Continued….. The UK’s position is at odds with that of other Commonwealth nations. A 2023 report for the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) concluded that Britain owes $19.6 trillion for the European slave trade. The Chairwoman of CARICOM’s reparations commission says ‘the crime is huge’ and therefore ‘the responsibility for what happened is huge.’

SOURCES:

https://www.reuters.com/world/uk/british-lawmakers-accuse-starmer-colonial-mindset-slavery-reparations-debate-2024-10-27/

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cn01ljdl07xo

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

https://taxjustice.net/2020/06/09/slavery-compensation-uk-questions/

https://reparationscomm.org/reparations-news/britains-colonial-shame-slave-owners-given-huge-payouts-after-abolition/

https://sites.manchester.ac.uk/global-social-challenges/2021/05/04/the-impact-of-the-past-how-british-colonialism-affects-the-modern-world/

https://heritagecollections.parliament.uk/stories/the-transatlantic-slave-trade

Continued….. https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/guides/zc92xnb/revision/1

https://medium.com/lessons-from-history/all-britons-benefited-from-colonialism-regardless-of-class-42cd2777949

https://theconversation.com/five-ways-the-monarchy-has-benefited-from-colonialism-and-slavery-179911

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cd6vy79p750o

https://caricomreparations.org

https://www.brattle.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/Report-on-Reparations-for-Transatlantic-Chattel-Slavery-in-the-Americas-and-the-Caribbean.pdf

https://www.standard.co.uk/news/world/caribbean-countries-seek-trillion-slavery-reparations-b1106585.html

OUTRAGE AS GHANA PREZ UNVEILS STATUE OF HIMSELF

Ghanaians have been reacting with anger and mockery after the country’s outgoing president unveiled a giant statue of himself - branding it a huge waste of desperately needed funds. Nana Akufo-Addo has served the constitutional maximum of eight years (two consecutive four-year terms) and won’t be on the ballot in the West African country's 7 December election. One of his MPs says the new monument is a tribute to his achievements in office - among them, free secondary schooling. However, the country is in the grip of a debt crisis. Ghana has $51 billion in external debt.

Continued……. The national currency, the cedi, has performed poorly against the dollar, particularly since 2022, when it lost 55% of its value between January and October. And it’s not the first time Nana Akufo-Addo’s extravagance has riled Ghanaians. When he commissioned a $400 million state-funded national cathedral, critics scoffed that it was just an expensive swimming pool after rains flooded the excavated foundation.

SOURCES:

https://allafrica.com/stories/202411080135.html

https://www.modernghana.com/news/1138177/ghana-to-spend-almost-ghs5-million-on-akufo-addos.html

https://www.aljazeera.com/features/2023/4/18/cathedral-of-scandals-how-a-presidential-promise-divided-ghana

https://www.fact-checkghana.com/national-cathedral-changing-cost-and-contradictions/

https://foreignpolicy.com/2023/06/26/ghana-akufo-addo-economic-crisis-overspending-imf/

During colonialism, indigenous African languages and ways of life were obliterated by White European settlers. Africans were denied all knowledge of self and robbed of their own identities, which were replaced with colonial values and an inferiority complex. Narratives of who and what White people were in comparison with Africans were penned by Europeans - and, right up to the present, these fabrications remain the standard by which many Africans judge themselves. A large chunk of their own history, civilisation and self-knowledge is hidden from them. These White-supremacist narratives are responsible for Africans remaining in perpetual cycles of exploitation, while ironically looking to their Western oppressors for 'salvation.’

Continued……Western powers, colonialists and neo-colonialists have always sought to suppress knowledge because ignorance facilitates oppression. Keeping the masses un- or mis-informed makes it easier to control them.

In today's digital age, the West's war to impose a monopoly on information could not be more clear.

Those who deny us truth and keep us in darkness do so to keep us on a leash because to deny people knowledge is to ensure their minds remain enslaved. Thus, those who block the African sun do not want our seeds to sprout and are, undoubtedly, our enemies.

BLACKS IN U.S. RECEIVE RACIST TEXTS AFTER TRUMP WIN

News reports say Black people—including children—in about half of the 50 US states recently received racist text messages stating that they had been ‘selected to pick cotton at the nearest plantation.’ These mass texts were sent from unrecognised numbers a day after Donald Trump declared victory in the 5 November US presidential election. Some messages referenced recipients by name and included ‘Trump supporter’ as a signature.

TextNow, a service that allows people to send text messages for free, said several users had sent out these messages and that it had shut down those accounts.

The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) condemned the incident and blamed Trump’s team. However, the president-elect’s campaign denied involvement.

