Continued…. Given Washington’s role in the DRC’s tragic history, such aiding and abetting the assassination of Congo’s visionary Pan-Africanist leader Patrice Lumumba in 1961, it’s pretty telling that the US State Department describes Tshisekedi as “a steadfast partner to advance our mutual global priorities.” Add Rwanda’s Paul Kagame (another Washington darling) to the mix, and it gets much worse for the long-suffering Congolese people. “Two leaders taking orders from the same master equals complicity from both sides” - is Maud-Salomé’s message.

What’s your take on her assessment? We’d love to hear from you.

Video credit: Maud-Salomé Ekila
@ekilaaa

REMEMBER WHEN TINUBU PROTESTED AGAINST CORRUPTION?

Looks like Nigerian President Bola Tinubu failed to take his own advice on how to run the country. As he faces nationwide anti-government protests, it’s worth remembering what he was saying in 2015. Back then, he joined opposition protests against President Goodluck Jonathan, accusing him of embezzlement, while not even giving the rest of the population some ‘coins.’

Forward to today, and Tinubu is facing the same accusations. He removed fuel subsidies soon after his inauguration which triggered massive inflation. He also oversaw the devaluation of the Naira currency. As a result, many are struggling to afford just one meal a day. Little wonder the country’s youth have had enough, as anger sweeps the country once more.

Video credit: ClearView Television

FELA KUTI: REVOLUTIONS PER MINUTE

Fela Anikulapo Kuti and his musical family have done much to shape Nigerian arts, culture and politics. His mother Funmilayo Kuti was a revolutionary who organised Nigerian women to fight neo-colonialism and capitalist exploitation. Fela Kuti in turn understood his role as an artist in the service of African liberation. Now his children carry on their father’s musical legacy, with son Seun Kuti also actively engaged in keeping alive the Pan-African and socialist politics of his family.

BIG TECH’S LEGAL VICTORIES OVER DR CONGO

Five major American tech companies benefiting from the Democratic Republic of Congo’s mineral wealth were held ‘not responsible’ for the cruel use of child labour in poorly equipped mines by a US Court of Appeals ruling in March. The case was filed in 2019 by International Rights Advocates on behalf of 16 Congolese children, some of whom had tragically died in the mines. Maurice Carney, executive director and co-founder of Friends of the Congo, argues that the DRC government’s non-involvement in the case demonstrates its lack of sovereignty over the giant Central African country. He also suggests that Kinshasa’s case against Apple over ‘blood minerals’ was a dubious PR stunt to cover up its complicity in the nation’s long history of exploitation by foreign interests. What are your thoughts on Carney’s assessment? Feel free to share them in the comments!

UN ‘PEACEKEEPERS’ ACCUSED OF DRC VIOLENCE

The United Nations Organization Stabilization Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (MONUSCO), formerly known as MONUC, has been operating in the DRC since 1999. Starting as a rather passive observer mission, it evolved into one of the most expensive, most militarised and perhaps most controversial UN peace operations to date. Its main objective was to protect Congolese civilians against armed groups and support government efforts to stabilise the restive eastern part of the country. Yet, from early on, a wave of protests against the UN body for failing to prevent violence made international headlines. While MONUC’s initial mandate focused on the implementation of the Lusaka Ceasefire Agreement to end the Second Congo War, MONUSCO adopted a more comprehensive and robust approach. The active protection of civilians became the operation’s number-one priority. Nevertheless, killings continued and so did the protests.

Continued….. African Stream spoke to one Goma resident in eastern DRC who criticised the mission for failing to live up to its mandate, demonstrating how tense the relationship between the Congolese people and their supposed protectors has become - something that led to the announcement that the body would completely withdraw from the country by the end of 2024. Numerous armed groups, including the ​​Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) and M23, are active in eastern areas such as North Kivu, South Kivu and Ituri provinces, where civilians face violence and displacement.

‘POOR CAN’T SURVIVE’ NIGERIANS VENT ANGER AT TINUBU

Listen to why thousands of Nigerians have joined anti-government protests sweeping the country. These two clips sum up the anger being felt in the face of a spiralling cost-of-living crisis. Many are puzzled why the country’s vast natural wealth doesn’t alleviate the squalor faced by most of the population. Despite being among Africa’s biggest energy producers, 47% of Nigerians live in poverty. Many struggle to afford even a meal a day.

The situation’s been made worse by inflation triggered by President Tinubu’s decision to scrap fuel subsidies as part of IMF-backed reforms. The country’s Naira currency has also devalued, wiping out savings and purchasing power for Nigerians.

A police crackdown on protests has already killed at least 11 people, according to People’s Gazette, a Nigerian news outlet.

TRUMP RILED BY BLACK JOURNOS

Donald Trump has claimed he was ‘the best president for the Black population since Abraham Lincoln.’ He was responding to ABC host Rachel Scott after she rattled off plenty of examples of Trump’s racist behaviour.
She ended by asking why he thought Black people in the U.S would vote for him in November’s Presidential race. As you’ll see, Trump’s response got plenty of boos during the interview at the convention for the National Association of Black Journalists in Chicago.

The thing is, Rachel Scott’s examples are only the tip of the iceberg. As early as 1973, Donald Trump was sued for refusing to rent to Black tenants in his Trump Management Corporation. In 1989, he placed an ad in several newspaper calling for the death penalty to be legalised and used against the ‘Central Park 5,’ a group of Black teenagers who were falsely accused of r*ping a white woman and were later exonerated.

