WHY IS U.S. AFRAID OF AFRICAN VOICES?

"If you bury the truth in the deepest depths of the ocean, one day it will swim its way out" - so goes an African proverb, and it applies to our platform, which has been suppressed by the US for speaking uncomfortable truths. African Stream has been exposing imperialism on the African continent while giving a voice to the rising revolutions in Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger.

On 13th September, African Stream was accused by the United States government of being a Russian influence op. Since then, it’s been banned on platforms such as Instagram, Facebook and YouTube. A country that claims to be a beacon of democracy is clamping down on freedom of speech because it doesn't align with its narrative. America's history of silencing anyone who doesn't toe the line is well known, from the CIA-backed assassination of Patrice Lumumba to the coup that overthrew the great Kwame Nkrumah.

Video credits: @_themerc

Continued... As content creator and activist, @_themerc puts it in this clip, the US will gag anyone who disseminates a narrative that goes against their policies and will label those who speak against imperialism extremists. America has always had something to hide, and anyone who attempts to reveal what will be punished.

TALES FROM THE SLAVE MASTER

In this clip from the BBC's Empire series, we are read excerpts from British slave owner Thomas Thistlewood's (1721-1786) diary, in which he recounts with pride the obscene and degrading tortures he inflicted on enslaved Africans.

Thistlewood, the second son of a tenant farmer from Tupholme, Lincolnshire, had "failed to establish himself as a farmer in his home district” and “had resolved to seek his fortune in the wider world." In February, 1750, he set out for Jamaica. He kept a very detailed diary of his life as a plantation owner and the cruelty he meted out.

Video credit: @BBC

Continued... Trevor Burnard’s book 'Mastery, Tyranny, and Desire: Thomas Thistlewood and His Slaves in the Anglo-Jamaican World' extensively examines Thistlewood's diary. He writes: "Thistlewood’s slaves were trapped in a dehumanising life of exhausting labour, debilitating disease, and demeaning social relationships; they were constantly tired, frequently frightened and subject to continual flux in their living and work arrangements."

In Britain today, Jamaicans, just like all Africans, are still looked down upon by some. Those known as the 'Windrush Generation,' who came to Britain as labourers to help rebuild the nation post-WW2, are still denied equal citizenship and have been wrongfully jailed or deported. Many Brits seem to be miseducated or uneducated about the savagery and brutality of slavery and why Africans, regardless of where they come from - on the continent or elsewhere - are owed restitution by Britain. The irony is that slave owners were compensated for the abolition of slavery, while those who were enslaved were not.

Thistlewood was just one among tens of thousand of British slave owners. Grim accounts such as his put so much in context.

Sources: https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/vast-scale-of-british-slave-ownership-revealed-10383768.html#

https://uncpress.org/book/9780807855256/mastery-tyranny-and-desire/

https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-43782241

https://jcwi.org.uk/reportsbriefings/windrush-scandal-explained/

'U.S. EMPIRE IN DECLINE, CHOOSE AFRICA'

We hear very often that only two options are on the table for Black voters in the United States: Kamala Harris or Donald Trump. But could other choices be available?

In this exclusive interview with African Stream, Onyesonwu Chatoyer, a member of @aaprpinternational (@aaprp on X) and @hoodcommunist, raises the possibility of organising for collective worldwide African liberation as a viable option beyond voting for Democratic or Republican candidates that ultimately work against the interests of the entire African diaspora, with drone strikes, police violence and Congolese child slavery being a few examples.

What Chatoyer lays out is in the tradition of many revolutionary Pan-Africanists, such as Malcolm X (1925-65) and Kwame Ture (1941-98), who worked tirelessly to organise African communities in the United States. Pan-Africanists advocate for a strong, unified African continent to protect Africans worldwide.

Continued... 'I'm not a Democrat. I'm not a Republican. And, I don't even consider myself an American,' said Malcolm X in his famous 'The Ballot or the Bullet' (3 April 1964) speech. At another moment, he said, 'Our hope is in a strong Africa. When Africa is strong, our position in America will be one of respect.'

A unified Pan-African state could issue sanctions or cut off trade with any country that harms the African diaspora. Malcolm X once explained this using the example of China, which the United States has made an enemy, allowing Sinophobic racism to rise in the US. However, US police forces would not be able to get away with massacring Chinese people because China could retaliate.

What do you think of Chatoyer's position? Let us know in the comments below.

Sources

http://www.edchange.org/multicultural/speeches/malcolm_x_ballot.html

https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=445989550009026

This Wednesday's Wisdom is from the great pan-africanist and founder of the Universal Negro Improvement Association and African Communities League, Marcus Garvey.

Divide and conquer was a colonial tactic employed by the colonial imperialists to allow for the subordination of Africans en-masse. This tactic continues to be employed today in attempts to disenfranchise the union of African people globally.

In the anti-colonialism, anti-neocolonialism and anti-imperialism struggles, it is imperative we understand what the Honourable Marcus Garvey taught - that recognition of the necessity of African union across continents is parallel to African liberation, not optional to it. No African is free, until all Africans are free.

Continued... One of Sudan's most lucrative resource - gold - has also played a crucial role in this exploitation. Sudan is among the top gold producers in Africa, yet much of its wealth is siphoned off through illegal smuggling.

