WHY IS CONGO CRISIS SO COMPLEX? PLO EXPLAINS

Why has ending the genocidal war in the DR Congo proven so difficult? In this clip, Pan-African scholar PLO Lumumba explains one of the chief reasons.

During his recent appearance on our flagship podcast, Pan-African Attitude, he notes that tensions between African nations can often be traced back to the way communities were cut in two by the artificial boundaries imposed by colonial powers. This carving-up of Africa at the infamous Berlin Conference took no consideration of the realities on the ground, with boundaries steamrollering right through what had been longstanding organic societies.

Continued…. Lumumba also highlights how Western nations have continued to exploit Africans and pit them against each other in and around the Congo in order to keep extracting resources from the region as cheaply as possible - whatever the human (African) cost.

His comments come amid mounting evidence presented by numerous organisations, including the United Nations, that Rwanda is backing the M23 rebel group, which is blamed for the recent spike in violence in eastern DRC - supplying it with weapons that Kigali buys with Western aid (and implicit consent).

So is the Congo crisis actually that complex? Or, given how much Rwanda’s backers profit from chaos in DRC, is it simply another case of neocolonial exploitation (made possible by the colonial past)?

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On this date, 37 years ago, Obafemi Awolowo, a Nigerian nationalist and statesman, died. ‘Awo,’ as he was fondly known, played a crucial role in Nigeria’s independence movement. During the colonial period, he was an active member of the Nigerian Youth Movement that opposed British rule. In 1945, he attended the Fifth Pan-African Congress in Manchester as a representative of the Nigerian Youth Movement alongside Hezekiah Oladipo Davies, a leading Nigerian trade unionist and lawyer.

Continued…. As the first indigenous premier of Nigeria’s Western region, Awolowo introduced free education for all and free healthcare for children. He also introduced a minimum wage in the Western Region; the first Television station in Africa, Western Nigeria Television, in 1959; the first stadium in 1960; and he laid the foundation for Cocoa House, the first skyscraper in Nigeria and West Africa in 1965. He coined the name ‘naira’ for the national currency and is featured on the 100 naira note. His contributions to decolonisation and Nigeria’s socio-economic growth have earned him a place in the pantheon of Pan-African greats.

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NIGERIANS AGAINST U.S. & FRENCH MILITARY BASES

Now that Niger has announced its expulsion of US troops and Sahelian states have kicked out French military forces, could the two Western powers be eyeing its southern neighbour, Nigeria?

The leaders of research institutes and civil society organisations delivered a letter on 3 May to Nigerian President Bola Ahmed Tinubu and the National Assembly, rejecting any proposal to allow Western military bases into Nigeria.

Continued….. The letter points out that terrorism worsened in the Sahel, an arid zone south of the Sahara Desert, during the period of US military occupation. According to a study by the US Department of Defense’s Africa Center for Strategic Studies, terrorism has increased by more than 100,000 per cent since US launched its ‘War on Terror’ in 2001. Additionally, according to the Global Terrorism Index, 43 per cent of all terrorism-related deaths in 2022 occurred in the Sahel. That year, more people died from terrorism there than in West Asia, South Asia and North Africa combined.

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The gold-backed Zimbabwe Gold (ZiG) currency has been formally designated the country’s main medium of exchange. On 7th May, Finance Minister, Mthuli Ncube, directed all banks and government institutions to carry out all transactions and payments for goods and services in the new currency.

The ZiG was announced and launched by the country’s Central Bank on April 5th as the latest measure to arrest runaway inflation.

Spiralling costs have tormented the nation for more than two decades as a result unilaterally-imposed sanctions by the West following Harare’s land-reform programme. The new currency is backed by about $285-million worth of foreign currencies, gold and precious minerals.

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WHITE MAN TAUNTS PALESTINIAN, COPS IGNORE

In this 30 April video, a person identified in the original X post as a Columbia University student and as a Palestinian tried to lodge a complaint with New York police officers about a white man spitting in his ear outside of campus. That’s where an encampment demanding the university divest from Israeli investments has taken place since 17 April, drawing pro-Israel protesters to the perimeter of the urban campus.

