NIGER’S REVOLUTIONARY YEAR

On 26th July, Niger’s revolutionary new leadership turned one year old. There was a large celebration in Niamey to mark the anniversary - but what was there to celebrate?

Firstly, General Abdourahamane Tchiani - who heads Niger’s military government - has severed ties with France, which - colonially and neo-colonially - had occupied and exploited the Sahel nation for some 100 years. Paris’ troops were booted out and French uranium miner Orano had a licence revoked - meaning greater security sovereignty for Niger and a reclamation of its long-looted mineral wealth.

Continued….. Niger also entered into a Pan-African confederation with fellow Sahel states Burkina Faso and Mali. The security pact means the trio can pool intelligence and resources in the fight against terrorism, but the alliance will also see greater economic and cultural integration. It’s a model that many Africans promoting a borderless continent have felt inspired by - and would like to see rolled out further afield.

In this video, we explore what else has changed in Niger over the last year. Let us know in the comments if you think the party in Niamey was big enough!

‘NOT A CUTE LOOK’ MISS SOUTH AFRICA XENOPHOBIA

The xenophobia surrounding this year’s Miss South Africa beauty contest has gone up a notch. An online petition’s been launched to disqualify 23-year-old Chidimma Adetshina from the competition. Even though she was born in South Africa, some don’t like the fact her father is Nigerian and her South African mother has Mozambican roots. The petition, at change.org, has already got 7,000 signatures since its release on July 29th.

Chidimma says the criticism is ‘Black-on-Black hate’ and she’s received plenty of support. Miss South Africa organisers insist she meets all criteria to take part in the final on August 10th. And content creator Jacqui Jax has also leapt to her defence, pointing out former winner, Vanessa Carreira, was Portuguese-Angolian.

Continued……In this clip she says, ‘this afrophobic, xenophobic rhetoric is starting to stick on South Africa, and it’s not a cute look.’

The country’s been plagued with xenophobia resulting in violence and discrimination against immigrants which is straining diplomatic relations with other African countries. It also tarnishes South Africa’s image as a diverse and inclusive nation.
Pile in with your comments.

Video credit: starring_jacquijax

Zimbabwe’s denied it’s sent a bloated delegation to the Olympics in Paris.
Late last week it was reported 67 officials had flown with Team Zimbabwe consisting of just seven athletes. However, the country’s Olympic Committee (ZOC) insists only ten people were sent as part of the official delegation. Most of those were technical staff and coaches.

Trying to calm the storm, ZOC President Thabani Gonye, said: “We are aware, though, that there are many other technical officials, dignitaries, invited to the games directly to officiate and as guests, and many other hundreds of Zimbabweans are in Paris in various capacities,”

A government spokesperson also denied allegations Vice President Constantino Chiwenga and his wife were part of the delegation.

Continued….. It was said they travelled separately to attend the opening ceremony and ‘other business,’ including seeking investors for Zimbabwe.

The saga sparked an online backlash with many calling it wasteful expenditure as the country faces economic hardships. It’s grappling with decades of Western unilateral sanctions and a drought that’s destroyed nearly half the crops planted in the farming season.

ISRAELI SOCIETY IN CRISIS OVER RAPES

Here’s another example of a deliberately misleading headline, designed to take the heat off Israel. It’s from NBC, the US outlet, and says protesters stormed Israeli military bases after soldiers were accused of ’abusing’ Palestinian prisoners.

What is doesn’t make clear is these demonstrators are SUPPORTING the reservists alleged to have raped an inmate so severely, he needed hospital treatment.

Protesters broke into the detention facility where nine soldiers were being questioned, while others targeted the Sde Teiman base where the abuse allegedly happened. The Israeli Finance Minister called the suspects ‘our best heroes’ and demanded their immediate release.

Continued….. The dehumanisation of Palestinians has been a necessary prerequisite for the occupation of their land, made possible by support from the West. Israel’s top three military suppliers are the US, Italy and Germany, alongside billions of dollars given to the occupying entity annually.

Mainstream media has a role to play within this framework, such as downplaying the severity of crimes against Palestinians, which is straight out of the colonial handbook.
We’ve re-jigged the NBC headline to make it more accurate.

IS THIS WHY WEST HATES MADURO?

