NEW ZEALAND: POWERFUL HAKA AGAINST BILL

On 14 November, 22-year-old Hana-Rawhiti Maipi-Clarke, New Zealand’s youngest member of Parliament, led a protest on the floor using the indigenous Maori people’s Haka, a ceremonial dance and chant, against a proposed bill that seeks to redefine New Zealand’s foundational agreement between the indigenous tribes and the British Crown. Other MPs joined Maipi-Clarke when she started chanting the ‘Ka Mate' Haka and tore up what appeared to be her copy of the controversial bill. The protest caused Parliament to suspend the vote.

The 1840 Treaty of Waitangi between the British Crown and 540 Maori chiefs was signed to guarantee the protection of Maori rights, sovereignty and recognition in exchange for handing over governance to the British.

Continued......The bill calls for equality for all people in New Zealand, representing a threat to the Maoris, who went from controlling all land before British colonisation to becoming a dispossessed people, now making up about 20 per cent of the population.

The Haka performed in this clip represents defiance and resistance to colonisation. Ngāti Toa chief Te Rauparaha (1768-1849) composed it to ‘stiffen the sinews, to summon up the blood,’ according to Timoti Karetu, considered a ‘godfather’ of the Maori Language Movement.

Video credit: Stuff on YouTube (@NZStuff on X)

Sources:

https://www.creativeteamevents.com/the-history-words-haka-ka-mate

https://www.nzepc.auckland.ac.nz/kmko/01/ka_mate01_sullivan.pdf

https://archive.org/details/hakadanceofnoble0000kare

https://nzhistory.govt.nz/politics/treaty/the-treaty-in-brief

https://teara.govt.nz/en/ethnic-inequalities/page-2

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/11/15/thousands-march-on-new-zealand-capital-against-indigenous-treaty-overhaul

https://www.dw.com/en/new-zealand-maori-mps-disrupt-parliament-with-haka/a-70781928

While on a visit to discuss a tax dispute with Malian authorities, Australia-based Resolute Mining’s CEO Terence Holohan and two other employees were detained on 8 November.

Three years after a successful coup d’état set Mali on a course to decolonise and reclaim its natural resources, foreign companies exploiting Mali’s wealth are under scrutiny. 

Aside from auditing foreign companies' revenues to retrieve back taxes, Mali adopted a mining code on 29 August 2023 to increase the government's share of foreign-operated mines to as much as 35 per cent. The code also prioritises local investors and state-owned companies over foreign companies.

Continued............The US International Trade Administration reports Mali’s Ministry of Mines estimated Mali has 800 tonnes of gold deposits, 2 million tonnes of iron ore, 5,000 tonnes of uranium, 20 million tonnes of manganese, 4 million tonnes of lithium and 10 million tonnes of limestone.

Resolute Mining is the latest foreign corporation to be held accountable in Mali. Since detaining the CEO, the company’s shares significantly dropped, forcing it to halt trading on the stock market.

Continued......Sources:

https://www.reuters.com/markets/commodities/resolute-ceo-still-held-mali-diplomatic-sources-say-shares-suspended-2024-11-14/

https://www.reuters.com/markets/commodities/australias-resolute-mining-confirms-ceo-two-other-employees-detained-mali-2024-11-10/

https://www.theafricareport.com/367989/mali-junta-detains-3-executives-from-gold-mining-firm-resolute/

https://www.a-mla.org/en/country/Mali

https://www.ft.com/content/da63f749-1ebe-42f7-b43e-b832962d5c49

https://miningdataonline.com/property/1005/Syama-Operation.aspx

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&opi=89978449&url=https://www.gold.org/download/file/16615/Country-Profile-Mali.pdf&ved=2ahUKEwj255vp-92JAxWHMlkFHRHwLKYQFnoECC4QAQ&usg=AOvVaw2i02nO7rhJc-ZyCoPdXtJ2

https://thesudantimes.com/africa/resolute-ceo-remains-detained-in-mali-amidst-tax-dispute

https://www.mining.com/web/mali-seeks-160-million-from-resolute-mining-after-detaining-its-ceo

https://africa.businessinsider.com/local/markets/gold-and-grievances-malis-junta-detains-resolute-ceo-seeks-dollar160m-payout/22slprx

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/resolute-shares-suspended-mali-demands-054018857.html

https://www.ensafrica.com/news/detail/9042/mining-legislation-reform-in-mali-strengtheni

https://www.trade.gov/country-commercial-guides/mali-mining

TRUMP TO PAY REPARATIONS TO WHITE STUDENTS OVER DEI?

This video that resurfaced after US President-elect Donald Trump declared victory in the 5 November election shows him announcing universities would be fined and their endowments taxed for deploying Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) measures.

Trump said some of the revenue generated would go toward compensating students who do not receive the same treatment.

Many are wondering if Trump was suggesting reparations for white people. That would be ironic, given the US has yet to pay reparations to Africans in the United States for slavery, discrimination and human-rights violations they have experienced for more than four centuries in the US. Our people’s forced labour created the economic foundation of the country.

Continued.......It reminds many that since the US Civil Rights Act was enacted in 1964 to prohibit discrimination, both Republican and Democrat presidents have refused to implement and protect wide-ranging policies that raise the quality of life for Black, Latino, Native Hawaiian, Pacific Islander and Indigenous people, leaving the most marginalised groups in the United States under-resourced. High-ranking universities have said Affirmative Action ensures that a student body does not remain majority white and Asian.

In June 2023, the Supreme Court ruled against Affirmative Action at Harvard University and the University of North Carolina, saying race-based admissions violate the US Constitution’s guarantee of equal protection. Of the six judges who ruled in the majority, Trump’s three appointees swayed the court's decision.