The FBI announced it was investigating and is in touch with the US Department of Justice and other federal authorities.

U.K. SURGEON: ISRAEL TARGETS CHILDREN

Nizam Mamode, a retired British National Health Service transplant surgeon who worked in Gaza with the British charity, Medical Aid for Palestinians (MAP), shocked UK MPs when he testified on 12 November about children he operated on describing to him that Israel deliberately targeted them.

Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor also has documented Israel's military using small drones (quadcopters) to fire directly at Palestinians.

Mamode told members of the UK Parliament's International Development Committee that, while working in Nasser Hospital—formerly one of Gaza's largest hospitals that Israel's attacks turned non-functional—children recounted that after an Israeli bombardment injured them, quadcopters flew in, hovered above and fired at them.

Continued……. In an 8 November press release, the UN Human Rights Office reported that close to 70 per cent of casualties in Gaza are children and women, 'indicating a systematic violation of the fundamental principles of international humanitarian law, including distinction and proportionality.'

Israel's military onslaught on the Palestinian people in Gaza, including their children, is one of the reasons that prompted South Africa to file a g*nocide case against Israel at the International Court of Justice. In its provisional ruling on 26 January, the ICJ found it 'plausible' that Israel has committed acts violating the UN G*nocide Convention and ordered it to do everything in its power to prevent acts of g*nocide in Gaza.

As of 13 November, the Gaza Health Ministry reports Israeli military operations have killed more than 43,000 Palestinians (primarily women and children). However, the British medical journal The Lancet estimated a death toll of at least 186,000 by early July.

To paraphrase South African liberation hero, the late Nelson Mandela (1918-2013), 'There can be no keener revelation of a society's soul than the way it treats children.'

Video credit: @ukparliament (X)

SOURCES:

https://reliefweb.int/report/occupied-palestinian-territory/gaza-israel-systematically-uses-quadcopters-kill-palestinians-close-distance-enar

https://committees.parliament.uk/committee/98/international-development-committee/news/203748/idc-chair-responds-to-shocking-evidence-on-gaza-healthcare/

https://euromedmonitor.org/en/article/6357/Gaza:-Israeli-army-expands-its-use-of-quadcopters-to-kill-more-Palestinian-civilians

https://www.timesofisrael.com/liveblog_entry/footage-shows-gaza-strike-hitting-a-group-of-men-trying-to-help-stranded-wounded-boy/

https://www.axios.com/2024/11/08/un-report-70-gaza-dead

https://news.un.org/en/story/2024/10/1156016

https://www.ohchr.org/en/press-releases/2024/11/there-must-be-due-reckoning-horrific-violations-possible-atrocity-crimes

https://www.icj-cij.org/sites/default/files/case-related/192/192-20240126-ord-01-00-en.pdf

https://www.npr.org/2024/01/26/1227078791/icj-israel-genocide-gaza-palestinians-south-africa

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/liveblog/2024/11/12/live-israeli-drone-attack-kills-10-in-gaza-cafe-as-tanks-enter-nuseirat

https://www.doctorswithoutborders.org/latest/how-israeli-army-besieged-nasser-hospital

https://www.middleeasteye.net/live-blog/live-blog-update/death-toll-gaza-rises-43665?fid=537746&nid=405861&topic=Israel%2527s%2520war%2520on%2520Gaza

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

'WE WANT TO GO HOME' - DRC REFUGEE

This refugee’s cry for help shows the human cost of foreign powers destabilising the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) in a nearly three-decade conflict over natural resources. She is one of 6.9-million people pushed off their land and forced to live in tent camps.

The DRC’s estimated $24 trillion in mineral wealth has not benefitted its people. Instead, more than 100 armed groups control the mines.

Continued……. This arrangement has upended the lives of millions, but guaranteed the supply of crucial minerals, like cobalt and coltan, to the Western tech sector. Firms like Apple and Google have been accused of profiteering from child labour, but a recent lawsuit failed in a US court.

UN experts have accused regional actors Uganda and Rwanda of fuelling the fire through their support of rebel groups like M23. Despite an August ceasefire, M23 has been accused of going on an offensive in October. The group now controls about 70 per cent of North Kivu province in eastern DRC, and it reportedly brings in an estimated $300,000 a month from taxes on coltan production.

