AFRICANS NEVER COLONISED AMERICAS, UNLIKE COLUMBUS

The 12th of October is commemorated as 'Christopher Columbus Day' in many countries in the Americas. But because the 12th fell on a Saturday, the event is observed today, 14 October, as a federal holiday in the United States.

In this episode of 'The Sobh Show' filmed in Tehran, Iran, African Stream's founder and editor-in-chief, Ahmed Kaballo, sheds light on the true history of the Italian explorer.

Columbus's travelogues ignited in Europeans a desire to colonise and exploit the Indigenous peoples he 'discovered' across the Atlantic Ocean. Columbus's first encounter with the Indigenous peoples of the Caribbean Sea on 12 October 1492 resulted in their enslavement, violence and brutality. As a result, Christopher Columbus Day is increasingly being acknowledged as Indigenous Peoples' Day.

Continued......In this clip, Kaballo alludes to compelling evidence that an African king, Mansa Abu Bakr II, the brother of the famous Malian king, Mansa Musa, had arrived in the Americas some 180 years before Columbus.

In 1324, Musa made a pilgrimage to Mecca. On the way, he stopped off in Cairo, where he is said to have claimed that his brother and predecessor took a voyage across the Atlantic, taking with him 2,000 ships along with sailors and a vast supply of provisions to last several years, but never returned (indeed, that is why Musa inherited the throne). A 14th-century North African scholar had recorded Musa's testimony.

Kaballo made these remarks during an in-depth discussion on African matters on 'The Sobh Show.' The conversation delved into African colonisation, the interconnectedness of liberation struggles in Africa, Palestine, and beyond, and the prospects for a new era with the resurgence of Pan-African consciousness.

Watch the entire YouTube discussion on 'The Sobh Show' channel and spread the word.

Video credit: 'The Sobh Show' (@thesobhshow on X)

SOURCES:

https://www.lse.ac.uk/research/research-for-the-world/economics/stagnation-nation-how-can-britain-pull-itself-out-of-its-economic-decline

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_RFDalOpKwY

https://africanarguments.org/2016/09/the-scale-of-the-uks-involvement-in-africas-resources-is-staggering-so-too-is-its-disregard-for-the-rights-of-those-affected/

https://inews.co.uk/news/environment/britain-using-far-share-worlds-resources-123588?srsltid=AfmBOoqXQ3WpqfoRJEI5bZLtmaSrDw06nD4f5kPLoROVs8MqtCW0GuOY

https://worldrainforests.com/congo/

https://africa.panda.org/?49003/5-things-to-know-about-the-Congo-Basin-Rainforest

https://aaregistry.org/story/african-voyage-to-the-americas-a-story/

https://www.history.com/news/who-was-the-richest-man-in-history-mansa-musa

https://explorersweb.com/exploration-mysteries-an-early-african-voyage-to-the-americas/

https://www.history.com/news/columbus-day-controversy

https://edition.cnn.com/2020/06/12/us/christopher-columbus-slavery-disease-trnd/index.html

https://edition.cnn.com/2020/06/10/us/christopher-columbus-statues-down-trnd/index.html

HOW ARGENTINA SHOWED BLACKS THE RED CARD

On X, Argentinian President Javier Milei's office celebrated Columbus Day by calling Christopher Columbus's arrival on 12 October 1492 a 'milestone that marked the beginning of the civilisation of the Americas continent.' But for Indigenous communities and those of us in the Global South, Columbus's 'discovery' marked the start of 532 years of European colonisation of the Americas. The president's office tweet is like a slap in the face, given Argentina's history of oppressing Africans and indigenous people.

Columbus and his crew enabled and perpetrated the kidnapping, enslavement, forced assimilation and s*xual abuse of Indigenous people, including children. Their population shrank from an estimated 112 million in 1492 to less than 6 million in 1650.

As much as Argentina would like to ignore its Black history, the country was at one point Blacker than it likes to admit. In 1778, Afro-Argentinians formed almost half the population of Argentina.

Continued...... Africans accounted for 30 per cent of the population of Buenos Aires for decades after independence. However, the end of racial categories in legal documents and a policy of preferred white migration of Europeans steadily wiped out Afro-Argentinian's rich culture from the collective consciousness.

