HOW TRUTH ABOUT HAITI IS SUPPRESSED

During the 79th session of the UN General Assembly (New York, 24-30 September 2024), the president of Haiti’s Transitional Presidential Council (TPC), Edgar Leblanc Fils, delivered a poignant speech. However, it was overshadowed when a clip showing him taking a swig of water from a large pitcher surfaced and went viral. That was rather convenient for some - for, in his speech, he highlighted how the West was largely to blame for the challenges faced today by Haiti, which was once a prosperous nation but suffered profoundly under oppression and colonisation.

Continued......The island gained independence after the Haitian revolution in 1804 - the world's only successful slave revolt. This played a role in ending slavery in all French colonies and inspired neighbouring countries to seek independence. France only recognised Haiti's independence in 1825, but it also demanded an indemnity that drained the island nation's resources, pushing it into a cycle of impoverishment. Leblanc referred to this as "a form of punishment for our audacity in breaking free from slavery." Haiti continues to struggle under the influence of foreign interventions.

In this clip, online social commentator @humannoresource guides us through his speech and its suppression by the media. Please share.

Video credit: @humannoresource

SOURCES:

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

HILLARY CLINTON SPEECH DISRUPTED
WAS 1 MILLION IRAQIS NOT ENOUGH?

Despite repression, protests have not wavered against US funding, arming and providing diplomatic cover for Israel as it continues more than a year of an onslaught and siege in Gaza. 

Disrupting speeches has been a popular tactic, as in this video where a protester interrupted a live event in Chicago featuring former US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, calling out her support for the US war on Iraq and the current Israeli military onslaught in Gaza. Clinton has said calling for a ceasefire would ‘perpetuate the cycle of violence.'

As if the killings and destruction in Gaza were not enough, the US, through unlimited support, is stoking the flames as Israel escalates attacks in Lebanon, Iran, Syria and Yemen.

Continued.....As Africans, we can't let Clinton off the hook because she infamously said, ‘We came, we saw, he died’, in response to NATO-backed Libyan rebels k*lling Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi. That wreaked chaos, collapsing the state and turning what once was Africa’s most prosperous country into three warring territories with open-air slave markets.

Do you think the Democratic Party's alignment with Israel will cost them the election, as the protester says at the end of the video? Let us know in the comments.

Video credit: @directactions4palestine (IG) with support from @palfeminist (X), @uspcn (X)

SOURCES:

Disruption
https://www.instagram.com/p/DBFfuSuPT4n

US complicity in Israeli crimes
https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/us-has-undeniable-complicity-gaza-war-killings-say-former-us-officials-2024-07-03/

We came we saw he died
https://www.thewrap.com/hillary-clinton-gaddafi-we-came-we-saw-he-died-video-32058/

Libya after Gaddafi
https://www.npr.org/2021/06/27/1010676961/libya-remains-unstable-nearly-a-decade-after-muammar-gaddafis-ousting

Clinton's Gaza quote
https://www.politico.com/news/2023/11/14/hillary-clinton-israel-hamas-ceasefire-00127116

KÉMI SÉBA FREED AFTER DAYS OF
QUESTIONING BY FRANCE

French police have released pan-African activist and founder of @urgencespanaf (X) Kémi Séba - after days of questioning. He was arrested in Paris on 14 October 2024 in connection with a probe into alleged collusion with a foreign power “with the aim to foster hostility or acts of aggression against France." Although no charges were pressed, he could face decades in jail if eventually prosecuted and found guilty.

Continued......Séba, a citizen of Benin and bearer of a Nigerien diplomatic passport, was stripped of his French nationality in summer. The technical reason given was a clause 237 of the Civil Code: "A French citizen who in fact behaves like the national of a foreign country may, if he or she holds the nationality of that country, be declared to have lost the status of French citizen by decree following the assent of the Conseil d'État." Yet it was widely seen as punishment for his anti-French activism in Africa.

