ASSANGE: 'CIA SPIED ON MY FAMILY'

The US has long promoted itself as a beacon of democracy and free speech. However, when WikiLeaks exposed US crimes, such as k*lling civilians, mass surveillance and compromising internet security, the United States spent years trying to extradite WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange on espionage charges, even though he's not a US citizen.

The 53-year-old Australian citizen spent more than five years in Belmarsh Prison in London after taking refuge for almost seven years in the Ecuadorian embassy in London.

After pleading guilty in June to one count of breaching the US Espionage Act in a court in the US colony of Northern Mariana Islands, he returned to Australia.

In this 1 October video from his first public appearance, Assange explained the CIA sought retribution for the embarrassing leaks. Tactics included hacking, theft, assassination plans and spying on Assange's family, including trying to obtain DNA samples from his 6-month-old son's diaper.

Continued......If not for Wikileaks, Africans wouldn't have known about the US spying on African leaders at the UN or how a complex financial operation looted Kenya of a reported $1.4 billion benefitting several foreign firms while President Daniel arap Moi (1924-2020) was president between 1978-2002.

Have a watch, and let us know what you think.

SOURCES:

Sources.
Wikileaks exposes Apache pilots
https://wikileaks.org/wiki/Collateral_Murder,_5_Apr_2010

CIA compromised supply chains
https://wikileaks.org/ciav7p1

Assange in Belmarsh
https://www.thenation.com/article/activism/julian-assange-wikileaks-belmarsh-prison

Assange in Ecuadorian embassy
https://www.pbs.org/newshour/world/timeline-of-the-julian-assange-legal-saga-as-he-makes-a-final-bid-to-avoid-extradition-to-the-u-s

US spying on African leaders at UN
https://www.voanews.com/a/wikileaks-revelations-could-have-serious-consequences-for-africa-says-analyst--111603274/157029.html

Wikileaks exposes Moi
https://wikileaks.org/plusd/cables/06NAIROBI607_a.html

Assange timeline
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-11949341

Kenyan looting
https://wikileaks.org/plusd/cables/06NAIROBI607_a.html

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/7871697.stm

https://www.africafiles.org/article_id-10731-thisurl-_kenya_asp-urlname-kenya.html

Continued........Sources
News of transfer
https://apnews.com/article/uk-mauritius-chagos-diego-garcia-base-37d13bf54f9769f3621bd41d08a448f8

US UK plans to keep Chagos islands.
https://wikileaks.org/plusd/cables/09LONDON1156_a.html

Conservatives oppose the transfer
https://apnews.com/article/uk-mauritius-chagos-diego-garcia-base-37d13bf54f9769f3621bd41d08a448f8

The National Bureau of Economic Research has released a report revealing that Black mothers-to-be in the US are 25% more likely to undergo an unnecessary C-section, thereby exposing them to risks such as ruptured surgical wounds and other post-operation complications, even when they did not require the C-section in the first place. The study looked at one-million births across 68 hospitals in New Jersey.

Additionally, operations on Black expectant mothers are more likely to happen when hospitals have no scheduled C-sections, meaning their operating rooms are sitting empty. Researchers say this suggests that racial bias paired with financial incentives played a role in doctors’ decision-making.

Continued….. According to the World Health Organization, planned and unplanned C-sections account for roughly 1 in 3 births in the US, well above the 10-15% recommended target rate. The new research suggests these figures include a disproportionate number of Black women.

Black women may feel less empowered to push back against the suggestion of a C-section when their labour is not progressing - or, when they do push back, they may be less likely to have their concerns taken seriously.

Studies have shown that Black women are less likely to be taken seriously during an emergency, and this has contributed to high mortality rates in childbirth. For instance, in 2022, there were approximately 22 maternal deaths for every 100,000 live births in the United States. However, for Black individuals, this number rose sharply to 49.5 deaths per 100,000, according to independent research commissioned by the Commonwealth Fund.

SOURCES:

https://www.nber.org/papers/w32891

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/09/10/health/cesarean-sections-black-women.html


https://www.nytimes.com/2023/05/06/upshot/black-births-maternal-mortality.html

https://iris.who.int/bitstream/handle/10665/161442/WHO_RHR_15.02_eng.pdf;jsessionid=633CA027FBE695305842402DFE882A33?sequence=1

https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2024/06/04/us-maternal-mortality-rate-higher-other-countries/

TRUMP ADMITS TO WORKING FOR PRO-ISRAEL DONORS

Comedian Jimmy Dore (@jimmy_dore) was shocked out how freely former US President Donald Trump discussed doing favours for pro-Israel donors, especially given how it goes unpunished in a country that has laws against working for foreign states.

US law disallows people advocating on behalf of foreign states, so we wonder why Trump and his Zi*nist billionaire donors, Sheldon and Miriam Adelson, aren't being called out. For example, the US government saw no problem forcing Chinese television network CGTN and Russian television network RT to register as 'foreign agents.'

It is not just a Republican problem, as the Israeli onslaught against Palestinians in Gaza is happening under a Democratic Party president, Joe Biden, himself the top recipient of the pro-Israel donations.

