CHOMSKY SCHOOLS BBC REPORTER ON PROPAGANDA

Philosopher Noam Chomsky calmly and eloquently schools BBC journalist Andrew Marr on media propaganda in this 1996 interview. He highlights the cynical and biased nature of most mainstream outlets and how journalists push boundaries to influence public opinion. Chomsky then drops a finisher, suggesting Mr Marr is blissfully ignorant of how his industry actually works.

Video credits: BBC, 1996

‘WEST’S LACKEYS ARE HOUSE SLAVES’ - TRAORÉ

Burkina Faso President Ibrahim Traoré met with his Malian and Nigerien counterparts on 6 July in Niamey, Niger, to create the Alliance of Sahel States Confederation. All three countries had successfully ousted Western-aligned leaders over the past few years.

In Niger, the 36-year-old president (@capitaineib226 on X) used the occasion to deliver a powerful speech denouncing imperialism and the African lackeys that uphold the imperialist system.

Continued….. His reference to ‘house slaves’ who will do anything to please their masters is reminiscent of Malcolm X’s famous speech ‘Message To The Grassroots’ during which X speaks about ‘house N*gros’ and ‘field N*gros.’ It has been a long time since we have heard an African leader speak so boldly in public about the neo-colonial system that uses African henchmen to direct the flow of profits from the African continent to the West.

Are we in a new era when African leaders who have their people’s interests at heart will speak out against the exploitation Africans have suffered under for far too long? Let us know in the comments.

Video credit: Radiodiffusion Telévision du Burkina (@rtburkina on IG, YT and X, @rtbgroup on TikTok)

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A UN experts’ report on the situation in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) said Rwanda has ‘de facto control’ of the M23 rebel group, helping it seize vast swathes of territory in the volatile North Kivu province. 

Released on 4 June and commissioned by the UN Security Council, the report says 3,000 to 4,000 Rwandan military personnel have crossed the border into the DRC, not only boosting the M23 with artillery, trucks, and armoured vehicles containing radar and anti-aircraft missile systems but also fighting alongside them. Worryingly, the experts report that Rwandan troops and M23 rebels are recruiting children as young as 12 from refugee camps in Rwanda and taken into rebel zones for training. 

Kigali has consistently denied supporting the M23 rebels.

Continued…. Fighting in the eastern DRC has displaced nearly 358,000 since the beginning of 2024, bringing the total number of internally displaced persons to around 7.1 million. 

UN experts also confirmed Ugandan intelligence service’s ‘active support’ for the M23.

The International Monetary Fund has estimated Africa’s mineral wealth will be worth $16 trillion by 2025, with the DRC holding a bulk of the continent’s wealth. UN reports have stated foreign powers have used militia groups, including the M23, to displace locals and exploit their resources.

After mountains of evidence, will Rwanda finally admit that it backs M23 rebels in the DRC? Let us know your thoughts in the comments.

U.S. TROOPS LEAVE 1ST U.S. BASE IN NIGER

The US military completely withdrew on 7 July from one of its two Air Force bases in Niger, making the Sahelian country the first in Africa to give the US the boot.

On 16 March, the landlocked African country announced it was ending all military cooperation with the United States and ordered the departure of US troops. Air Base 101 is in the capital city of Niamey.

However, US troops still remain at another airbase, Air Station 201 in the Sahara Desert city of Agadez. This is reportedly the largest known US drone base and the US Air Force’s largest construction project. The largest US military base in Africa remains Camp Lemmonier in Djibouti, according to the US Africa Command (AFRICOM).

US troops are set to withdraw from Agadez by 15 September.

Continued….. Every African country, with the exception of Eritrea, has entered into or continued some form of military cooperation with the US in the 2000s.

The CIA also operates its own drone base in Niger in the city of Dirkou, not far from the Libyan border. The future of this CIA base remains to be determined.

WE REACT TO NBC’S ATTACK ON US

Unsurprisingly, African Stream recently came under attack from US-based National Broadcasting Company (NBC) for allegedly targeting Black communities with ‘misinformation.’ Our editor-in-chief, Ahmed Kaballo, joined the ‘Earn Your Liberation’ podcast to discuss with a couple of brothers from across the pond in the US. Listen as he narrates how NBC’s reporter, Marquise Francis (themarquisef), went about the assignment, fumbling our outlet’s name and generally doing that which he accused us: Misinforming the public by making claims without providing a shred of evidence.

