U.S. ACCUSES RWANDA OF DEADLY DRC REFUGEE CAMP STRIKES

The US has pointed the finger at Rwanda - after two deadly strikes on refugee camps in neighboring DRC. The bombings took place at Mugunga and Lac Vert on Friday, with dozens who’d fled the violence in the war-torn east killed - mostly women and children. Washington alleges Rwanda’s military, in collaboration with the M23 rebel group, committed these atrocities, although Kigali strongly denies this and blames other groups fighting alongside the DRC’s military.

Continued…. The US, and wider West, condemns Rwanda for backing the M23 group, but has taken no significant actions, while US corporations allegedly continue to profit from the illegal mining of Congolese resources, which are laundered through Rwanda. Countries such as the UK continue to provide substantial aid and investment to Rwanda, and there have been few sanctions on Rwandan officials, raising questions about the West’s commitment to addressing the decades-long conflict in Congo.

What do you think? Should the West wield its stick or are we actually better off finding an African solution to the murderous campaign in DRC?

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BURKINABÉ CALL OUT U.S. HYPOCRISY

Several hundred protesters gathered on 3 May outside the US embassy in Burkina Faso's capital, Ouagadougou, expressing anger and discontent with Washington for recently criticising the African state's military leadership.

A joint statement by the United States and Britain on 29 April expressed 'grave concern' over a Human Rights Watch report that military forces killed hundreds of civilians in February in the country's north. The government has denied the allegation.

Waving Burkinabé, Russian and North Korean flags, protesters accused the US of a double standard, pointing to about 500,000 people killed in the US war on Iraq and US financial and military support for Israel's onslaught in Gaza, which has killed more than 34,000 Palestinians.

Burkina Faso's military government, which seized power in a 2022 coup, has further defied the West by embracing Russia as a partner to secure the border zones where armed militants had controlled territory.

KWAME TURE: PAN-AFRICANISM IS A MASS MOVEMENT

African people’s contributions to the fight for a more just and humane world have shaped and added dimensions to the global class struggle.

In this 1996 clip, the late revolutionary Pan-Africanist and founding member of @aaprp (or @aaprpinternational), Kwame Ture (1941-98), highlighted a unique feature of the African fight for liberation: Mass-based parties. While fighting for a unified and socialist Africa, we have formed organisations that have set aside the vanguardism of revolutionary movements in other parts of the world in favour of mass-based political structures. Vanguard parties require a small group of well-trained people providing leadership to build a mass movement. These parties tend to have a small membership, as a result.

Continued….. Mass parties, on the other hand, allow members of any rank to have an equal say, but can move slower.

In search of concrete examples of what Ture speaks of, one may look to the African Party for the Independence of Guinea and Cabo Verde (PAIGC), which liberated Guinea-Bissau and Cape Verde through a mass-led armed struggle. One could also look to the Mozambican Liberation Front (FRELIMO), the National Liberation Front (FLN) of Algeria or the Eritrean People's Liberation Front (EPLF).

And, today, we see our people pouring out into the streets of Ouagadougou, Bamako, Niamey and other Sahelian cities to defend the anti-imperialist revolutionary process. We see thousands of Haitian people protesting, organising and fighting, year after year for their liberation. Rarely do we see a minority of our people leading successful liberation movements. Perhaps this speaks to a democratic worldview and approach to our fight.

As Ture points out, we must join organisations and come together worldwide to defend our collective interests as African peoples everywhere.

What are your thoughts?

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Civil rights activist Reverend George W. Lee was killed on this day 69 years ago, but his murder remains unsolved. While driving his car in Belzoni, Mississippi, he was shot by a man who pulled up alongside and opened fire. FBI agents identified credible White suspects, but said potential witnesses appeared afraid to talk and dropped the case.

What is clear, is that Lee’s campaigning for the Black vote put him in the crosshairs of White supremacists. At the time of his murder, he was the leader of the Belzoni chapter of the The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). He was actively involved in civil rights campaigning and became the first Black person to register as a voter in the 1950s. Lee wanted others to follow suit and successfully got another 92 Africans on the voting register, with help from activist Gus Courts.

