Continued…. Nigeriens we met were overwhelmingly ecstatic about the changes underway. While we were in Niger, the government decided to expel the French mining company, Orano, from one of its uranium mines.

In Bamako, we found a minor opposition. But we encountered practically none in Niamey. One man we spoke to, Mamadou Nomou Mecri, hinted at the existence of an opposition. However, throughout dozens of interviews across the countries, we came across no disagreement with the CNSP. Mohammad, a taxi driver, offered constructive criticism on how the government can more effectively communicate. However, he, too, supported Niger’s new leadership.

The people in Niamey were incredibly passionate, well-versed in the history of Pan-Africanism, and well-organised to defend their country and the AES.

Let us know in the comments what you think of these interviews.

Here’s excellent editing work by X user @punishedpants on US Vice President Kamala Harris’ statement condemning this week’s protests against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

He visited the US following an invitation by the Republican and Democratic Party leaders of the US House of Representatives and Senate to shore up support for Israel’s 10-month-long gen*cidal onslaught against Gaza. 

On 24 July, tens of thousands of protesters marched on Washington’s streets, where a Netanyahu effigy was burned at Union Station, which Harris references. The night before, protesters reportedly released maggots (fly larvae), mealworms and crickets at the Watergate Hotel, where Netanyahu stayed. Protesters said they set off the luxury hotel’s fire alarms ‘to ensure there will be no rest’ the night before the Israeli leader’s speech to a joint session of the US Congress.

Continued….. Harris, notably absent during Netanyahu’s address, condemned the protests, but in no way has she exercised the same energy to pressure Israel to cease its onslaught on Gaza. 

It should be a sobering reminder not to expect a change from the presidential hopeful as she serves in a government that has armed, funded and provided diplomatic cover to the entity bombing hospitals, schools and refugee camps, and starving children. 

While Gaza authorities report Israel has k*lled more than 39,000 Palestinians, the British medical journal Lancet states the figure is likely more than 186,000. Meanwhile, the UN estimates 1.9 million Palestinians—or 90 per cent of the Gaza Strip’s people—are displaced.

As a result, protests have raged throughout the world.

Let us know in the comments what you think about @punishedpants’ edits.

PALESTINIAN CONGRESSPERSON PROTESTS NETANYAHU

How depressing must it be to be the lone voice of dissent against the man killing your people while everyone else gives him a standing ovation? Palestinian US Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib (@rashidatlaib on IG and X) held a sign to protest Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s address to the US Congress on 24 July.

While Democrats and Republicans fundamentally disagree on many issues, foreign policy is usually the exception. Some have described the US as a handful of corporations in a trenchcoat masquerading as a country. As such, it advances the interests of a narrow global elite, such as US-based multinationals and the military-industrial complex. 

Others have referred to Israel as the United States’ unsinkable aircraft carrier in West Asia, a tool to destabilise and control the region.

Continued…. While the Democratic Party is supposedly the entity in US politics that is more empathetic towards Palestinians, many of its members have been instrumental in Israel’s onslaught on Gaza. 

Since October 2023, the US has provided Israel diplomatic cover at the UN, as well as arms and tens of billions of dollars. Biden’s vice president, Kamala Harris, has come out condemning this week’s protests that have drawn tens of thousands of demonstrators against Netanyahu’s presence in the US.

Ultimately, Democrats and Republicans make up two sides of the imperialist coin.

Please have a watch and let us know what you think.

Video credits: @SkyNews and @USAtoday.

PROTESTERS UNLEASH INSECTS & FIRE ALARMS FOR NETANYAHU

On the night of 23 July, pro-Palestine protesters brought chaos to the luxurious Watergate Hotel in Washington, where Benjamin Netanyahu is staying during his visit to the United States.

The Israeli prime minister met with US legislators and addressed a joint session of the US Congress. Protesters reportedly released insects on multiple floors of the hotel. X user @redactedrosalia says this video shows maggots (fly larvae) and mealworms wriggling on a conference room table, crickets crawling on the floor, and fire alarms set off for more than 30 minutes. 

Continued….. Netanyahu’s visit comes more than 10 months after the Israeli military onslaught began on the Gaza Strip, which has attracted widespread international criticism. On 24 July, tens of thousands of protesters marched in Washington.

