Continued….. The manifesto espoused a certain Pan-European ideology, expressing solidarity with other European countries, stating that while the United States is home, the United States was also just “a finger on the hand of the body of Europe.”

In the aftermath, African-Americans mourned the tragedy, while Pan-Africanist organisations across the country reiterated the call for urgent principled and tactical unity among African people across the world. Many argued that only a strong and united homeland of Africa will end the brutal violence that Afro-descendant people face today. Do you agree?

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NEW YORK GOVERNOR’S RACIST RANT

New York State Governor Kathy Hochul caught heat for saying Black children in the Bronx don’t know what a computer is while promoting the US state’s $400 million artificial intelligence computing centre on 6 May at the Milken Institute Global Conference in Los Angeles.

The Bronx is the poorest of the five boroughs of New York City, located in the densely populated southern end of the state she leads.

Hochul later apologised, saying, ‘I misspoke and I regret it.’ However, Hochul, like other Democratic Party politicians (and Republicans for that matter) whose racism comes in many forms, including bombing Libya, might want to learn about the contributions Black people have made to the field of computer technology.  

Continued….. For example, does she know about Jesse Russell, the ‘Father of 2G Communications’? This elder pioneered wireless communications, leading the first team from Bell Laboratories to introduce digital cellular technology in the United States in 1988.

Going back to the Bronx, a majority-Black team of students in 2015 beat more than 350 teams across the US to create a mathematics app for Google Play, which allows people to download applications onto smartphones. According to NBC News, ‘Their competition came from wealthier schools and whiter districts…’

Bottom line: Our people don’t need to be folded into the neoliberal establishment portraying itself as the saviour of Africans. We do just fine on our own.

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RWANDAN GENOCIDE USED TO JUSTIFY CONGO WAR


Progressive Jews have long accused the state of Israel of using the Holocaust to justify committing gen*cidal acts against Palestinians. 

The African state of Rwanda also faces the charge of using the 1994 gen*cide to justify atrocities in the eastern region of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). 

African Stream recently spoke with Claude Gatebuke (@shinani1), a Rwandan gen*cide survivor. Watch as he described how Rwanda weaponises the 1994 gen*cide to clamp down on divergent views and to wage war in the eastern DRC.

Continued…. Kigali defends its intervention as part of its responsibility to protect itself by flushing out gen*cide perpetrators. The 2005 UN World Summit endorsed Responsibility to Protect (R2P) as a global political commitment to prevent populations from gen*cide, war crimes, crimes against humanity and ethnic cleansing.  

Imperialist forces, however, have misused the R2P doctrine to justify illegal invasions in the former Yugoslavia, Iraq, Libya and other countries.

Watch the entire episode on our YouTube channel.

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FIRST PRO-PALESTINE AFRICAN ENCAMPMENT POPS UP AT WITS UNIV.

In what may be the first African university encampment in solidarity with Palestine, students at the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, commonly known as ‘Wits University’ or simply ‘Wits,’ set up their tents on campus on 13 May.

By doing so, they have joined thousands of their peers in Australia, Bangladesh, Canada, Europe, India, Japan, Pakistan, South Korea and the United States.

Some student encampments call for universities to divest from companies that support Israel, which occupies the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. Students also call for an immediate ceasefire to the military onslaught and siege taking place in Gaza that have cost the lives of more than 35,000 people, most of whom are children and women.

Police have cracked down on US student encampments, with about 2,800 people arrested on more than 60 campuses, according to a New York Times tally. 

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LIBYA JOINS S. AFRICA, EGYPT AT THE ICJ

Days after Egypt said it intended to back South Africa’s g*n*cide case against Israel, Libya’s thrown its hat in the ring. It’s formally applied to intervene at the International Court of Justice and made its stance loud and clear. In its declaration, Libya accused Israel of g*n*cide saying its actions in Gaza ‘are committed with the requisite specific intent to destroy Palestinians in Gaza as a part of the broader Palestinian national, racial and ethnic group.’

The number of countries lining up to back South Africa’s case is snowballing, with Nicaragua and Colombia also formally applying to intervene. Egypt, along with others, says it intends to follow suit.

In the meantime, Pretoria has asked the UN’s top court to order Israel to halt its assault on the southern Gaza city of Rafah. In January the ICJ demanded Israel refrains from actions that could fall under the G*n*cide Convention.

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U.S. POWER ELITES USE POLICE TO SUPPRESS DIVERGENT VIEWS

The US government frequently accuses other governments—especially those that do not obey it—of using state-sanctioned violence to suppress divergent views. You would think the United States does not do what it condemns. However, as history has shown, the US might be suffering a case of 'projection,' as the late Black psychologist Amos Wilson has said. 

