AFRICANS CHOOSING DEATH OVER SLAVERY

The Igbo landing is considered America’s first Freedom March, and is one of the most tragic acts of resistance. It’s the story of African slaves who took their own lives in May, 1803, after briefly breaking free from their captors. An example of the horror and sorrow inflicted on millions of Africans shipped across the Atlantic to be sold as slaves in the Americas.

Despite the historical significance, the site of Igbo Landing is not well preserved or commemorated. Investigative news website Mother Jones reported in 2022 there was still no permanent marker on St Simons Island where the tragedy unfolded.

It should not be forgotten, nor should the impact of the appalling European salve trade which is still felt today. Nations that benefitted should pay reparations to the victims of descendants, but still refuse to do so.

Please follow us on Telegram, Link in Bio

WILL WHITES EVER MANAGE WITHOUT OPPRESSING BLACKS?

Garrison Hayes is a storyteller who specialises in history and race. In this clip, he brilliantly responds to a racist question someone asked him on X/Twitter: Will Blacks in the US ever be ‘self-sufficient’?

He politely points out that numerous African communities in the US built all the infrastructure they needed and were well on their way to prosperity when Whites came along and attacked and destroyed everything.

The real question, in Hayes’ view, is this: when will Whites ever be ‘self-sufficient’ and not have to oppress Blacks?

What’s your answer?

Please follow us on Telegram, Link in Bio

Our African proverb this week is Ugandan. It suggests that in life-or-death circumstances, everyone can do ‘brave’ things. But that doesn’t make the person doing them truly brave.

What more is needed for true bravery?

Please follow us on Telegram, Link in Bio

U.K. STILL LENDING ARMS TO GRIM REAPER ISRAEL

Author, activist and medical student Mikaela Loach is known for speaking out against climate injustice.

However, in this recent BBC interview, the sister lends her voice to the more than 2 million Palestinians under Israeli bombardment and an escalated siege since 7 October in the Gaza Strip. 

The Jamaica-born, UK-based activist called out the UK government for continuing to sell arms to Israel in the face of what the International Court of Justice ruled in January as 'plausible' g*n*cide. Loach also took it back to the annals of history to show that Israel's oppression of Palestinians didn't begin on 7 October, but since 1948, when Israeli settlers expelled about 750,000 Palestinians after establishing the state of Israel with the UK's support.

So far, Israel has k*lled more than 35,000 Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, primarily women and children.

Listen in.

Please follow us on Telegram, Link in Bio

PART 1: FRANCE IS NOTHING WITHOUT AFRICA

France maintains significant economic interests in Africa, particularly in sectors such as energy, mining, agriculture and telecommunications. Africa is also an important trading partner for France. French companies export goods and services to African markets, while also importing natural resources and raw materials from the continent.

However, recent military coups in Africa - in Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger - have seen France’s influence wane on our continent, making its neocolonial exploitation (on which it depends) harder to maintain.

Continued….. Some are speculating that France is getting so desperate that President Macron is preparing to gamble everything. In this clip, Isa - a TikTok content creator and all-round commentator on things geopolitical - explains why he thinks France will try to escalate Russia’s war on Ukraine into a Third World War… to save itself, or make sure everyone else goes down with it!

That might sound like a bit of a leap from losing influence in the Sahel, but hear Isa out and let us know what you make of his theory in the comments.

Please follow us on Telegram, Link in Bio

Kenya’s high-flying President, William Ruto, has defended the use of a private jet. He reckons it was the cheapest option for his state visit to the US, despite costing his taxpayers $1.5m. And he insists using national carrier, Kenya Airways, would’ve been more pricey!

Well, hasn’t taken long for people to call him out. One calculation said Ruto and four of his top officials could’ve booked a first-class return ticket on the national carrier for $4,500 each. He could’ve put the rest of his 30+ entourage in economy for $1.300 each, making a grand total of $60,000. Throw in a hotel bill of $600 per person for three nights and the total price of his state visit could’ve been around $80k.

Ruto insists his extravagant spending spree meets with his ‘determination for us to live within our means.’ All this while announcing tax hikes. Jeez, can he not see why people are angry?

Please follow us on Telegram, Link in Bio

MALCOLM X ON U.S. COMPLICITY IN DRC

Here, Pan-Africanist Malcolm X responded to a CBS News reporter asking about the 24 November 1964 covert Belgian-US paratrooper operation called 'Operation Dragon Rouge,' which killed two dozen out of 1,000 European and US hostages in the short-lived People's Republic of the Congo capital, Stanleyville (later Kisangani). The effort involved DRC troops and apartheid-era South African mercenaries.

