HOW TIGRAY COMMUNITY SAVED AXUM TREASURES

Not all of Africa’s treasures were looted - it helped, for example, if you hid it under a mountain!

That’s what the ancestors of Ethiopia’s Tigray community did in the town of Axum.

Locals knew from folklore that there was something special under the local mountain, so when a road-construction project started drilling into the rock a decade or so back, they urged the authorities to intervene.

This they did, and what they found only added to Axum’s fame - already dubbed an ‘open air museum’ and designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1980.

In this clip, travel vlogger Weyni Tesfin (aka @planbacktoafrica) tells the tale in full from the site itself.

Do you think you’ll visit?

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AFRICAN IN U.S. SHOT 6 TIMES, CHARGED WITH ASSAULT

Another day, another unarmed man of African descent shot by police in the United States during a mental health episode.

Donald Armstrong, a 47-year-old Miami resident, who surprisingly survived the gunshots, now faces charges of aggravated assault by the same police officers who shot him six times in a 7 March incident.

In a bystander’s video that his attorney, Ben Crump, posted on X (formerly known as Twitter), Armstrong is seen in what appears to be an agitated state outside a house. He raised his hands to show he had no weapon and pulled up his T-shirt, indicating he had no concealed firearm. His mother had called 911 out of concern for her son, whom the family reportedly said was holding a screwdriver. Police tasered him, and as he stumbled under the impact of the electric jolt, officers shot him six times.

Continued…. Armstrong is paralysed and detained in a jail hospital with no bond. Crump said he is unsure if the paralysis is permanent. Attorneys call for police to drop all charges.

People of African descent are three times more likely to face deadly police force than Europeans. Critics say the problem is rooted in the lingering impacts of slavery, which continue an apartheid situation. The police killings of African people like Breonna Taylor, George Floyd, Trayvon Martin and a string of others triggered historic marches and rallies across the United States. The months-long uprising after Floyd’s 2020 recorded murder is considered the largest in US history.

How can police violence against people of African descent in the United States be stopped? Join in the conversation with your thoughts.

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WE DEBUNK NBC REPORT SMEARING HAITI 🇭🇹

NBC just dropped an investigative report about the US Department of Homeland Security’s efforts to stem the flow of weapons from the US to Haiti.

However, African Stream found the report overlooked critical context that explains why foreign powers control Haiti more than 200 years after overthrowing French enslavers. We raise questions about Haiti’s alleged ‘poverty,’ so-called ‘gang violence,’ and these gangs’ alleged access to millions of dollars to buy smuggled arms.

Take a look and let us know what you think about NBC’s report.

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BASSEM YOUSSEF: ‘EVEN IF 300,000 PALESTINIANS KILLED, NOBODY CARES’

Egyptian comedian Bassem Youssef used his recognisable dark humour to break down to CNN host Christiane Amanpour why the West’s reaction to Israel killing seven World Central Kitchen aid workers was hypocritical. It has far outweighed their solidarity with the more than 33,000 Palestinians who have died at the hands of Israel over the last six months.

Another critical point Youssef highlighted is the lack of accountability for Israel over the mounting civilian death toll and how the international community can suffice itself with an apology from Tel Aviv.

Do you think Israel will get away with its reported war crimes in the Gaza Strip? Let us know what you think below.

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BITTER IRONY! THIEF TARGETS BRITISH MUSEUM

The British Museum wants public sympathy after thousands of its artefacts were stolen. It’s calling for anyone who’s come across the gems and jewellery to hand them back.

Trouble is, most of the items the museum houses are stolen goods anyway, with many looted from Africa. But, for some reason, the museum still refuses to hand those back to their rightful owners.

This latest story again highlights the hypocrisy of former colonial powers, who still seem to think it’s one rule for me, and one rule for thee!

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KILLING A PUPPY VS KILLING A BLACK MAN

Dr. Joy DeGruy authored a 2005 book noscriptd, ‘Post Traumatic Slave Syndrome: America’s Legacy of Enduring Injury and Healing,’ which addresses the residual impacts of trauma on descendants of enslaved Africans in the Americas.