So far, Israel has k*lled more than 39,000 Palestinians, or as many as 186,000, per the British medical journal Lancet. The International Criminal Court seeks Netanyahu’s arrest for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza. 

Video credit: @RedactedRosalia (X)

BIDEN LIES ABOUT THE U.S. NOT BEING AT WAR

US President Joe Biden claims that he is the first US president in this century to report his country is not at war ‘anywhere in the world.’

However, a quick perusal of the news shows otherwise.

While the US may not have officially declared wars on any country, it is actively involved in several bloody conflicts across the globe.

Continued….. Under the Biden administration, the US has intensified its bombing campaigns in Syria, Somalia, Yemen and several other places in the Global South. Despite the Pentagon’s repeated claims that strikes have targeted ‘terrorists,’ most of the victims have been civilians.

The US is also bankrolling and arming the Israeli onslaught of Palestinians in the Gaza Strip since the escalation in the Israeli occupation of Palestine began on 7 October. Plus, it has diplomatically shielded Israel from being held responsible by international bodies, such as the United Nations.

However, for Biden, all this apparently does not count. As long as profits continue to amass for US corporations and US geopolitical objectives are met, the US government is at peace.

Video credit: @whitehouse

BLACK MOTHER K*LLED IN POLICE ALTERCATION

Sonya Massey’s heartbreaking ordeal began with a call for help to the police on 6 July in Springfield, Illinois, about a possible intruder in her home. Instead of assistance, she was k*lled.

After a short dispute over a pot of hot water on the stove, officer Sean Grayson abruptly drew his firearm and threatened the 36-year-old mother of two teenagers. Despite her compliance, he fired three shots, striking her in the head as she sought refuge behind a kitchen counter. After calling for an ambulance, Grayson told his partner that grabbing a medical kit wasn’t worth it as he had shot Massey in the head, considered a fatal wound.

This incident underscores a troubling pattern of police brutality against Black people in the United States, where police k*ll about 1,000 people every year.

Continued…. Already this year, US police have k*lled 746 people, according to the Mapping Police Violence Project, which says Black people are 2.9 times more likely than white people to be k*lled in police interactions.

From famous cases like that of Trayvon Martin, George Floyd and Sonya Massey, to the police k*llings we don’t hear about, millions of people are clear Africans and other marginalised groups are at risk in a country founded on the displacement of Indigenous people and the enslavement of Africans.

While the officer in question has been fired, charged with murder, arrested and remains in detention until his next court date, 26 August, the masses are urgently calling for justice.

Will this latest incident get swept under the rug or serve as a catalyst for systemic transformation? Let us know in the comments.

Video: Illinois State Police (@ilstatepolice on IG and X)

BRAZIL'S MARIELLE FRANCO IN HER WORDS

Today, 27 July, would have been Marielle Franco's 45th birthday.

Brazilian authorities have charged several people in the 14 March 2018 assassination of Franco, an Afro-Brazilian political leader and sociologist.

According to federal police investigators, the motivation behind her assassination was political animosity between Marielle, who defended affordable housing for low-income families in Rio de Janeiro's western zone, and special interests that favoured legalising plots in the same area for middle-class and large enterprises.

While Franco became somewhat of a household name, her own words rarely did, not surprising considering the depth to which African women are routinely silenced.

Continued……For instance, the UK Parliament recently ignored MP Diane Abbott 46 times when she rose to address racist comments directed at her. Meanwhile, those who serve the system against the best interests of their people (think US ambassador to the United Nations Linda Thomas-Greenfield) access bullhorns and bully pulpits.

So, in this video, we press the un-mute button, presenting Marielle in her voice and expressing her ideas with English subnoscripts.

Video credit: TV Câmara Rio (@camarario on TW and IG)

ALL U.S. PRESIDENTS SERVE THE MILITARY-INDUSTRIAL COMPLEX

Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega railed against US imperialism and militarism in this clip from his 19 July address at an event commemorating the 45th anniversary of the people’s revolution against a US-backed dictatorship.

Ortega explained how US leaders, regardless of which party they represent, serve the interests of special entities, including the military-industrial complex, whose survival depends on US bombs raining on peoples around the world.

Continued….. Because of the threat the US poses, the Global South—including countries like Nicaragua—must keep an eye on who becomes the next leader. Regardless of who emerges victorious in November’s election, we know little will change. People in places such as Yemen, Iraq, Somalia, Syria, Libya and many others can attest to this. They have suffered incessant US bombing campaigns and air strikes under both the Republicans and Democrats.

