‘YOU’RE A MURDERER’ - KAMALA HARRIS DISRUPTED!

A coalition of activist groups in southern California disrupted a live 4 June recording of US Vice President Kamala Harris on late-night talk show ‘Jimmy Kimmel Live!,’ calling her a ‘m*rderer.’

The activists (from @cgs4afreepalestine, pasadena4palestine, @jewishantizionistnetwork, @codepinkcoachellavalley and CodePink Southeast LA
) called out the Biden-Harris administration for continuing to fund Israel’s military onslaught that has k*lled more than 36,000 Palestinians since the 7 October escalation in the 76-year Israeli occupation of Palestine.

Continued….. Many have criticised Harris, the first Black woman to serve as US vice president, for talking about women’s rights while the US has funded and armed Israel, k*lling about 24,000 women and children so far. Further, the attacks have wounded at least 83,000 Palestinians, while an estimated 10,000 people are buried under rubble.

The complete recording of the 4 June action showed security guards forcibly removing the activists and assaulting a few.

Video credit: @codepinkalert (IG) @codepink (TW)

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SOUTH AFRICA AIMS FOR NATIONAL UNITY GOVERNMENT

South Africa’s President says he won’t rule out working with anyone to form a government of national unity. Cyril Ramaphosa believes it’s the best option after his African National Congress failed to secure an outright victory in the general election. They only got 40 per cent of the vote, and now have to look for partners to form a government.

On Thursday night (June 6th), Ramaphosa said there had been preliminary talks with five political parties. They include the Democratic Alliance (DA), Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF), Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP), Patriotic Alliance (PA) and the National Freedom Party (NFP).

Continued….. Not on that list is Umkhonto weSizwe (MK), the party of former ANC leader and former republican President, Jacob Zuma. Even though they came third in the ballot, the two parties fell out after Zuma announced his association with newly-formed MK, while refusing to renounce his ANC membership. However, there’s speculation the two sides could meet today (June 7th).

It’s just one of many hurdles facing Ramaphosa, who now has to work with factions strung out across the political spectrum. The white-led DA, for example, has opposed 10 of 12 bills introduced to parliament by the ANC in recent years. The two parties have vastly different views on the Russia-Ukraine conflict and Israel’s assault on Gaza.

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Spain has become the first European country to apply to join South Africa’s case at the International Court of Justice (ICJ), accusing Israel of violating the 1948 UN Gen*cide Convention in the Gaza Strip.

Spaniards have rallied in the streets for months in support of the Palestinian people. Now, Spain seeks to pressure Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to follow the ICJ’s 24 May order to stop the offensive in Rafah.

‘Our sole goal is to put an end to the war and to advance on the road of applying the two-state solution,’ said Spanish Foreign Minister José Manuel Albares on 6 June, adding, ‘For that to happen, we must all support the court.’

Once admitted, Spain can make written submissions and speak at public hearings. Since January, five other countries have applied to join South Africa’s case, while several others have expressed an intention to intervene.

Continued…. Spain’s request follows its formal recognition of a Palestinian state on 28 May in a joint announcement with Ireland and Norway. Slovenia has also joined these European countries. In total, 143 countries have recognised a Palestinian state—74 per cent of the UN member states—but none of the Western powers, including the United States, have done so.

Israel has faced increasing international criticism for invading and striking Rafah, a city in the southern part of the Gaza Strip, where Israel had early on ordered Palestinians to flee to avoid attacks. However, since 6 May, Israel has struck tent camps housing 1.5 million Palestinians, k*lling dozens. Israel also has ignored the ICJ’s 26 January order, k*lling an additional 10,000 Palestinians.

In total, Israel’s military onslaught and escalated siege has k*lled over 36,000 Palestinians, primarily women and children, since the 7 October escalation in the 76-year Israeli occupation of Palestine.

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WILL ‘COLONIAL’ COALITION RULE SOUTH AFRICA?

There are fears a new coalition government could take South Africa back to ‘colonialism.’ That’s what pan-African author and public speaker, Joshua Maponga, dreads if the African National Congress strikes a deal the white-led Democratic Alliance.

The ANC needs to find partners after getting only 40 per cent of the vote in last week’s general election. While the natural choice would have been the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) or the Umkhonto We Sizwe (MK), there’s a push by some to instead work with the DA. That’s despite it being opposed to most of the ANC’s policies, including those to redress damage caused to the country’s indigenous Black people by decades of racial oppression.

Many believe any agreement would be tantamount to ‘selling out’. It’s the view of Joshua Maponga, who says when ‘colonialists’ are back in power, Blacks will be ‘destroyed...arrested and sent to court.’ Is this what you think too?

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The US House of Representatives passed a bill by a vote of 247-155 on 4 June to sanction International Criminal Court (ICC) officials for seeking arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his defence minister on charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity since 8 October in the Gaza Strip. 

So far, Israel’s military onslaught and escalated siege have k*lled more than 36,000 Palestinians.

The legislation targets ICC officials involved in investigating, arresting, detaining or prosecuting anyone from the United States and its allies. The sanctions would include prohibiting property transactions within the US and blocking or revoking visas.

The Senate is up next to vote on this bill. US President Joe Biden called the ICC’s pursuit of arrest warrants ‘outrageous,’ but he released a statement on Monday opposing the bill.

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SUDAN ARMY CHIEF VISITS VILLAGE MASSACRED BY RSF

Sudanese army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan has visited a hospital in Wad al-Noura, following the atrocity committed there earlier this week by the Rapid Support Forces paramilitary.

