IS RWANDA A POLICE STATE?

Rwanda is often hailed as a beacon of hope and change in Africa. However, the Central African country has also been accused of having a poor human-rights record. 66-year-old president Paul Kagame is lauded for stabilising and developing the country after the 1994 genocide but is accused of crushing dissent and criticism of his decades-old rule. Many government critics have ended up behind bars. Some have even ended up dead in suspicious circumstances, both in and out of the country. We take a deeper look inside Rwanda to uncover the state of human rights. As Kagame looks set to extend his 23-year rule after July’s elections, many wonder if Rwanda has become a police state. What’s your view?

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ISRAELI TV AUDIENCE CHEERS ‘BURN THEIR VILLAGE’
WE REACT

If you wanted to gauge Israeli public opinion on the destruction of Gaza, watch this. During a TV show the host says songs sung by Israeli soldiers that include ‘may they burn the village’ do not help their country’s cause. Particularly as Tel Aviv is facing accusations of genocide at the International Court of Justice. His guests disagree and get loud cheers and whistles of approval from the studio audience.

It’s a response that shocked us. Thirty-five per cent of buildings in Gaza have been destroyed since the start of Israel’s bombardment on October 7th. Over 32,000 Palestinians have been killed. Where’s humanity?

Watch the full reaction video on our YouTube channel.

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BASSEM YOUSSEF ON ISRAELI PROPAGANDA AND DISTRACTION

The Gish gallop is a debating technique in which a person attempts to overwhelm their opponent by providing excessive arguments with no regard for accuracy or strength.

In this clip, Egyptian comedian @Bassem Youssef explained how Israel uses this technique to distract from its bombardments and siege that have killed more than 32,000 Palestinians since 7 October. He said false information about the attack, as well as avoiding discussing the roots of the 75-year Palestine-Israel conflict, keeps the conversation emotional and disingenuous.

Egypt’s ‘John Stewart,’ as he has been dubbed, ended his talk at @IndiaToday’s conference in New Delhi by calling out Western media for its complicity in developing these false narratives.

CNN: U.S. CREDIT UNION DISCRIMINATED AGAINST BLACK PEOPLE

Attorneys recently announced they filed a class-action lawsuit against the world’s largest credit union, alleging it used racially-motivated lending practices.

They claim US-based Navy Federal Credit Union approved white mortgage applicants at a disproportionately higher rate than Black and Hispanic applicants in 2022. This came after CNN released figures from a 2023 analysis showing the same.

The plaintiffs claiming to be victims of race-based discrimination are US military veterans and employees, as well as an entrepreneur related to US Department of Defense personnel. However, our people’s history includes resistance against US military service, as it often involves attacking innocent people in service of a country that has historically oppressed us.

What do you make of this story? Let us know in the comments.

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SAVING THE WOMEN OF CONGO!

Congolese women are paying a terrible price for the conflict in eastern DRC. Those who escape the violence are often forced to find shelter in makeshift tent camps, without proper facilities or security - where they face a high risk of sexual assault.

Many have children in their care and seek work outside the camps, including in dangerous cobalt mines. This has also left them vulnerable to militants who abduct and rape.

Children are also subjected to sexual abuse, with stigma and unwanted pregnancies making the trauma even harder to bear.

According to a UNICEF report, the rise in sexual violence in Congo went up by 37% in the first three months of 2023, compared with the year before.

The systematic use of rape as a weapon of war has been labeled a “medical and humanitarian emergency,” as aid groups struggle to provide adequate health and psychological services to affected women and children.

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BLACKED-UP STUDENTS MOCK AFRICAN DIALECT

This obnoxious video has been doing the rounds on social media. It shows blacked-up children mocking African dialects, apparently during a school costume event. There have been unconfirmed claims these young people are Israeli, we can not verify this. Wherever they are from such behaviour is racist, foul and grossly ignorant.

The clicking sounds they ridicule are part of the endangered Khoisan languages which are spoken in southern Africa. Why would a school take the decision to demean them, rather than appreciate and learn about their unique character? Even the students’ costumes look more Native American than African. It’s hard to stomach a teacher has approved this. Systemic racism is alive and well, and it’s being cultivated in the classroom.

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BLACK IN CHINA VS USA

Julian McCall moved from the United States to China when he was 15. He was expecting police to pull him over while running, wearing a hoodie, but he was pleasantly surprised at the freedom he experienced. According to him, Chinese people and their government don't associate Africans with criminal activity.

Being an African in the United States, or any country involved in the European Slave Trade of African peoples, forces one to grapple with the legacies of slavery and colonialism, day in and day out. Living like this conditions people to believe prejudice and white supremacist policies are universal.