And, where the US has not attacked directly, they have installed and propped up dictatorial regimes that massacre their citizens to further the interests of US imperialism.

Video credit: Canal 4 (@canal4nicaragua on IG, @canal4ni on X and TikTok)

BLACK FACES IN HIGH PLACES WON’T SAVE US

University prepares us for life. And professor Ruha Benjamin didn’t hold back when talking to graduating students in Atlanta, Georgia. She told them: ‘Black faces in high places won’t save us.’ The message being, don’t expect your rights to be defended by Black people holding professional, political or economic power.

Continued….. Ruha gives the example of Linda Thomas-Greenfield, the US envoy to the United Nations. Yes, the woman who vetoes ceasefires in Gaza. She also aims at Black politicians running the city of Atlanta who support the creation of a ‘cop city’ and expansion of violent police forces that target Black youth. We might add to her list Black mis-leaders such as Barack Obama, who oversaw US military operations across the African continent. Or maybe US Vice President Kamala Harris, who could be the next president of the United States but supports AFRICOM, Nato and the U.S. military industrial complex that has caused so much pain and suffering to the African continent- ask Somalia and Libya.

Ruha’s speech is cheered by students at Spelman College, a historically Black institution. She finishes by encouraging them to stand up for what’s right despite being labelled ‘troublemakers’ by authorities.

It’s a refreshingly honest take on the real world. Is there anyone else you’d add to Ruha’s list?

KENYAN BOY AFTER 42-HOUR ARREST: COPS ARE ANIMALS!

‘Animals!’ - that’s the verdict of a 15-year-old Kenyan boy regarding the police who seized and detained him for 42 hours, taking him for an anti-government protester. In this clip, he relates his ordeal.

Kenya’s President Ruto has just written an article in one of the leading outlets noscriptd: Let’s Create Opportunity for All Kenyans. The very first line goes, “The people of Kenya can firmly and unanimously affirm that Kenya is a free, open and democratic country based on constitutionalism and the rule of law.” Who knew Ruto was an aspiring comedian as well as money-waster, promise-breaker and IMF toady?

It encapsulates the disconnect between Kenya’s ruling elite and the reality on the ground.

Police impunity has been widespread during the protests sparked by the IMF-backed Finance Bill, now into their second month.

Continued….. Having got the detested bill shelved, Kenya’s Gen Z is now demanding wider systemic change - to address issues such as corruption and poor governance.

Despite the constitution clearly granting Kenyans the right to protest, the government has ridden roughshod over the rule of law - allegedly conducting unwarranted arrests, abductions, torture and killings.

Do you think this child was mistreated? Should Ruto go?

Video credit: NTV Kenya

On this day in 1838, King Badu Bonsu II of the Ahanta tribe of today's nation of Ghana was executed by Dutch colonialists for standing up against their malign activities, which included enslaving his people and selling guns in his kingdom.

The Ahanta people welcomed the Dutch in the spirit of African hospitality when they first arrived in their territory nearly two centuries earlier. However, with the passage of time, it became clear that the Dutch did not have good intentions. This soured relations between the two sides. Things came to a head in 1837 when King Bonsu and his people rebelled against the Dutch colonisers.

It’s said that the then-head of the Dutch colonial outpost in the area sent two of his officials to go out and bring the king to him. Knowing that if he went with them, he would be imprisoned and sent into slavery in the Caribbean, King Bonsu refused to go. An altercation broke out and the two officials opened fire. They were eventually subdued and killed by the king and his people.

Continued….. This act of resistance incensed the Dutch government, leading it to send mercenary troops from the Netherlands to hunt down the king and his followers.

The mercenaries arrived in May 1838, and, two months later, on 26th July, after a ferocious battle, they managed to capture King Bonsu with the help of some local traitors. They executed him the next day after a sham trial.

After his execution, his head was severed and sent to the Leiden University Medical Centre in the Netherlands, where it was kept inside a jar of formaldehyde (an embalming liquid) until 1997.

After years of lobbying by the Ghanaian government, the head was finally sent back home, allowing Bonsu’s descendants to give their king a befitting burial.

On this day, we salute King Bonsu and the many brave African warriors in history who preferred to pay the ultimate price to bowing down to the wishes of the colonialists.