Video credit: @Forbes (X)

Sources:

https://www.timesnownews.com/world/us/us-news/donald-trump-to-pay-reparations-to-white-victims-of-racial-discrimination-claims-surface-article-115230699

https://x.com/keithboykin/status/1856396150011768837

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2023/06/29/affirmative-action-supreme-court-ruling 

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2023/06/27/supreme-court-affirmative-action-admissions-history/?itid=lk_inline_manual_20 

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

https://wrrv.com/trump-checks-new-yorkers/

https://www.instagram.com/vanlathan/reel/DCR3svqyZ4S/

https://x.com/feelmyhelpcomin/status/1856324921082728873

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aW_wnSP7dAA&t=7s

https://www.forbes.com/sites/saradorn/2023/06/29/trump-cheers-amazing-affirmative-action-ruling-what-a-wonderful-day/

https://www.investopedia.com/supreme-court-affirmative-action-decision-2023-7555848

KWAME TURE: WE CAN'T BE POLITICALLY IRRESPONSIBLE

In this video, revolutionary Pan-Africanist Kwame Ture emphasises that our political responsibility should extend beyond just voting in elections - which take years to come round. We need to show daily commitment to the revolutionary struggle. He encourages us to educate ourselves and stay informed about current events to better guide our activism.

Ture left the US in the late ‘60s after being targeted by the FBI (which had secretly identified him as the man who would succeed Malcolm X as the dominant Black leader) and moved to Africa, where he became a prominent figure in the pan-African movement. It was there he changed his name from ‘Stokely Standiford Churchill Carmichael’ and campaigned for revolutionary socialist pan-Africanism. He played a key role in founding the All-African People's Revolutionary Party. Today, the AAPRP has a presence across the continent, from Guinea-Bissau to Kenya. Ture died on 15 November 1998 in Guinea, aged 57.

'PALESTINE WILL NEVER DIE' - LOWKEY'S SONG FOR GAZA

British-Iraqi rapper Lowkey, one of the most vocal supporters of Palestine, has used his online platforms to highlight the shocking scale of human suffering in Gaza at the hands of Israel's Western-backed military onslaught. 

Here's a fan (@omar.sala78 on Instagram) in Deir Al-Balah, Central Gaza, showing children enjoying Lowkey's song ('Palestine Will Never Die') as it plays on a large projected screen. The children sit in rows like they are in a dark movie theatre, a respite from the destruction around them.

Lowkey's song refers to suffering Palestinian children, striking a particularly painful chord given a recent report by the UN Human Rights Office stated nearly 70 per cent of Gaza's casualties are women and children.

Continued........Meanwhile, in July, the British medical journal The Lancet reported Gaza's death toll could be over 186,000 and climbing, given Israel has not relented in the latest escalation of the 76-year-old occupation.

However, as Lowkey (@Lowkey0nline on X) powerfully reminds the world, Palestine will never die.

Video credit: @omar.sala78 on IG

Sources:

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cn5wel11pgdo

https://www.thelancet.com/action/showPdf?pii=S0140-6736%2824%2901169-3

https://www.trtworld.com/middle-east/death-toll-in-gaza-could-exceed-186000-the-lancet-18181205

REACTION: U.S. ATTORNEY GENERAL NOMINEE CALLED TO INVADE NIGER

African Stream journalist Inemesit Richardson called for Africans everywhere to defend Niger following then-US congress member Matt Gaetz calling in May for Washington to invade Niger over the African state's decision to boot US troops.

Gaetz has since been nominated for attorney general by US President-elect Donald Trump. The attorney general heads the US Department of Justice and is the US government’s chief law enforcement officer.

Continued.......During an August episode of 'This Week in Africa,' African Stream's livestream collaboration with @authentic_african, Richardson warned that while nothing came out of Gaetz's threats, US regime-change tactics may not be off the table for the Alliance of Sahel States (AES) confederation, made up of Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger. In recent years, these three countries waged successful coups d’état against Western-aligned leaders and all three have expelled French troops.

Trump's nomination of warmongers like Gaetz should give us a reason to be more vigilant.

Sources:

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.

https://www.justice.gov/ag

'WOULD YOU SAY THAT TO A JEW?'

Britain not being forced to reckon with colonialism and slavery has helped sanitise British imperialism and dilute the historical scale of its destruction of societies. This video clip shows the cognitive dissonance of former British member of Parliament and GB News host @Jacob_Rees_Mogg, who argued with @AytonImarn that British imperialism was a force for good. He ignored the exploitative nature of colonialism, whereby the British empire imposed its systems primarily for its benefit, dispossessing colonised populations of natural-resource wealth.

The claim that Britain ‘gave’ the Caribbean rule of law, democracy, and capitalism is a selective historical narrative that downplays colonialism’s impact on millions of victims. These communities had working systems before the British imposed theirs, with British hegemony influencing generations of Global South people to erase from their collective minds the archives of knowledge and tradition.

Continued......By suggesting Caribbean nations should be grateful for British colonialism, Rees-Mogg minimises the devastating impacts of forced labour, resource extraction and systemic racism, creating inequalities still present to this day in formerly colonised countries. In 2023, as part of 'international reconciliation,' 15 Caribbean countries announced they sought $33 trillion in slavery reparations, with Britain alone billed for $19.6 trillion.

Have a watch, and please share your thoughts.

Video credit: @gbnews

SOURCES

Impact of British imperialism
https://www.historytools.org/stories/the-deadly-impact-of-british-rule-in-india-a-comparative-analysis

Indigenous community already had systems
https://fiveable.me/key-terms/environmental-biology/impact-of-colonialism-on-indigenous-communities#:~:text=Colonialism%20significantly%20disrupted%20the%20social,power%20dynamics%20to%20maintain%20control

The victims of capitalism
https://jacobin.com/2014/11/capitalisms-victims/

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