Here’s a snapshot of what Venezuela’s President-elect Nicolas Maduro stands for. After winning 51 per cent of the vote to secure a third term, he was asked by an Al-Mayadeen reporter ‘What about Palestine.’ Without hesitation Maduro replies ‘Long live a free Palestine.’

Maybe that helps explain the hostile reaction to his victory by the West and the country’s right-wing opposition? Maria Corina Machado has been vocally pro-Israel, promising to establish Venezuela’s embassy in Jerusalem and even asking for an Israeli invasion of Venezuela in 2018. And the differences don’t stop at foreign policy.

Continued…Maduro’s economic planning involves nationalisations, price controls and extensive social programmes aimed at reducing poverty, inequality and national development. They have received resources and prioritise people over multi-national corporations. Could that also be fuelling the ‘serious concerns’ the U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken has about the election results?

Video Credit: Al Mayadeen Español

RIDING WHILE BLACK: RACIAL PROFILING IN AMERICA

Imagine you’ve just picked up your teenaged grandson and are driving along - when the cops pull you over. Were you speeding? No. The cops think your grandson might be robbing you!

Sounds absurd, right? Welcome to racial profiling in America. This is exactly what happened to Akil Carter in Wisconsin in 2018. He’s Black, his grandmother is White; he was in the back seat, she and a friend were in the front - and someone had called in an attempted robbery of two elderly ladies, by a Black suspect, in a car that matched theirs. The officers who pulled them over handcuffed Carter and held him in the back of their police car for six minutes while they tried to satisfy themselves that he really was a relative and not a criminal. Last year, a federal jury ruled that the officers had done nothing wrong.

Continued….. Fair enough, you might argue - it was the ‘concerned citizen’ that did the racial profiling, and the officers’ duty was to check. But studies have found that Black and Latino drivers in the US are more likely to be searched, ticketed and arrested during traffic stops compared with White drivers.

This can have tragic consequences. For example, in 1999, Amadou Diallo, an unarmed Guinean immigrant, was shot 41 times by NYPD officers - who mistakenly believed he was reaching for a gun.

But deadly racial profiling doesn’t just happen at traffic stops. In 2012, Trayvon Martin, a Black teenager, was shot and killed in Sanford, Florida by local ‘community watch’ member George Zimmerman, who claimed Martin looked ‘suspicious.’

There are countless other cases in all spheres of life. This clip contains video of Akil Carter’s arrest. Let us know your reaction in the comments.

Video credit: @cbseveningnews

OBI MIKEL: FOOTBALL STARS DISRESPECT AFRICAN ROOTS

Nigeria and Chelsea legend John Obi Mikel says footballers need to start respecting their African roots. Too often they refuse to play for their African country and instead dream of representing the likes of England or France.

The former tough-tackling midfielder challenged the growing list of unpatriotic stars on his Obi One podcast. And he does have point. Kylian Mbappe, for example, could be playing for Cameroon, not France. England’s Bukayo Saka could’ve opted for Nigeria. At the 2022 FIFA World Cup, over 50 players of African descent represented non-African nations.

Adding insult to injury, many players only consider playing for their African countries late in their careers as a fall-back option, but by that time they’re past their best.

We think Mikel is bang on target with his analysis, do you?

Video credit: The Obi One Podcast

MADURO WARNS ’CRIMINALS’
AFTER HQ TORCHED

The fallout from the disputed Venezuelan election is turning ugly, with opposition protesters allegedly resorting to arson - torching one of the ruling party’s regional HQs and a mayoral office. President Nicolas Maduro used an address to the nation to brand the perpetrators criminals, showing a video of the fire on his mobile phone. While the official election results gave him 51% of the vote, the opposition - relying on exit polls - say they won a landslide. It has the support of the West, including the US.

Anti-government protests in Venezuela led to deadly violence in 2014 and 2017, with dozens killed. Back then, several government and ruling-party buildings were also torched.

Continued……A particularly gruesome incident during the 2017 unrest involved Orlando Figuera - a young Black man - who was stabbed and set on fire by protesters. It’s thought he was mistaken for a Maduro supporter as relatively few Black Venezuelans support the opposition. He later died of his wounds.

Before the current ruling party came to power in 1999, Afro-Venezuelans were subjected to widespread racial and economic discrimination. In the 25 years that the party has been in power, it has implemented several programmes to reverse the negative impact of the centuries of racism against Venezuelans of African descent. It is for this reason that many of them support the ruling party.

What do you think Africans can learn from the most recent events in Latin America?

