CHEPTEGEI M*RDER SUSPECT DIES OF BURNS

Ugandan marathon runner Rebecca Cheptegei’s ex-boyfriend and alleged attacker has now also died. According to the Kenyan hospital that was treating Dickson Ndiema, he suffered respiratory failure due to severe airway burns and sepsis - injuries he sustained after allegedly dousing Cheptegei in petrol and setting her on fire.

The attack happened 1 September in Kenya. It apparently occurred following a disagreement over a piece of land. Cheptegei suffered 80% burns, Ndiema 30%. Cheptegei died days later in hospital from multiple organ failure. Her father, Joseph Cheptegei, on hearing of Ndiema’s subsequent death, reportedly said, “We consider his case as justice delivered.”

Continued……. Rebecca Cheptegei‘s death shocked, angered and saddened. Tributes for the athlete poured in from around the world, as did condemnation of the atrocity carried out against her.

Violence against women in Kenya shot up at the beginning of the year, which sparked anti-femicide protests in Nairobi calling for immediate action. According to Africa Data Hub, there have been over 500 reported femicide cases in the country between 2016 and 2023.

Cheptegei is the third athlete since 2021 in Kenya to lose her life to femicide. Two other runners, Kenyan Agnes Tirop and Kenyan-born Damaris Mutua, were killed in domestic violence incidents.

Mali recently joined its neighbour, Burkina Faso, in suspending the French media outlet TV5Monde. According to the Malian government, the outlet will be suspended for three months after it reported that Malian armed forces k*lled 15 civilians on 25 August with a drone strike. Mali refuted the story and suspended TV5Monde for not providing journalistic 'balance' by reporting the government's perspective. Meanwhile, the news outlet said it reported the government's account of the situation on the following day, 26 August.

Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger have accused French and other Western media outlets of spreading false information since all three ousted Western-aligned leaders through successful military coups d’état.

Civilians have protested these media outlets for attempting to discredit and destabilise the Alliance of Sahel States (AES).

Continued……The AES is a confederation between Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger formed on 6 July after the three countries expelled French military forces. Now, the countries collaborate on security and defence, education, diplomacy, economic policies and other areas.

Mali permanently suspended French-state owned media outlets France 24 and Radio France International (RFI) in 2022. A few weeks ago, on 23 August, Mali suspended French media outlet La Chaîne Info (LCI) for two months. 

Other AES countries, Burkina Faso and Niger, have also indefinitely suspended RFI and France24 in recent years. Plus, Burkina Faso suspended TV5Monde for a six-month period starting in June.

TRUMP’S ‘PET HATE’: BEING FACT-CHECKED!

Donald Trump maliciously spread outlandish claims about Haitian immigrants to millions watching his debate with fellow presidential hopeful Kamala Harris. He alleged, without evidence, that Caribbean newcomers residing in Springfield, Ohio were stealing and eating local pets.

Thankfully, ABC’s co-moderator David Muir was on the ball and called the ex-president out - noting that the top Springfield official said there had been no reports of pets being harmed, injured or abused by the city’s immigrants.

Trump’s baseless claim fits into a long history of anti-Haitian attitudes in the US. Worse, it could put Haitians in the US in danger, with racists emboldened by his words.

Continued……Despite Washington’s role in destabilising Haiti through coups, installed dictatorship and economic subjugation, the US political class is never shy to scapegoat Haitians migrating to the US to escape the instability in their native country.

Across Republican and Democrat administrations, Haitians have been a prime target of US migration policies. A public health rule called Title 42 has been used to swiftly remove migrants, particularly Haitians, found at the US-Mexico border. Metering has seen those seeking asylum at the border put on a waitlist and told to remain in Mexico until it’s their ‘turn’ to begin the asylum process. This is nothing new: presidents such as Democrat Jimmy Carter and Republican Ronald Reagan subjected Haitian immigrants to special procedures that saw them detained and fast-tracked for deportation.

Video credits: @C-SPAN 2, @NBC

S.AFRICA WILL ‘PROVE’ ISRAEL COMMITTING  G*NOCIDE

South Africa has vowed to press ahead with its g*nocide case against Israel at the International Court of Justice (ICJ). And it says it’s got facts that prove Israel is committing war crimes in Palestine.

President Cyril Ramaphosa’s spokesperson, Vincent Magwenya, also said Pretoria will hand the evidence to the UN’s top court by October 2024. He made the statement after claims in ‘some quarters’ South Africa was planning to drop its lawsuit.

The case, initiated in December, has garnered global support, with countries including Libya, Spain, and Mexico joining proceedings. It saw the ICJ order Israel to take steps to prevent g*nocide, but the massacres in Gaza continue, with tens of thousands of Palestinians k*lled and millions displaced.

