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. 

Continued….. Black people bore the brunt of Kamala Harris’ time as prosecutor in California, reports indicate that she tried to keep inmates locked up for as long as possible, denying parole even to non-violent offenders, all so that the Golden State could rely more on their cheap labour while incarcerated.

Studies estimate 4 per cent to 6 per cent of inmates are wrongfully convicted. While Black people only make up 12 per cent of the US population, 38 per cent of our people comprise the prison population. Since 1989, 3,175 people have been exonerated.

What do you make of Trulove’s story? Let us know in the comments.

Video credit: @jamaltrulove

WHITE AGENDA CONTROLS AFRICAN  CONSERVATION?

Tourism and conservation have been designed to advance the White man’s agenda. That’s the verdict of Mordecai Ogada, an animal ecology and conservation policy expert who co-wrote the book: ‘The Big Conservation Lie’.

He argues the management of Africa’s natural resources is controlled by foreign interests at the expense of Africans. If you want an example, look no further than the Maasai herders. They’ve been forced to water their flocks away from the best locations, so tourists can get the perfect view of Mount Kilimanjaro.

Continued….. So, why don’t local conservationists speak out? Mordecai says it’s because many have been ‘bought’ with big offices and cars and are happy to further a Western agenda. An agenda that’s rooted in the racial hierarchies and imperialism pushed by US President Theodore Roosevelt in the 20th century.

Mordecai’s illuminating book gives the low down on what’s happening. In the meantime, this clip will give you a taste. Tell us what you think in the comments.

Video credit: @LynnNgugi (YouTube)

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HULK HOGAN FIRED BLACK BRAND AMBASSADOR

Do you enjoy watching World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE)? Well, many have accused one of its legends, Hulk Hogan, of being racist.

Influencer Sean Alston (@three04joe on IG) broke down how Hogan did not want his daughter dating Black people (news reports say he used the N-word against her boyfriend) and how he got a Black female influencer fired from being his drink’s brand ambassador. The beverage is called ‘Real American Beer.’ 

At last month’s Republican National Convention, Hulk Hogan spoke on stage in support of Republican presidential candidate and former President Donald Trump, known for calling African states ‘sh*thole countries.’

Continued……The 71-year-old wrestler asked the audience if he should body slam and ‘drop the leg’ on Democratic presidential candidate and US Vice President Kamala Harris, who is a woman of mixed Afro-Jamaican and Indian descent.

As a Pan-African news outlet, we encourage Africans to build Africa. While we do not condone our people seeking riches outside of a Pan-African context (such as through a racist wrestler or as a US president who drone-strikes Africa), we understand most our folks are trying to make a living in the most principled way they can as working-class people, wherever they are in the world.

What do you make of Hulk Hogan’s behaviour?

Video Credit: @three04joe (IG)

On 13 March 2020, Breonna Taylor's life was tragically brought to an end as police officers murdered the 26-year-old in her apartment, where she had been sleeping.

Now, US District Judge Charles Simpson has dismissed significant charges in her murder case, saying her boyfriend, Kenneth Walker, holds responsibility. The judge left the remaining criminal and civil-rights charges on the former police officers, Joshua Jaynes and sergeant Kyle Meany.

Continued……Both officers falsified information to secure a search warrant to raid Taylor's home. This allowed the police department to bust into the home unannounced after midnight. Confused about who was breaking in, Taylor's boyfriend, Kenneth Walker, fired a single warning shot at the time officers battered open the door. He even called 911 for help, not knowing officers were raiding. In response to this, the officers fired 32 shots, k*lling Taylor, whom police shot at least five times. The two officers who shot Taylor were never charged.

Taylor's family has promised to continue fighting for justice.