Séba is a prominent organiser in the francophone part of our continent - known for his staunch anti-imperialist and pan-African stance. His NGO, Urgences Panafricanistes, has chapters across Africa and the Caribbean, including in Benin, Burkina Faso, Congo, Ethiopia, Niger and Senegal, as well as Haiti and Martinique. Its website states that the organisaiton is known "to contribute more effectively than any other African organisation in the 21st century to the resurgence of the fight against neocolonialism, in particular through its actions against the CFA franc and Western military bases on Mother Earth."

Séba is a proponent of so-called multipolarity, the idea that global power should not be concentrated in the hands of any one civilisation or bloc.

SOURCES:

https://www.africanews.com/2024/10/17/france-beninese-activist-kemi-seba-freed/
https://www.africanews.com/2024/10/17/france-beninese-activist-kemi-seba-freed/
https://libreinfo.net/kemi-seba-juan-branco/
https://www.africanews.com/2024/10/17/france-beninese-activist-kemi-seba-freed/
https://fr.africanews.com/2024/10/16/arrete-a-paris-le-militant-panafricaniste-kemi-seba-risque-30-ans-de-prison/
https://www.africanews.com/2024/10/17/france-beninese-activist-kemi-seba-freed/
https://www.lefigaro.fr/actualite-france/kemi-seba-a-perdu-la-nationalite-francaise-20240709
https://lessor.org/societe/lactiviste-franco-beninois-kemi-seba-a-perdu-sa-na/
https://lefaso.net/spip.php?article132065
https://fr.africanews.com/2017/08/30/kemi-seba-l-activiste-anti-franc-cfa-tout-feu-tout-flamme/
https://senego.com/niger-kemi-seba-declare-la-presence-de-bases-militaires-francaises-au-benin-le-gouvernement-beninois-reagit_1701402.html
https://www.instagram.com/p/C2kFpbhgjoJ/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link&igsh=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==
https://www.instagram.com/p/C03-aP2I9gu/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link&igsh=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==
https://www.instagram.com/p/C0beSL6Id9W/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link&igsh=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==
https://www.instagram.com/urgences_panafricanistes/?utm_source=ig_web_button_share_sheet
https://urpanaf.org/qui-sommes-nous/

KENYA’S DEPUTY PREZ IMPEACHED

So Kenya’s Senate has impeached the country’s deputy president. Rigathi Gachagua was found guilty of inciting ethnic tensions and threatening judges - but not of charges of corruption and money-laundering. It means he won’t be able to stand for public office again. Relations between Gachagua and his (now ex) boss William Ruto have soured lately, with the former accused of funding protesters opposed to the latter’s now-shelved IMF-backed tax hikes. Senators pressed ahead with removing the deputy president despite his not having appeared and testified before them - his lawyers say he was hospitalised with chest pains. And Ruto has already nominated Interior Minister Kithure Kindiki as successor, though the High Court has ruled the appointment can’t go ahead until an appeal by Gachagua is dealt with. So, is this a welcome case of accountability? Or was it a witch-hunt that also helped distract from bigger problems facing the government?

Continued......Sources
https://www.msn.com/en-in/news/world/kenyan-senate-votes-to-dismiss-deputy-president-from-office-by-impeachment/ar-AA1stC6b

NIGER HONOURS REVOLUTIONARIES, NOT COLONISERS

On 15 October, the anniversary of revolutionary Burkina Faso President Thomas Sankara's assassination, the government of Niger re-named street names and monuments after him and other great Pan-Africanists. A portrait of a French coloniser, Parfait-Louis Monteil, was replaced with the image of Sankara and a memorial of his likeness was remade in his honour using images.

The Nigerien capital of Niamey's Charles de Gaulle Avenue was named after the great Nigerien freedom fighter Djibo Bakary, founder of the Sawaba Party, a mass socialist Pan-Africanist party that campaigned against French neo-colonialism. When Bakary was exiled from Niger, he was embraced by presidents, such as Kwame Nkrumah of Ghana, Modibo Keïta of Mali and Ahmed Sékou Touré of Guinea. He and his comrades received military training in China and Algeria to launch a guerilla struggle to liberate Niger, which was unsuccessful.