Continued……Israel denies the accusations and has launched a diplomatic campaign to pressure South Africa to back down. According to US news outlet Axios, a leaked cable revealed Israeli diplomats have been instructed to lobby US lawmakers and Jewish organisations to lean on Pretoria, warning it will face ‘consequences’.

It follows reports that Israel had allegedly threatened Fatou Bensouda, while she was the International Criminal Court’s Chief Prosecutor. In 2021 she opened a formal investigation into claims of war crimes in Palestinian territories.

Earlier this week, the ICC’s Chief Prosecutor, Karim Khan, called for urgent arrest warrants for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Defense Minister Yoav Gallant and Hamas leaders Yahya Sinwar and Mohammed Deif.

‘DON’T VOTE FOR GEN*CIDE, HOLD THE LINE’

Hold the line and don’t vote for g*nocide. That’s what Sabrina Salvati recently argued on the ‘Bad Faith’ podcast.

The podcaster (@SabbySabs2) and member of Revolutionary Blackout Network (@revblacknetwork) argued that if left-leaning voters had organised to build an independent party rather than backing Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton in 2016, perhaps that could have changed the duopoly that defines U.S. politics today, where presidential elections are a contest on who is the ‘lesser of two evils’ candidate. Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris asks voters who question her record over Palestine if they want Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump in office. At the same time, Trump tries to scare voters by inaccurately describing Harris as a Marxist.

Continued……Fearmongering on both sides is what the US ruling class is forcing people to choose between in the 2024 presidential election coming up in November. Meanwhile, progressive and socialist candidates offering real solutions to people’s everyday problems while advocating to end aggressive U.S. imperialist policies abroad and its support for pariah states like Israel barely get mainstream media coverage and are barred from televised debates.

What do you think? Is there hope in the US breaking away from the duopoly of Republicans vs Democrats? Can there really be a third-party option that can alter the direction of US imperialism without the billions of dollars that both Democrats and Republicans raise through their connections to Wall Street and domestic and foreign lobby groups? According to OpenSecrets’ in 2020, Trump’s campaign raised $774 million, while Biden’s campaign became the first to raise over $1 billion from donors. Can third parties compete when Democratic and Republican candidates spend that money?

Video credit: @badfaithpod (X) @briebriejoy (X)

‘I’M NOT A KIDNAPPER’ - HAITI’S JIMMY ‘BARBECUE’ CHÉRIZIER

Former Haitian police officer Jimmy ‘Barbecue’ Chérizier, the head of G9 Family and Allies, has become the face of the Caribbean state’s gang violence, thanks to international media plastering him on their front pages. The 47-year-old faces accusations of human rights violations, including k*llings and r*pe.

In this clip from an exclusive interview with African Stream’s freelance journalist Maud-Salomé Ekila (@ekilaaa on IG and X), Chérizier responded to the allegations.

If you’d like to hear more, you can watch the whole conversation on our YouTube channel. It is by no means a softball interview.

In the meantime, let us know in the comments what you make of Barbecue. Are you convinced by his answers?

‘WHITE K*LLER PREFERABLE’ - GRIEVING DAD DENOUNCES TRUMP

There’s perhaps no greater pain than the loss of a child, but for the Clark family of Springfield, Ohio, mudslinging by right-wing Trump supporters in the run-up to the US presidential election has added to their grief.

Social media users took issue with Nathan Clark wishing at a public hearing that his 11-year-old son, Aiden, had been ‘k*lled by a 60-year-old white man.’ Instead, a Haitian immigrant named Hermanio Joseph drove a minivan that crashed into a school bus that Aiden rode, k*lling him on 22 August 2023 and injuring other children.

Unfortunately, political figures like Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump have weaponised the situation against immigrants in the lead-up to the November presidential election, part of a larger trend of demonising immigrants from the Global South, particularly immigrants from Haiti.

Continued……. Trump’s running mate, JD Vance, referred to Aiden in a post on X, saying, ‘a child was murdered by a Haitian migrant.’

Clark asked politicians to stop exploiting the tragedy, which only makes it more painful for his family.

What do you think of Clark’s comments? And what do you think about how race and immigration status have been weaponised in the US political arena, particularly by Trump’s camp and their supporters? Let us know in the comments.

IS THE NFL ‘PLANTATION CAPITALISM’?

Another NFL season has got underway, with one statistic remaining the same. Despite around 70 per cent of players being Black, there’s not a single Black principal owner of any NFL side.

Overall, the majority of NFL owners are White, with a couple of notable exceptions, as of 2023. The owner of the Jacksonville Jaguars, who has Pakistani heritage, and the co-owner of the Buffalo Bills, who has Korean heritage.