At a 8 May rally in Washington DC, US Congressperson Cori Bush accused the United States of hypocrisy. The Missouri congresswoman has a history in community organising and was involved in the 2014 Black-led Ferguson uprising that authorities suppressed with military equipment. She pointed out the US government also has used heavy-handed tactics against students who have been demanding an end to Washington's military and financial support of Israel's military onslaught against Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.  

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Recently, the UK passed the Safety of Rwanda Bill. It declared the African country a safe place for asylum seekers to be sent while their asylum applications are processed.

Well, in case you haven’t noticed, a rampant war is raging on Rwanda’s border with the neighbouring Democratic Republic of Congo. Last week, two bombs hit displacement camps near Goma, the capital of North Kivu province, killing at least 35, including children, and injuring many more.

Fingers were pointed at M23, a rebel group with links to the Rwandan government. Kigali denies the connection and blamed Congolese militias for the attack. But you can see our point. In the last 30 years, the war has killed over 6 million and displaced millions more.

Continued…. Rwanda is not a ‘safe’ region of the world, and critics argue that it is one of the key sources of instability.

The UK’s scheme has suffered global condemnation. There are fears over the ill-treatment of migrants upon deportation from the UK and the Rwandan government’s commitment to international obligations. The UN and Council of Europe warn it raises major issues about the rights of asylum seekers. Charities describe it as ‘shameful’ and ‘Orwellian.’

Sadly, British leader Rishi Sunak begs to differ. When the law passed through parliament, he said: ‘I am proud to have brought forward this landmark legislation, which will help to stop the boats and keep our country safe.’

Too bad for the safety of refugees fleeing war and famine.

Cartoon credit @LatuffCartoons

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STEVIE WONDER GRANTED GHANAIAN CITIZENSHIP

Ghana has granted citizenship to music legend Stevie Wonder.

President Nana Akufo-Addo handed a citizenship certificate and passport to the US-born singer-songwriter at a 13 May ceremony held at the presidential palace in Accra, the Ghanaian capital. Wonder also turned 74 that day.

During the event, the president hailed Wonder as an icon whose exploits have gone beyond the music stage to humanitarian works that have positively impacted the African diaspora.

The singer-songwriter joins 252 individuals from the United States and the Caribbean who have been granted citizenship since 2019. That year, the West African state ramped up efforts to attract diaspora-born Africans to move there under the ‘Year of Return’ initiative to mark 400 years since ships carried Africans stolen from the continent to be sold into slavery in the Americas.

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Today, 15 May, marks 54 years since police k*lled two unarmed students with more than 400 rounds of ammunition aimed at a group of students at Jackson State College (now University) in Mississippi, USA. 

Phillip Lafayette Gibbs, 21, a junior pre-law student at Jackson State appearing on the top left in African Stream’s infographic, and James Earl Green, 17, a senior and track team member at nearby Jim Hill High School, were k*lled. The shootout wounded 12 other students. 

Police alleged a sniper shot at their officers from upper dormitory floors, but an FBI investigation found no evidence of sniper fire. 

Continued….. Racial tensions had persisted between the historically Black college’s students and white supremacists driving through Lynch Street, which cut through the campus. Tensions allegedly rose with a rumour later proven false that slain activist Medgar Evers’ brother, local politician Charles Evers, had been assassinated along with his wife, Manie Magee. Police showed up after a student had reportedly set a dump truck on fire.

The 1970 k*llings occurred shortly after midnight at a protest against the US invasion of Cambodia during the US war on Vietnam, according to Zinn Education Project.

Authorities charged no one for the Jackson State killings, which came 11 days after the more widely covered Kent State University shootings of four unarmed students during an anti-war protest.

Fifty-four years later, students on campuses all over the US are exercising their right to protest against the Biden administration’s support for Israel’s war on Gaza and demanding their universities divest from Israeli investments. Police have broken up Palestine solidarity camps set by students and arrested more than 2,800 at more than 60 institutions. Former President Donald Trump, a Republican Party front-runner in November’s presidential election, and US Senator Marco Rubio have called for the US to deport international students participating in the protests.

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ISRAELI RIGHT-WINGERS BLOCK & RANSACK GAZA AID TRUCKS

This viral video allegedly shows right-wing Israelis destroying on 13 May humanitarian aid destined for starving Palestinians in the besieged Gaza Strip.

Reports say about 150 activists from the Tzav 9 movement, which seeks to stop the delivery of humanitarian aid to Gaza until all Israeli hostages are released, blocked an aid convoy at the Tarqumiyah checkpoint in the Hebron Hills region of the occupied West Bank. Several dozen people, mostly young men, have been filmed ransacking the trucks, and ripping open containers of sugar and other goods while dropping them on the road. Israeli newspaper Haaretz reports the ransacking took place from 8 a.m. until 4 p.m., when police deployed a water cannon to disperse the crowd. Reports vary on the aftermath, with some outlets reporting police arrested between two and four people.

