Continued…. According to data from UNCTAD, the problem is especially bad in Nigeria, with billion leaving annually - billions that could have been invested into the country’s economic development. This week’s Facts of the Week explore how key sectors of Nigeria’s economy are being used to funnel wealth out of the country.
👍3
Media is too big
VIEW IN TELEGRAM
AFRICANS’ ARMED STRUGGLE IN COLOMBIA
At first glance, footage of the conflict in Colombia could easily be mistaken for fighting in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. That’s because Africans have swollen the ranks of armed revolutionary groups in the South American country, despite making up only seven per cent of the population.
Many feel driven to fight for a better life after struggling to survive in some of the poorest and most marginalised communities in Colombia. Fighting in the country has raged for nearly sixty years. Social injustice and vast inequality are among the factors fuelling it, and latest government attempts to hold peace talks with guerrilla groups have failed.
In this report, we hear first-hand from those who’ve fought.
At first glance, footage of the conflict in Colombia could easily be mistaken for fighting in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. That’s because Africans have swollen the ranks of armed revolutionary groups in the South American country, despite making up only seven per cent of the population.
Many feel driven to fight for a better life after struggling to survive in some of the poorest and most marginalised communities in Colombia. Fighting in the country has raged for nearly sixty years. Social injustice and vast inequality are among the factors fuelling it, and latest government attempts to hold peace talks with guerrilla groups have failed.
In this report, we hear first-hand from those who’ve fought.
👏7👍3😢1
This media is not supported in your browser
VIEW IN TELEGRAM
BLACK HAIR COMPARISON: LONDON VS NAIROBI
The African diaspora faces many challenges and getting a haircut is one of them. There’s simply a lack of expertise outside the continent when it comes to cutting Black hair. And if you do find a stylist you like, it can cost a small fortune. In fact, it can cost ten times more than in the motherland!
Don’t believe it? Watch us follow two girls getting their hair braided in London and Nairobi. And the price difference is enough to make your hair stand on end! Talk about getting rinsed; black women in the UK also fork out three times as much as White females when it comes to hair care.
If you need one more reason to return home to the continent, this could be it) Miss Phyll cuts to the chase.
The African diaspora faces many challenges and getting a haircut is one of them. There’s simply a lack of expertise outside the continent when it comes to cutting Black hair. And if you do find a stylist you like, it can cost a small fortune. In fact, it can cost ten times more than in the motherland!
Don’t believe it? Watch us follow two girls getting their hair braided in London and Nairobi. And the price difference is enough to make your hair stand on end! Talk about getting rinsed; black women in the UK also fork out three times as much as White females when it comes to hair care.
If you need one more reason to return home to the continent, this could be it) Miss Phyll cuts to the chase.
👍5
This week’s proverb from Kenya tells us to appreciate our unique and individual paths and not to follow the crowd. An acquaintance, friend or family member may be running away to avoid a difficult situation or problem that is specific to them. It does not mean that problem or situation is applicable to you.
👍11❤6💯1
This media is not supported in your browser
VIEW IN TELEGRAM
WHITEWASHING IN HOLLYWOOD
Many have criticised Hollywood for years for casting white actors in non-white roles, a practice known as whitewashing.
Yet, some are upset a Black woman, Halle Bailey, played the main red-haired character, Ariel, in the 2023 big-screen iteration of 'The Little Mermaid.'
In this 2022 clip, US TV personality and news anchor Demetria Obilor (@demetriaobilor on X) lists examples of whitewashing, citing actors like Christian Bale, who played Moses; Scarlett Johansson, who played a Japanese anime character; and Laurence Olivier, who played Othello in Blackface.
Also take the case of ‘Gods of Egypt,’ a film set in ancient times. Most of the cast was European, including Scottish actor Gerard Butler and Danish actor Nikolaj Coster-Waldau. Filmmakers sidelined African actors, even though Egypt has a diverse historical tapestry going back millennia.
Video credit: @demetriaobilor (X)
Many have criticised Hollywood for years for casting white actors in non-white roles, a practice known as whitewashing.
Yet, some are upset a Black woman, Halle Bailey, played the main red-haired character, Ariel, in the 2023 big-screen iteration of 'The Little Mermaid.'
In this 2022 clip, US TV personality and news anchor Demetria Obilor (@demetriaobilor on X) lists examples of whitewashing, citing actors like Christian Bale, who played Moses; Scarlett Johansson, who played a Japanese anime character; and Laurence Olivier, who played Othello in Blackface.