In this clip from a 2008 talk she gave in London, DeGruy compared the societal consequences of stomping a puppy versus killing a Black man. She argued someone would be punished for killing the puppy, even though both acts would traumatise—and, as DeGruy said, dehumanise—witnesses.

Indeed, in places where Africans live under duress, we contend with much violence with neither regard to the mental and physical ramifications nor real solutions to end systemic violence. In the United States alone, a Black person is five times more likely to be incarcerated than a white person, while white households hold more than nine times more wealth than Black households.

Let us know what you think about DeGruy's remarks.

CHINA’S DEFORESTING AFRICA

Illegal logging has become a serious problem in Africa. It is reportedly being fuelled by increased Chinese demand for rosewood. The results include severe environmental degradation in places like the Congo Basin, the world’s second largest carbon sink. On top of that, there are dire impacts on peace and security as natural resources are plundered by criminal networks colluding with corrupt officials.

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DENZEL WASHINGTON: IMPORTANCE OF BLACK DIRECTORS

Denzel Washington has starred in and directed some great films. Here, he talks about the importance of knowing Black culture when making films about Black people. He was giving an interview while promoting his award-winning movie Fences. It focuses on a working-class African in America who raises a family in the 1950s. Making such films work, says Denzel, is about knowing what it feels to be Black. And that, he argues, is something that can’t be felt by White directors. Makes sense, right?

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BUTCH WARE: ‘ZIONISM IS A WHITE SUPREMACIST MOVEMENT’

Are you familiar with Black and Pan-African solidarity with Palestine?

According to this brother, @butchware, it did not start with the 7 October escalation, Israel’s siege of the Gaza Strip beginning in 2005, the multiple Arab-Israeli wars in the mid-20th century, or the 1948 Nakba that forced 750,000 Palestinians off the land to make way for the state of Israel.

Continued…. In this clip from a longer 6 February presentation that can be viewed on YouTube, Butch Ware, a history professor at the University of California, Santa Barbara, said many of our ancestors had already concluded in the late 19th century that Zionism, a political ideology that some say hijacks Judaism to justify settler-colonialism, is a white supremacist movement that European imperialists back.

Ware says Black anti-Zionism is born out of a deep-rooted sense of revolutionary solidarity against the white-supremacist ethnic cleansing of an indigenous brown population.

What do you think of his argument? Let us know in the comments.

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REPARATIONS IN AMERICA ARE A MUST!

In 2022, Howard University School of Social Work hosted Nikole Hannah-Jones, Pulitzer Prize winner and creator of the 1619 Project, for an intellectual sit-in.

Jones argued for paying reparations to Africans who are descendants of enslaved people in the United States. She called out the US government for saying it could not afford reparations. Still, it can print money for military spending and pandemic relief packages for businesses.

The key takeaway from this intriguing discussion was, in her own words, that 'slavery was a system of economic exploitation and racism is what justified it.' Moreover, she chided some who use the term 'Jim Crow' to refer to a system of discriminatory practices after US slavery ended, saying creating a class of exploited people based on race should be referred to as apartheid.

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RACISTS CAN’T STOMACH AFRICAN-BORN WALES LEADER

Vaughan Gething is the new leader of Wales and some people are not taking it well. Not because they have problem with his leadership style or qualities, but because of his background. He is mixed race and was born in Zambia.

Shortly after he was announced as Wales first minister, racist social media tropes went into overdrive bitterly complaining about how ‘non-Europeans’ are taking up leadership positions across Britain. Some even said it was a ‘tragic’ day for Wales. They argue someone with European ancestry would not be allowed to hold a similar position of power in Africa. African Stream’s Wambura Mwai explains why this claim is not only racist, but also false.

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TWINCREDIBLE AFRICA’S AMAZING TWIN BIRTH RATE

Africa has the highest rate of twins in the world, no kidding! In fact, there’s one town in Nigeria where moms give birth to lookalikes at three times the rate of women in Europe. Scientists can’t work out why, although some people put it down to local food. Whatever the reason, they’re a wonderful source of pride and represent a unique aspect of our culture and society. Are you a twin? Do you have twins in your family? Let us know 👶🏿👶🏿

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ALINE SITOÉ DIATTA: SENEGAL’S MYSTIC ANTI-COLONIALIST

We often bandy about terms like ‘visionary’ when describing our heroes in the struggle - but in the case of Senegal’s Aline Sitoé Diatta, she really was!

