AFRO-VENEZUELANS TARGETED BY OPPOSITION

Venezuela’s opposition is often portrayed by the media as the victim of an ‘oppressive’ government. And coverage of the current protests over President Nicolas Maduro’s recent election win is no different.

However, what’s often not covered is the opposition’s aggression towards Venezuelans of African heritage. For the last two decades, Afro-Venezuelans have backed successive socialist governments that have stood up for their rights. Former leader Hugo Chavez even designated May 10 as Afro-Venezuelan Day, to celebrate their culture and history. But that staunch support for him, and now Maduro, has caused tension, with many reports of violent attacks by opposition members.

One of the most gruesome incidents happened in 2017, when 21-year-old Orlando Figuera was stabbed and set on fire by a mob after he passed near their opposition protest. He later died from his injuries.

African Stream’s William Sakawa delves into the history behind the hatred.

RULING CLASS TRIES TO ERASE AFRICAN IDENTITY

With the election of the first Black US president, Barack Hussein Obama, African people’s relationship with US politics changed forever. The US ruling class’ tactic of providing us with representation within the imperialist system had won over hearts.

In this clip from the livestream of last year’s National Black Radical Organizing Conference in Atlanta, Onyesonwu Chatoyer, a Pan-African organiser with the All-African People’s Revolutionary Party (@aaprpinternational on IG and @aaprp on X) and editor of @hoodcommunist (IG), explained the power of the ruling class’ narrative.

Ideologically and politically, Obama shares much more in common with previous US presidents, George W. Bush, Bill Clinton, Ronald Reagan, and Donald Trump than he does with Malcolm X and the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Yet, we see Obama lumped together with MLK and Malcolm X on all sorts of paraphernalia.

Continued….. Obama drastically expanded the US Africa Command’s footprint, increased the drone bombs raining down on Somalia, led the NATO invasion of Libya that destroyed the country, split it into three parts and led to the proliferation of terrorism across the Sahel. He then told African leaders to stop making ‘excuses’ about challenges rooted in the legacy of colonialism and slavery when talking about their countries’ problems. 

‘Our hope is in a strong Africa,’ Malcolm X said. ‘When Africa is strong, our position in America will be one of respect. If Africa is weak, we will never be in a position of respect in America.’ 

Do you see how Malcolm X and Barack Obama are starkly different?

And it looks like the Democratic Party is up to it again, with another Black face, Kamala Harris, vying to represent the US empire.

Do you think Obama and Harris are following in the righteous line of our revolutionary ancestors? Let us know in the comments.

CHICK-FIL-A VS. POPEYES: WHAT’S IN THE CHICKEN?

Brother Nuri Muhammad (@brothernuri on X, @nurimuhammad on IG), a prominent figure within the Nation of Islam and an author, activist, mentor, life coach and entrepreneur, breaks down why many Black people in the United States are emotionally attached to fast-food restaurants, like Chick-fil-A and Popeyes.

In this August 2023 clip, the 49-year-old explained that the chemical composition of these companies’ products acts as addictive substances and destroys our health. 

What do you think of Muhammad’s remarks? Let us know in the comments.

Video credit: @ineverknewtv (YouTube)

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The baobab tree is an iconic symbol in Africa, known for its immense size, strength and deep roots.

Our African proverb this week is a reminder that we need to know our limits: it’s futile to waste time and energy on impossible projects - not just futile, but worse, may make us look silly.

What do you reckon? Wise words of realism and pragmatism - or negative thinking that puts a damper on our ambitions?

ISRAELI COMMANDER’S CHILLING WORDS

‘We will not know victory until we destroy Gaza,’ said David Portal, an Israeli major commander under the Gaza division, in this chilling video posted online shortly after the 7 October escalation began. ‘The moral thing is to destroy them. The moral thing is to expel them. How the [Jewish holy book] Torah says not to leave anyone remaining?’ 

So far, Israel has k*lled more than 40,000 Palestinians, according to the Gaza Health Ministry. However, a Lancet medical journal report estimated in early July that the death toll was more than 186,000 people. 

Continued….. In the video, he repeated the claim often used to support Israel’s occupation of Palestine and its current onslaught on the Gaza Strip: All Palestinians in the Gaza Strip are related to H*mas militants, and, therefore, everybody in the enclave is guilty. 

Such words coming from someone directing troops on the ground in Gaza explain why international laws that protect civilians are not being applied. Reports of r*pe, ab*se, t*rture, illegal imprisonment and prison k*llings abound.

Video credit: @david_portal19 (IG)

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MALEMA LAUNCHES NEW ATTACK AGAINST RAMAPHOSA’S CABINET

Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) President Julius Malema recently said the claim that South African President Cyril Ramaphosa had no choice but to form a government of national unity with the white-led Democratic Alliance (DA) and other right-leaning political parties is baseless.