Estimates by Sudan’s Central Bank suggest that up to 70% of the country’s gold is smuggled out, enriching international markets while depriving Sudan of its rightful economic benefits. This covert flow of resources ties directly to the muted global response to Sudan’s struggles, as various powers benefit from the ongoing chaos. Despite its vast natural resources, Sudan remains vulnerable, not because of inherent poverty but due to sustained international exploitation.

Sources:

https://www.dabangasudan.org/en/all-news/article/gold-export-bank-of-sudan-announces-stiffer-control-measures

https://sudantribune.com/article50086/

https://adf-magazine.com/2024/02/smuggled-gold-fuels-war-in-sudan-u-n-says/

https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/uae-receives-most-africas-smuggled-gold-says-report

https://edition.cnn.com/2023/04/26/africa/sudan-generals-west-democratic-transition-intl/index.html

https://adf-magazine.com/2022/12/russia-uses-wagner-to-plunder-sudans-gold/

SUDAN IS BEING EXPLOITED

In this video, the founder of the Sudan Updates Instagram page, Ameen Mekki - speaking to the @mediastormpod - explains how Sudan's exploitation by global powers runs deeper than the ongoing conflict between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) paramilitary. International involvement has shaped the country’s political landscape for years, as key military figures were legitimised by Western nations such as the UK and also regional powers such as Egypt and the UAE.

This endorsement came even as local protesters, demanding the end of military rule in 2019, were overlooked by the international community. This selective recognition allowed external powers to maintain ties with Sudan’s leadership, prioritising strategic interests over the will of the Sudanese people.

Video credit: @mediastormpod (Instagram)

Continued... But, Western powers are not happy about this revolutionary turn of events in Africa. For example, in May, just a few months after Niger tore up a military cooperation agreement with the United States and a few weeks before the US agreed to leave Niger by 15 September, Republican US Congressmember Matt Gaetz called for the US to invade the country. While nothing of the like unfolded, it does not mean that US regime-change tactics are off the table.

To watch the complete episode, check out ‘US, Ukraine, France Failed Coup In Burkina Faso | The West Is Trying To Destabilize AES’ on our Rumble, Patreon and Twitter accounts.

Source:

https://www.af.mil/News/Article-Display/Article/3863464/us-completes-withdrawal-from-ab-201/#:~:text=The%20U.S.%20military%20completed%20its,both%20U.S.%20and%20Nigerien%20forces.

REACTION: U.S. CONGRESSMAN CALLS TO INVADE NIGER

Africans everywhere have a responsibility to defend Niger at this moment. Why so? Well, Niger is the first African country to expel US Africa Command (AFRICOM) and to forge a sovereign path with two neighbours, Burkina Faso and Mali. The three countries recently ousted Western-aligned leaders and booted the French military. They also make up the Alliance of Sahel States (AES) confederation. This new anti-imperialist bloc shares defence, economic and foreign policies, and has agreed to issue a joint passport.

In this clip from a recent episode of ‘This Week in Africa,’ African Stream’s livestream collaboration with @authentic_african, Inemesit Richardson says Africans around the world must fight to defend the AES, as they have placed their hopes in the decolonial revolutionary process underway in Africa’s Sahel, an arid region south of the Sahara Desert.

THE BLACK PANTHERS: THUGS OR REVOLUTIONARIES?

Mainstream narratives tend to portray the Black Panthers as thugs championing no meaningful ideology, who stood for and advocated for nothing but violence.

This narrative is one that has been challenged critically by members of the Black community and scholars, who have written extensively on, and spoken of, the Black Panther Party's community work.

In this clip, Xavier Buck (@historyin3 on TikTok) - executive director at the Dr. Huey P. Newton Foundation and all round Black history content producer - enlightens us on the BPP Community Survival Programs, which sought to provide much needed services for the marginalised and impoverished Black community.

The Black Panthers had at least 65 programmes, including to feed the hungry, to keep the elderly safe, to empower and provide mentorship to young people and to create better housing conditions.

Video credit: @historyin3 (TikTok)

Continued... As Bobby Seale, one of the founders of the BPP noted in a 2001 interview with the Las Vegas Sun, contrary to the portrayal of the Black Panthers as a violent hate group, "we were students. We were avid readers. We were researchers. We were serious," adding that their "philosophy was about empowering the people."

These survival programmes only support his statements.

Let us know in the comments what you think Black people globally today can learn from the BPP Survival Programs!

Sources:

https://www.thriftbooks.com/w/the-black-panther-party-service-to-the-people-programs_huey-p-newton-foundation/1523466/

https://www.pbs.org/hueypnewton/actions/actions_survival.html

https://practice.malvinharrison.com/survival-programs/

https://bppaln.org/programs

https://nmaahc.si.edu/explore/stories/black-panther-party-challenging-police-and-promoting-social-change

https://iphistoryproject.org/resources/bpp-community-survival-programs/

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3222490/

https://www.urban.org/sites/default/files/2024-01/Implications%20of%20Housing%20Conditions%20for%20Racial%20Wealth%20and%20Health%20Disparities_0.pdf

https://www.huduser.gov/portal/sites/default/files/pdf/Worst-Case-Housing-Needs-2021.pdf

https://lasvegassun.com/news/2001/feb/24/seale-black-panthers-wrongly-tagged-as-hoodlums-th/

https://thefederalist.com/2019/01/21/black-panthers-murderous-thugs-dont-deserve-public-accolades/

https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.2979/spectrum.5.1.02#:~:text=Popular%20and%20scholarly%20narratives%20of,thugs%20remain%20central%20to%20that