Our comprehensive rebuttal to NBC’s claim received support and praise from thousands of people, which begs the question: Is the grip of mainstream media loosening on the masses?

Let us know in the comments.

Video credit: Black Liberation Media (@BLM_edia on X, @blackliberationmedia on IG and YT)

Justice delayed is justice denied. 

The last two remaining Tulsa Race Massacre survivors have called for a US Department of Justice probe into a white mob k*lling about 300 Black people, rendering thousands homeless, and destroying $38 million (in 2023 dollars) worth of Black businesses and institutions in 1921 in Tulsa, a city in the US state of Oklahoma. 

Viola Ford Fletcher, 110, and Lessie Benningfield Randle, 109, who were children at the time of the massacre, also condemned the Oklahoma Supreme Court for refusing to reconsider their case for reparations last month. Fletcher’s now-deceased 102-year-old brother, Hughes Van Ellis, was part of the lawsuit filed in 2020. Randle is seen in this photo.

However, in a new petition for rehearing, the women asked the court last week to reconsider its 8-1 decision on 12 June upholding a lower court’s ruling.

Continued……In their moving appeal, the survivors recalled what caused their trauma. ‘With our own eyes, and burned deeply into our memories, we watched white Americans destroy, kill and loot.’

The Oklahoma Supreme Court upheld a lower court’s ruling that ‘simply being connected to a historical event does not provide a person with unlimited rights to seek compensation’ under the city’s public nuisance statute.

The massacre is considered one of the worst racial crimes in the United States. On 31 May 1921, white supremacist mobs attacked and destroyed Tulsa’s ‘Black Wall Street,’ which contained 44 square blocks of Black institutions, including two Black hospitals. The thousands of our people rendered homeless were forced into internment camps that US National Guard troops oversaw.

Do you think the two surviving plaintiffs will be successful? And what does a ruling like this say about the state of race relations in the United States? Let us know in the comments.

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WILL OUR GRANDKIDS HAVE CAPTURED, WHITE MINDS?

If we don’t do more to decolonise our minds in Africa, future generations will have their authentic identities erased - that’s the stark warning of philosopher and spiritual leader Joshua Maponga.

In this clip, he expresses amazement at how we are happy to fight each other and yet seem willing to protect colonial institutions and systems that have done so much violence to us, both physically and mentally.

He argues that, unless we remove this “enemy in the house” by taking control of our narratives, resources and international relations, our grandchildren may look African on the outside, but inside they will be White.

Only indigenous forms of spirituality can rescue us from slave mentality and White emulation. Do you think he’s right?

Video credit: Castle Milk Stout

PYRAMID CONTROVERSY IN EGYPT

A pyramid restoration video that Egypt’s head of antiquities posted online sparked controversy earlier this year because it showed workers setting blocks of granite on the base of the Menkaure pyramid in Giza. Cairo has stated that a scientific committee will be set up to review the project and decide whether to proceed. Do you think this project is a good idea? Let us know in the comments.

ISRAELI JOURNO: NOT ENOUGH CARNAGE

We hear Western leaders cry themselves hoarse defending Israel as the only democracy and upholder of human rights in West Asia.

In this segment from an Israeli news programme roundtable, one of the contributors openly admitted to desiring the destruction of Gaza. As he said, he is for war crimes and doesn’t care about criticism.

Israel’s disregard for international law is possible in large part thanks to Western support. For example, the US has provided diplomatic cover by vetoing proposed permanent ceasefires, sent hundreds of arms shipments and provided billions of dollars to the occupation.

Video credit: Channel 14 (@Now14Israel on IG and X)

HARRIS’ CRINGE VIDEO TARGETS BLACK VOTE

Here’s US Vice-president Kamala Harris suffering a PR election blunder.
In an attempt to scale up young Black votes, the 59-year-old stars in a skit with actress Taraji P. Henson. However, it soon goes downhill when she starts using street slang and rap references to appear more ‘relatable’. There’s been a heap of criticism online with viewers accusing her of ‘pandering’.

Only around 27 per of Americans under 30 are willing to stand behind Biden. And younger Black voters are more likely than older Black voters to vote for Trump, according to the Pew Research Centre. So, you can understand Harris’ motivation to appeal to the younger crowd. However, just using slang isn’t going to cut it, if reaction to this video is anything to go by.

Have a watch and pile in with your comments.

