THE STORY OF AFRICA'S MOST FAMOUS MELODY

The Lion Sleeps Tonight uses perhaps Africa's most famous melody and made millions of dollars - but not for its original creator, Zulu singer Solomon Linda.

The melody did not belong to Disney, yet it helped turn The Lion King into a huge box-office success. The US entertainment giant held out crediting the South African singer until it was sued by his descendants.

Nothing wrong with African music being enjoyed and appreciated beyond the continent, of course, but credit where it’s due, please. Can you think of other examples of appropriation without acknowledgement?

This is the story of the song whose real name is Mbube.

Please follow us on Telegram, Link in Bio

WHITE PRIVILEGE FOR DUMMIES

Some people actually still think that White privilege is a myth - created by ‘angry’ people of colour as a tool to bash Whites.

They believe, for example, that poverty rates are higher among Africans because they make the racist assumption that we are somehow lazy. Never do they entertain the possibility that we are, in fact, hindered every step of the way by systemic political and economic oppression rooted in slavery, colonialism and neo-colonalism.

In this clip, spoken-word artist Kyla Jenée Lacey breaks down the concept of White privilege for those who still do not get it or believe in its existence.

Please follow us on Telegram, Link in Bio

FRANCE URGED TO PAY HAITI REPARATIONS

A group of 20 NGOs meeting in Geneva, Switzerland, have called on France to pay reparations to Haiti to cover a debt former slaves were forced to pay in exchange for recognition of the island's independence.

The coalition of civil activists working under the UN Permanent Forum on People of African Descent (PFPAD) wants to create a new independent commission to oversee the restitution of the debt and compensation for attendant economic losses. Some experts argue Haiti is owed over $100 billion.

Continued…. Haitian slaves successfully revolted against French colonialists and established the world's first Black republic in 1804. France then imposed a 150m gold franc 'ransom' on Haiti to compensate colonialists for the loss of land and slaves. Haiti finished paying it in 1947, but the damage had been done by then. The Caribbean island was severely deprived of economic resources to develop itself and has been embroiled in instability, poverty and underdevelopment.

France admits it owes Haiti a 'moral debt' but has ignored previous calls to pay reparations.

Please follow us on Telegram, Link in Bio

‘YOU’RE COMMITTING ASSAULT’ U.S. POLICE ARREST PRO-PALESTINE STUDENTS

Student protests against Israel’s bombardment of Gaza are happening across the world, and they’ve exploded in the United States. Over the last week there have been demonstrations at campuses from California to Massachusetts. But their calls of ‘free Palestine’ have been met with a violent response from police who’ve arrested hundreds.

This clip shows Los Angeles officers man-handling students at University of Southern California (USC). You can hear a bystander shouting ‘you’re committing assault’ as officers pull a protester off campus. Ninety-three people were detained for ‘trespassing’ after they'd formed a camp on college grounds.

Continued…. Footage on social media also appears to show police firing a rubber bullet into a crowd near the university. The LAPD hasn’t confirmed if officers used such weapons during the hours-long operation on Wednesday, April 24th, 2024.

Apart from arrest, students also face suspension by universities, which are accused of investing in corporations that profit from the war.

Please follow us on Telegram, Link in Bio

Take a look at any war the United States has waged, and you’ll find Black people involved.

While some of our people fought for the US side in the US-Mexico War, which began on this date, April 25, 1846, many Africans fought on the Mexican side, too. Why might that be, you ask? The war started with European slaveholders in places like Texas and Louisiana demanding to be part of the United States after Mexico abolished slavery in 1837, 28 years before the United States did the same. Mexico granted enslaved people freedom as soon as they crossed the border. Plus, Mexican officials refused to return runaways under the US Fugitive Slave Act.

Continued….. The war resulted in what is considered the 19th century’s biggest land grab, with the United States acquiring more than 500,000 square miles (1.3 million square km) of Mexican territory, extending westward from the Rio Grande, a river, to the Pacific Ocean. The war ended with the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo on 2 February 1848. It gave the US control of present-day states California, Nevada, Utah, New Mexico, most of Arizona and Colorado, and parts of Oklahoma, Kansas, and Wyoming, for $15 million.

The United States continued with its expansionist agenda, later developing Manifest Destiny, a belief that white settlers were destined to conquer the continent from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean.

Does US expansionist history inform its support for Israel, accused of harbouring a similar policy in its quest for ‘Greater Israel’ in West Asia and northern Africa? Let us know in the comments.

Please follow us on Telegram, Link in Bio

HOW BLACK STUDENTS LED 1968 COLUMBIA UNI REVOLT

Student protests are sweeping elite US colleges over Israel’s war on Gaza. Since police broke up demonstrations at Columbia University last week, rallies have spread to other institutions, including Yale, New York and California universities as well as the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).

Students are demanding a ceasefire and want their universities to stop investing in corporations that profit from the conflict. A coalition - made up of Columbia University Apartheid Divest (CUAD), Students for Justice in Palestine and Jewish Voice for Peace - has formed the ‘Gaza Solidarity Encampment’ movement.