Today, statistics show Afro-Argentinians form less than 1 per cent of Argentina's total population, making it among the whitest countries in the Americas.

The saying, 'Mexicans descend from the Aztecs, Peruvians from the Incas, but Argentinians descend from ships from Europe,' encapsulates Argentina's perception of itself as only a nation of Europeans, with racist tweets from their highest office to back up this assertion.

SOURCES:

https://www.nationalgeographic.com/science/article/111205-native-americans-europeans-population-dna-genetics-science 

Kidnapping and sexual violence

https://irbe.library.vanderbilt.edu/server/api/core/bitstreams/413daca0-c453-448e-8653-4a674c3c6d04/content

Argentinian presidential office tweet

https://x.com/CasaRosada/status/1845102247723614337

Quote

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/06/10/world/americas/argentina-spain-racism-alberto-fernandez.html

Population

https://www.bbc.com/news/av/world-latin-america-46641620

Population

https://apnews.com/article/immigration-entertainment-discrimination-migration-race-and-ethnicity-0d18920b22e0eab19f28202c591ef0ea

Population shrinkage

https://uwpress.wisc.edu/books/0289.htm

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/may/31/argentina-white-european-racism-history 

https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/2021/06/24/history-behind-removal-argentinas-version-aunt-jemima

https://travelnoire.com/history-whitening-of-argentina

PAUL ROBESON RESISTING MCCARTHYISM

On 14 October 1916, Rutgers University excluded actor, singer and organiser Paul Robeson (1898-1976) from its American-football team because another university refused to play against a Black person. He was one of the Rutgers' best players.

In light of this discrimination, we are reminded of the significant role Robeson played after university as a Pan-Africanist organiser during the anti-communist McCarthyist era. Robeson ran the anti-imperialist Council on African Affairs, which called for an end to colonialism on the African continent.

Continued.......In the mid-20th century, the US government investigated Robeson for being a member of the Communist Party, stripping him of his passport. He said his work for African emancipation both on the continent and in the diaspora prompted the persecution. In other words, the Red Scare over his alleged communist affiliation laid a pretext to shut down his struggle for African people worldwide.

Today, African Stream relates to what our ancestor went through. Though no government has stripped us of our right to travel, we know what it is like for the US government to seek to shut down our agitation for Africa’s freedom. Before YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, Threads, TikTok and Gmail closed our accounts in September, African Stream drew 2.5-million subscribers and hundreds of millions of viewers because of our uncompromising Pan-Africanist, anti-imperialist analysis. 

The United States came for Robeson. They came for Pan-Africanist organiser Marcus Garvey (1887-1940). They came for sociologist W.E.B. Du Bois (1868-1963). They came for journalist Claudia Jones (1915-64). They came for Assata Shakur and several members of the Black Panther Party. Now, the US government is coming for African Stream. Some things never change.

To help spread our work amongst the people, please continue to repost our videos on Instagram, Facebook, Threads, YouTube and TikTok using the hashtag #WeAreAllAfricanStream. Follow us on Rumble, Telegram, X and Patreon, and encourage others to do the same.

RUTO PLEDGES EXTRA 600 COPS FOR HAITI

An extra 600 Kenyan police officers will soon be on their way to Haiti - bringing the number deployed to the troubled island nation to 1,000. Kenya’s president, William Ruto, announced the decision on Friday.

Speaking alongside his Haitian counterpart, interim prime minister Garry Conille, who was in Nairobi, Ruto claimed that the mission had already seen some successes, wresting back control of key areas and infrastructure from gangs.

The annual upkeep of the deployment is estimated at $600 million, with the US contributing over $300 million so far. But Kenyan officers in Haiti have complained of delayed payments.

Ruto has tried to sell the unpopular (and, according to Kenya’s High Court, unconstitutional) mission as an act of pan-African solidarity.