Also take the case of ‘Gods of Egypt,’ a film set in ancient times. Most of the cast was European, including Scottish actor Gerard Butler and Danish actor Nikolaj Coster-Waldau. Filmmakers sidelined African actors, even though Egypt has a diverse historical tapestry going back millennia.
Video credit: @demetriaobilor (X)
👍4❤3
Coninued... The film industry shifting toward authentic casting could enrich storytelling with diverse perspectives. Is Hollywood getting better at this, both in front of and behind the camera? Or are we better off building our own film industries? Let us know in the comments.
🤬3
Media is too big
VIEW IN TELEGRAM
ZAIRE HORTON: A TEEN PILOT
Zaire Horton was 16 when he piloted an aeroplane by himself in 2022 for a two-hour flight.
In this video clip, the teenager showed himself flying in the company of his teddy bear from Chicago to Ohio, as part of an effort to visit seven historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs).
'I'm grown,' the private aeroplane and glider pilot said. 'I can't believe that I'm actually doing this, you know.'
Many people took to his comment section to praise him. 'Showed my 5-year-old this video,' one commenter wrote. 'He says you're a superhero.'
Do you consider this video a compelling counter-narrative to the historical and systemic racism that has sought to diminish our people's achievements? Let us know in the comments.
Video credit: @life_of_zaire
Zaire Horton was 16 when he piloted an aeroplane by himself in 2022 for a two-hour flight.
In this video clip, the teenager showed himself flying in the company of his teddy bear from Chicago to Ohio, as part of an effort to visit seven historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs).
'I'm grown,' the private aeroplane and glider pilot said. 'I can't believe that I'm actually doing this, you know.'
Many people took to his comment section to praise him. 'Showed my 5-year-old this video,' one commenter wrote. 'He says you're a superhero.'
Do you consider this video a compelling counter-narrative to the historical and systemic racism that has sought to diminish our people's achievements? Let us know in the comments.
Video credit: @life_of_zaire
🔥4👍2
ON THE FENCE: WHO DID IT BETTER, JAMES E. J. OR DENZEL W.?
We recently posted a powerful performance by the great James Earl Jones to mark his passing - his 1987 delivery of the role of Troy Maxson, a Pittsburgh worker who struggles to provide for his family, in the Broadway hit Fences. The post got a lot of love and started a lively debate in the comments regarding another great actor who did the role in 2011, also on Broadway: Denzel Washington.
Denzel's rendition is very different, one that - unlike James’ - even gets some laughs out of the audience. Swipe through and have a watch - and if you need reminding, swipe on further to James’ version. Both performances are amazing and really it is not a question of better, but of different, styles of acting.
Video credits:
@FencesBroadway (Cort Theatre, New York)
@Playbill (46th Street Theatre, New York)
We recently posted a powerful performance by the great James Earl Jones to mark his passing - his 1987 delivery of the role of Troy Maxson, a Pittsburgh worker who struggles to provide for his family, in the Broadway hit Fences. The post got a lot of love and started a lively debate in the comments regarding another great actor who did the role in 2011, also on Broadway: Denzel Washington.
Denzel's rendition is very different, one that - unlike James’ - even gets some laughs out of the audience. Swipe through and have a watch - and if you need reminding, swipe on further to James’ version. Both performances are amazing and really it is not a question of better, but of different, styles of acting.
Video credits:
@FencesBroadway (Cort Theatre, New York)
@Playbill (46th Street Theatre, New York)
❤5👍2👏1
ISRAEL RECRUITING AFRICANS TO FIGHT IN GAZA
Israel has reportedly been recruiting African asylum seekers to participate in the massacre in Gaza, offering potential paths to permanent residency in exchange for joining military operations. But while the carrot of legal status has been dangled, apparently none of those who’ve signed up have yet received it.
Critics have accused the government of exploiting vulnerable individuals who have fled their home countries. There are also concerns about inadequate training - with some Africans allegedly getting only two weeks’ worth before being deployed.
30,000 African asylum seekers reside in Israel, mostly Sudanese and Eritrean. They face discrimination and racism in the country, whose government is strongly anti-immigrant. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in 2018 said the ‘flood’ of African migrants was a bigger threat than that posed by terrorists in the Sinai peninsula.
What are your thoughts on this?