Continued….. In response, White supremacists demanded Lee stop his activism and remove his name from the voting roll. He refused. Despite mounting threats, he remained defiant. In April ,1955, Lee addressed more than 7,000 people who’d gathered for the annual meeting of the Regional Council of Negro Leadership (RCNL). He was the vice president of the Mississippi civil rights body, but it would be his last major public engagement before his murder less than a month later.

The county sheriff and state governor both refused to launch an investigation into the death, and a Department of Justice probe only followed after intervention by the United States Attorney General Herbert Brownell Jr. However, no charges were ever brought and the case was eventually closed.

His murder and its subsequent treatment by the authorities underlined the brutal prejudice he was fighting against.

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One of Beyoncé’s hits goes: “Who run the world? Girls!” - and in African and Caribbean countries at least, this might actually be true!

According to the International Labour Organization, data collected in 2022-2023 reveal that Burkina Faso and Nigeria have the world’s highest share of female bosses - 70% and 67%, respectively. The next two countries on the list are Jamaica and Botswana.

Africa as a whole, though, has a bit further to go along the road towards gender equality. I

Continued…. n 2022, 38% of managers in our continent were female - an increase of 2% since the Covid pandemic, which saw women take on more roles.

Looking at female representation in parliaments across Africa, progress is visible - with Sub-Saharan Africa recording the highest increase in women lawmakers in 2023. Rwanda continues to lead globally - with women accounting for 61% of seats in the Chamber of Deputies, closely followed by Cuba and Nicaragua (with 55.7% and 53.9%, respectively).

So Africa boasts the most progressive countries in the world when it comes to women in power and in top jobs. Why do you think that is?

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DRC PREZ: WHY WE PREFER CHINA AND RUSSIA

Europe should be Africa’s best trading partner due to its geographic proximity, according to DR Congo President Félix Tshisekedi. However, it’s the arrogance of Western leaders that’s destroying any hope of meaningful relations.

During this interview with French TV station LCI, Tshisekedi says the West likes to preach on human rights (which it obliterated during 400-years of colonialism). And it’s why many African nations now choose to do business with Beijing and Moscow.

It sums up the continent’s international relations, and we’re seeing it play out in the Sahel. Russia has signed security and economic deals with Niger, Burkina Faso and Mali after the French were kicked out.

Do you agree with the DR Congo leader?

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CHINESE BOSS WHIPPING AFRICANS
SPARKS OUTRAGE

A video appearing to show a Chinese man whipping African workers with a stick has sparked debate on racial discrimination by foreign employers based in Africa. The viral clip was shared on X (formerly Twitter) by Dom Lucre, journalist and founder of BTNNetwk. He posted, ‘Chinese employer in Africa treating his employees like Trans Atlantic slaves.’

Although we haven’t been able to verify the location and date of the footage, it mirrors past cases:
* In April 2022, Rwanda sentenced Sun Shujun, a Chinese national, to 20 years after he was found guilty of whipping a worker.
*In 2021, a Kenyan court awarded an African worker more than $25,000 after he was beaten by his Chinese restaurant employer.
*In 2021, the non-profit Business and Human Rights Resource Center (BHRRC) found 181 claims of human rights abuses connected to Chinese investment activities in Africa between 2013 and 2020.

Continued….. Many incidents occurred in Uganda, Kenya, Zimbabwe, and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).

To give it some context, a report in 2017 by US consulting firm Mckinsey and Company estimated there were over 10,000 Chinese firms operating in Africa, employing several million Africans.

It begs the question, exactly how widespread is the problem?

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RWANDA’S INVOLVEMENT IN THE DRC

On 22 April, African Stream hosted two experts to discuss the crisis in the eastern part of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). In this clip from the whole conversation, Rwandan gen*cide survivor Claude Gatebuke (@shinani1), co-author of 'Survivors Uncensored,' unpacked Rwanda's role in inflaming the conflict for three decades.

Kigali invaded the eastern region of DRC twice in the late 1990s to allegedly flush out what it claimed were Hutu militia accused of perpetrating the 1994 Rwanda Gen*cide. And, now, the presence of between 120 to 140 externally-funded militia groups in the DRC's east complicates the long-running conflict.

Continued….According to a December 2023 UN report, Rwanda supports the M23 militia group with cash and arms.