Congolese rebels loyal to former revolutionary Prime Minister Patrice Lumumba (1925-61) opposed then-Prime Minister Moïse Tshombe (1919-69), a one-time Katanga separatist leader complicit in Lumumba's 1961 assassination. The rebels used hostages to shield villages from US-supplied aerial bombings.

While Western media called the rebels 'cannibals,' and 'savages,' they identified themselves as 'simbas' (Swahili for 'lions'). Their attempt was part of a broader effort, the 'Simba Rebellion,' that took place between 1963 and 1965.

Please follow us on Telegram, Link in Bio

DEMO BRANDS BLINKEN: ‘SECRETARY OF G*NOCIDE’

Here’s a scene that’s become a familiar sight. Furious demonstrators yell ‘war criminal’ and ‘Secretary of G*nocide’ at US Secretary Antony Blinken . He was confronted by pro-Palestinian supporters ahead of a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing. It was then interrupted several times by protesters, while others stood silently and held up their hands covered in red paint.

U.S officials have faced regular protests during congressional appearances since Israel launched its war on Gaza. Blinken reiterated US support for Israel’s destruction of the besieged enclave, which has killed over 35,000 Palestinians in seven months.

Please follow us on Telegram, Link in Bio

Many African Liberation Day (ALD) events were held throughout the US this weekend. And it’s a tradition that started on May 27th, 1972, when around 60,000 people turned out at meetings across the country. One of the biggest attracted 25,000 at Washington’s National Mall, just a couple of miles from the Capitol. It boasted a full roster influential speakers, including Ralph Abernathy, Max Stanford, Angela Davis, and Kwame Ture.

The idea to host such events stemmed from trip of a group of Black activists to Mozambique’s liberated areas the summer before.

Continued…. One of them was Owusu Sadaukai, who began planning on his return to the US. Also involved was Brad Lomax, a disability rights activist with multiple sclerosis. Lomax had established the Washington D.C. chapter of the Black Panther Party in 1969, and later became an instrumental figure in the disability rights movement.

Their vision was quickly embraced and a few months later The African Liberation Support Committee (ALSC) was formed in September, 1972, in Detroit, Michigan. It quickly built on the momentum and by 1973 ALD demonstrations expanded to more than 30 cities, attracting over 100,000 people. At the time, the organisation called for a boycott of Portuguese products and Gulf oil because of foreign interference in Angola. A powerful Pan-African movement was born, one that continues to fight for liberty and African unity against imperialism.

Please follow us on Telegram, Link in Bio

SHELL SLAMMED FOR NIGERIA CRIMES

When British oil giant Shell held its annual general meeting on 21 May in London, no one expected to hear the controversial story of Nigeria’s Niger River Delta until Mikaela Loach intervened.

The Jamaica-born author, climate justice activist and medical student silenced the room with a passionate exposé of Shell’s crimes in the delta, where Life expectancy is around 41, 12 years lower than the national average. 

Since 1958, Shell’s extraction operations have ravaged the densely populated delta’s land and waters leading into the Atlantic Ocean. While the delta region only makes up 7.5 per cent of Nigeria’s territory, it is home to 45 million people or 20 per cent of Nigerians.

Shell is also blamed for Nigerian security forces cracking down on protesters in the delta’s Ogoniland area, leading to the 1995 hanging of Ken Saro-Wiwa, a writer and activist, and eight other environmental activists, all dubbed the ‘Ogoni Nine.’

Continued….. The National Oil Spill Detection and Response Agency reported oil companies had spilt 19,058 barrels of oil, or the equivalent of around 95 oil tanker trucks, in 2023 alone. Two Swiss researchers calculated in 2019 that nearby oil spills that occur before conception double newborn mortality.

In 2021, a Dutch court ruled in a case that four Nigerian farmers and environmental group Friends of the Earth (@friends_earth) brought in 2008 suing Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria (SPDC) for Niger River Delta oil spills and Royal Dutch Shell for neglect. Shell agreed to pay $16 million to the farmers and their communities to compensate for damage while the court ordered Royal Dutch Shell to install a leak-detection system.

According to reports, Shell also lost a Nigerian high court case in November that could lead to $44 million in damages.

Meanwhile, the UK Supreme Court unanimously ruled in 2021 that plaintiffs had a ‘good arguable case’ that Shell was legally responsible for the pollution caused by its Nigerian subsidiary, SPDC, and that the case would proceed.

Please follow us on Telegram, Link in Bio

LONDON ISLAMOPHOBE: ‘DIRTY F***ING MUSLIM! I’M AN IDF SOLDIER!

An African man stepped up to defend what appears to be an African Muslim woman in a London subway station after an unidentified man allegedly tried to pull a hijab (Muslim head covering) off her off camera and verbally abused others on camera.

