WHY AFRICANS STILL NEED TO ‘GO EXTERNAL’

Go ‘external’ - that’s what African nations do every time they need anything. So alleges Zimbabwean pan-African activist Brian Kagoro in this snippet from a speech he gave at a recent security symposium in Rwanda. Be it defence, finance, development - we’re dependent on our former colonisers for help. And that’s no accident. He says they left us with weak institutions that made us dependent on them - intellectually, economically and in terms of security. The old ‘divide-and-rule’ keeps striking again and again. Is he being too harsh? And if not - what’s the answer?

Video credit: @Kigali Today

THE IMPORTANCE OF INDIGENOUS LANGUAGES

In this video, Pan-Africanist author and social entrepreneur Joshua Maponga (@joshua_maponga on IG) highlights the importance of indigenous languages for Africans.

He does this by using the example of the Mususu plant that acts a remedy for stomach issues. In Venda, a Bantu language spoken in parts of South Africa and Zimbabwe, ‘susu’ means stomach and, so, he argues that if the community were to use a foreign name for the plant, they would ultimately forget its use.

Do you think Africans are losing touch with their own indigenous languages and cultures? Let us know in the comments below

Video Credit: THEE ALFA HOUSE (YouTube)

BILLIONS LOST IN SMUGGLED AFRICAN GOLD TO THE UAE EVERY YEAR

Over a tonne of gold a day gets smuggled out of Africa and most of it ends up in the UAE. It’s often sneaked out on scheduled and private jets and it’s costing the continent billions of dollars in lost revenue.

The network of illicit trade is outlined in a 140-page report by Switzerland-based NGO Swissaid. It says most of the black-market gold comes from small artisanal miners, who don’t declare what they produce.

Ghana, Mali and Zimbabwe are named as hotspots and Emirati trading companies and refineries are accused of not exercising due diligence ‘properly’.

Continued….. Swissaid says they ‘compiled, analysed and cross-referenced production and export data [of gold] from all African countries and import data from partner countries over a period of more than ten years.’

Their report recommends better regulation, but warns there are many barriers to formalising small-scale mining, such as access to capital.

We’ve put together some of the key points of their stunning study published earlier this year.

You can read the full report @ https://swissaid.kinsta.cloud/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/swissaid-on-the-trail-of-african-gold-web-ok.pdf

THIS IS HOW YOU PROTEST!

The Kinshasa central market, also known as Zando, is located within the Gombe commune of DRC’s capital. In July 2020, its female sellers took to the streets to protest against the city’s management and the government of President Félix Tshisekedi, who’d come to power in 2019. And—as you can see in this clip—their protest was delivered by energetically singing and dancing as armed police looked on.

Continued….. The DRC has been destabilised by militias backed by neighbouring countries Rwanda and Uganda, which has led to ongoing violence for over 20 years. This has created challenging conditions that affect the everyday lives of the Congolese people, including infrastructure deficits hampering mobility and economic activities. Another problem is corruption, inefficient bureaucratic processes, and a lack of support for informal industry workers, especially women.

Securing a second term in 2023, Tshisekedi campaigned on a promise (also made during his first run) to improve people’s lives and to stop the destabilising efforts from neighbouring countries and their global backers. Despite a lot of rhetoric, the Congolese people are still waiting.

Video credit: @Fenix.cd

Unfortunately, this week’s African proverb is grimly relevant today. Whether it’s treating migrants as invading swarms, Congolese children as exploitable labour or Palestinians as t*rrorists. The worst crimes against humanity are committed after the victims have been dehumanised.

MAN WHINGING ABOUT ‘WHITE SUFFERING’ SCHOOLED

In this stitch Tiktok clip, we get some solid commentary on a video posted by someone complaining about how ‘difficult’ it is to be White these days. He whines that White people can no longer be proud of their race and that jobs are supposedly withheld from them on account of minority quotas. His claims are expertly dismantled by TikToker @drinkablebryan, who notes that White people like himself actually enjoy a raft of unfair privileges thanks to 400 years of slavery, segregation, continued discrimination, systemic racism, and economic and social disparities. Have you come across this much - people complaining that their Whiteness made them ‘lose out’ somehow?