RSF fighters stormed the village in vehicles, using heavy weapons on the population. They killed over 100 people, mostly civilians, and injured some 200. Video of dozens of bodies wrapped for burial appeared online after the massacre. The governor of Darfur province confirmed that women, children and the elderly formed the majority of the victims.

Continued…. But al-Burhan and the Sudanese armed forces, although trying their best to appear like heroes in this video, are far from saints and have contributed to the misery the Sudanese people are facing today. Firstly, the armed forces (under the leadership of Omar Al-Bashir) created the Janjaweed, which became the Rapid Support Forces, to quell uprisings in Darfur, the Nuba Mountains and the Blue Nile. Secondly, Burhan made the leader of the Rapid Support Forces, General Hemedti, his number two in the Transitional Military Council after Bashir was deposed, and they allowed Hemedti’s men to kill over 120 pro-democracy protesters outside the Army HQ in 2019. Thirdly, Burhan and Hemedti both worked together to overthrow Sudanese Transitional Prime Minister Abadallah Hamdok back in 2021, which weakened the move towards a transitional civilian government and led the Sudanese people towards the terrible path they are on today.

So, despite this attempt at PR by the leader of the Sudanese armed forces, don’t be fooled. Both military leaders in this war have Sudanese blood on their hands.

The current confirmed number of dead in Sudan’s proxy war stands at around 15,000, but humanitarian groups say that the real figure is at least 30,000, if not even higher. 8.3-million Sudanese have been displaced. The UN has also raised the alarm over an imminent famine in Sudan. Aid has been restricted and weaponised by the RSF.

A US special envoy for Sudan warned that - in the worst-case scenario - the war could spiral into a “20- to 25-year version of Somalia on steroids.””

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STRAY LIONESS CAGES KENYAN HUSBANDS

The nightlife in Kenya’s Kajiado County can be pretty wild - literally. A stray lioness has been roaming round residential areas after sunset, scaling perimeter walls and even killing pet dogs. Fear of getting mauled on the streets has seen local men ditch their own nightlife activities - opting to come straight home after work to the family, rather than hanging out in bars. This has pleased some local wives, who are grateful to the lioness for (as one social-media post put it) “restoring factory settings to families.”

Conflict between humans and wildlife has been on the rise lately in Kenya, and residents have urged Kenya Wildlife Services to up their game when it comes to containing animals in reserves.

Was it the husbands making that call?

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IS RWANDA SAFE FOR U.K. DEPORTEES?

One of the points that ushered the UK-Rwanda asylum deal is that the African country is a safe place for refugees. But, looking at political repression in Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo threatening to attack Rwanda for its support of the M23 rebel group, is that really the case? 

Additionally, many question why the UK would deport asylum seekers to a country that is far more densely populated and lacks much of Britain’s First World capacity.

African Stream’s Erick Gavala explains. 

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Human zoos in the West were a feature of colonialism. They fed a fascination for exotic lands and a grotesque pseudo-science that focussed on the physiology of so-called ‘savages’. Africans were exhibited in primitive settings for the enjoyment of spectators at trade fairs and travelling shows, helping legitimise the domination of ‘lesser’ beings by supposedly ‘superior’ Western civilisations.

One famous ‘exhibit’ was Saartjie Baartman, who was also known as Sarah Bartmann. She was a South African woman who attracted crowds due to a genetic condition (steatopygia), resulting in a highly protruded posterior. She was shipped to London in 1810 and spent most of her life on display.

Continued……In 2002, her remains were repatriated and buried in South Africa. Another infamous exhibition was unveiled at the 1958 World Expo in Brussels, Belgium. It featured Congolese people in their mocked-up ‘village’ at the venue.

Awareness of the foul, dehumanising practice is slowly being raised. A Paris exhibition in 2011 called “Inventing the Savage” showed how human zoos laid the foundations for racism against Africans. It was the brainchild of the former French footballer, Liliane Thuram, whose Caribbean family suffered under slavery. Though human zoos do not exist anymore, the effects of colonisation and exploitation of coloured people persist to this day. That’s why we’ll keep posting about them.

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GLOBAL SOUTH UPHOLDS INT’L LAW

International law and the institutions mandated to uphold it have come under attack in recent times.

For example, US House of Representatives Speaker Mike Johnson is on record threatening to punish the International Criminal Court (ICC) with sanctions for filing for arrest warrants against top Israeli officials for possible war crimes and crimes against humanity. Johnson added ICC prosecutions could ‘endanger’ US sovereignty.

Continued….. That’s why South Africa’s foreign minister, Naledi Pandor, made the argument in this 28 May clip that it is imperative for the Global South to stand with the UN and other international organisations to preserve the rule of law. South Africa has set an example in this regard, filing a gen*cide case against Israel at the International Court of Justice and seeking emergency measures at the top court against Tel Aviv’s recent offensive in Rafah. In doing so, South Africa has inspired other states to join in, including Nicaragua, Colombia and Libya. Belgium, Chile, Egypt, Ireland, Maldives, Türkiye have stated their intent to intervene in the case.

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HOW SLAVE MENTALITY INFECTS YOUNG BLACK MINDS

Black history is replete with real stories of repression and subjugation of Africans by White colonialists. But could the mainstreaming of oppression history be responsible for perpetuating a slave mentality in Africans? Content creator Avanti (@astralshawtyy) thinks so, and argues Africans are disempowered by the constant hyping of their sad history. Her message is that we should shift attention to, and emphasise more, the positive aspects of our rich history. Do you agree? Let us know in the comments.

VideoCredit: @astralshawtyy

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