Israel has reportedly been recruiting African asylum seekers to participate in the massacre in Gaza, offering potential paths to permanent residency in exchange for joining military operations. But while the carrot of legal status has been dangled, apparently none of those who’ve signed up have yet received it.
Critics have accused the government of exploiting vulnerable individuals who have fled their home countries. There are also concerns about inadequate training - with some Africans allegedly getting only two weeks’ worth before being deployed.
30,000 African asylum seekers reside in Israel, mostly Sudanese and Eritrean. They face discrimination and racism in the country, whose government is strongly anti-immigrant. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in 2018 said the ‘flood’ of African migrants was a bigger threat than that posed by terrorists in the Sinai peninsula.
What are your thoughts on this?
🤬5😱3😈3💩2❤1👍1
Media is too big
VIEW IN TELEGRAM
BUTCH WARE: 'ZIONISM IS A WHITE SUPREMACIST MOVEMENT'
Are you familiar with Black and Pan-African solidarity with Palestine?
According to Butch Ware (@butchware), a history professor at the University of California, Santa Barbara, this solidarity did not start with the current war on Gaza, nor with Israel’s siege of the Gaza Strip beginning in 2005, nor with the multiple Arab-Israeli wars in the mid-20th century, nor with the 1948 Nakba that forced 750,000 Palestinians off the land to make way for the state of Israel.
In this clip, he says many of our ancestors had already concluded in the late 19th century that Zionism, a political ideology that some say hijacks Judaism to justify settler-colonialism, is a White supremacist movement that European imperialists back.
Ware has joined US presidential hopeful Jill Stein as her running mate for the Green party - an alternative to the Republican-Democrat duopoly.
Are you familiar with Black and Pan-African solidarity with Palestine?
According to Butch Ware (@butchware), a history professor at the University of California, Santa Barbara, this solidarity did not start with the current war on Gaza, nor with Israel’s siege of the Gaza Strip beginning in 2005, nor with the multiple Arab-Israeli wars in the mid-20th century, nor with the 1948 Nakba that forced 750,000 Palestinians off the land to make way for the state of Israel.
In this clip, he says many of our ancestors had already concluded in the late 19th century that Zionism, a political ideology that some say hijacks Judaism to justify settler-colonialism, is a White supremacist movement that European imperialists back.
Ware has joined US presidential hopeful Jill Stein as her running mate for the Green party - an alternative to the Republican-Democrat duopoly.
❤8👍4
Continued... Their platform includes progressive policies, such as pushing for a ceasefire in Gaza and reparations to Black people in the US.
Ware says Black anti-Zionism is born out of a deep-rooted sense of revolutionary solidarity against the White-supremacist ethnic cleansing of an indigenous Brown population.
What do you think of his argument? Let us know in the comments.
Ware says Black anti-Zionism is born out of a deep-rooted sense of revolutionary solidarity against the White-supremacist ethnic cleansing of an indigenous Brown population.
What do you think of his argument? Let us know in the comments.
❤8
OVER 260 WOMEN RAPED DURING CONGO PRISON BREAK
An internal UN report on the attempted prison escape from Makala prison in the Democratic Republic of Congo earlier this month reveals that more than 260 female inmates were sexually assaulted in the ensuing chaos.
The report also records that 17 of these women were under the age of 19. Many of the women were raped by more than one person and, in one case, a woman said she was raped by at least a dozen men.
Post-rape kits and emergency contraception were provided to all the women within 72 hours.
On 2nd September, prison guards opened fire on inmates attempting to escape Makala prison, killing at least 129 people. The mayhem spread over to the women’s block, where sexual assaults took place.
In the wake of the rapes and deaths, Congolese president Félix Tshisekedi called for investigations and a special inquiry commission has been established.
An internal UN report on the attempted prison escape from Makala prison in the Democratic Republic of Congo earlier this month reveals that more than 260 female inmates were sexually assaulted in the ensuing chaos.
The report also records that 17 of these women were under the age of 19. Many of the women were raped by more than one person and, in one case, a woman said she was raped by at least a dozen men.
Post-rape kits and emergency contraception were provided to all the women within 72 hours.
On 2nd September, prison guards opened fire on inmates attempting to escape Makala prison, killing at least 129 people. The mayhem spread over to the women’s block, where sexual assaults took place.
In the wake of the rapes and deaths, Congolese president Félix Tshisekedi called for investigations and a special inquiry commission has been established.
🤬5❤1👍1