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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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FOREVER GENOCIDE? CONGOLESE NOT ‘HUMANISED’

There is a double standard and hypocrisy in how atrocities are portrayed and addressed, depending on the victims. The Holocaust is universally condemned, and rightly so. We hear mantras like “Never again.” But then there’s the ongoing gen*cidal violence and human-rights abuses in DR Congo. Why aren’t these given urgent attention and condemnation?

In this clip from our extended roundtable discussion (available on our YourTube channel), activist Chakabars says it’s as if the suffering of the Congolese people hasn’t been adequately humanised.

Continued……He says we need to reach a “tipping point.” The diaspora communities have a role and responsibility to help publicise the issue and push for change, rather than being “tacitly complicit” through not just inaction but through ownership of devices like mobiles and tablets that depend on child exploitation in DRC. (He’s not saying give up the tech, but rather: pay fairly and insist the minerals are morally sourced.)

Economic exploitation of Congo’s minerals continues to fuel conflict and harm local communities. Alternative economic models to capitalism are desperately needed to create an environment in which minerals can still be accessed but in a way that develops rather than destroys the country.

Listen to what he says and let us know what you make of it.

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Sierra Leone is one of only two countries that were founded as a home for freed slaves brought back to the African continent after the abolition of slavery. Sixty-three years ago today, it lifted the final yoke - by attaining independence from Britain.

Obviously, the country’s history didn’t begin with colonialism. The area that is modern-day Sierra Leone has been inhabited continuously for millennia by indigenous Africans. But one key event in its history is hardly ever talked about.

At the tail-end of the 18th century, a group of African-Americans who had once been enslaved in the USA were at a crossroads.

Continued….. They had been promised freedom by the British in exchange for fighting on their side during the American war of independence, and were later settled in Nova Scotia, Canada. However, they still faced racial discrimination there - and many yearned to return to their ancestral homeland in Africa.

Starting in 1787, a number of ex-slaves - including about 300 Black Britons known as the Black Poor of London - were resettled in Sierra Leone. Over time, their numbers were swelled by the arrival of Jamaican Maroons, who had first been transported to Nova Scotia before being taken to Sierra Leone in 1800.

The histories of Sierra Leone and Liberia are similar. Neither started as a native state, nor as a European colony. But Sierra Leone stands out because the locals were not colonised by the freed slaves who docked at their shores.

Happy Independence Day to all Sierra Leoneans!

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U.S. COPS BRUTALISE PROFESSOR

Who should be arrested? The party committing massacres or the party protesting said massacres? For US universities, it’s the latter. 

In this 25 April video, an Atlanta police officer threw to the ground and handcuffed Emory University economics professor Caroline Fohlin after twisting her arm. This CNN video shows, just prior to her arrest, @carolinefohlin had raised questions about how Georgia state troopers had arrested a student.

US universities have called on police and the National Guard (civilians who serve in the military) to arrest students amid a wave of campus occupations (or encampments), most notably at Columbia University in New York.

Continued……Students demand universities divest from their investments related to the Israeli occupation. US university endowments were valued at $839 billion in fiscal year 2023. Universities invest these endowments in financial securities, real estate and in other ways. Endowments fund student scholarships and operating expenses. Emory University has the 13th highest endowment at $10.24 billion. No information is available on how much Emory has invested in Israeli companies. However, Harvard has invested $194 million in companies connected to Israeli settlements in Palestine, according to the Islamic Circle of North America.

Universities have said they are trying to clamp down on anti-semitism despite many Jewish students participating in these sit-ins in solidarity with Palestine. Images of the police presence and arrests have gone viral online. Interestingly, US police forces have benefited from Israeli training, highlighting how the struggles in the US and Palestine are connected.

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FATHER OF PAN-AFRICANISM IN AFRICA

On this day (April 27th) in 1972, Dr. Kwame Nkrumah, one of Pan-Africanism’s founding fathers, died aged 62 in Bucharest, Romania.

Nkrumah served as Ghana's first President from 1957 to 1966, when he was deposed in a CIA-engineered coup while away on a trip to China. Unlike sell-outs such as DR Congo’s Mobutu Sese Seko or Burkina Faso’s Blaise Compaoré, Nkrumah was firmly devoted to the freedom of Africa from all forms of exploitation, especially imperialism - a vision that, if realised, could have fully emancipated the continent.

Continued….. Nkrumah is still very influential among Pan-Africanists today. A thinker and writer, one of his most famous books is 'Neocolonialism - The Last Stage of Imperialism.' Africans continue to draw inspiration from his contribution to Pan-African thought. His still-relevant ideas are a testament to his foresight and understanding of the African struggle. We honour his memory by carrying on the struggle he devoted his life to: to free Africa for the benefit of its people.

How has he inspired you?

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S’ LEONE FIRST LADY: BIG BRO RULES OUR MINERALS

As Sierra Leone celebrates Independence Day, the country’s First Lady warns the nation’s still controlled by ‘Big Brother’ And in this frank interview, Fatima Maada Bio explains how international powers continue to exert control.

Every single mining company in Sierra Leone is foreign owned. And despite breaking free from British colonial rule on April 27th, 1961, the UK still runs the country’s electricity.

So what can be done? If you try to change the status quo, she says, external forces fund opposition uprisings and sow chaos. The country then becomes ungovernable. But whatever happens, Sierra Leone’s First Lady says things can’t remain as they are. After all, if you can’t control your electricity, how can you make sure you can educate your people?

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AFRICA’S VISA DISASTER

Why are Africans making life hard for themselves by closing colonially-imposed borders to each other? Why does an African from one part of the continent need a visa to visit any other part? It makes no cultural or economic sense - hindering trade and intra-African relations.

Here’s South African entrepreneur Vusi Thembekwayo making the point powerfully to an audience in Nigeria. He relates his absurdly roundabout travel route from South Africa and compares it with the effortless ease with which he can move around Europe.

Is this a leaf we should be taking out of Europe’s book?

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DREAM BETRAYED: SOUTH AFRICA'S 30 YEARS OF 'FREEDOM'

On April 27th 1994, there was excitement across South Africa as millions of South Africans queued up outside polling stations to participate in the country’s first democratic election, in which citizens of all races were allowed to participate.

It was more than just an election. Many saw it as the final nail into the coffin of a system that had oppressed Black South Africans since 1652 when Dutch colonialist Jan Van Riebeck arrived at the shores of modern-day South Africa.

As widely expected, the African National Congress (ANC), the country’s most prominent liberation movement, convincingly won the election.
After decades of bloody struggle, the ANC finally transitioned from a liberation movement to the country’s new rulers.

Hopefulness was in the air, free at last, or so they thought!

Continued….. Hopefulness was in the air, free at last, or so they thought!

Three decades later, many are asking if that transition delivered and met the hopes and aspirations of the masses who stood in the long queues outside voting booths in 1994.

African Stream has been on the ground in South Africa, examining the country’s painful past and the long road to freedom and how its indigenous population feel three decades after the end of apartheid. Please watch and give us your thoughts in the comments.

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