What turned her into a leader of the resistance against French colonialism was a vision from a higher, divine power - which she quickly learned not to disobey!

If you know your Senegalese football stadiums or have ever caught the famous ferry service in Dakar - you’ll know that her name still means a lot to the nation.

African Stream’s Wambura Mwai dives a little deeper into why.

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MONEY FOR WAR, NO MONEY TO FEED THE POOR

Since October, the Biden administration has been trying to influence the US Congress to pass a $95 billion supplemental funding bill, which is a request for money outside of the allocated US budget. The funds would provide military aid to Taiwan and Ukraine, as well as $19.3 billion in military assistance to Israel, which has killed more than 33,000 Palestinians, with 12,500 being children. The bill has stagnated in the US House of Representatives after passing in the Senate.

Meanwhile, as historian Bilal Ware points out in this video, times are tough on the US domestic front. Nearly half of the US population does not have $500 in their savings accounts, 40 per cent hold healthcare debt, more than 44 million face hunger and homelessness has spiked in recent years in major US cities.

Could this contradiction turn the US working class against the ruling class? Let us know what you think in the comments.

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The wealth of the world’s most successful enterprises and richest nations has long been built off of the exploitation and plunder of Africa. The Democratic Republic of Congo especially has served as the backbone of the world economy, providing many of the materials needed for the accumulation of wealth - while reaping almost none of the benefits.

Apple is one example of a company that relies heavily on the use of coltan in order to develop technologies such as its laptops, smartphones and tablets. The Democratic Republic of the Congo is home to 64% of the world’s coltan. Coltan allows for electrical charges to be stored in small devices known as capacitors, making the mineral indispensable for the production of many modern electronics.

Coltan mining has been the source of tremendous conflict and violence in the eastern DRC.

Continued…. Neighbouring countries Rwanda and Uganda are accused of waging warfare by proxy in order to smuggle coltan and other minerals across their borders. Due to conflict, roughly six-million people have been killed in the DRC since 1996. Furthermore, the coltan-extraction sector is notorious for the exploitation of children, who often labour in the mines in high-risk conditions. About 40,000 children and adolescents are estimated to work in coltan mines in Congo.

Other companies that rely on coltan for their production include Microsoft, IBM, Hewlett-Packard (HP), Samsung, Toyota, Tesla, Dell, Ford, BMW, General Motors, LG, Sony, Volkswagen and many more. Apart from laptops, smartphones and tablets, coltan is also used in the production of electric cars, jet engines, rockets, X-ray film, hearing aids, pacemakers, digital cameras and camcorders, prosthetic devices, video game consoles, GPS systems, airbags and more.

So why isn’t DRC among the richest nations on the planet right now?

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NYERERE: ‘SELF-RULE IS NOT A FAVOUR’

Today marks the 102nd birthday of Julius Kambarage Nyerere, Tanzania’s first president.

Nyerere was born in 1922 in a small village in Butiama, in Tanganyika, then administered by the British under a League of Nations mandate before becoming part of a larger country in 1964 that is known today as the United Republic of Tanzania.

Nyerere, affectionately known by the honorific noscript, ‘Mwalimu’ (Swahili for teacher), was an anti-colonialist, political theorist and president of Tanzania from 1964 to 1985.

Continued…. But the struggle wasn’t easy. Nyerere, a beacon of resilience, stood against the West, which argued Africa wasn’t ready to govern itself. No better example exists than this classic 1960 interview of a young Nyerere answering emphatically and pushing back against colonialist lies. He asserted that Europeans granting us independence was merely returning a stolen right, as it were. Therefore, the question of whether Africans were ready for self-rule was meaningless. We Africans had managed our affairs well before colonisers arrived.

After a battle with leukaemia, Nyerere became an ancestor on 14 October 1999 in London.

Let us know what you think of Nyerere’s remarks.

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