Continued….. Such action is reminiscent of protests at Columbia University 56 years ago. Back then, there was a revolt against college ties to military research and the construction of a gymnasium in a public park in Harlem, New York. Led by Black students, five campus buildings were barricaded, forcing the university to shut down for a week. They were also protesting against the deeply unpopular Vietnam War, which they believed was immoral and unjustified.

It’s a story that made global headlines and, just like now, police were used to break up the demonstrations. It was seen as a pivotal moment in the campus movement. And those that organised it, have since explained how Black students were instrumental.

In this clip, we hear from those involved in the Columbia protests that broke out on April 23rd, 1968. They were speaking on its 50th anniversary.

Please follow us on Telegram, Link in Bio

NAOMI KLEIN: ‘ZIONISM IS A FALSE IDOL’

Canadian author and activist @NaomiAKlein ripped into the basis for the Israeli state during a 23 April protest held during the Jewish holiday of Passover in New York.

Klein, a Jew herself, said the political ideology of Zi*nism is a ‘false idol’ that has corrupted Biblical ideals of justice, emancipation and freedom by entrenching an ethno-supremacist settler-colonial state in Palestine.

Hundreds of Jewish New Yorkers turned the event into an anti-war demonstration, blocking traffic at sunset in the area of Brooklyn’s Grand Army Plaza so they could pray for a ceasefire and urge the highest-ranking Jewish member of the US Senate, Chuck Schumer, to end US military aid to Israel.

Continued…. That day, the Senate approved a $95 billion military aid package to Israel, Taiwan and Ukraine that US President Joe Biden signed into law the following day.

Reports vary, saying police arrested between 200 and 300 people at the demonstration held a block away from Schumer’s residence.

The ‘Freedom Seder,’ a Black and Jewish multiethnic demonstration in 1969 against the US war on Vietnam on the first anniversary of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s assassination, inspired @JVPNY and @ifnotnoworg organisers. A Seder event commemorates the story of Moses leading Hebrews out of bondage in Egypt.

Please follow us on Telegram, Link in Bio

CENK UYGUR: 'ISRAEL SHOULD DO NOTHING IN RESPONSE' TO IRAN

When British journalist Piers Morgan asked TYT Network founder Cenk Uygur what Israel's response should be to Iran's recent drone attack, Uygur reminded Morgan that Israel provoked Tehran by bombing Iran's consulate in Syria.

The 1 April attack killed 16 people, including two high-ranking Iranian military officials.

Uygur added that Israel should not respond.

Do you think Israel is to blame for this escalation? Let us know in the comments.

Please follow us on Telegram, Link in Bio

MENTALLY ILL VS TERRORIST

Two separate stabbings in Australia have received two very different reactions from authorities and the media. The first is an Arab-speaking teenager who stabbed a priest - he was considered a "terrorist". Another was a white man who stabbed 18 people and killed 6 at a mall, 5 of which were women. He was deemed as mentally ill.

African Stream's Ahmed Ghoneim breaks down the racist double standards throughout the coverage of these attacks bring back to life that famous Family guy meme.

Tell us what you think about what happened in the comments below.

Please follow us on Telegram, Link in Bio

WHAT IS ISRAEL’S DAHIYA DOCTRINE?

Israel has long claimed it needs to protect itself using deterrence. That has meant when an enemy strikes, it would hit back so hard to ensure no one would dare touch it. That policy forms the basis of the Dahiya Doctrine, named after a Shi’ite suburb in Lebanon that the Israeli Air Force carpet-bombed during the 2006 war with Hezbollah. 

Watch as Israeli historian, professor and politician Ilan Pappé vividly illustrates the doctrine. 

In the first 89 days of Israel’s onslaught on Gaza, it had dropped 65,000 tonnes of explosives on the besieged enclave, the equivalent of three atomic bombs. Since the 7 October escalation in the 75-year Israeli occupation of Palestine, Israel has so far k*lled over 34,000 Palestinians, many of them women and children. Tel Aviv accuses militant group H*mas of using Palestinians as human shields, but this video reveals the deaths are part of a deliberate Israeli policy.

Please follow us on Telegram, Link in Bio

U.K. GOV’T: LET ISRAEL INVESTIGATE ITSELF

Remember when the CIA investigated itself for links to drug trafficking, and concluded it was innocent? That’s what the British government is asking the Israeli government to do to itself.

The West could be seen as complicit as Israel in the deaths of 34,000 Palestinians since 7 October. The US and UK have vetoed multiple ceasefire resolutions at the UN, the UK has conducted 50 spy flights for Israel over Gaza, Germany has sent 10,000 tank shells to Israel, and the US has approved $26 billion in military aid in addition to its annual $3.8 billion provision, since the 7 October escalation in the 75-year Israeli occupation of Palestine.

Please follow us on Telegram, Link in Bio

SOUTH AFRICA: 30 YEARS OF FREEDOM?

Three decades ago, South Africa’s apartheid system officially ended with the country’s first democratic elections, which brought Nelson Mandela into office. To mark this historical event, African Stream will release an in-depth documentary examining whether, post-1994, democracy has brought all it promised to the African people of the ‘rainbow’ nation. It will be released on 27th April, 2024 on all our major social media channels. Here’s a peek preview.

Please follow us on Telegram, Link in Bio