However, this video showed the offender walked scot-free.

It isn’t an isolated incident as US police forces have stood idly by as pro-Palestine supporters have reported pro-Israel ‘mobs’ have wreaked havoc across encampments that began popping up on university campuses. US police have had a history of doing nothing or protecting right-wingers, as seen during the 2017 ‘Unite the Right’ rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, among other instances.

Continued….. So far, police have arrested more than 2,800 protesters on more than 50 US campuses, according to an Associated Press tally.

Meanwhile, new congressional legislation has enshrined a broader definition of anti-Semitism into the US Civil Rights Act of 1964, an anti-discrimination law. While complaints of anti-Semitism on campuses have risen, Jewish students have played a significant role in these encampments and have denied these encampments are anti-Semitic.

Credit: @itslaylas

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EU SAYS ‘NOTHING TO HIDE’ AS SÉNÉGAL SCRUTINISES FISHING

Senegal’s decision to begin reviewing fishing licences and deals that authorise European Union vessels to fish in its Atlantic Ocean waters has prompted the EU’s ambassador to say the EU has ‘nothing to hide.’

However, evidence points to the EU being one of the players in the illegal fishing industry that drains over $3 billion from West Africa annually.

Have a watch, and let us know what you think.

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KENYA: SLUM DEMOLITION PROTESTERS
ALLEGE LAND-GRAB

When it rains, it pours. Slum dwellers in Nairobi face having no roof over their heads, as the authorities are demolishing their makeshift homes, citing concerns over safety after recent floods swelled nearby rivers.

At least 26 activists were arrested on May 8th, following protests over the pulling-down of houses in Mathare, one of the biggest slums in the Kenyan capital. Police raided the offices of the Mathare Social Justice Centre, a group that documents human-rights violations in poor urban areas. The latest reports suggest those detained have now been released on bail.

Continued…. The authorities insist they’re simply trying to prevent the further loss of life. Over 250 Kenyans have already died in floods across the country. Weather forecasters have been warning about extreme conditions since late 2023, but President William Ruto refused to listen, saying the country would have average rainfall. His administration is accused of failing to be ready with a plan. Those most affected by the floods and demolitions, of course, are poor people.

Residents whose homes were flattened by bulldozers have nowhere to go and have asked the government to provide them with alternative housing. Many of them are sheltering in tents provided by humanitarian organisations. Ruto has pushed through the enactment of a housing levy to provide affordable housing to Kenyans.  Many are petitioning him to ensure slum dwellers are prioritised in the affordable-housing project, but it appears his administration would rather silence activists seeking justice for the poor.

Our man Kenneth Kaigua spoke to locals and activists in Nairobi’s Mathare slum. Your insights and reactions in the comments are always appreciated.

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Tunisian human-rights defender Saadia Mosbah has been arrested and taken into custody after she condemned the anti-migrant rhetoric of the country’s president. She’s been a vocal critic of the Tunisian authorities’ mistreatment of sub-Saharan migrants and a champion of the latter’s cause.

In his latest tirade, President Kais Saied accused organisations such as the one headed by Mosbah of treason. Her group offers assistance to migrants who try to use Tunisia as a gateway to Europe. The official reason for her arrest is suspicion of financial crimes, and her group was already under police investigation.

Continued….. Tunisia is a popular departure point for thousands of migrants crossing the Mediterranean in hope of a better life abroad (the poverty back home, of course, often being causally rooted in European imperialism - from slavery and colonisation, to today’s neo-colonialism). The Tunisian authorities have responded with a crackdown that’s seen forced deportations into the desert without water, resulting in multiple deaths. Tensions with locals are also high, fanned by inflammatory rhetoric from the president.

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On this day, 30 years ago, Nelson Mandela was inaugurated as South Africa’s first Black and democratically elected president. Two weeks earlier, more than 22-million South Africans had gone to the polls in the country’s first truly democratic elections. Mandela’s party, the African National Congress (ANC), which for decades had been the country’s leading liberation movement, convincingly won - thereby ending more than three centuries of racist rule by White settler colonialists.