Video credit: @drinkablebryan

WHY THE STONO REBELLION MATTERED

On this day, 9th September, 285 years ago, one of the largest slave rebellions ever to take place in the Americas began near the Stono River, 30 km southwest of Charleston, South Carolina. About 60 slaves, who were likely from the Central African kingdom of the Kongo, began marching south towards the Spanish-ruled state of Florida, where fugitive slaves were being granted freedom and land. The colonist community set out in armed pursuit of the slaves. In the ensuing battles, 25 colonists and over 35 rebels were killed. Survivors were later captured and executed. Our man Salifu brings you this story of resistance and the fight for freedom from the heart of the Stono River in Charleston, South Carolina.

FIDEL CASTRO IS POLITICALLY AFRICAN

Who is Fidel Castro to us Africans? According to some revolutionary Pan-Africanists, Castro (1926-2016) was an African. 

As Northeastern University professor Layla Brown explained in this video clip, Castro was politically African. That’s because Castro dedicated his life to the struggle for African liberation on the African continent and across the African diaspora.

‘Fidel Castro is a Pan-Africanist of the highest order,’ said Pan-Africanist Kwame Ture (1941-98), who co-founded the All-African People’s Revolutionary Party.

‘Fidel, at some point, mentioned that he felt himself to be a part of Africa,’ said author Alice Walker. ‘It seems to me that he has never really traded on being white. And it’s because he doesn’t have that, you know, ‘white trip,’ that we often in the Third World tend to forget [he’s European]. I mean, I don’t wake up thinking of Fidel as a white person, you know, ever.’

Continued….. Castro is not the only Latin American revolutionary to be labelled African. ‘Che Guevara is also African and Burkinabé,’ said Burkina Faso’s revolutionary president, Thomas Sankara (1949-87), of Ernesto ‘Che’ Guevara, who was born into a European settler family in Argentina. ‘He is Burkinabé because he participates in our struggle.’

The ongoing Cuban revolution is an ontologically African process rooted in African and Afro-Caribbean values, culture and ideas. Cuba’s African characteristics took centre stage so the revolution could triumph, requiring Cuba’s class-conscious elite to sacrifice their status to Africanise their national identity.

Agree or disagree? Let us know in the comments.

Video credit: Black Liberation Media (@blackliberationmedia on IG and @BLM_edia on X)

PROTESTERS DEFY MOROCCO QUAKE VICTIMS MINUTE OF SILENCE

On 8 September, Morocco marked one year since a 6.8-magnitude earthquake struck the Atlas Mountains, k*lling more than 3,000 people, flattening villages and towns, and leaving more than 2 million Moroccans homeless. Reconstruction is ongoing as victims try to piece back their lives.

Unfortunately, empathy is a foreign concept for some. In this video recorded just days after the tragedy, Spanish nationalists who oppose Catalonian independence interrupted a minute’s silence that Barcelona’s city council had called for earthquake victims.

Video credit: @EuropaPress (X)

LAKEITH STANFIELD ON ROOTS OF HOLLYWOOD’S
RACISM

American actor and musician LaKeith Lee Stanfield (@lakeithstanfield3) explains in less than 20 seconds how Hollywood has long been intertwined with racism, capitalism and social hierarchies - a legacy that traces back to early films like “Birth of a Nation,” notorious for its racist portrayals.

These early movies shaped and perpetuated harmful stereotypes, painting Black characters through a lens of ignorance and prejudice. This legacy continues to influence how Black identities are represented in the media today.

Understanding this historical context, argues Stanfield, is crucial for addressing the persistent biases and inaccuracies in modern TV and Hollywood portrayals.

By recognising the origins of these stereotypes, we can better understand the impact on current portrayals and push for more authentic, respectful representations.

Video Credit: @CultureMachineCo

U.S. JUDGE SUSPENDED OVER SLURS

Kathleen Ryan, a probate-court judge in the US state of Michigan’s Oakland County, has been removed from the bench pending an investigation into secretly recorded conversations in which she allegedly employed h*mophobic slurs, said Black people who fail in the US are ‘f*cking lazy piece[s] of sh*t,’ and referred to herself as a ‘new r*cist.’

While we don’t know exactly what Ryan meant by ‘new r*cist,’ online sources say ‘new r*cism’ posits that some cultures are superior to others or that certain cultures are incompatible and should not co-exist in a society or state. This differs from r*cism rooted in perceived biological differences between ethnic or r*cial groups. 

A court administrator, Edward Hutton, blew the whistle on Ryan after he became increasingly concerned about her ‘hate and contempt for various protected groups,’ leading him to record the conversations over two years and submitting them a few weeks ago to several officials.

