Continued…. When the Portuguese first arrived in Africa in 1418, they came initially for trade, but it soon turned into a land grab to extract our resources for as little as possible whilst trading our people as slaves. Conversions to Christianity were used early on as a diversion only for religion to be imposed on the masses over time.

The late South African Bishop Desmond Tutu described the process best when he said: ‘When the missionaries came to Africa, they had the Bible and we had the land. They said, ‘Let us pray.’ We closed our eyes. When we opened them, we had the Bible, and they had the land.’

For many online, this clip symbolises how many of us have not learned from the past. Or is this just another case of the internet overthinking stuff?

Let us know in the comments.

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BRAZILIAN RAPPER MANO BROWN ON BLACK PEOPLE’S AGENCY

Mano Brown is the lead lyricist of Brazilian rap group Racionais MC’s a collective that included KL Jay, Ice Blue and Edi Rock. They stormed parties and stages in São Paulo in the early 1990s, galvanising a politically charged hip-hop movement that swept the South American country.

Their music sparked greater social consciousness and mobilisation of adolescents and young adults in the favelas (slums), ‘quebradas’ (ghettoes), and other working-class city and rural communities, all of which helped to propel Luiz Inácio ‘Lula’ da Silva to his first presidential victory in 2002. Three previous presidential runs for Lula (1989, 1994 and 1998) proved unsuccessful despite receiving support from traditional, big-name, left-wing, progressive and liberal political, social and religious organisations and movements.

Continued…. In 2020, Campinas State University, one of Brazil’s most prestigious educational institutions, included Racionais MC’s’ seminal album, ‘Surviving in Hell’ (1997), in its readings for students preparing to take the school’s entrance exam. That was the first time a music CD became study material. The designation drew ire because ‘Surviving in Hell,’ like other hip-hop albums, dispelled Brazil’s creation myth and the narrative of ‘racial democracy.’

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WATCH ROBERT MUGABE DEFEND ZIMBABWE’S PROCESS

We’ve all heard that Robert Mugabe was a brutal dictator who ruled Zimbabwe with an iron fist. And that he destroyed the economy and created widespread suffering. Or, so the story goes.

In this 1980 clip, hours after Zimbabwe was admitted into the United Nations, Mugabe laid out his country’s progress in an exclusive interview with a US journalist.

Under Mugabe, Zimbabwe provided free primary education and health services, which is more than what most African countries have today.

Continued…. Before Western sanctions on Zimbabwe’s economy, the country was considered a beacon of progress and development throughout the continent. Some say things started to go downhill with Mugabe ‘overstaying’ in office. But a closer look demonstrates that really began in the early 1990s when Zimbabwe started to ‘structurally adjust’ Western loans. Then, in the early 2000s, the European Union and the United States hit the country with sanctions.

Do you think Mugabe deserves his bad reputation? Let us know in the comments.

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THE STORY OF ASSATA SHAKUR

Assata Shakur, born in 1947, is a revolutionary who escaped a high-security US prison while eight months pregnant, gave birth in Harlem under the protection of the Black Liberation Army and fled to Cuba as an asylum seeker, where she lives to this day.

This sister is a member of the Black Panther Party and the Black Liberation Army, an underground revolutionary group that fought to defend Black people’s human rights in the United States. The FBI targeted Shakur through its Counterintelligence Program (or COINTELPRO).

In 1973, she was convicted of killing a state trooper in a shootout and set to serve a life sentence.

Continued…. Under former President Barack Obama’s administration, the FBI placed Shakur on its most-wanted list in 2013, with a $1-million bounty for her capture. But, apart from her famous 1979 jailbreak, she’s known for supporting socialism.

In this clip from a 2016 interview on @houseofkonsciousness, Professor James Small (@prof_jamessmall), a comrade of Zayd Shakur (Assata’s husband), narrates her story.

Fun fact: Zayd Shakur was rapper Tupac Shakur’s uncle.

Assata Shakur remains an inspiration to activists, artists and scholars.

