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

Continued……N Security Council to investigate. While US President Richard Nixon deplored the incident, the US representative to Libya was not allowed to offer condolences, according to a 1983 issue of the Washington Report on Middle East Affairs. The International Civil Aviation Organization also voted to censure Israel for the attack. Israeli newspaper Haaretz recently reported the Israeli cabinet discussed the incident in three secret meetings, where the cabinet concluded it would deny responsibility and not hold an official inquiry.

However, when the Soviet Union shot down Korean Air Lines flight 007 on 1 September 1983, k*lling 269 passengers and crew after the aeroplane entered Soviet airspace, the United States called it a ‘crime against humanity’ and a ‘massacre.’ Reagan referred to the Soviet action as ‘barbaric’ and ‘inhuman.’ The US imposed several sanctions on the Soviet Union, suspended several bilateral agreements and halted Aeroflot flights (the Soviet airline) to the United States. This incident further escalated Cold War tensions between the two superpowers.

Video credit: ‘The Phil Donahue Show’ / @wgnnews

CASE OBAMA: A WARNING TO U.S. VOTERS

It’s a big debate in our comment section, across the Internet and in America’s Black communities: Is Kamala Harris a better option than Donald Trump? Should Black voters support Harris as the lesser of two evils?

Reflecting on this question, we at African Stream recall some wise words from Onyesonwu Chatoyer of @aaprpinternational and @hoodcommunist. In this video, she looks back at the Obama-legacy both in the United States and in Africa. One thing she says especially stands out: the reason why Barack Obama was able so successfully to expand US military operations across the African continent was because “if Bush had done it, we would never have allowed it. So they had to have someone that looked like us do it so we could rationalise it as just.”

The Obama-era serves as a powerful lesson that we must look back on now more than ever.

Continued……Does having leaders that resemble our friends, family and community members allow the empire to get away with even more harm? Are we less critical of politicians when they come from relatable cultural backgrounds? And if so, what does this mean for the upcoming election in which Kamala Harris is on the ballot?

If we use the Obama-era as reference, in case of a Harris win, we can anticipate that US imperialism targeting Africa may accelerate to an even higher level than before. Meanwhile, US domestic policies will continue to harm working-class Black communities within the US, as those who speak up will be told to keep quiet and celebrate Kamala’s “Black excellence” and “girl boss” identity.

This is why it is so important that we break away from this fixation on the lesser of two evils and begin to build global mass revolutionary Pan-African organisations that can bring about permanent transformation outside of the US electoral system.

What do you think, would a Kamala Harris presidency be similar to a Barack Obama presidency?

ANC NOT A LEFTIST PARTY

The African National Congress (ANC) garnered international attention and global popular support during the late 20th century for being one of the leading organisations fighting against the apartheid system in South Africa. But what is the party's legacy in 2024?

In this clip, Lunga Mantashe, a member of the Pan-African Congress of Azania (PAC)(@mypaconline), gives his perspective on the ANC. PAC split from the ANC in 1959 because it disagreed with the ANC’s position that "the land belongs to all who live in it, both White and Black.” For PAC, South Africa, or Azania as they refer to the country, belongs to the Indigenous African people.

While the ANC did produce some progressive and revolutionary leaders, since the time of the first ANC president, Nelson Mandela, the party has failed to adequately address the land question at the heart of dispossession and destitution for the African majority.

Continued….. White commercial farmers own about 50% of the land in South Africa, but White people make up only around 8% of the South African population. According to The Global Wealth Report 2024, released by Swiss bank UBS, South Africa is the most unequal country in the world. The World Bank goes further, saying that South Africa has the world’s greatest wealth disparity largely on racial lines.

As mentioned in the video, questions of inequality and poverty will persist under an ANC government, proving its centrist capacity to draw from both left- and right-wing forces. The ANC has recently entered into a coalition with the Democratic Alliance (DA), a majority-White party that is generally pro-West and pro-NATO in its foreign policy and which rejects real land reform, Black Economic Empowerment programmes and even the existence of a minimum wage.

Is Lunga Mantashe correct in his analysis of the ANC? Agree or disagree? Let us know why. Catch the full conversation on our YouTube channel under the noscript, ‘Is South Africa Falling for Xenophobia? Miss South Africa Competition Stirs Global Controversy.’

CAN PAIGC LIBERATE GUINEA-BISSAU AGAIN?

On 10th September 1974, Guinea-Bissau was finally recognised as a fully independent sovereign nation after a long armed struggle against the Portuguese colonisers. The revolutionary war was fought by the PAIGC - that is, the African Party for the Independence of Guinea-Bissau and Cape Verde. The PAIGC soon gained support from revolutionary and progressive-minded people around the world, especially thanks to its leader, Amílcar Cabral, who was also a brilliant Pan-African theorist and intellectual.