Just a few years earlier, the ANC had still been outlawed, having been declared a terrorist organisation - with most of its senior leaders, including Mandela, jailed by the apartheid regime. In 1990, internal and external pressure saw the regime lift its ban on the ANC and free its top brass. This ushered a new era in the country’s history. Between 1990 and 1994, the ANC and the apartheid regime entered into intense negotiations regarding the future of the country, which resulted in elections on 27th April, 1994.

Continued…. Some South Africans fault some of the agreements struck during these negotiations as the cause of the country’s current social and economic woes. White people continue to hold the lion’s share of the nation’s wealth, despite making up less than 10% of the population.

The failure to completely break down the apartheid-era economic system has been the biggest blemish on the legacy of the ANC and Mandela. However, what is not in dispute is that the end of apartheid and the ANC’s ascension to power is a milestone worthy of honour, despite the fact that the road ahead for Black South Africa is still long. ‘A luta continua!’ (‘The struggle continues!’)

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BLACK PEOPLE ARE AFRICAN PERIOD!

In recent years there’s been a new wave of conversation touching on the complexities of Black identity.

In particular, there’s debate surrounding those who distance themselves from their African roots by describing themselves as ‘Black in America’.

The sister in this video gives her opinion on picking and choosing certain aspects of African culture. She touches on the history of slavery, and why Black people should embrace rather than ignore their rich heritage. Listen in.

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US MARINES TRAINED HAITI DEATH SQUADS

The Tonton Macoute were a notorious death squad that terrorised civilians in Haiti from 1959 to 1986. In this video, one witness, US businessman Bush Ashton, talks about the US marines’ involvement in training these violent forces. The Tonton Macoute played a major role in shaping the Duvalier era in Haiti. François Duvalier, also known as Papa Doc, ruled over Haiti from 1957 until his death in 1971. His son, Jean-Claude Duvalier, also known as ‘Baby Doc,’ then took over and continued in his father’s brutal legacy until he was overthrown in a popular insurrection in 1986.

Continued….. The United States maintained a close relationship with the Duvaliers, lending the regime direct support in order to combat the potential spread of communism. According to the New York Times, the United States sent Duvalier $13-million a year in aid by 1961, the equivalent to half of Haiti’s national budget. By the time Duvalier was overthrown, the US had sent roughly $900-million to his government.

This video delves into another aspect of US support for the Papa and Baby Doc, the funding of their personal death squads...

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MANDELA: YOUR ENEMIES ARE NOT OUR ENEMIES!

Three decades ago today, Nelson Mandela was inaugurated as South Africa’s first democratically elected president.

His party, the African National Congress, had emerged victorious in the country’s first truly democratic elections, officially ending decades of settler oppression of Black people.

It was a watershed moment in the history of the country and in the life of a man who had spent 27 years in prison after being jailed by the racist regime in the early 1960s for his anti-apartheid activities.

The mainstream media, when reflecting on Mandela’s legacy, always omits the fact that he remained loyal to those who supported the anti-apartheid struggle. As he famously told his Western detractors: ‘Your enemies are not our enemies!‘

Watch him deliver that line here in this iconic clip - in which he demolishes a critic who tried to get him to disown leaders despised by Western nations. Do you cheer his remarks as loudly as the audience does here?

PAKISTANI BRIT PRAISES BLACK MEN FOR SHAPING HIM

How much cultural, social and political force do Africans positively exert on other communities?

Listen as UK-based Pakistani social media influencer Sa’ad Mustafā (@saadmustafauk) describes boxer and activist Muhammad Ali (1942-2016) and Pan-Africanist Malcolm X’s (1925-65) influence. Mustafā said these African elders helped him develop confidence and encouraged him to learn about his own people’s history to understand himself. It is a testament to Africans’ power to inspire the world to embrace higher ideals.

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