WHEN AKALA SHUT DOWN TOMMY ROBINSON

As Britain today sees a surge of right-wing riots targeting black and brown people, mosques and migrant hotels, it is essential to analyze the origin of this hate. In this throwback video, rapper and activist Akala makes a case for why racism is more of an elite creation than it is a working-class one. In Europe, with worsening economies, the ruling elite responsible for running down the countries have found a convenient scapegoat: migrants. During a public discussion, he was intellectually laying the smackdown on English far-right activist Tommy Robinson.

Akala also gives a powerful example of how racism manifests itself in society.

Continued….. Christopher Alder was a former Black British paratrooper killed in UK police custody in 1999. Footage later revealed British police officers laughing and making monkey noises over his dead body.

To add insult to injury, authorities then gave Christopher’s family the wrong body to bury and only told them about it more than a decade later.

His appalling treatment was 25 years ago, but recent racist riots put to question whether much has improved since then.

ISRAELI TV EXPOSES PALESTINIAN PRISONER R*PE

An Israeli media outlet, Channel 12, has aired footage allegedly showing the r*pe of a Palestinian prisoner by Israeli soldiers at the infamous Sde Teiman detention facility.

The leaked images are said to capture the moment a detainee was forced to lie down while soldiers surrounded him with riot shields. They inflicted injuries so badly that their victim needed hospital treatment.

Nine reservists were arrested over the incident, which in turn saw mobs storm the site, demanding their release. A lawmaker in the Knesset even said soldiers should be allowed to r*pe detained Palestinians. Meanwhile, on 7 August, dozens of Israelis disrupted a court session deliberating a case brought by a human rights organisation over abuses at Sde Teiman.

Continued…. Former prisoners and Israelis who’ve worked at the facility report a litany of torture, including r*pe, beatings, being urinated on and detainees losing their limbs due to prolonged use of handcuffs. These abuses were highlighted in an April 2024 report published by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), the UN agency for Palestine.

Sde Teiman doubles as an Israeli military base and detention centre for Palestinians arrested in Gaza. Many are held indefinitely without charge, and the site’s been dubbed Israel’s Guantanamo Bay.

Credit: Keshet 12 (Israel)

People across the UK have rallied en masse in response to the recent vile outpouring of racist, anti-immigrant, Islamophobic violence, intimidation and abuse seen in the UK, especially in England.

This photo shows one such gathering in Walthamstow, East London, where thousands showed up to form a wall of resistance against right-wing extremists. They chanted ‘fascists gone’ and held signs reading ‘stop the far right’ and ‘refugees welcome.’

In the front row, you can see brothers from the UK-based grassroots organisation Forever Family- @foreverfamilyuk. Forever Family’s mission is to combat racism, inequality, and injustice and promote self-sufficiency and community defence.

Continued……Similar protests, with huge turnouts, have been seen across the UK, including in major cities such as Bristol, Birmingham, and Liverpool. More are organised for the weekend.

It is, of course, very heartening to see all this. Grassroots community action is no doubt the way forward. But can the UK truly eradicate its racism problem when politicians and the media - the establishment - have been so complicit in letting it take root?

Anyway, shoutout to @foreverfamilyuk and all the anti-racist demonstrations for standing tall.

Picture credit: @respectrebellionff @foreverfamilyuk

VENEZUELAN CITIZENS DISPUTE VOTE-RIGGING CLAIM

The US government has ramped up its agenda to overthrow Venezuela’s democratically elected government that represents Chavismo, or the Venezuelan path to socialism, self-determination and Latin American integration laid out by former President Hugo Chávez (1954-2013). The US has refused to recognise the ratified results of the 28 July elections won by the incumbent President Nicolás Maduro, instead deeming opposition candidate Edmundo Gonzáles Urrutia the winner.

The US and Venezuela’s right-wing opposition have denounced the election as rigged without providing evidence to support their claims.

The opposition has set up an election results website, showing Gonzáles received nearly 70 per cent of votes. However, many, including the head of the National Assembly, Jorge Rodríguez, have pointed out inconsistencies and even forgery in the opposition’s tallies.

Continued….. In this clip from the 2 August episode of our flagship podcast programme, ‘Pan-African Attitude,’ Venezuelan political scientist and photojournalist Rosana Silva (@nawseas on IG and X) debunked these allegations. Let us know what you think.