Continued….. When a white supremacist neo-n*zi rally broke out in Charlottesville, Virginia, Trump claimed that there were some ‘very fine people’ involved. He’s referred to Haiti and African countries as sh*thole countries. He’s also claimed that Haitian immigrants ‘all have AIDS’ and that Nigerian immigrants should ‘go back to their huts.’

Actually, many Black immigrants would love to go back to their homelands and would be able to live successful prosperous lives back home if it wasn’t for constant US intervention and destabilisation, something Trump happily stirred up when he was President. He ordered the assassination of Iran’s top general Qasem Soleimani. He backed a coup in Bolivia and attempted to topple leaders in Venezuela and Nicaragua. For a brief period of time, it appeared as though Trump was trying to reconcile the US relationship with Russia, but admittedly he only did this to isolate China. Trump also claims he was ‘the best president in history for Israel’ due to the massive support he provided to the Zionist state. He even moved the US embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, an attempt to legitimise Israeli occupation of the city.

Video Credit: PBS NewsHour

Here’s a question about Olympic values. On the left is a convicted child r*pist who’s been allowed to compete in Paris. On the right is a French sprinter who was told she couldn’t compete if she wore her hijab.

Dutch beach volleyball player Steven Van De Velde served jail time for r*ping a 12-year-old girl, but he’s welcomed. Muslim Sounkamba Sylla is told to swap her headscarf for a baseball cap by or she can’t represent her country. The French Olympic Committee gave the ultimatum, saying her hijab doesn’t meet the French team’s secular requirements.

When you look at both examples, something doesn’t feel right. Is it double standards? Privilege? Thoughts please.

YOUNG BROTHER WRONGLY PINNED WITH MURDER

20-year-old Mark Anthony Crooms found himself behind bars after being wrongfully accused of murdering his friend. Luckily, home CCTV footage provided by his mother showed that he was at home at the time of the murder, exonerating him from any wrongdoing. Video of his arrest in Spring, Texas last month shows police with guns drawn outside his house. Crooms’ fingerprints had been found inside the victim’s car, making him a prime suspect. As he explains in this clip, that’s because he knew the victim and had spent time with him. Had it not been for the surveillance evidence, he would likely have become another statistic of Black males wrongfully convicted.

The National Registry of Exonerations listed 3,200 defendants who were convicted of crimes in the United States and later exonerated because they were innocent; shockingly, 53% of them were Black, nearly four times their proportion of the population, which is now about 13.6%.

Video credit: @FOX26 HOUSTON

5% FOR NIGER, 95% FOR FRANCE

On August 3rd, Niger celebrates 64 years since gaining independence from French colonial rule. This year’s festivities are especially spirited as the Sahelian state marks one full year of an anti-imperialist revolution that has removed some of the last remnants of French influence from the nation.

Niger’s leadership has expelled French and US troops from its soil and has taken control of the 200,000-tonne Imouraren uranium mine, previously operated by the French mining company Orano. For decades, France had exploited Niger’s uranium resources, buying them at minimal cost - while 9 out of 10 Nigeriens live without access to electricity. This exploitation was a key factor behind the 26th-July-2023 coup, which had nationwide support.

Continued……The anti-colonial revolution in Niger is already showing positive results. According to the World Bank, Niger has achieved a 12.8% growth rate, making it the world’s 3rd fastest-growing economy and Africa’s top economic performer.

While exploitation is a serious issue, humour can be used to shed light on the situation. Here’s a skit we made a while ago to illustrate how France kept Niger in poverty despite being dependent on its resources. Niger’s progress demonstrates that poverty has no place in a continent as blessed as Africa.

FUNNY ECOWAS BUST-UP

Ivorian representative Adjaratou Traoré errupted into a fit of rage at an ECOWAS Parliament session in Abuja on 20th July, 2024, when her Senegalese counterpart stated that African heads of state impoverished their countries. In her view, certain things should never be said about African leaders and this is one of them.

The Seneglese parliamentarian, however, is none of other than Guy Marius Sagna, who rose to prominence through his grassroots organising with the Front for an Anti-Imperialist Popular and Pan-African Revolution. He was at the forefront of the struggle against former Senegalese president Macky Sall’s neo-liberal policies and close ties to France. He has long accused Macky Sall and others like him of betraying the interests of their people and fought against certain economic policies, such as the free trade agreement Sall signed with the European Union.

Continued……A staunch anti-imperialist, Sagna went viral for another recent video, filmed at the ECOWAS summit two days prior, during which he blasted the bloc for allowing Swiss and US-based institutions to participate in the West African parliament as special guests.

While Adjaratou Traoré does not feel it is appropriate to accuse African heads of state of impoverishing their citizens, President Alassane Ouattara of her home country Ivory Coast is overseeing one of the largest mass-eviction campaigns in West Africa, removing thousands of Abidjan-residents from their homes for the past several years. The evictions have accelerated in 2024 and this month, protests and clashes broke out in Adjamé village in northern Abidjan as the villagers blocked the demolition of their neighbourhood. 170 neighbourhoods in Abidjan are being targeted for demolition so that new infrastructure projects and buildings can be erected, including a luxury shopping mall and a new bridge. Perhaps Guy Marius Sagna is on to something here.

What do you think? Did Sagna take it too far by bringing African heads of state into this or is he right on the nose?