Continued…. Police allegedly told news outlets they didn’t have enough forces to clear the protest because the army hadn’t given advance notice of the aid convoy’s entrance.

It is not the first time Israeli activists have blocked and vandalised deliveries to the Gaza Strip. In January, hundreds of Israelis blocked humanitarian aid from passing through the Karem Abu Salem (or Kerem Shalom) border crossing from Egypt into the Gaza Strip for several days. This came despite aid organisations warning the northern Gaza Strip faced catastrophic hunger, and 1 in 3 children were acutely malnourished.

Israeli forces have expanded their military onslaught by taking control of the Palestinian side of the Rafah border crossing to Egypt, which had been the main entry point for humanitarian aid since the 7 October escalation in the 75-year Israeli occupation of Palestine.

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U.S GOV IMPRISONS BLACK CHILD FOR 3 YEARS

On this day in 2010, the US government arrested and imprisoned, without trial, 16-year-old Black boy Kalief Browder for three years - for allegedly stealing a backpack. His confinement included two years in solitary confinement. Kalief maintained his innocence throughout. Another victim of America’s war on the poor, Browder’s family could not afford the $3,000 required as bail. He suffered abuse at the hands of Rikers Island prison wardens and prisoners alike, with surveillance footage showing an officer assaulting him and a large group of inmates pummelling and kicking him.

Prosecutors eventually had to admit they had no case against the boy and on June 5th, 2013, he was released. Physically free, his incarceration had left a massive mental scar.

Continued…. He told The New Yorker, “I’m not all right. I’m messed up.” On June 6th, 2015, he hung himself with an air conditioner cord. He was 22 years old, and his mother’s youngest child.

Browder’s case is one of countless examples of structural racism and classism in America’s justice system. Black Americans, who make up only 13% of the US population, account for 36% of the jail population. They are jailed at almost four times the rate of White Americans. Blacks are also about seven times more likely than White people to be wrongfully convicted of three major crimes: homicide, sexual assault and drug offences. In fact, Black people were 19 times more likely to be wrongfully convicted of drug crimes.

How many more Kaliefs need to have their lives cut short before real change happens?

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AFRICAN UNION DANCING TO OUTSIDE BACKERS’ TUNE?

The African Union can always be “told to dance” by outsiders - so long as the bulk of its funding comes from them. That’s the view of Dr. Alfred Mutua, Kenya’s former Foreign and Diaspora Affairs Minister, who thinks it’s high time the 55-member bloc danced to its own tune - and not to that of China, or of the EU, the UK and the US, who collectively bankroll some 60% of the AU’s funds.

Dr. Mutua acknowledges that Africa does indeed need external support, but argues it should never be the main budgetary crutch if we are to be truly in control of our own destinies.

In 2016, the 27th African Union summit in Kigali, Rwanda, initiated financial reforms to raise contributions from all 55 member states. In a statement on its website, the AU admits that it is “currently not financed in a predictable, sustainable, equitable or accountable manner” and that “more than 40% of member states do not pay their yearly contributions.”

Turkey has decided to submit its declaration of official intervention in South Africa’s gen*cide case against Israel at the International Court of Justice (ICJ).

Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said on 14 May, ‘Israel systematically kill*ng thousands of innocent Palestinians and rendering a whole residential area uninhabitable is a crime against humanity, attempted gen*cide, and the manifestation of gen*cide.’

Turkey joins Egypt, among other states, in stating intentions to intervene in South Africa’s legal proceedings against Israel, while Colombia, Libya and Nicaragua have officially applied.

Continued….. The ICJ’s 26 January provisional ruling stated Israel’s actions in the Gaza Strip since 7 October were plausibly gen*cidal and ordered Israel to take steps to avoid gen*cidal acts. Since then, Israel has k*lled more than 9,000 Palestinians, bringing the death toll to more than 35,000. With Israel blocking aid deliveries, the United Nations recently announced that famine had struck the northern Gaza Strip, which the international body had warned about for months.

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DECOLONISING RIDLEY SCOTT’S NAPOLEON

The recent Ridley Scott movie about Napoleon has been widely panned for its numerous historical inaccuracies. But it doesn’t just get things wrong, it also completely ignores crucial facts about the French tyrant’s life - such as his disregard for Africans and his forcibly bringing back slavery on the island of Haiti (then known as Saint Domingue). African Stream’s Ahmed Ghoneim’s got a bone to pick with Boney…

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