UK RACE RIOTS EXPLAINED

The explosion of racist violence in the UK this month has been a long time coming. Our man Ahmed Ghoneim’s (@Ahmed.Ghoneim.official) sums up what’s happened, why it’s happened and why it matters - in another double-barrel edition of Africa in 90. Give him a shoutout in the comments if you appreciate his work.

NIGER PRESIDENT: FRENCH SPIES TRY TO DESTABILISE NIGER

Nigerien President Abdourahamane Tiani (@PresidenceNiger on X) announced on 3 August that he’s been alerted that French spies are plotting to destabilise Niger, citing former French spy Vincent Crouzet (@VincentCrouzet4 on X and @VincentCrouzet6 on IG).

The Directorate-General for External Security (DGSE) is a French agency charged with intelligence and covert operations, or the French equivalent of the United States’ CIA or the United Kingdom’s MI6. It grew out of a previous French intelligence agency that conducted secret, destabilising missions across Africa.

Continued….. Crouzet is now a whistleblower who also writes spy novels based on his time in the DGSE. The 60-year-old spent much of his career in Mozambique, South Africa, and especially in Angola, where he worked to support Jonas Savimbi and the anti-communist National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (UNITA) rebel forces. His latest novel is about a proxy war between Russian operatives and the DGSE in Mali and the Central African Republic.

Niger is the latest African country to end military ties with France after an anti-imperialist coup in July 2023 connected Niger to the revolution unfolding across the Sahel. Niger has also been revoking France’s mining contracts over its large uranium deposits. The landlocked state is the first African country to cut ties with US Africa Command (AFRICOM), which hosts US military bases and military-to-military activities across the continent.

U.S. PRESIDENTS’ HISTORICAL IMMUNITY IN WAR CRIMES

TikTok influencer Afeni (@factsandfire) reminded people that US presidents have perpetrated destruction worldwide with impunity.

Just a few examples include the illegal CIA global torture programme launched during the Bush administration. Then, in 2017, International Criminal Court prosecutor Fatou Bensouda requested an investigation into war crimes committed in Afghanistan since the US/NATO invasion in 2001. However, former President Donald Trump’s administration revoked her US entry visa in 2019 and followed up with financial sanctions in 2020.

Continued….. Meanwhile, the US, under former President Barack Obama, with the support of NATO, overthrew Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi in 2011, plunging one of the wealthiest African countries at the time into a civil war still divided among factions. The US has historically aided assassinations, questioned other countries’ election results and overthrown governments to install Western-aligned leaders. And, most recently, many have called out US President Joe Biden’s administration for funding and arming Israel in its onslaught on the Gaza Strip that has k*lled more than 39,000 Palestinians and as many as 186,000, per a Lancet medical journal report released in early July. 

Will the US ever be held accountable for its crimes against humanity? Let us know in the comments.

Video credit: @factsandfire (TikTok)

HIGHWAY HORROR: BUS TEAR-GASSED DURING NIGERIA PROTESTS

This shows the moment tear gas is fired into a bus during anti-government protests in Nigeria. Amazingly, the vehicle stays on the road as a passenger hangs out of the window for air.

Amnesty International reports 21 people have so far been killed during week-long nationwide demonstrations over a cost-of-living crisis. The hardship’s being blamed on IMF-backed economic reforms introduced by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu that saw fuel subsidies slashed and the Naira currency devalued. Annual inflation is just below 35 per cent and around 31 percent of Nigerians live below the poverty line, according to the UN.

The video was posted by the Peter Obi Grassroots Mobilisation, a mass movement aimed at supporting the Labour Party’s presidential candidate Peter Obi.

video credits : Peter Obi Grassroots Mobilization

NIGER CUTS TIES WITH UKRAINE

In an act of solidarity with its neighbour, Mali, Niger cut all diplomatic ties with Ukraine on 6 August. And, in this video, Nigerien spokesperson and minister @colonelabdraman (X) laid out why.