Continued......However, it’s being closely coordinated by the Americans, who have a long track record of destabilising Haiti. It’s also widely seen as a violation of sovereignty, with Kenya doing duty as the blackface of US imperialism

It’s not the first time foreign boots are on Haitian ground. UN soldiers are accused of killing civilians and of numerous sexual offences, leaving behind many fatherless children. Moreover, a sewage leak at a UN base on the Caribbean island resulted in some 10,000 deaths.

The US wants to transform the Kenyan deployment into a wider UN peacekeeping mission, but the proposal was blocked by China and Russia - who argued that the current mission must reach full capacity before any such shift can be considered. This means Kenyan officers could remain stationed in Haiti till October 2025, at Washington’s expense.SOURCES:Extra 600 to follow

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/kenyas-ruto-pledges-extra-600-officers-for-haiti-mission/ar-AA1s5IhW 

Annual mission cost

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/us-drops-un-peacekeeping-mission-on-haiti-following-opposition-from-china-russia/ar-AA1rusO5 

Delayed payments

https://citizen.digital/news/us-apologises-over-delayed-pay-to-kenyan-police-in-haiti-n348517

Haiti mission is imperialism in blackface

https://africasacountry.com/2024/03/imperialism-in-black-face 

Effects of previous foreign interventions

https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2016/08/18/490468640/u-n-admits-role-in-haiti-cholera-outbreak-that-has-killed-thousands 

US plan to switch to UN mission blocked

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/us-drops-un-peacekeeping-mission-on-haiti-following-opposition-from-china-russia/ar-AA1rusO5

CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS MOCKED NATIVES FOR SHARING

Today, people in some states and cities in the United States observe Indigenous Peoples Day over the colonial holiday known as 'Columbus Day,' which remains a federal holiday. Unfortunately, countries throughout the Americas also commemorate this day, when the trajectory of the Global Majority pivoted toward European hegemony and exploitation.

In this clip, Cat Lantigua (@lajefacat on TikTok), author of 'Build It and They Will Come: A Guide to Architecting Intentional Community,' examines a famous extract from Christopher Columbus' journal.

Often glorified by Western historians as a daring explorer, Columbus left a dark legacy in the Americas, beginning with his first encounter with the indigenous peoples of the Caribbean Sea on 12 October 1492.

Columbus's disdain for the Arawak people of the Bahamas is palpable in his journal entries.

Continued.........He observed their openness and generosity with a mix of condescension and opportunism, noting how easily they shared their possessions and hospitality. Columbus frequently mocked the natives' simplicity and lack of guile. He described them as 'naïve' and 'artless,' incapable of understanding European notions of property and possession. This demeaning attitude famously appears in his 12 October 1492 entry, where he marvelled at their willingness to trade valuable items for trinkets. To Columbus, their openness was not a sign of an advanced, communal society but rather that of their potential to be dominated and exploited.

Columbus's Eurocentric worldview made it impossible for him to recognise the Arawaks' sophisticated social system. Consequently, his reports back to Spain helped build a narrative of European superiority that fuelled slavery and colonisation.

He and his men enslaved the Indigenous population, bringing some back to Spain and forcing thousands of others to search for gold. Those who could not bring back enough gold had their hands chopped off. The Spaniards took women and children for sx and labour. Columbus' regime was so brutal that many of the Indigenous people committed sucide or inf*nticide to spare a life of suffering. 

On the island of Hispaniola (now occupied by the countries of Haiti and the Dominican Republic), the Spaniards forced the Indigenous people to work at a ferocious pace, with only 15,000 people remaining by 1515, a sharp decline from the 250,000 people who are said to have lived there two years before when Columbus first arrived. By 1550, only 500 people reportedly remained. By 1650, no Arawak people remained on the island.

Given Columbus's legacy of exploitation and the tragic impact on indigenous populations, how should we re-evaluate and teach his place in history?

Video credit: @cat.lantigua on IG

SOURCES:

https://www.historyisaweapon.com/defcon1/zinncol1.html

http://www.jnht.com/download/arawak.pdf

'DELETING AFRICAN STREAM, BUT NOT BBC?'

Africans across the continent and worldwide are outraged about tech giants banning African Stream across YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, Threads, TikTok and Gmail. In this video, Seun Kuti, musician, singer and Pan-Africanist organiser with @MOVEMENTOFTHEP1 (on X) (and son of revolutionary African music icon Fela Kuti) spoke up about the hypocrisy of US Secretary of State Antony Blinken claiming African Stream is ‘secretly run’ by RT.