Continued......
Francophone Plaza was also re-baptised as the Alliance of Sahel States Plaza after the anti-imperialist Pan-African federation aiming to unify Mali, Burkina Faso, and Niger into a single federal state with an eye on unifying the whole continent.

This is just one of several steps toward decolonisation since President Abdourahamane Tiani came to power through a military coup d’état on 26 July 2023. Like neighbouring Burkina Faso and Mali, Niger has expelled the French military from its soil. Niger also became the first country to boot the US Africa Command (AFRICOM). Niger's government has also revoked the mining license of the French company, Orano, which was exploiting Niger's uranium deposits. Niger nationalised water after kicking out a private French company and decreased the public cost of medical treatments by 50 per cent. Nigerien citizens organise regular rallies to express support for the Tiani-led government.

What do you think of Niger re-naming their streets and monuments? Let us know in the comments.

SOURCES:

https://fr.sputniknews.africa/20241016/niamey-rebaptise-les-rues-et-monuments-portant-des-noms-francais-1068708980.html

https://roape.net/2024/07/05/djibo-bakary-and-nigers-fight-for-real-liberation/

https://www.reuters.com/world/africa/last-french-troops-leave-niger-military-cooperation-officially-ends-2023-12-22/

https://edition.cnn.com/2024/09/16/politics/us-military-niger-withdrawal/index.html

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c0kked7ydqyo

https://en.sputniknews.africa/20240106/niger-decides-to-nationalize-its-water-sector-terminates-contract-with-french-company-1064489763.html

https://www.aa.com.tr/fr/afrique/niger-santé-réduction-de-50-du-coût-des-soins-dans-les-structures-publiques/3311292

WHO KILLED MOZAMBIQUE’ PRESIDENT?

On the night of 19th October, 1986, a plane crashed, killing Mozambique’s President Samora Machel. But why it ploughed into mountains on the border with South Africa remains a mystery. We look at suspicions the apartheid regime was behind the tragedy following years of conflict with Maputo. Machel was a roaring revolutionary and pan-Africanist who not only liberated his homeland from colonial rule but also supported South African liberation movements seeking to rid the continent of the last vestiges of colonialism. At the time of the fatal crash, he was 53 years old.SOURCES:https://mondediplo.com/2017/11/12Machel

https://omalley.nelsonmandela.org/index.php/site/q/03lv02167/04lv02264/05lv02335/06lv02357/07lv02372/08lv02378.htm

https://mg.co.za/article/2016-10-18-there-is-still-no-clarity-on-probe-into-samora-machels-death-30-years-ago/

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-20694109

https://mg.co.za/article/1998-07-10-how-samora-machel-signed-his-own-death/

TREVOR NOAH ON HOW MEDIA DEHUMANISES VICTIMS

What’s in a name? A lot. Compare ‘pig’ and ‘pork.’ One is a cute pet, farm animal or cartoon character - the other, lunch. Now compare ‘human’ with ‘Palestinian’ - one has rights (to life, safety, dignity, respect, freedom, self-determination), the other - apparently none of these, with Israel’s war of destruction on Gaza and its people still going unchecked by the West.

The point was made by South African comic Trevor Noah - in a conversation with US journalist Ta-Nehisi Coates.

Imperialists have long used language as a means of dehumanisation - all the more effectively with the rise of mass media. Kenya’s Mau Mau freedom fighters were branded ‘terrorists’ for resisting the British occupiers, while Somali civilians are simply ‘collateral damage’ - the US falsely insisting its drones only kill terrorists.

Video Credit: @What Now

Continued.....
Sources
Western media complicit
https://countercurrents.org/2024/04/gaza-genocide-complicit-western-mainstream-media-lie-for-war-criminal-apartheid-israel/

Blurring lines
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/10/5/failing-gaza-pro-israel-bias-uncovered-behind-the-lens-of-western-media
https://www.middleeasteye.net/big-story/cnn-israel-bias-laid-bare-norm-not-exception

Same treatment given to other Western victims
https://www.encyclopedia.com/history/asia-and-africa/african-history/mau-mau
https://www.npr.org/2019/03/20/705090399/u-s-airstrikes-in-somalia-may-amount-to-war-crimes-says-rights-group