Unfortunately, about 6 million Congolese have lost their lives since the mid-1990s, and more than 6 million are internally displaced. For example, on 3 May, alleged M23 and Rwandan army bombs k*lled 12 people—including children—in displacement camps near Goma.

Watch the entire episode on our YouTube channel.

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MONKEY CHANTS AT UNIVERSITY OF MISSISSIPPI

In this 2 May video, a group of hecklers from a fraternity at the University of Mississippi, known by the byname, 'Ole Miss,' jeered and made monkey noises at a Black woman in a group of about 30 students demonstrating in solidarity with Palestine. The mostly white counter-protesters, some donning outfits featuring the US flag's red, white and blue stars and stripes, also reportedly chanted 'Lizzo,' the name of a rapper and singer, and chanted, 'F*ck you, fat *ss.'

Continued….. The student who made monkey noises has been removed from his fraternity, Phi Delta Theta, according to its 5 May statement.

Republican Congressperson Mike Collins of Mississippi made headlines after he endorsed the counter-protesters on social media platform X, posting the video with the comment, 'Ole Miss taking care of business.'

The Associated Press has tallied more than 2,400 arrests on 46 US university or college campuses since 17 April. However, nobody was arrested during the 2 May counter-demonstration at the University of Mississippi, where hecklers outnumbered Palestine supporters who were calling for an end to Israel's 6-month bombardment and escalated siege of Gaza.

Video Credit: Stacey J. Spiehler

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SALAH STORM OVER GAZA AID PLEA

Simon Jordan, a British media personality criticized African and Egyptian football star Mohammed Salah over his plea for humanitarian aid to be delivered in Gaza.

African Stream's @ahmed.ghoneim.official highlights the double standard of Jordan's analysis taking into account that he had previously said the Qatar World Cup is "morally wrong" and supported the sports boycott against Russia over the war in Ukraine.

Moreover, we briefly explore the movement working towards a boycott of Israel whether it be in football or sports, and how a similar boycott against apartheid South Africa brought down a racist colonial regime.

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COLONIALISM SPAWNED CONGO’S CATASTROPHE

Brutal armed conflict has ravaged the eastern region of the Democratic of Congo since the late 1990s. Millions have been killed and displaced, with some blaming the West’s desire to get its hands on the country’s resources. It’s argued they work with neighbouring Rwanda and Uganda, to support rebels in DRC who extract minerals then sold on international markets.

However, Pan-African scholar PLO Lumumba, says despite the new dynamics, the seeds of war in Congo were planted during the colonial era. A deliberate policy of divide and rule that not only created tension between different ethnic groups but also weakened the capacity of central government to enforce its authority across the country. That created fertile ground for the emergence and growth of rebel groups like M23 that have recently ramped up attacks against the Congolese military and civilians. Do you agree with him or this just an excuse to let perpetrators of the hook? Leave your comments below.

U.S. POLICY TO DIVIDE AFRICANS AND DIASPORA

US imperialists have gone all out to ensure no synergy between Africans from the continent and Africans in the diaspora. It is a testament to the fear of what a united Africa, joined by its sons and daughters in the Americas, is capable of achieving. Watch as two African brothers reveal what goes on behind the scenes—from government agencies to classrooms—to dissuade Africans from joining forces.

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BURKINABE BIKERS REV UP AGAINST U.S.

Longtime imperialist countries like the United States and the United Kingdom are at a loss as Sahelian countries like Burkina Faso turn away from the Western camp. Recently, the two powers, the US and the UK, denounced Burkina Faso's government in light of a Human Rights Watch report accusing the Burkinabe army of massacring 223 civilians. But the people of Burkina Faso are not buying it. On Friday, May 3rd, they rushed to the embassy of the United States, where they rallied in support of Ibrahim Traoré and the Burkinabe government.

Continued…. "We have come to deliver a message to the Americans to put an end to these accusations against our armed forces, who are defending the country at the cost of their lives," stated Mahamadou Ouedraogo of the Burkind Faangf Meenga (Liberation) Federation of Pan-Africanists, which organised the protest.

The people of Burkina Faso and neighbouring Sahel states Mali and Niger are increasingly fed up with media attacks on their countries and the governments that they work tirelessly to defend.

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