Continued…..As he said in his Miami Herald opinion piece, 'While slavery's oppressive shadow still shapes American society 150 years after its dissolution, it simply never existed in China. Black people are not a fixture in Chinese history, so my skin generated genuine curiosity rather than suspicion. My Blackness was certainly still Othering, but in a much more benign and tolerable way than in America.'

For more on his perspective, please read his 2022 article, 'Sanctuary: Black in Beijing' in the Miami Herald.

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DOCTORS DESCRIBE ATROCITIES SEEN IN GAZA

The situation in Gaza is heartbreaking.

Since the 7 October escalation in the 75-year Palestine-Israel conflict, Israel’s military operation has killed more than 32,000 Palestinians, injured more than 74,000 and destroyed about 70 per cent of homes.

Doctors who have been treating Palestinians see the impacts daily, as Dr Nick Maynard explained at a recent press conference held at the United Nations in New York.

He recalled the injuries that have kept him awake at night, particularly those of women and children. In one case, he said a child’s burns were so severe that facial bones showed. Yet, not a drop of morphine was available to dull the pain of a child who was due to die.

Continued…..Since 7 October, more than 13,000 children have been killed, with women and children making up 80 per cent of deaths. Lack of fuel, medical supplies and clean water, as well as the threat of being held hostage, tortured and/or killed, are among the challenges hospital staff face.

Maynard was travelling last week with a delegation of doctors headed to Washington to meet with US officials to press for an immediate ceasefire.

Then, on 25 March, after more than five months of attempts, the UN Security Council voted in favour of an immediate ceasefire. Only the United States abstained. However, the ceasefire will only be effective for the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan, which ends in two weeks. The resolution also calls for the flow of aid and the release of 134 Israeli hostages held in Gaza. However, it did not mention the more than 2,000 Palestinians held without charge in Israeli prisons.

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ISRAEL EYES SENEGAL ELECTIONS?

Days before Senegal’s much-anticipated presidential election took place, this journalist, @MilliePinch, said an Israeli military brokerage firm was closely watching because of long-standing business relations.

According to Mondafrique, Israel-based A.D. Consultants CEO Gaby Peretz developed a close relationship with President Macky Sall before winning office. A.D. Consultants allegedly provided a 100 million euro (or $109 million) package of military equipment.

According to a US government document via WikiLeaks, Peretz was born in Morocco. His parents moved with him to occupied Palestine at the age of five.

Continued….In 1987, he retired as an Israeli Air Force battalion commander after a 19-year military career and established A.D. Consultants to represent foreign defence companies in Israel. However, after a meeting with Togo’s leaders, he began to realise the potential of business opportunities in Africa.

According to the Wikileaks dump, Peretz once served as the Honorary Consul of Burundi in Israel. US officials were alerted A.D. Consultants did business in Togo, Burkina Faso, Gabon, Mali, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Cameroon, Niger, Chad, Nigeria, Mauritania, the Republic of Congo, Rwanda, Burundi, and the Democratic Republic of Congo. The WikiLeaks document showed that the company claims its activities are approximately 55 per cent defence-related, while 45 per cent is geared toward civilians, though it is unclear what that means.

How do you think the yet-to-be-finalised defeat of Sall’s preferred candidate in Sunday’s election will affect Israel’s dealings in Senegal? Let us know in the comments.

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ISRAEL TO IGNORE UNSC CEASEFIRE DEMAND?

Will the breakthrough Gaza ceasefire vote at the UN Security Council work? After the US finally agreed not to wield its veto, its envoy said the resolution is non-binding. So, does that mean its ally Israel will ignore what the world thinks and continue to bombard the Gaza Strip?

Applause rang around the UNSC chamber after the resolution was passed demanding a halt in the fighting during Ramadan. But that relief is now turning to despair with the US apparently green-lighting further Israeli atrocities.

More than 32,000 Palestinians have been killed since Tel Aviv launched its assault in October 20233. The UNSC vote was seen as a vital moment, a chance to get much-needed aid into Gaza. Amar Bendjama, the Algerian ambassador, said, “Finally, the Security Council is shouldering its responsibility”.

However, has that brief sense of hope been shattered by Washington’s ‘non-binding’ comment?

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ISRAEL CEASEFIRE: PERMANENT OR NOT?

After more than five months involving several attempts, the United Nations Security Council on 25 March passed a resolution for an immediate ceasefire of Israel’s military operations in the Gaza Strip.

However, the Russian representative claimed the United States deleted the word ‘permanent’ from the draft resolution just before voting. Russia then failed at attempting to pass an oral amendment adding ‘permanent’ to the resolution. That makes the ceasefire only effective for the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan, which ends in two weeks.