Active link: https://youtu.be/IPbD9PZ5FP4?si=rZr5BF0qACKgICjV&t=2272

MAURICE BISHOP'S MESSAGE TO AFRICANS IN THE UNITED STATES

Today, 19 October, marks the 41st anniversary of Maurice Bishop's assassination. Reactionaries within his party had turned against Bishop, ordering a firing squad to execute the Caribbean revolutionary and leader of the Grenadian revolution, along with several of his comrades. The US government under Ronald Reagan used this as a pretext to invade Grenada militarily and put an end to their socialist revolution.

Continued......This is a time to remember the words of the revolutionary prime minister, Maurice Bishop (1944-83), remarking in New York about the danger Grenada's revolution posed to the United States.

The New JEWEL Movement—New Joint Endeavor for Welfare, Education and Liberation—swiftly established the People's Revolutionary Government, ushering in a new era of socialist ideals. Under Bishop's leadership, Grenada underwent a profound socioeconomic transformation marked by extensive reforms and initiatives to uplift the primarily poor population. By 1982, the following occurred: A literacy campaign, the construction of new schools, and the establishment of agricultural cooperatives that benefited unemployed youth in rural areas. Cuban aid bolstered these efforts, providing expertise in education, healthcare, and infrastructure development, including constructing a modern international airport to replace a hazardous existing airstrip.

Unemployment plummeted from 49 per cent to 14 per cent within four years. Symbolising the shift in priorities, vibrant billboards promoting education adorned the island, signalling a departure from those that had advertised cigarettes and alcohol. Grenada's revolution sparked tangible social progress and economic development, leaving a lasting legacy of change and empowerment among its populace.

Can you see why the United States might not want Black people in the US to hear about these things?

SOURCES:

https://caribbean.loopnews.com/content/day-grenadas-history-execution-maurice-bishop

https://jacobin.com/2023/10/maurice-bishop-grenada-revolution-caribbean-colonialism-us-relations-democracy

THE SAHEL REVOLUTION: REAL DECOLONISATION!

People throw about the term 'decolonisation' left, right and centre. University campuses say they’re decolonising curriculums, and corporations - the workplace. But true decolonisation is a question of land, sovereignty and self-determination.

Today, three countries in Africa - Burkina Faso, Mali, and Niger - have taken revolutionary steps towards achieving just that. They have booted out Western troops stationed on their territories and torn up exploitative contracts with multinationals.

Now the trio is pushing ahead with building nuclear power plants, gold refineries, solar-panel fields and other critical development projects.

Continued……These are vital, as, for example, up until now, people in the three Sahel nations have had little access to electricity, while France has been getting 15% of its (electricity generating) uranium at bargain-basement prices from Niger.

Obviously, the West can’t stand it when Africans stand up for themselves. So the EU and the US have sanctioned Mali, with Brussels also targeting Niamey. There have been multiple destabilisation attempts in a bid to remove the leaders of the so-called Alliance of Sahel States (a mutual collaboration and defence pact between the three, now upgraded to a confederation) - in particular, alleged assassination plots in Burkina Faso.

So while it’s important to decolonise curriculums and workplaces, if we are serious about the struggle, we must defend the gains made by our brothers and sisters in the Sahel. What are your suggestions for how best to do that?

Video credit: https://www.tiktok.com/@bigbrolgnd/video/7390498394873056542

SOURCES:

https://clas.osu.edu/sites/clas.osu.edu/files/Tuck%20and%20Yang%202012%20Decolonization%20is%20not%20a%20metaphor.pdf

https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/EG.ELC.ACCS.ZS?most_recent_value_desc=false&view=chart

https://www.politico.eu/article/niger-coup-spark-concerns-france-uranium-dependency/



https://www.blackpast.org/global-african-history/songhai-empire-ca-1375-1591/

https://www.africanews.com/2024/08/28/burkina-faso-nationalises-two-gold-mines-ending-legal-dispute-between-rival-companies/

https://www.politico.eu/article/niger-coup-spark-concerns-france-uranium-dependency/