Continued……Allegations that have raised questions about Ryan’s judgement aren’t new. For example, in November 2021, police charged her with misdemeanour-level domestic violence after she allegedly repeatedly struck a male companion, injuring him. Police said Ryan shouted obscenities at officers and hospital staff. Then she reportedly tried to walk away from custody, telling police she was a judge and would be ‘coming after’ them. However, county prosecutors dropped the charge for an unknown reason.

The latest allegations against Ryan are under review. She is currently suspended with pay while the matter is investigated by the Michigan Judicial Tenure Commission. Only the state’s supreme court can permanently remove her from the elected office she has held since 2010.

Racism is not about her words, but about the power she has in that position to act on her racist views against Black and other marginalised people to drastically alter the direction of their lives.

Let us know in the comments what you think about this judge.

Video credit: @wxyztvdetroit (YouTube)

HOW CRIMINALISING BLACK PEOPLE SUITS
WHITE POWER

It can surely be no accident if innocent Black men keep ending up in jail. It’s well known that our brothers in the US are disproportionately overrepresented in the prison population.

According to Prison Policy Initiative, in 2019, Black Americans made up 33% of the total prison population, compared with 14% of the total US population. However, the percentage of Black Americans serving life sentences is even more stark: Black Americans make up 55% of those serving life without parole.

Here, pan-African thinker Amos Nelson Wilson (1941 - 1995) argues that putting Black men behind bars en masse meets a deep need in the European mindset: to stay dominant. It not only reinforces who’s the boss, it disconnects those men from their communities, their identities and the continent of the ancestors.

Continued….. Fragmenting us in this way prevents us from organising effectively - from challenging the status quo, not only domestically, but internationally.

We see the same thing on global scale our nations and our leaders are demonised and criminalised. No continent on the planet currently has as many of its nations under sanctions like the African continent. No other continent has had as many of its leaders pursued by the international criminal court as the African continent. How can that be? Do we commit more crimes than Europe or North America? Has any African country ever dropped an atomic bomb on another nation?

Let us know if you’ve felt what professor Amos Nelson Wilson was saying.

‘COPMALA’ QUEEN OF INCARCERATION, PT. 1

‘Kamala Harris was the queen of mass incarceration.’ Those are the words of Caleb Maupin, founder of the Center for Political Innovation.

In this 2023 video, he recounted the time Kamala Harris nearly executed a man without DNA evidence. Kevin Cooper was just hours away from execution in 2004 when California Governor Gavin Newsom demanded DNA testing, which has not taken place, so Cooper remains alive.

In 2010, a California court ruled that Harris’ district attorney’s office had violated defendants’ rights by hiding detrimental information about a police drug lab whose inaccurate results led to many convictions. That led to the dismissal of more than 1,000 drug cases.

Perhaps this is why some say, ‘Not all skin folks are kin folks,’ and why many refer to the 59-year-old mixed Indian and Afro-Jamaican former prosecutor as ‘Copmala.’

Video credit: Center for Political Innovation (@realcpiusa on IG and X)

NIGERIA: 48 KILLED IN FUEL-TANKER TRAGEDY

48 people were killed in Nigeria’s north-central Niger state on 8th September - after a fuel tanker collided with another truck, causing an explosion. The truck was also carrying cattle, at least 50 of which were burned alive, according to the State Emergency Management Agency.

The dead travellers were given a mass burial in the Agaie area of Niger state.

Nigeria has no efficient railway system to transport cargo, such as fuel. Gasoline is shipped overland in trucks, resulting in frequent accidents. According to the country’s Federal Road Safety Corps, 1,531 gasoline tanker crashes resulted in 535 fatalities and 1,142 injuries in 2020 alone.

The giant West African nation has suffered a chronic fuel shortage, primarily due to a lack of local refineries.

Continued….. Recently, billionaire Aliko Dangote’s 650,000 barrel-a-day $20-billion refinery commenced production of petroleum products. But Nigerians are yet to see a drop in the price of the commodity after the state oil company, the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPC Ltd), hiked the price from 617 naira ($0.38) a litre to 897 ($0.56).

DOUBLE STANDARDS? U.S. APPLIES IT BEST

On the now-defunct ‘The Phil Donahue Show,’ actor Paul Newman spoke in 1983 about the US painting the Soviets as enemies to justify funding the US arms budget.

Newman (1925-2008) cited the case of Israel shooting down Libyan Arab Airlines flight 114 on 21 February 1973 when it strayed into Israeli-controlled airspace over the Sinai Peninsula. Israeli fighter jets intercepted the aircraft, k*lling 108 people on board.

In response, the UN Security General Assembly passed a resolution condemning Israel and directing the U