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Our African proverb of the week comes from the Yoruba people in West Africa. It reminds us we should enjoy our lives right now, rather than be anxious about the future or depressed about the past.

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GOOGLE SNUBS GREAT AFRICAN THINKERS

So, if we do a quick google search on who the world’s best scientists are, this is what comes up: Isaac Newton, Albert Einstein, Galileo. This list is highly Eurocentric and doesn’t actually reflect scientific discovery or significance across the history of mankind. African Stream’s Ahmed Ghoneim provides an alternative decolonised list!

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'NO SUCH THING AS NON-RACIAL CAPITALISM'

'Nonracial capitalism' isn't a thing, says historian Robin D.G. Kelley, in this clip from several years ago at the University of Washington in Seattle, USA. The academic said capitalism is inherently race-based.

What do you say? Let us know below.

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IS RELIGION HOLDING BACK AFRICA?

The oft-quoted Jomo Kenyatta saying goes something like, ‘When the white man came, he had the Bible. We had the land. He told us to shut our eyes and pray. When we opened them, he had the land. We had the Bible.’

Pan-African scholar PLO Lumumba used the first Kenyan president’s line as a response to a question in this clip about whether religion is holding back Africa.

While we cannot dismiss the ancient grassroots history of Christianity in Africa, the European version of the cross came before the flag, with missionaries paving the way for European settlers to permeate the continent. Initiatives like missionary education for the natives supported the colonial project and created a class of African elites to govern us after ‘flag independence’ in the mid-20th century.

What do you make of Lumumba's remarks?

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AFRICAN STREAM TALKS SUDAN ON TRT WORLD

Today marks one year since the start of the bloody conflict between the Sudanese army and the Rapid Support Forces over who can control
Africa’s third largest country- Sudan.

Very few English-speaking media outlets are shining a spotlight on Sudan’s catastrophic humanitarian situation - which has killed at least 13,000–15,000 people and injured over 33,000 others. However, those numbers are believed to be seriously underestimated.

African Stream’s editor-in-chief, Ahmed Kaballo - himself Sudanese - was recently interviewed by TRT World as part of their coverage of the conflict. He laid out the true extent of the crisis and explained how severe difficulties in getting aid aggravate it.

Continued…. Global news outlets have largely lost interest in Sudan - especially in the wake of Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza and amidst ongoing conflicts in Ukraine and Eastern DRC.

The UN says Sudan is in the grip of the world’s largest displacement crisis, with nearly 9 million internal refugees - half of them children - and 2 million people having fled abroad. Intense violence and restrictions on movement have blocked the delivery of humanitarian assistance, leading to mounting cases of severe malnutrition and hunger. A Ramadan truce proposed by the UN Security Council in March fell apart after the army demanded the RSF’s exit from public and civilian sites.

Let’s keep Sudan in the news. Your thoughts and insights matter to us - please share them in the comments.

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Nigeriens have been out the streets demanding US troops leave their country. Hundreds gathered in the capital on Saturday April 13th to make their feelings heard. It comes after Niger’s military rulers ended a military agreement with Washington in March.

Scrapping the deal means two US bases that host around 1,000 soldiers and civilian contractors will close. Most of them are located near the town of Agadez at Air Base 201 on the southern edge of the Sahara Desert. Known to locals as ‘Base Americaine’ it’s been used for manned and unmanned surveillance flights and other operations.

Demonstrators waved Nigerien flags and placards with a simple message: ‘You leave, you move, you vanish.’ It was reminiscent of massive rallies last year that forced out French troops following the coup that ousted president Mohamed Bazoum.

Continued…. In another visible sign alliances have shifted, dozens of Russian military instructors have arrived in Niger as part of a new agreement.
Nigerien state media report they will install a new a state-of-the-art air defence system and teach Niger's army how to use it.

Since seizing power, Niamey’s revolutionary military leaders have been busy reshaping geopolitics in the region. They’ve formed a joint defence pact with neighbours Mali and Burkina Faso and all three are now part of a new Sahel Alliance. The trio have also exited the regional bloc ECOWAS. Will these moves help bring peace and security to West Africa?

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