The African National Congress party failed to win a majority in the 29 May elections, requiring it to ally with other parties to secure a majority to govern.

Addressing students at South Africa’s Rhodes University earlier this month, Malema (@julius.malema.sello on IG and @Julius_S_Malema on X) said Ramaphosa should have found a way of working out a deal with leftist political organisations, such as the EFF and the uMkhonto weSizwe (MK) party.

Continued……He argued that despite their differences, the parties could have found a middle ground, primarily because the EFF and MK are offshoots of the ANC, thereby sharing similar ideological and policy positions.

Malema also denied claims that his party placed ‘unreasonable’ terms on the negotiating table.
The EFF leader also accused Ramaphosa of bringing criminals into the cabinet in an apparent reference to the appointment of Patriotic Alliance leader Gayton McKenzie as Sports, Art and Culture Minister. McKenzie served time in jail in the late 1990s and early 2000s for armed robbery.

Video credit: @EFFSouthAfrica (IG and X)

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SWAPO STARTS ARMED STRUGGLE AGAINST SOUTH AFRICA

On this day in 1966, following apartheid South Africa’s violation of a UN directive to withdraw from Namibia, SWAPO - the South West Africa People’s Organisation - started an armed struggle for independence. The first major clash was when SWAPO forces exchanged fire with South African police, supported by the South African Air Force. This date is generally regarded as the start of what became known in South Africa as the Border War.

Continued…. South Africa was eyeing Namibia’s vast natural resources, such as uranium, vanadium, lithium and tungsten. The South African apartheid regime also wanted to use Namibia as a buffer zone, keeping the guerrilla war in Angola well away from South Africa. Namibians suffered the same apartheid policies as their brothers south: no political rights, as well as restrictions on social and economic freedoms.

SWAPO used Angola as a rear base for guerrilla attacks against South Africa in Namibia. In 1972, the United Nations General Assembly recognized SWAPO as the ‘sole legitimate representative’ of Namibia’s people. Starting 1978, South Africa made periodic retaliatory land and air strikes into Angola. The involvement of Cuban forces in Angola bolstered the resistance. South Africa eventually lost against the combined African and Cuban force, with the battle at Cuito Cuanavale in southern Angola proving decisive, marking the beginning of the end of White-minority domination in southern Africa, the dismantling of the apartheid system and the total liberation of Africa from European occupation.

Negotiations between SWAPO and South Africa’s government ran for more than a decade, with South Africa finally agreeing to a ceasefire, the withdrawal of its troops and free elections amid increasing international isolation and the growing cost of military occupation. On 21st March, 1990, Namibia became independent.

VIOLENCE BY THE WEST IS NOT VIOLENCE

Lawyer and organiser Kamau Franklin argues that corporate media has cultivated the belief there’s no violence when the West commits acts of violence. He cites the dropping of atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August 1945 by the U.S. Yet, Western corporate media accuses other nations of raising the nuclear spectre, conveniently ignoring who actually killed hundreds of thousands in an instant using nukes.

Continued….. In Africa, Libya was destroyed by a US-led NATO coalition in 2011 on the false charge that its
leader, Muammar Gaddafi, was killing his own people. Kamau brings the point home by saying anyone who dares raise even a stick in defence is the one accused of aggression and brutally put down, as Gaddafi found out. To add insult to injury, independence movements across Africa, like the Mau Mau in Kenya and the African National Congress in South Africa, were labelled as terrorist organizations by colonial powers as they fought for their independence.

When Malcolm X spoke of African liberation ‘by any means necessary,’ what he meant was that the white-supremacist imperialist system that has come to control the world today was founded in imperialist violence, and fueled each and every day by violence. We cannot forget that when the oppressed launched an attack, it came after the Western imperialists had declared war on Africans and on other colonised peoples of the world, when they decided to build their wealth through conquest, plunder and our suffering.

What do you make of Kamau’s assessment? Let us know in the comments.

Video credit: HermelaTV

JAMAL TRULOVE: ‘KAMALA HARRIS LAUGHED AT MY SENTENCING’

On 9 February 2010, a jury convicted Jamal Trulove, at the time an aspiring rapper in San Francisco, California, for first-degree murder with a firearm and being a felon in possession of a firearm. The court sentenced him to 50 years to life in prison. 

On his Instagram page, @jamaltrulove, Trulove said US Vice President and presidential candidate Kamala Harris, who was the district attorney for San Francisco at the time, laughed at his sentencing.

On 11 March 2015, after five days of deliberation, the jury acquitted Trulove, releasing him from prison. In January 2016, Trulove filed a federal civil rights lawsuit against the city and county of San Francisco. In April 2018, a jury awarded Trulove $10 million.