Credit: @pappyorion (TikTok)

Sources
Congolese resources controlled by militias
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/2/21/a-guide-to-the-decades-long-conflict-in-dr-congo

Western tech firms profiteer off blood minerals
https://apnews.com/article/apple-iphones-congo-blood-minerals-b1f20aa7bd3a3f4f8cf7fcde19c6f053

Rwanda Uganda back M23
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c134kgdpd6do

M23 controls 70% of N. Kivu
https://www.newsminimalist.com/articles/m23-rebels-expand-control-in-eastern-dr-congos-mineral-rich-north-kivu-province-6a1cc8fc

Estimated earnings from Cobalt
https://www.newsminimalist.com/articles/m23-rebels-expand-control-in-eastern-dr-congos-mineral-rich-north-kivu-province-6a1cc8fc

Lawsuit
https://abcnews.go.com/International/us-court-absolves-top-tech-companies-congos-child/story?id=107839639

Mineral wealth
https://gsphub.eu/country-info/Democratic%20Republic%20of%20Congo

Displacement figure
https://www.iom.int/news/record-high-displacement-drc-nearly-7-million

More than 100 groups control mines
https://www.pbs.org/newshour/world/m23-rebels-seize-key-smartphone-mineral-mining-town-in-eastern-congo

More journalists have been k*lled in the last two years than during any other time since media monitoring organisations first began gathering data.

The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) reported that, on average, one journalist was killed every four days in the line of duty between 2022-23. The latest escalation of Israel's 76-year occupation of Palestine has k*lled 137 media workers in Palestine, Israel and Lebanon.

UNESCO reports 85 per cent of cases globally remain unsolved, with no perpetrators held to account. 

The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) said it is investigating cases in which Israeli forces' specifically targeted' at least five journalists and 'deliberately targeted' at least 10 others. 

Continued……Apart from physical elimination, governments have muzzled many journalists through censorship and Internet bans. Tech giants shutting African Stream's accounts following US Secretary of State Antony Blinken claiming on false grounds that we are 'secretly run' by Russian-state TV network RT and that we showcase 'Kremlin propagandists' stands as an example.

Despite the challenges, African Stream and all truth-seekers across the globe continue to speak out. No one will silence us.

SOURCES:

https://www.unesco.org/en/articles/85-journalist-killings-remain-unpunished-worldwide-unesco-report#:~:text=According%20to%20a%20new%20UNESCO,4%20points%20in%20six%20years.&text=In%202022%20and%202023%2C%20a,ever%20be%20held%20to%20account.

https://cpj.org/2024/10/one-year-and-climbing-israel-responsible-for-record-journalist-death-toll/

https://cpj.org/data/killed/all/?status=Killed&motiveConfirmed%5B%5D=Confirmed&type%5B%5D=Journalist&type%5B%5D=Media%20Worker&cc_fips%5B%5D=IS&cc_fips%5B%5D=LE&start_year=2023&end_year=2024&group_by=year

https://ifex.org/statement-on-the-targeting-and-killing-of-journalists-in-palestine-and-lebanon/

https://www.thenationalnews.com/news/mena/2024/10/28/gazas-journalists-defiant-in-face-of-israeli-targeting/

https://rsf.org/en/2024-world-press-freedom-index-journalism-under-political-pressure

SUDAN WOMEN MASS SUICIDE TO ESCAPE SEXUAL VIOLENCE

According to Niemat Ahmadi, President of the Darfur Women Action Group, over 130 women in Sudan’s Al Jazirah region have tragically committed suicide to escape the relentless sexual violence inflicted upon them. This violence has predominantly been perpetrated by the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) paramilitary amid the ongoing civil war in Sudan. It follows numerous accusations against the RSF for various atrocities and human-rights violations, including gang rapes.

A Human Rights Watch (HRW) report released in July highlighted the alarming extent of sexual crimes against Sudanese women and children. The report identified the RSF as the main perpetrators but also implicated Sudan’s Army in carrying out attacks. The HRW findings indicate that victims ranged in age from nine to 60 years old, with some succumbing to their injuries.

Continued……. More than 18 months into this brutal struggle for power between the army and the RSF, it is estimated that at least 20,000 people have been killed and over 13-million individuals displaced. However, Tom Perriello, the US special envoy to Sudan, acknowledged the difficulties in estimating casualties and suggested that the real death toll could be as high as 150,000.

Sources:


https://www.hrw.org/news/2024/07/28/sudan-widespread-sexual-violence-capital

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c8xpqvz0e88o

https://www.trtworld.com/africa/sudan-war-has-killed-at-least-20000-people-un-18205188

https://www.defenceweb.co.za/african-news/sudans-civil-war-has-left-at-least-62000-dead-by-our-estimate-%E2%88%92-but-the-true-figure-could-be-far-higher/

SUDAN’S WAR MAP: SUDAN ARMED FORCES (SAF) VS RAPID SUPPORT FORCES (RSF)

Sudan’s grim civil war is grinding on, with significant military activity in three areas: El Fasher (North Darfur’s capital), Khartoum Bahri (in Khartoum State ) and Ed Dueim (on the west bank of the White Nile, between Khartoum and Kosti).