How can the United States denounce African Stream for supposedly ‘attempting to influence US elections’ and allegedly representing ‘foreign interests’ when BBC and CNN are allowed to spread information designed to influence African audiences?

Continued......The BBC and Voice of America (VOA) are state-funded media that explicitly promote pro-British and pro-US interests, respectively. BBC says it aims to ‘reflect the United Kingdom, its culture and values to the world.’ Voice of America (VOA) is even more explicit in its mission. The US Agency for Global Media states on its website, ‘The long-range interests of the United States are served by communicating directly with the peoples of the world by radio.’ 

So, BBC can work to spread British values, and the US can create worldwide radio programmes to serve US interests, but Africans are not allowed to have a media platform that works for African interests? Let us know what you think in the comments.

Video credit: @bigbirdkuti on IG, @realseunkuti on X

SOURCES:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/aboutthebbc/governance/mission/

WELCOME TO KALAKUTA, FELA'S HUMBLE ABODE

Fela Aníkúlápó Kútì - the legendary musician, activist and critic of Nigeria’s military junta - was born on 15 October 1938. Nearly three decades after his passing in 1997, his provocative beats and activism continue to inspire around the world.

For his birthday, African Stream visited the so-called Kalakuta Republic - the compound where Fela lived and died. Now a museum, the Afrobeat creator’s former abode is packed with personal belongings and artefacts relating to his life and career. It’s also his final resting place.

Happy Birthday, Fela!

BLACK PANTHER PARTY'S 58TH ANNIVERSARY

On 15 October 1966, Huey P Newton and Bobby Seale founded the Black Panther Party for Self-Defence in Oakland, California (USA). This was not another political party vying for a seat in Congress, but a revolutionary Black socialist organisation with a solid internationalist politic. It burst across the United States, establishing chapters in major cities like Oakland, New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, Seattle and Philadelphia.

The party was renowned for its 'survival programs' in Black communities. Some included health clinics, children's educational services, and food and clothing distribution, among others. They were not just a testament to the party's commitment to community service, but a material expression of Black self-determination that resonated with many of our people and other ethnicities.

Continued........The 10-point programme guided the Panthers' work, with the first point stating, 'We Want Freedom. We Want Power to Determine the Destiny of Our Black Community. We believe that Black people will not be free until we are able to determine our destiny.'

The Black Panther Party's legacy was not confined to the United States. The party left a global mark, eventually creating an international section in Algeria and establishing a presence in the United Kingdom. It also inspired marginalised people in other countries to develop similar 'panther' parties. The organisation took anti-imperialist positions regarding national liberation struggles across the African continent and worldwide, with party leaders travelling to countries considered US enemies. That included a trip to China before a US president had ever done so.

Long live the struggle for African liberation, wherever our people live!

SOURCES:

Start of party
https://www.archives.gov/research/african-americans/black-power/black-panthers

https://caamuseum.org/learn/600state/black-history/blackhistory-on-october-15-1966-bobby-seale-and-huey-p-newton-form-the-black-panther-party-in-oakland-california

10-Point Programme
https://www.blackpast.org/african-american-history/primary-documents-african-american-history/black-panther-party-ten-point-program-1966

BPP in China
https://picturingblackhistory.org/panthers-and-the-premier-black-internationalism-cold-war-china

Nixon in China
https://www.nixonlibrary.gov/nixons-trip-china

Panther parties worldwide
https://ssha.ucmerced.edu/content/out-oakland-black-panther-party-internationalism-during-cold-war

Another day, another BBC headline downplaying Palestinian suffering.

The British-state media outlet, BBC, buried a headline about a 13 October Israeli attack that k*lled seven adults and 15 children displaced in a central Gaza school under a headline about four dead Israeli soldiers.