Continued......US support for Israel has come at the expense of US citizens and the internal colony of descendants of enslaved Africans, too. The country suffers from crumbling infrastructure, more than a half-million homeless people and inaccessible healthcare. Meanwhile, Israel is able to provide universal health care and education for its citizens. Israel has received the most US foreign aid since 1948 and since 2019, it has annually received $3.8 billion in US funding. US Secretary of State Alexander Haig (1924-2010) referred to Israel as the 'largest American aircraft carrier in the world that cannot be sunk’ in West Asia.

Let us know what you think of Dore's shock at Trump freely admitting to help pro-Israel donors.

Video: @jimmy_dore (X)

SOURCES:

Biden is biggest recipient of AIPAC money
https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2023/12/how-joe-biden-became-americas-top-israel-hawk/

https://www.reuters.com/world/pressure-rises-biden-democrats-reject-aipac-funds-2024-03-12/


US crumbling infrastructure
https://www.npr.org/2021/03/03/973054080/potholes-grid-failures-aging-tunnels-and-bridges-nations-infrastructure-gets-a-c


US crumbling healthcare
https://arstechnica.com/science/2023/01/us-still-has-the-worst-most-expensive-health-care-of-any-high-income-country/


US homeless https://bfi.uchicago.edu/insight/research-summary/the-size-and-census-coverage-of-the-us-homeless-population/


US provides Israel with billions
https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/israel-says-it-has-secured-87-billion-us-aid-package-2024-09-26/


Israel has UHC
https://www.tabletmag.com/sections/israel-middle-east/articles/israel-universal-health-care


American schools crumbling
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/america-s-schools-are-falling-disrepair-no-solution-sight-experts-n1269261


Israel spends significantly on education
https://www.timesofisrael.com/israel-among-highest-in-education-expenditure-as-measured-against-gdp-study

Most foreign aid
https://www.cfr.org/article/us-aid-israel-four-charts

WIKILEAKS: THE AFRICAN ANGLE

Julian Assange says he was only released after pleading guilty to ‘the crime of journalism.’ In an address to the Legal Affairs and Human Rights Committee of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, the whistleblower detailed a campaign of reprisal by former CIA director Mike Pompeo over Wikileaks’ embarrassing revelations.

His real ‘crime,’ many would argue, was simply lifting the lid on US wrongdoings - by publishing a trove of diplomatic cables that implicate Washington in atrocities and alleged war crimes. Many of these relate directly to Africa.

Here’s a reminder of some of Assange’s key revelations concerning American foul play on the African continent.

Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger could be eying to join the BRICS economic bloc. Bamako’s foreign minister, Abdoulaye Diop, says he hopes the trio will make a joint membership bid in the “near future.”

Continued.....The three countries, which collectively make up the anti-imperialist Alliance of Sahel States (AES), have been vigorously asserting their sovereignty and self-determination over the past year. Joining BRICS could be a further step in that direction. The bloc - originally founded by Brazil, Russia, India and China - is focused increasingly on dedollarisation and greater economic control outside of Western influence.

Currently, the AES countries use the French-controlled CFA franc, which requires them to hold half of their reserves in the French treasury and which grants France voting and veto power in West and Central African central banks. Officials representing the AES have already publicly stated that they are working to develop a new currency, which will free them from French control. Joining BRICS could enable these countries to make this leap while still having a secure international trading bloc to rely on.

What do you think of the idea?

SOURCES:

https://en.sputniknews.africa/20241003/mali-seeks-brics-membership-probes-ukraines-terrorist-connections-1068531788.html

JANE ELLIOTT: 'EVERYONE'S FROM AFRICA'

The victors wrote their version of history that we read in our school books, teaching an inaccurate context that claims one race invented everything, discovered everything, and did all the writing and reading. This misinformation has helped subjugate indigenous populations and justify the theft of land and resources.

Dr. Jane Elliott, a US educator on race, recently spoke about this phenomenon using Christopher Columbus, who claimed to discover 'Indians' in what we now refer to as the Americas.

Elliott said all humans carry African genetic material, regardless of how they look now.

Continued.......Studies of mitochondrial DNA (which is passed down from mother to child) have shown that all non-African populations can trace their ancestry back to a small group of humans who left Africa tens of thousands of years ago. Similarly, Y-chromosome DNA studies (passed from father to son) support the theory of a single out-of-Africa migration, allowing humans to spread their cultural practices, including the use of tools, art, and language, across the globe.

SOURCES:

https://academic.oup.com/book/39252/chapter-abstract/338798816?redirectedFrom=fulltext&login=false

https://dna-explained.com/2020/12/10/new-discoveries-shed-light-on-out-of-africa-theory-and-beyond/

At the 79th session of the UN General Assembly last week, Edgar Leblanc Fils, president of the Presidential Council of the Transition of Haiti, reminded the world of France's role in Haiti's current financial woes and demanded reparations from France.

Grassroots movements in Haiti and the diaspora have long campaigned for Haiti's liberation from foreign control and reparations.

