SHOULD BLACK AMERICANS CARE ABOUT NATO?

Here’s a question: should Black Americans support NATO? We’d love to hear your answers in the comments, but before posting, have a listen to TikTok commentariat member @prodigalsun3. In this clip, he answers that question with a rather good (in our book) analogy.

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There’s a last-gasp effort to stop Kenyan police being sent to Haiti. Around 1,000 are due to go to help ‘restore order’ and the first 200 are expected to arrive next week.

However, a legal team from a Kenyan opposition party says President Ruto is in breach of a High Court ruling. They’ve now submitted another court application after Judges previously declared the mission unconstitutional. Despite that, Ruto pushed ahead with the plan and signed a deal with Haiti’s then-prime minister Ariel Henry in March.

Human rights groups have condemned the deployment, saying previous interventions were disastrous for Haiti. Washington is promising to pay Nairobi $100m for sending its officers. US forces will also build a base on the Island to accommodate them.

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TRAUMATISED GIRL REVEALS CONGO HORROR

It’s difficult to watch this heartbreaking interview of a traumatised girl in a displacement camp in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Fighting back tears, she tells how even here isn’t safe, with rebels frequently carrying out kidnappings.

She bears what can best be described as the ‘face’ of the Congo. An innocent child scarred by the daily horrors of the long-running conflict that’s impacted millions of defenceless Congolese.

The country’s east is one of the most dangerous places in the world for women and girls. There’s the ever-present danger of rape, abduction or murder as they go in search of food and other essentials. As as this sister reveals, conditions in displacement camps are no better. They’re often overcrowded and unhygienic, with inadequate facilities for the protection of vulnerable refugees.

Continued…. More than 25 million people – a quarter of DR Congo’s population – don’t have enough to eat. Cholera and measles are spreading, worsened by floods induced by an El Niño weather pattern. Over seven million have been displaced, and millions of children cannot go to school due to threats to their safety and forced recruitment by rebels.

A December 2023 UN report found Rwanda responsible for arming and funding the M23 militia, one of the groups fighting to control the mineral-rich eastern region of DR Congo. Western multi-nationals have also been accused of fuelling and profiting from the conflict, by purchasing illegally extracted minerals from the country.

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‘WE ARE NOT AMERICAN’

Malcolm X would have turned 99 today. It’s as good excuse as any to revisit this gem of a clip. In it, X explains why it is so vital that “so-called Negros” in the US identify as AFRICANS.

It’s part of his famous 1964 ‘Ballot or Bullet’ speech, in which he argued that voting rights are a potent weapon if exercised right - and that unity amongst Africans in America can be leveraged to force politicians to accept their demands and agenda once in office.

However, despite his rhetoric, he was also sceptical about whether the electoral process could really bring about genuine racial justice for Africans in America.

His speech was made in the same year as his trips to Africa, which gave him a greater understanding of the need to internationalise the struggle and connect it to the independence of continental Africans.

Do you think Africans in America have a real chance of achieving their aims through elections in the US today, or do X’s words still ring true?

BLACK PEOPLE CIVILISED EARTH - JAH9

In this clip, Jamaican reggae artist Jah9 passionately makes the case that the African diaspora is actually an exile community - descended from ancestors who were forced from a homeland rich in civilisation. These ancestors gave their toil and blood building the Western world - a world that was not their own. Whereas the Europeans came to plunder and destroy, African societies like those of the Egyptians and the Moors had a positive cultural impact on - a real civilising influence on - Europe and Asia. Her message seems to be that we should turn back to our heritage rather than linger among Western ideals. Are you persuaded by her? If you’re not in Africa, do you see yourself as an exile? Your thoughts and insights matter to us, please share them in the comments.

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BLACK PEOPLE HOLD WORLD'S GREATEST ACHIEVEMENT

Dr. Claud Anderson discussed the state of Black people in the United States and his book, 'A Black History Reader,' on the Rock Newman Show.

During this clip from the 2018 interview, Anderson highlighted the remarkable resilience of Africans who survived slavery and apartheid. They achieved a feat that stands as one of the world's most outstanding academic achievements: Reducing the nearly 100 per cent imposed illiteracy rate by half in the first 30 years after slavery's abolition.

What do you think of the feats Black people have achieved in the United States despite centuries of slavery and apartheid? Let us know in the comments.

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‘THE KING LEOPOLD OF 2024 IS PAUL KAGAME’

Speaking on our recent Pan-African Attitude podcast, Kambale Musavuli, analyst at the Center for Research on the Congo-Kinshasa, argued Rwandan President Paul Kagame is a modern-day Belgian King Leopold II, who was known for maiming Congolese as he colonised the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) to exploit its natural resources.

@kambale, a Congolese native and one of the DRC’s leading cultural and political voices, told African Stream’s team on 22 April that Rwanda is the central transit hub of Congo’s mineral wealth, a fact that Kagame himself has admitted to. And, just as Leopold ruthlessly extracted Congo’s rubber to supply the United States’ booming automotive industry more than a century ago,

Continued….. Musavuli said Kagame ensures the West’s environmentally friendly transition by allowing the smuggling of Congolese minerals to power electric vehicles (EVs) that don’t emit greenhouse gases. According to UN reports, the smuggling business is an economic incentive Kigali uses to finance and arm the M23 militia group.

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WHY ARE RASTAFARIS OSTRACISED?

Donisha Rita-Claire Prendergast, Jamaican actress, model, dancer and poet, is the granddaughter of the late reggae icon, Bob Marley (1945-81).

In this interview with @inweblood_, she spoke about the political power of Rastafari. The Afrocentric Abrahamic religion began in Jamaica and served as a counter-culture under British colonial oppression. Calling reggae music a ‘child of Rastafari,’ Prendergast said anti-apartheid fighters referred to her grandfather’s songs during the struggle in South Africa.

@iamdonisha went on to say colonial culture has long ostracised Rastafari because its goal is African and human liberation. 

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Our African proverb this week is an Igbo one. It’s a reminder that your inner worth will shine through, no matter what - even if the goat sold for slaughter disagrees! Do you?

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