The final resolution also calls for the release of 134 Israeli hostages held in Gaza. However, it did not mention the more than 2,000 Palestinians held without charge in Israeli prisons.

Continued….This resolution is legally binding, just as any international law. UN Secretary-General António Guterres tweeted that a failure to implement it would be ‘unforgivable.’

Only the United States abstained, leading Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to cancel a meeting in Washington between two Israeli officials and the Biden administration to discuss the military operation.

So far, Israel’s attacks have killed more than 32,000 Palestinians, injured more than 74,000 and destroyed about 70 per cent of homes. Further, the United Nations has warned famine is imminent in northern Gaza between now and May. The international body has reported that 27 children have died of malnutrition and dehydration and that one out of three children now suffer acute malnutrition, up from 15.6 per cent in January.

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YOUTH FAVE WINS SENEGAL ELECTION

Opposition candidate Bassirou Diomaye Faye is poised to become Senegal’s youngest president at age 44.

During Sunday’s election, Faye secured 53.7 per cent of the vote, while Amadou Ba, the ruling coalition’s candidate, earned 36.2 per cent.

Ba conceded defeat, and President Macky Sall extended congratulations.

Faye and opposition political leader Ousmane Sonko helped spark mass uprisings starting in 2019. While campaigning for office, Faye vowed to develop a sovereign currency to move out of coloniser France’s sphere, among other promises that won the hearts of the country’s primarily unemployed youth.

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UN RAPPORTEUR: ‘ACTIONS SPEAK LOUDER, SANCTION ISRAEL NOW’

Michael Fakhri, the UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food, recently spoke to the United Nations’ Human Rights Council in Geneva about Israeli violations taking place in the Gaza Strip.

The UN has said the northern Gaza Strip’s people are at risk of famine. The international body has reported 27 children have died of malnutrition and dehydration since 7 October in the Gaza Strip. Further, one out of every three children in northern Gaza suffer acute malnutrition, a spike from the 15.6 per cent figure reported in January.

Reports say Israel has blocked aid trucks from entering. Those that have entered have faced military assault, as in the case of the ‘Flour Massacre’ that killed 118 Palestinians on 29 February. This came a month after the International Court of Justice ruled that Israel was ‘plausibly’ committing genocide in a case South Africa argued.

Continued….The court asked Israel to take steps to avoid genocidal acts. However, Israel has killed more than 6,000 people since that provisional ruling, bringing the total deaths to more than 32,000.

Fakhri called on these states to impose sanctions on Israel and cut financial aid, weapons shipments and diplomatic ties.

On 25 March, the United Nations Security Council approved an immediate ceasefire to last through the Muslim month of fasting, Ramadan, which is set to end in two weeks. It also called for the flow of aid and the release of 134 Israeli hostages in Gaza.

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WALES’ FIRST BLACK LEADER’S MESSAGE TO RACISTS

Zambian-born Vaughan Gething has become the first African to lead a European country, Wales.

Welsh parliamentarians voted on 20 March to replace First Minister Mark Drakeford, who stepped down after five years. A few days earlier, the Welsh Labour Party chose Gething as its leader. His path to First Minister was clear because the party holds the most parliamentary seats.

Gething, a trade-union lawyer, was born in 1974 in Lusaka, Zambia, to a Welsh veterinarian father and a Zambian chicken farmer mother. The family moved to Wales, where he joined the Labour Party in 1992.

Continued…..Not all have welcomed Gething’s election in the tiny country, where white people made up more than 90 per cent of the population as of 2021. Social media trolls soon went into overdrive. However, Gething said he is up to the task.

African leaders in other predominantly-white countries have served ruling-class interests. Do you think Gething’s election is progress for Africans? Let us know in the comments.

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DREADS AGAINST DRESS CODE?

Why is it so hard to adopt laws banning hair discrimination against Black people? So far, just over 20 states in America have embraced the Crown Act that bars employers and schools from penalising people because of hair texture or protective hairstyles, including Afros, braids, locs, twists and Bantu knots.
But why not more? Just last week, West Virginia politicians turned down the chance to put their state on the list over fears of potential legal costs.

There have been plenty of high-profile cases showing why such laws are needed. Sadly, here’s another one. Kanaan is a Black student at Brigham Young University in Hawaii, which hasn’t adopted the Crown Act. He’s been told to cut his dreadlocks which breach the university’s dress code. His story’s been picked up by Black Menaces, a coalition of students that fight to empower marginalised communities.

By the way, we reached out to BYU for comment, but so far they haven’t replied.

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