Three weeks ago, in eastern Gezira, the UAE-backed Rapid Support Forces (RSF) paramilitary carried out ethnically-motivated revenge attacks on civilians after one of their military commanders, Abu Aqla Kakil, defected to the Sudanese army. There have also been reports of the RSF poisoning detainees’ food amid shortages.

Over 20,000 people have been confirmed killed in the war since hostilities broke out in April 2023. Earlier this year, the US special envoy to Sudan, Tom Perriello, suggested this could be a gross underestimation - saying the real death toll (even back then) could be as high as 150,000.

Continued……The humanitarian situation remains dire. The UN says that 26-million people are in acute hunger, warning that 100 Sudanese civilians will die from starvation each day if the war is not halted and humanitarian access is both granted by the warring parties and funded by the international community.

The map below, based on the most recently available data, indicates the current areas of control for the Sudanese army and the RSF.

SOURCES:

https://reliefweb.int/report/sudan/sudan-situation-update-rsf-marches-sennar-and-west-kordofan-july-2024

https://reliefweb.int/report/sudan/sudan-rsf-sets-its-eyes-north-darfur-situation-update-april-2024

https://reliefweb.int/report/sudan/sudan-rsf-sets-its-eyes-north-darfur-situation-update-april-2024

https://acleddata.com/2024/10/14/turning-the-tide-the-safs-strategic-offensive-in-khartoum-and-the-rsfs-setbacks-sudan-october-2024/

https://www.madamasr.com/en/2024/10/23/news/politics/rsf-retaliatory-attacks-in-eastern-gezira-following-commanders-defection-to-military-diplomatic-source-ambassador-to-uae-dismissed/

https://sudanwarmonitor.com/p/map-of-the-areas-of-control-in-sudan-0f3

https://press.un.org/en/2024/sc15784.doc.htm

https://www.defenceweb.co.za/african-news/sudans-civil-war-has-left-at-least-62000-dead-by-our-estimate

CORRECTION: ‘TRUMP TO PAY REPARATIONS TO WHITE STUDENTS OVER DEI?’

On 13 November, African Stream shared a story on US President-elect Donald Trump's plans to challenge Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) measures at US universities under the noscript above.

Although we noted that the clip we shared was undated, we also mentioned that Trump's announcement came slightly more than a year after the Supreme Court ruled against affirmative action at universities.

Upon further investigation, we discovered Trump may have initially outlined his plans on 2 May 2023, according to the Forbes Breaking News YouTube channel, dating his announcement before the Supreme Court ruling against affirmative action in June 2023.

Continued……While what Trump said deserves to be critiqued, when he said it is crucial context for this story. For that reason, we have deleted the story on all our platforms and we will republish the video with updated context.

African Stream is committed to upholding the highest journalistic integrity and accuracy standards, providing our audience with reliable and accurate information. As such, we remain equally uncompromising on transparency and would like to apologise for this error and any confusion it may have caused.

SOURCE:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aW_wnSP7dAA

NIGERIAN UK OPPOSITION LEADER: ‘BE GRATEFUL BRITAIN
ENDED SLAVERY!’

According to the UK’s newly-elected opposition leader, we should be grateful that Britain ended slavery - and should stop moaning about the past. Remarkably, Kemi Badenoch is also of Nigerian descent. In this clip, she goes as far as to allege that those seeking reparations are simply being manipulative.

OK, let’s just ignore the fact that the UK gave itself a 400-year developmental headstart by building up its economy on the back of the barbaric exploitation of African people.

Abolition-proud Britain didn’t give up its African colonies until much later, and colonialism is another form of enslavement. Zimbabwe for instance, wasn’t ‘free’ until 1980 (the year of Badenoch’s birth), but even after independence, the UK sanctioned the African nation to high heaven as soon as it tried to assert sovereignty with land reforms that would have seen territories stolen by the Brits returned to Africans.

Continued……After colonialism, neo-colonialism: London has exploited its economic power to further control African nations and keep them impoverished - for example, though predatory lending via the IMF and World Bank (institutions it played a key role in shaping).

The UK has no statute of limitations on serious crimes. Does Badenoch, who has vowed to uphold the law, really think the unspeakable suffering inflicted on Africans by the British - with negative consequences felt by millions of Black people to this day - was just a misdemeanour that can simply be brushed off?

Video Credit: GB News