The move follows two incidents last week: Firstly, Ukrainian ambassador to Senegal Yurii Pyvovarov wrote a Facebook comment in support of a Tuareg rebel group and jihadists notorious for attacking Malian civilians and military forces. The embassy has since deleted the video he commented on. Secondly, a Ukrainian Defence Ministry intelligence agency press representative, Andriy Yusov, appeared to boast about the attack on Ukrainian television and stated Ukraine had supplied the rebel forces with intelligence. 

While not yet joining its neighbours in cutting diplomatic ties, Burkina Faso has issued a press release condemning Ukraine’s support of terrorism in Africa’s Sahel region.

Continued….. All three African states announced they’d depart the Western-supported Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) and recently established the Alliance of Sahel States (AES) confederation, which seeks to eventually create a federated state in the arid region they occupy south of the Sahara Desert. As a confederation, they share a collective policy on defence, economics and foreign affairs.

For years after the 2011 NATO-led invasion that helped oust Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, a network of terrorist paramilitaries took hold across Mali, Burkina Faso, Niger, Nigeria, Cameroon, Chad and beyond. Western militaries occupying the region had not countered the violence, with the Global Terrorism Index calling the Sahel the world’s most terror-ridden area, counting 43 per cent of global terrorism deaths in 2022.

Considering the impact on West Africa, do you think leaders from the AES and ECOWAS should take action to publicly condemn Ukraine’s support for these terrorist organisations? Should they cut diplomatic ties and close Ukrainian embassies, too? Let us know in the comments.

NIGERIAN: ‘TINUBU MAKES ME MISS BUHARI’

Nigerian lawyer and activist Deji Adeyanju recently criticised President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s leadership, saying, ‘His suposed supporters said, ‘Ah, don’t worry. He’s a master strategist. He built Lagos. He’s coming to build Nigeria.’’

The former Lagos state governor has a reputation for building the coastal state into an economic hub, but he has not kept the promise of prosperity to all of Nigeria. During his first year as president, Tinubu’s policies have driven thousands of Nigerians to protest in cities such as Lagos, Abuja, Kano and Port Harcourt against a high cost of living. Inflation is at its peak in almost three decades, leaving many Nigerians hungry. According to the Nigerian government, 40 per cent of people are below the poverty line.

Continued……During the 10 days of scheduled protests that kicked off 1 August, at least 40 protesters have been k*lled, while police have arrested and detained hundreds during the #EndBadGovernance protests, according to the Youth Rights Campaign (YRC).

Video credit: @thehonestbunchpodcast / @glitterafricastudios (YouTube and IG)

Botswana is celebrating Letsile Tebogo’s sensational Olympic gold in the men’s 200m. The country’s President, Mokgweetsi Masisi, has declared Friday a half-working day after their sprint king ran his way into the record books.

Tebogo blew away his American rivals to win Africa’s first-ever gold in the event and Botswana’s first at an Olympics. He crossed the line with room to spare, clocking 19.46 seconds, to comfortably beat Kenneth Bednarek and the much-fancied Noah Lyles, who later revealed he had covid.

Continued….. Tebogo dedicated his victory to his mother, who died in May and was a staunch supporter of his career, having accompanied him to the 2023 World Athletics Championship in Budapest, Hungary. He displayed his spikes to reveal her date of birth and painted her name on his fingernails. In a post-race interview, he said, 'I believe she could be one of the happiest people on the planet.'

The 21-year-old's victory has set the Southern African nation into a celebratory frenzy that will likely continue into the weekend. And Masisi's decision to give citizens an afternoon off will definitely come in handy in giving Tebogo the toast he deserves. Rest assured, we think the entire continent will be celebrating this momentous victory with them.

NIGERIA: RICH GETTING RICHER, POOR GETTING POORER

In the latest episode of ‘This Week in Africa,’ Adebayo Adedeji, an organiser with @mmovement4africanemancipation (@arise4freedom on X), broke down the reality of wealth disparity in Nigeria. 

The Nigerian working class has revolted in a 10-day protest that kicked off on 1 August. Class consciousness is snowballing as Nigerian President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, just a year in office, has made life unbearable. His International Monetary Fund-based economic policy has resulted in the highest inflation in almost three decades, driving up the cost of living. Plus, Tinubu removed fuel subsidies, rocking the economy. The high fuel cost means millions of Nigerians who rely on gasoline for their electric generators find themselves without lights on at home.