Credit: VTV

AFRICA HAS TO STAY POOR FOR WORLD TO BE RICH

The failures of Western-imposed economic policies in Africa make sense once you realise it is intentional sabotage. Here, Howard Nicholas, senior lecturer of economics at the International Institute of Social Studies, explains how an entire system exists to keep Africa poor so it will always remain a source of cheap raw materials and cheap labour. Africa subsidises the living standards of the rest of the world with almost none of its wealth benefiting Africans.

Take Niger, for example, where a significant amount of the uranium that France uses to power its electricity grid is from, yet the Sahelian nation is among the poorest in the world.

Continued….. This unfortunate situation is not limited to Niger but common across the continent. African countries produce most of the minerals and resources that the modern world needs to function, so how can Africa still be poor?

A lot has been invested to maintain the status quo. When Lumumba in DR Congo pledged to utilise Congolese resources to benefit Congolese people, the CIA, Belgium and Britain had him assassinated and placed the puppet Mobutu in his stead. Burkina Faso saw its ‘self-reliance’ and ‘self-sufficiency’ champion Thomas Sankara murdered by France and the puppet Compaoré installed. Similar events happened with Kwame Nkrumah, Maurice Bishop, Samora Machel, the list goes on.

Have a listen to Dr Nicholas’ remarks and let us know what you think.

Credit: CRITICAL COLLECTIVE

CHÀVEZ: U.S. CAN’T MEDDLE WITH UNITED GLOBAL SOUTH

Africa’s history is full of examples of progressive leaders and governments that were overthrown and sometimes killed in Western-instigated military coups. These include Burkina Faso’s Thomas Sankara and the Democratic Republic of Congo’s Patrice Lumumba. The overthrow of progressive leaders is a well-documented imperialist tactic that has been used all over the Global South in the past couple of decades. 

Venezuela is one country that has been a target of outside aggression for a long time. Currently, we are seeing attempts by the West to discredit the outcome of the 28th July elections - simply because they did not go in favour of the US-backed opposition.

This is not the first time such plots have been waged against the Latin American nation.

Continued…. Since 1999, when the late Venezuelan revolutionary Hugo Chàvez was elected president and embarked on a campaign to end the parasitic control of the country’s oil industry by US multinational firms, several coup attempts have been instigated against him and his successor, Nicolas Maduro.

They include the 2002 coup, which saw Chàvez momentarily removed from power by opposition and military figures. However, he returned to power 47 hours later after up to a million citizens marched on the presidential palace demanding his return.
 
In 2004, the opposition once again tried to remove Chàvez from power, this time through a ‘recall referendum.’ This attempt also failed as citizens overwhelmingly voted to keep Chàvez at the helm.

In this clip, taken during a rally that Chàvez addressed in the capital, Caracas, a few months before that referendum, he suggests that the US is plotting to overthrow not only himself but also other progressive leaders across the region. He urges the people of the Global South to unite, saying it’s the only way to defeat imperialism.

Presciently, he also says new revolutionary leaders will emerge across the Global South over time. Indeed, in the last few years, we have seen precisely that in places such as Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger.

Video credit: VTV

U.S. LEAVING NIGER... FOR IVORY COAST?

So the US military has been sent packing by Niger. It seems the sides have agreed that Washington will wind down operations at its Air Base 201 in Agadez by 15th September. It’s America’s biggest drone base, so that puts an end to all those unmanned missions, you might think… but is the Pentagon really reducing its footprint in West Africa?

A recent Le Monde splash cites sources saying the Americans are eying a new military base in nearby Ivory Coast - and have received the green light.

Continued…. The US general responsible for West Africa ops has already denied this. Still, with arch-rivals China and Russia gaining friends and influence in the region, it’s hard to take his remarks at face value.

France is another power that’s got its tail between its legs in West Africa - having also been expelled from Niger, as well as from Mali and Burkina Faso. If the latter’s president, Ibrahim Traoré, is to be believed, Paris, too, has its eye on the Ivory Coast. In fact, he claims the French are already there (and in Benin!), using Abidjan as a centre to orchestrate covert operations to destabilise Burkina Faso. Traoré has vowed to share some serious evidence of this with the world “in days.”

While we wait for confirmation of what the French and Americans are really up to in West Africa, your thoughts and insights into the situation with the Ivory Coast are most welcome in the comments!