https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/EG.ELC.ACCS.ZS?most_recent_value_desc=false&view=chart

https://www.blackpast.org/global-african-history/songhai-empire-ca-1375-1591/

https://www.theafricareport.com/350004/mali-starts-work-on-solar-power-plant-in-partnership-with-russia/

https://www.mining-technology.com/news/mali-russia-gold-refinery-bamako/

https://www.ecofinagency.com/public-management/2411-45079-burkina-faso-to-launch-its-first-gold-refinery-by-the-end-of-2024

https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/mali-junta-russian-state-nuclear-firm-sign-cooperation-deals-2024-07-10/

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-67098444

GADDAFI: DEAD BUT STILL
CELEBRATED

Last month, Libyans poured out into the streets all across the country to celebrate and commemorate their 1969 revolution - led by Muammar Gaddafi. Today, 20 October, marks the anniversary of his summary execution by NATO-backed rebels. The recent mass show of support, 13 years on, for the old colonel may surprise those more accustomed to his portrayal in the Western media, which paint him as a brutal dictator hated by the people.

The anti-Gaddafi uprising was, in reality, a 'colour revolution' - in the original sense of the phrase, when it referred to Western-backed (as opposed to genuinely popular) uprisings. There is plenty of evidence for this. For example, the founder of the arch pro-US National Endowment for Democracy has admitted funding groups actively opposed to Gaddafi in 2011, such as ‘Libya Forum for Human and Political Development’ and ‘Libyan Transparency Association.’

Continued……The demonisation of Gaddafi in the Western media illustrates Malcolm X’s warning, even truer now decades on:

"The media's the most powerful entity on earth. They have the power to make the innocent guilty and to make the guilty innocent, and that's power. Because they control the minds of the masses.”

SOURCES:

https://www.eurasiareview.com/06012024-color-revolutions-the-most-sophisticated-means-of-warfare-analysis/

https://is.china-embassy.gov.cn/eng/zgwj/202205/t20220507_10683090.htm#:~:text=In%20Libya%2C%20NED%20funded%2C%20among,the%202011%20Libyan%20civil%20war.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qwm0OZAfF9c

On this day in 2011, revolutionary Libyan leader and pan-Africanist Muammar Gaddafi was captured and executed by NATO-backed rebels. Not long after, The Atlantic published an article with the headline: 'As Qaddafi Died, So Did His Craziest Dream and Mistake: Pan-Africanism.' Yes, they actually said the quiet part out loud.

The article boldly states, "Qaddafi's death -- and the outpouring of support for the late Libyan leader in sub-Saharan Africa following his demise -- is a reminder that pan-Africanism was an historic mistake of enormous proportions -- a simple-minded political ideology that for the past 50 years or so has done more harm than good for Africa's standing in the world."

People across the political spectrum still debate whether Gaddafi really was the brutal dictator the West made him out to be. Was he killed because he was hated by his own people? Or did his anti-imperialist politics and refusal to bow down to the West play a decisive role?

Continued….T oday, in 2024, there is a significant body of evidence that the West had a vested interest in removing Gaddafi, who was working to liberate and unify Africa. This article by The Atlantic was an early clue.

The most persuasive evidence that there was a Western plot to destroy pan-Africanism through Gaddafi's assassination comes directly from email correspondences between former US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and former aide to President Bill Clinton, Sidney Blumenthal. Here’s an extract from one email:

"This [Libyan] gold [reserve] was accumulated prior to the current rebellion and was intended to be used to establish a pan-African currency based on the Libyan golden Dinar. This plan was designed to provide the Francophone African Countries with an alternative to the French franc (CFA)... French intelligence officers discovered this plan shortly after the current rebellion began, and this was one of the factors that influenced President Nicolas Sarkozy's decision to commit France to the attack on Libya."

They did not want Africa to unite under the golden dinar currency that Gaddafi proposed, so he had to go.

SOURCES:

https://wikileaks.org/clinton-emails/emailid/6528
https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2011/10/as-qaddafi-died-so-did-his-craziest-dream-and-mistake-pan-africanism/247247/