Continued......For example, this photo was taken on 28 July 2022, when the Haiti Action Committee led a protest in front of Citibank in San Francisco, California, with a clear message: France must pay reparations to Haiti!

France forced Haiti to pay 112 million francs (now valued at around $560 million or €525 million) for 'lost property.' But what did France lose? The enslaved Africans who ousted their former masters and established the first Black republic in history!

Haiti spent roughly 70 years to pay 'reparations.'

You may wonder why Haitian activists organised this protest at Citibank. Beginning in 1915, the US Marines invaded and occupied Haiti for 19 years at Citibank's request, as part of its expansion overseas.

In 2003, Haiti's socialist president, Jean-Bertrand Aristide, demanded France reimburse Haiti €525 million it had been forced to pay. That, and social reforms to redistribute funds toward education and healthcare, forced Aristide onto a US jet, abandoning him in the Central African Republic while a US-backed coup unfolded in Haiti.

A few years later, in April 2024, a group of 20 NGOs went to Geneva, Switzerland, to address the UN Permanent Forum on People of African Descent about France's debt to Haiti. 

From Port-au-Prince to the streets of Paris, the Haitian people's struggle continues!

SOURCES:

https://www.cadtm.org/spip.php?page=imprimer&id_article=20811

https://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2022/07/29/18851316.php

https://www.workers.org/2022/08/65860

https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/haitian-groups-seek-billions-reparations-france-2024-04-18/

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/world/angry-us-dismisses-aristides-kidnapping-claim/article994723/

https://www.blackagendareport.com/content/citigroup%E2%80%99s-role-rape-haiti

IRAN-CONTRA: HOW THE CIA BIRTHED THE CRACK EPIDEMIC

WARNING: This video contains violent scenes of the US' war on drugs.'

On this day in 1975, Sandinista guerilla fighters in Nicaragua uncovered a covert US operation to arm Contra (US-funded anti-communist) guerillas after they shot down former US Marine Eugene Hasenfus' plane while he was on a CIA-funded arms supply drop. Documents found on the men k*lled in the 5 October 1975 plane crash indicated the US government used proceeds from the illegal sale of weapons to Iran to support the rebel groups.

Continued........Join African Stream as we unravel the real-life drama of the Iran-Contra scandal and its devastating impact on African communities in the United States. We explore how the webs of covert US operations in Nicaragua and Iran, as well as cocaine smuggling, pummelled Black communities in the United States. Africans have yet to recover from the resulting drug addictions and incarcerations of the 1980s and 1990s.

Let us know what you think in the comments.

SOURCES:

The capture of Eugene
https://www.zinnedproject.org/news/tdih/iran-contra-hasenfus/

6 OCTOBER 1841: MAINE'S FIRST COLOURED CONVENTION

The city of Portland in the US state of Maine held its first Colored Convention on 6 October 1841.

Between 1830 and the 1890s, over 200 state and national Colored Conventions were held throughout the United States. The Colored Conventions Project defines these events as ‘political gatherings [that] offered opportunities for free-born and formerly enslaved African Americans to organize and strategize for racial justice.’ The first Colored Convention was held in 1830 following Ohio’s 1829 exclusionary laws and a wave of anti-Black mob violence that had forced 2,000 Black residents to flee the state.

The 1841 Maine convention discussed civil rights, education and economic opportunities for Black people.

Continued……Participants also emphasised establishing schools and better access to education to uplift Black people. In addition to this, the convention called for ways to develop Black economic independence through trade and vocational skills.

These conventions, held decades before Marcus Garvey built the Universal Negro Improvement Association that tied together Africans across the world and over a century before the Civil Rights Movement, helped develop the collective Black consciousness in the direction of sovereignty and self-determination.

Nearly two centuries later, and despite the 1964 Civil Rights Act and the 1965 Voting Rights Act, Black people in the US remain disenfranchised and continue holding the same conversations on how to obtain social justice and economic empowerment.

NOTE: Although Theo R Davis’ sketch depicts the 1869 National Colored Convention in Washington, the Zinn Education Project considers it illustrative of the state conventions.

SOURCES:

https://www.zinnedproject.org/news/tdih/first-maine-colored-convention

https://omeka.coloredconventions.org/items/show/1178

https://www.dol.gov/agencies/oasam/civil-rights-center/statutes/civil-rights-act-of-1964

https://www.archives.gov/milestone-documents/voting-rights-act

WAS S. AFRICA’S TRUTH COMMISSION
A LIE?

In 1995, the Nelson Mandela-led African National Congress (ANC) government set up the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC), a court-like body tasked with investigating crimes committed by the apartheid regime between 1960 and 1994. Proponents of the Commission marketed it as a silver bullet that would deliver justice for the victims of the regime and help the country move forward. However, not everyone was convinced. Many argued that the TRC was simply a get-out-of-jail-free card for apartheid criminals, as it allowed them to avoid prosecution. Among those who were not in support of the TRC was Letlapa Mphahlele, a long-time member of the Pan-Africanist Congress of Azania. He argued that the Commission was biased towards the oppressors and threw victims under the bus. He lays down his argument in this video from 1997.