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?

WHY BLACK AMERICANS SHOULD REJECT U.S. IDENTITY

Many people ask us what our solution is if we support neither Kamala Harris nor Donald Trump. The answer is simple: we believe that Pan-Africanism, Africa’s total liberation and unification, will free all African people everywhere. In this video, Pan-African organiser Onyesonwu Chatoyer of @aaprpinternational and @hoodcommunist breaks down why she, as an African living in America, rejects US identity and directs all her energies towards liberation on the African continent.

Continued….. Rather than placing our fate and our destiny in the hands of the US empire, which has done nothing but oppress us for the past 500 years, we encourage our viewers to align themselves with the future of the African continent. As the great Pan-Africanist Kwame Ture once explained, “Until Africa is free, no African anywhere in the world will ever be free or respected.” This is also to say that once the African continent is free and unified, Africans across the world, whether in the United States, the UK, Brazil, or elsewhere, will have a safe and prosperous continent to return to. And perhaps not everyone will choose to return home. Either way, Africans living anywhere in the world will be ensured their basic safety and security because a liberated Africa will have the international power necessary to guarantee the protection of Africans everywhere. If a person of African heritage is gunned down and killed on the streets of New York or Rio de Janeiro, a unified Pan-African state can intervene and demand answers, and if answers are not sufficient, recall ambassadors or even refuse to trade with countries where Africans are mistreated.

That’s why we should think very carefully about potentially supporting Democrat or Republican politicians whose policies go towards the destruction of Africa: the drone bombing of African countries, the expansion of the US military across Africa, the sanctioning of African countries, shady business deals, the entrapment of Africa via World Bank debt.

Have a listen to our sister and let us know your views on what she says in the comments.

Video credit: @Black Liberation Media

UKRAINE ADMITS BACKING MALI SEPARATISTS

Ukraine has publicly stated its backing separatist and Jihadi groups in Mali.
Rebels say they recently killed ‘dozens’ of Malian forces and members of the Russian Wagner group near the Algerian border. Ukraine’s military intelligence claims it helped provide info for the ambush that targeted ‘Russian war criminals’.
Mali denies working with Wagner, although has turned to Russia to help fight an insurgency in the north. Since 2012, Mali has been fighting against an Azawad sepratist movement which has collaborated with and also fought against Ansar Dine, an Al-Qaeda affiliate organisation.

MULTINATIONALS HOLD AFRICA HOSTAGE

In an interview, Shahid Bolsen, founder of Middle Nation and a political commentator on global Muslim affairs, discusses how countries’ leaders and governments are not managing their economies.

Using Kenya as an example due to the recent protests over tax hikes, he stated that President William Ruto is just a face. The actual decision-makers are lenders, like the International Monetary Fund (IMF), who aim to secure the profits of Western multinational corporations, such as Coca-Cola, Barclays Bank, Nestlé, and others. 

Video credit: @MiddleNation @shahidkbolsen

WYCLEF: WHY AM I SO SEXY? I’M AFRICAN!

Haitian-born rapper, Wyclef Jean, recently joked he used to ask himself ‘why am I so tough, sexy and good looking?’ He then had a DNA test that showed he was 80 per cent Nigerian! His quip is a reminder of the indelible link between the Caribbean and Africa, brought about by the European slave trade.

In the 16th-century millions of African men, women and children were shipped abroad and sold into slavery in the Caribbean Islands, America and Europe. Most came from areas now part of modern-day countries such as Nigeria, Benin, Senegal, Ghana, and the Congo region. Major ethnic groups that contributed to the Haitian population include the Yoruba, Igbo, Fon, and Kongo.

Continued….. Wyclef identities as an African, something that was instilled in him by his parents from a young age. His DNA test in 2019 just proved what he always knew.

The musician was speaking at a recent annual meeting of the African Export-Import Bank in the Bahamas. It states its aim is to strengthen economic ties between Africa and the Caribbean. But, as Wyclef explains, those ties run a lot deeper.

Video Credit: @afreximbanktv