Video Credit: realclearpolitics

CIA CHIEF IN CAIRO DISCUSSES GAZA CEASEFIRE

A bid to secure a ceasefire in Gaza has seen CIA director William Burns arrive in Cairo. The US spy chief talked with Egyptian President, Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, about a potential truce. Abbas Kamel, Egypt’s Director of the General Intelligence Service, was also at the July 9th meeting.

It comes as Israeli troops step up their bombardment of the besieged enclave, which has killed more than 38,000 Palestinians and injured nearly 90,000. A further 10,000 are thought to be buried under rubble, while 1.9 million have been displaced.

During the talks, President el-Sisi again spoke out against Israel’s destruction of Gaza and stressed the need for unhindered aid deliveries.

So far, all negotiations have failed to produce a ceasefire in the 9-month war, the latest escalation in Israel’s 76-year-old occupation of Palestine.

U.N. PROBES MASS GRAVE AT LIBYA-TUNISIA BORDER

The UN human rights chief says his office is investigating reports of another mass grave in the desert along the Libya-Tunisia border. It follows the discovery in March of a site containing the bodies of 65 migrants in southwest Libya’s al-Jahriya valley. The circumstances of their deaths remain unknown, but it’s believed they died while being smuggled through the desert.

Volker Turk, the UN Human Rights High Commissioner, said crimes were being committed against migrants and refugees ‘at scale, with impunity’ by State and non-State actors. They include torture, forced labour and mass expulsions. There are also reports of human traffickers taking migrants hostage and killing them if ransom demands are not met.

Continued……During a July 9th Human Rights Council meeting in Geneva, Libyan authorities were urged to co-operate with the UN’s latest probe into the atrocities.

Libya’s has become part of a deadly transit route for migrants trying to reach Europe via the southern Mediterranean.

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Western nations are outraged at an alleged Russian missile attack that k*lled at least 42 people at a children's hospital in the Ukrainian capital, Kiev.

However, Russia has denied hitting the Okhmatdyt Children's Hospital, insisting a Ukrainian air defence missile struck the health facility.

The West has rejected Russia's claim. In a heated UN Security Council meeting on 9 July, the ambassadors of Britain, France and the United States strongly condemned Moscow for the attack. The White House and the British Foreign Office also condemned the attack in no uncertain terms.

Continued….. It is commendable to see this unequivocal condemnation of an attack on a civilian facility. However, it is tragic that Palestinians, who have suffered months of relentless attacks by Israel, have not been afforded the same concern from Western leaders and media outlets.

For example, when an Israeli air strike on al-Ahli Arab Hospital on 17 October 2023 killed nearly 500 people, the Western media described the incident as a 'blast' or 'explosion,' not as an air strike. Western media also touted Israel's claim that H*mas had struck the hospital, though evidence appeared to show it was an Israeli strike.

We hope for the day the world treats all military attacks equally, regardless of where they occur.

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U.S. SPOKESMAN ACCUSED OF ‘SMIRKING’ OVER GAZA DEATHS

A journalist recently called out US State Department spokesperson Mathew Miller for ‘smirking’ during a press briefing on Israel’s military onslaught on the Gaza Strip. This occurred after a journalist mentioned a Lancet medical journal report (@thelancet on X, @thelancetgroup on IG) that recently confirmed what many had been saying. Lancet reported deaths could be as high as 186,000, much higher than the Gaza Health Ministry’s figures.

News reports say independent journalist Sam Husseini (@samhusseini on X and @meaningmonster on IG) called out Miller for smirking, which Husseini later confirmed on X to have said.

Do you think the Lancet estimate is more accurate? And, what do you make of Miller’s facial expressions during press briefings? Let us know in the comments.

Video credit: US Department of State (@statedept on IG and X)

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GAZAN KIDS PLAYING FOOTBALL BOMBED

These harrowing images show children playing football in Gaza being bombed.
Playground laughs at Abasan School in Khan Yunis, turn to cries of terror as Israeli missiles cause carnage.

The footage, aired by Qatari news network Al Jazeera, is another gruesome example of innocent youngsters being killed and wounded over the last nine months.

International laws and organisations were established to protect civilians, such as the Geneva Convention, Hague Convention, the International Criminal Court and the United Nations. Yet, nothing has been done to stop the genocidal onslaught that’s so far killed over 38,000 Palestinians, most of them women and children.

Video credits: @aljazeera