fly over to Libya to mediate peace. But NATO stopped their plane mid-flight and ordered them to turn back - even though it was going from Africa to Africa via African airspace!

The impromptu peace mission was conceived at the residence of the president of Mauritania, who was hosting other African heads of state at the time, including the chair of the African Union.

Museveni tells his audience it’s a sign of just how much contempt the West has for us. The fact that the plane did as it was told, he says, shows how weak some African leaders still are. It’s the kind of weakness that saw us colonised in the first place, he claims.

He peppers his tale with a few jokes to take the sting out.

Libya is still suffering today from NATO‘s actions. When will bodies like the African Union learn stand up to outside meddling? Even now, member state Kenya looks adamant on doing America’s bidding in Haiti. Or think of how West African bloc ECOWAS did the West’s bidding over Niger.

Have a watch of Museveni telling his tale, and please share your insights into these issues in the comments. Your views matter to African Stream.

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U.S. HOUSE OF CARDS COLLAPSING IN NIGER?

Niger’s military coup that ousted Western-aligned President Mohamed Bazoum in July threw a wrench into US and French hegemony of Africa’s Sahel region.

The United States may have to abandon a $110 million airbase in Agadez after the new government announced on 16 March that the US military is no longer welcome in the country. This comes three months after Niger forced the French military to pack its bags.

According to Nigerien authorities, the US military was not required to report on its activities or help with anti-terrorism efforts despite building the largest and most expensive US drone base, according to an agreement former President Mahamadou Issoufou had signed in 2014.

Get more details by watching Salifu Mack’s report, and let us know what you think by leaving a comment below.

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ZIONIST SPITS ON BLACK CHILD & HURLS PROFANITY

A Venn diagram showing the overlap of the political ideology of Zionism and white supremacy should not be a surprise to our people. Both involve the oppression of minorities, thereby justifying genocide and the theft and exploitation of land and resources.

In this 24 November video reportedly recorded at the Westfield Valley Fair Mall in Santa Clara, California (USA), a red-headed woman can be seen booing and spitting over a balcony onto a march of about 1,000 pro-Palestine protesters on the lower level.

Continued…..Afterwards, a Black man confronted the white woman because her spit had apparently landed on his young daughter. Instead of apologising, she hurled a profanity-laced insult against Black people.

The day after the US Thanksgiving holiday is called ‘Black Friday’ because companies look forward to people cramming into stores for cheaper holiday presents, pulling companies out of the ‘red’ (financial loss) and into the ‘black,’ denoting balanced account books. In this case, the possibility of a large shopping crowd presented an opportunity for Palestine supporters to highlight the 75-year struggle of Palestinians against the Israeli occupation while they protested a five-day ‘humanitarian pause’ in Israel’s military operation in the Gaza Strip.

Depraved acts as we see in this video are commonplace in occupied Palestine. A video of an Israeli woman recently attacking a bus transporting Palestinian orphans from Gaza has gone viral, as well as videos of Israeli settlers blocking aid from entering the besieged enclave. Plus, some Christians making pilgrimages to occupied Palestine have reported incidents of Israelis of spitting on them.

Meanwhile, Western countries may not be spitting on Palestinians. However, they have been providing surveillance technology to Israel, as well as bombs and weapons, billions of dollars, and several UN vetoes against a ceasefire.

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🇿🇦 MP WARNS OF ‘CIVIL WAR’ OVER LAND

2024 marks three decades since apartheid officially ended in South Africa. The transition had given many Black people hope that they could finally fully participate in the nation’s economic affairs.
However, this has not been the case, Black South Africans continue to largely remain on the periphery of the economy. Nowhere is this case more pronounced that in the country’s land ownership imbalances.
Upon taking power in 1994, the African National Congress (ANC) had vowed to redress South Africa’s racially biased land-ownership structures. It promised to transfer at least 30 per cent of the country’s land back to Black people within the first five years of being in power. However, three decades later, White settlers still own more than 78 per cent of the land despite making up less than 10 per cent of the population.

Continued….With the country poised to head to the polls at the end of May, the land issue is featuring prominently in the national debate - and, from the look of things, the ANC faces an uphill task explaining to the voters why, despite being in government with a parliamentary majority, it’s failed to correct the land-ownership imbalances.

Some have accused the party of being timid in its approach to land reform, which critics say has emboldened White settlers to resist any state attempts to redistribute the land that was forcibly taken from Black South Africans during colonial and apartheid days. Many settlers have made it clear that they will not cooperate with the state when it comes to land reform.

In this clip from 2017, Pieter Groenewald - an MP and leader of the right-wing Freedom Front Plus party - warns of “civil war” if the government attempts to get land from White settlers.

What are your thoughts? Do you think the issue could result in a violent confrontation? Does the ANC deserve another chance to tackle the issue? Your views matter to us; please share them in the comments.

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Muammar Gaddafi’s spokesperson during NATO’s bombardment of Libya, Moussa Ibrahim, will be joining African Stream for a special live podcast to discuss the 13th anniversary of the Western-backed Libya War.

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ALI: WHY IS EVERYTHING SO WHITE?

Widely considered to be the greatest heavyweight boxer the world has ever seen, the legacy of Muhammad Ali extends far beyond the ring. Throughout his career, he was outspoken about racial injustices and inequality. He had a perspective that was difficult to ignore or argue with.

In this clip from a 1971 interview with talk-show host Michael Parkinson, the three-time world heavyweight champion relates how, as a kid, he would pester his mother with questions, especially when he wondered why everything ‘white’ was portrayed as ‘good’ and everything ‘black’ as ‘bad.’

Even though the interview is more than 50 years old, Ali’s wit is remarkable and his words are as salient as ever. Did you ever ask yourself similar questions as a kid?

(For more on this theme of ‘white = good’ versus ‘black = bad,’ check out this week’s Facts of the Week!)

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