The truism that the pen is mightier than guns is increasingly relevant amidst the year-long escalation in Israel's 76-year occupation of Palestine. For example, many have criticised international media outlets, like the BBC, for using passive language while reporting on the Israeli occupation, such as writing 'died' and 'were k*lled' without mentioning who caused the deaths. These outlets then whip up emotions by framing the Palestinian population as militant, or they peddle lies of barbaric acts that Palestinians allegedly committed, such as the debunked beheaded-babies story.

Continued......The calculated use of vocabulary, placement of headlines and choice of which facts to present is known as framing, which can reinforce stereotypes, sway opinion and used to justify atrocities.

Israel's military onslaught on Gaza has k*lled more than 42,000 Palestinians—primarily women and children—and unleashed a humanitarian catastrophe. Israel has targeted hospitals, schools, and residential buildings in operations it says are aimed at Hamas. On 3 October, a group of 99 US volunteer health workers who spent a combined 254 weeks in Gaza wrote to US President Joe Biden and his vice president, Kamala Harris, reiterating that they did not witness any militant activities in healthcare facilities, calling for an end to US diplomatic, economic and military aid to Israel. They also cited a July report by the Lancet, a British medical journal, that Gaza's death toll could be more than 186,000. However, University of Edinburgh global health chair Devi Sridhar estimated the death as high as 335,000 by September.

SOURCES:

https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/war-gaza-how-media-language-manipulated-justify-killing-palestinians-and-used-dehumanise-them

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c5y8zj8qrn5o

https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(24)01169-3/fulltext

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/article/2024/sep/05/scientists-death-disease-gaza-polio-vaccinations-israel

https://www.theguardian.com/media/2023/oct/16/bbc-gets-1500-complaints-over-israel-hamas-coverage-split-50-50-on-each-side

https://www.timesofisrael.com/the-bbc-is-under-fire-for-its-coverage-of-the-israel-hamas-war-rightly-so/

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/04/25/bbc-admits-reporting-gaza-civilian-deaths-inaccurate/

https://www.thecanary.co/uk/2023/10/17/bbc-news-pro-hamas/

https://english.almayadeen.net/news/politics/gaza-genocide--5--of-gaza-population-killed-or-injured-as-of

https://www.aa.com.tr/en/americas/99-us-doctors-who-volunteered-to-work-in-gaza-say-they-have-not-seen-any-militant-activity-in-hospitals/3350931

https://www.gazahealthcareletters.org

https://www.business-school.ed.ac.uk/research/blog/media-framing-and-how-it-shifts-the-narrative

THE BLACK PANTHERS: THUGS OR REVOLUTIONARIES?

Fists in the air as we celebrate the formation of the revolutionary Black Panther Party! The group, founded on 15 October 1966, confronted the political establishment, challenged state oppression, protected Black communities from brutality and fiercely fought for a global Black power revolution.

But 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.

Continued.......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.

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.

Happy 58th to the Black Panther Party!

Video credit: @historyin3 (TikTok)

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

FELA KUTI: REVOLUTIONS PER MINUTE

Few figures have left such an impression on the African music scene as Nigeria’s Fela Kuti. As we celebrate what would have been his 86th birthday, we explore the legacy he left behind.

Fela Anikulapo Kuti and his musical family have done much to shape Nigerian arts, culture and politics. His mother, Funmilayo Ransome-Kuti, was a revolutionary who organised Nigerian women to fight neo-colonialism and capitalist exploitation. Fela Kuti in turn understood his role as an artist in the service of African liberation. Now his children carry on their father's musical legacy, with son Seun Kuti also actively engaged in keeping alive the pan-African and socialist politics of his family.

PAN-AFRICAN ACTIVIST ARRESTED IN FRANCE

On Monday, French police arrested Beninese pan-Africanist Kemi Seba and his colleague Hery Djehuty in two separate incidents. Reports suggest it’s connected to Seba’s entry into France, even though he holds a Nigerien diplomatic passport and a Shengen visa issued by Spain, which allows him freedom of movement inside the European Union.

Seba has been a vocal critic of French neocolonialism in Africa. He has participated in protests against the CFA franc and tore up his French passport before Paris later revoked his citizenship. Seba was also recently appointed adviser to Niger's revolutionary leader, General Abdourahamane Tiani, who has done much to stand up to French neo-colonialism in his country.