In this 25 May video taken inside Whitechapel station, the person alleged he was an Israeli soldier but cowered when an African man confronted him. Another recording showed police handcuffing him.

Continued…. Tell MAMA, a UK-based project that tracks anti-Muslim hate crimes, said in February that it has found a 335 per cent increase in Islamophobic incidents in the United Kingdom since Israel’s military onslaught on the Gaza Strip began on 7 October. Such incidents can include vandalism, verbal abuse and physical assault. Muslim women, in particular, bear the brunt, as they experience 65 per cent of attacks. Such incidents can include vandalism, verbal abuse and physical assault. 

It’s great to see a brother stepping up to defend women. But no woman should ever have to fear for her safety because of her religion.

Please follow us on Telegram, Link in Bio

NAIROBI CELEBRATES AFRICAN LIBERATION DAY 2024

Some of the African Stream team took part in a special Pan-African event in Nairobi to mark 2024’s African Liberation Day (25th May).

There was music, as well as speeches and shows of solidarity through song. Legendary figures like Kwame Nkrumah, Amílcar Cabral and Patrice Lumumba loomed large in our thoughts as we discussed and planned for the final liberation of the motherland.

Here are some of the highlights from what was by all accounts a great day. How did you spend it?

Please follow us on Telegram, Link in Bio

YOUNG SOUTH AFRICANS: WILL THEIR VOTE COUNT?

Wednesday will be a huge moment for South Africa - 28-million citizens are expected to head to the polls in what’s being billed as the most important election in the country’s history for three decades. That is, since apartheid fell.

Ever since then, it’s been the ANC that’s been at the helm. During its 30 years in power, the broken promises and corruption have only accumulated, while structural injustices inherited from the apartheid era still remain unresolved.

Amid soaring youth unemployment, young voters especially feel dissatisfied - not just with the ANC, but with traditional politics in general. While some will turn their backs on the ballot box, others are determined to make their voice heard by casting their vote.

Here are some reactions from young South African voters. We’d love to know your thoughts on the upcoming election.

Please follow us on Telegram, Link in Bio

THE CONGO COULD BE AFRICA’S ENGINE

Echoing revolutionary Ghanaian leader Kwame Nkrumah’s dream of the Congo’s pivotal role in transforming Africa, our recent ‘Pan-African Attitude’ podcast guest Kambale Musavuli laid out statistics on his country’s vast economic potential.

Musavuli, one of the Democratic Republic of the Congo’s leading journalistic voices, argued that Africa’s stalled potential is partly caused by our failure to see that the Congo’s sorry state is by design. Using proxies Rwanda and Uganda, Western powers have been able to extract the country’s vast natural wealth, estimated to generate $16 trillion from four key minerals—copper, nickel, cobalt, and lithium—in the next 25 years, according to the IMF.

Please follow us on Telegram, Link in Bio

JULIUS MALEMA : DEMAGOGUE OR REVOLUTIONARY

South Africans will be going to the polls on 29th May. Dozens of political parties will be taking part in the elections, which have been described as the most critical since the end of apartheid 30 years ago. According to many analysts, the election will be dominated by four parties: the current ruling party, the African Nation Congress (ANC); the White-dominated Democratic Alliance (DA); the Pan African-oriented Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF); and the uMkhonto weSizwe party (MK), led by former South African president and longtime ANC member Jacob Zuma.

Consequently, the spotlight has been on the leaders of these four political parties. Of the four, the leader of the EFF, Julius Malema, has been on the receiving end of some of the most scathing attacks, especially by Western media outlets.

Continued….. He has been portrayed as an unhinged, White-hating loose canon whose policies are going to ruin South Africa. Some have gone as far as referring to him as the 'Black Hitler.'

But those who support the man say he’s been badly misrepresented. They say his proposed policies in sectors such as mining, land and finance are exactly what the country needs to fully break away from its apartheid past.

In this video, African Stream's William Sakawa goes through the EFF manifesto and highlights the party's views and policies on issues that are of great importance to South Africans and Africans in general.

Whether you’re a South African or not, let us know in the comments if you think Malema is the right man for the top job. Do you have anyone like him in your country?

Please follow us on Telegram, Link in Bio

BURKINA FASO’S TRAORÉ: PRESIDENT FOR 5 MORE YRS

The people cheered as a charter granted President Ibrahim Traoré a 5-year extension in office, starting on 2 July. His noscript has changed from ‘President of the Transition of Burkina Faso’ to ‘President of Burkina Faso.’

On May 25-26, the landlocked African country held ‘Les assises nationales’ or ‘The National Conferences,’ when representatives from Burkina Faso’s 13 regions convened meetings to determine the country’s direction. The process included government officials, as well as representatives from civil society organisations and trade unions.