In this clip, Former NFL star, Anthony Prior, argues it’s a moral issue that needs to be addressed. He points out before World War II, the all-White NFL didn’t want any Black players. Since then, Black stars have turned it into a billion-dollar industry, although they still don’t have a ‘voice’ in the game. As far as Prior is concerned, all the power remains at the top, where White NFL owners dominate and enjoy guaranteed profits without ‘a fan going into the stadium [to see them]’

Continued……He made the speech in 2007, but he’s not alone. A similar accusation made headlines in 2022 when Brian Flores, a Black coach, filed a racial discrimination lawsuit against multiple teams and the NFL, likening the professional football league to a plantation that exploits Black labour. His case said the NFL’s ’32 owners — none of whom are Black — profit substantially from the labour of NFL players, 70% of whom are Black.’

The Miami Dolphins fired Flores after three seasons. Since then, he’s failed to land another head coaching job and is currently defensive co-ordinator for the Minnesota Vikings. His legal case is ongoing.

And then there’s Colin Kaepernick, who couldn’t find a NFL club and alleged NFL owners refused to sign him after he parted ways with the 49ers in 2016. He filed a lawsuit against the NFL, arguing the league’s owners blackballed him because he’d protested racial injustice and police brutality. It ended with an undisclosed settlement.

Video credit: Socialism Conference in Chicago, May 2007

‘AMERICA IS THE BIGGEST GANG IN THE WORLD’

On this date, September 13, 1971, legendary rapper Tupac died six days after he was shot in Las Vegas in the United States.

Also known by his stage names Makaveli and 2Pac, Tupac was a politically conscious artist, and some say his political education began in the womb.

His mother, Afeni Shakur, was a former Black Panther Party member. And when her son turned a year old, she named him Tupac Amaru Shakur, after the 18th-century Peruvian revolutionary Túpac Amaru II.

Continued………In this clip, Tupac eloquently draws parallels between US foreign policy and the gang mentality prevalent on America's streets. His unique perspective sheds light on the aggressive nature of US interventions, whether it's in Cuba in the late 1950s and early 60s to Yugoslavia in the 1990s, where war was raging when this interview took place. Since then, the US has continued its pattern of interventions, including the invasion and destruction of Libya in 2011.

Tupac was more than a hip-hop hero; he was an activist dedicated to African liberation in America. And his way of speaking resonated with millions.

Does his view of US foreign policy strike a chord with you? Have a listen and share with us.

SWIMMING IN THE SAHARA

Torrential downpours have been wreaking havoc across southern Morocco - destroying homes and reportedly claiming at least 18 lives. The freak weather has, however, also created an unusual - and beautiful - phenomenon in the country’s Saharan regions: lakes in the desert.

Instagram travel guru @barefoottripsmorocco posted this video of himself taking a refreshing plunge amidst the arid dunes - calling the rains a blessing.

Interestingly, scientists think the Sahara actually used to be full of water - in the form of rivers flowing through woodlands teeming with life. That was some 5,000-11,000 years ago though!

Would you like a swim in the Sahara?

Video credit: @barefoottripsmorocco (Instagram)

TUPAC: SISTERS, KEEP YA HEAD UP

The great Tupac Shakur - rapper, actor, and activist - died on this day, 13th September, in 1996.

There’s no better tribute to the legendary rapper than his own music. In this clip, he delivers an ‘unplugged’ rendition of his classic ‘Keep Ya Head Up’ - performed in the intimate setting of a classroom of students.

And what an education the lyrics are. The song’s message - about respect for women and female empowerment - still packs a punch.

Tupac was a master at articulating the struggles of his community, particularly the marginalised Black people in America.

An authentic music revolutionary, he deserves to be remembered not just for his controversial death but also celebrated for his life and the passion of his powerful lyrics.

Rest in power, brother!

Video credit: @Adzmoose (YouTube)

ISRAELI PODCAST DEMANDS GAZA ‘CLEANSED’

There’s outrage over a shocking Israeli podcast that called for Gaza to be ‘cleansed.’ Hosts from the inappropriately named ‘Two Nice Jewish Guys’ channel have now made their YouTube video private, but not before it went viral.

During the chilling discussion, host Eytan Weinstein says, ‘There needs to be no Palestinians left in there. And we need to re-inhabit it with Jews.’

He and his co-host Naor Meningher have faced a massive backlash online and calls for Apple and Youtube to ban their show. However, it’s still available and boasts to be Israel’s longest-running English-language podcast. They’ve also championed the sexual abuse of Palestinian prisoners.

Such horrific rhetoric mirrors that of some Israeli politicians who’ve advocated for genocidal destruction and for the rape of detained Palestinians by Israeli soldiers.

A word of warning, this clip is extremely offensive.

Video credits: Two Nice Jewish Boys