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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KAUNDA: UNSUNG HERO OF AFRICA’S FREEDOM STRUGGLE

On 27th April, 1924, one of Africa’s liberation heroes - Kenneth Kaunda - was born in northern Zambia. Kaunda, fondly known as KK and Super Ken, was not only Zambia’s founding president but a Pan-Africanist icon who gave the best of his 97 years of life to ensuring that every single inch of African land was free of colonialism. As President of Zambia, Kaunda led other African leaders to form the coalition of Frontline States, a collection of countries in southern and East Africa that had gained their independence in the early 1960s. The group played a key role in mobilising resources and support for the armed struggle against racist and colonial regimes in Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe), Namibia, Mozambique, Angola and South Africa.

Continued…. These efforts helped to ensure that, by the 1990s, most colonial regimes in Africa had collapsed or were on the verge of collapsing. The contribution of less widely known heroes such as Kaunda must never be forgotten.

Had you heard of him before?

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JEWISH STUDENT CONDEMS GAZA MASSACRES

Pro-Palestinian protests continue at colleges across the US, with students remaining defiant. They include Jared Kannel, who gave this viral interview at Columbia University in New York.

He believes authorities are labelling the rallies ‘anti-Semitic’ to deflect from Israel’s ‘non-stop massacre of Gaza.’ Jared also reveals he was raised a Zionist, but realised he was on the ‘wrong side’ after understanding the Palestinian perspective. He was speaking after police began arresting students and dismantling their camp on college grounds.

Despite police crackdowns, similar protests keep going across the country, with students staying resolute. They say they want their schools to divest funds from entities connected with Israel and cut ties with Israeli institutions.

Jared typifies the mood during this interview with TRT World, the Turkish news outlet.

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Our African proverb of the week comes from Cameroon and reminds us there are more important things than material wealth. If you’re blinded by money when making big decisions, like getting married, then you’ll suffer eventually. Are there similar proverbs in your country? Please share in the comments.

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DRC PUTS APPLE TO TASK ON ‘BLOOD MINERALS’

The DRC government is threatening legal action against Apple for mining ‘blood minerals’ in the country’s war-torn east. Lawyers have sent the big-tech firm a cease and desist notice, ordering it to stop using ‘illegally exploited’ materials in its products.

It’s claimed Apple buys so-called 3T minerals that are smuggled to Rwanda and laundered into the international supply chain. Cash from their sale is thought to fund armed groups which run illegal mines and commit human rights abuses.

Continued….. The DRC has seen a sharp uptick in violence in recent months. In October 2023 alone, more than 200,000 people were displaced during fighting between M23 and other Congolese militias. Since the 1990s more than six million have been killed in the country’s east, with more than seven million displaced. It’s been a silent crisis that’s been very lucrative for multinational giants, even as Africans pay the highest price.

So, will this move by DRC lawyers have an impact? It follows a US federal appeals court ruling in March that said big-tech firms were not liable for the use of child labour in Congo mines. According to judges, the multinationals only have a buyer-seller relationship with suppliers.

Well, the stakes have just got higher. Apple has three weeks to respond. Let’s wait and see.

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AFRICAN LEADERS, STOP SELLING OUR COUNTRIES

In this video, 23-year-old rapper and Pan-Africanist based in Kenya @realsensicalsense ranted about many African leaders upholding the neo-colonial system. 

For centuries, the world’s industrial powers have treated Africa as an open market for cheap raw materials to fuel their economies. At the end of the European slave trade and throughout the colonial period, Europeans forced Africans into a global economy that disadvantaged Africa and other colonised regions of the world. Today, most African countries are nominally free.

Continued….. Yet, African states still find themselves beholden to unfair trade deals, widening the gap between the industrialised Global North and the extractivist economies of the Global South. It’s a race to the bottom at the expense of our lands and people.

Every country is looking out for its interests. In some cases, two countries can strike a mutually beneficial deal. New collaborations between Russia and African countries like Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger are allowing these Sahelian states to move away from France’s stranglehold and develop new industries. 

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