BURKINA FASO: OUT WITH COLONIAL LEGAL ATTIRE

Burkina Faso can do fashion revolutions as well as ideological ones!

Black gowns and white wigs - the traditional attire of the country’s court magistrates and clerks since colonial times - are out. Legal-sector officials will now wear a locally-sourced and produced garment, made from the traditional Faso Dan Fani fabric.

Not only will this support the economy, it’s another example of Africans reshaping their institutions in accordance with their roots. Another win for the Sahel country!

Video credit: @RTB (YouTube)

Sources:

https://www.africanews.com/2022/10/06/ibrahim-traore-appointed-president-of-burkina-faso//

https://journaldufaso.com/les-magistrats-du-burkina-faso-adoptent-le-faso-dan-fani-une-revolution-dans-le-monde-judiciaire/

https://www.uni-kassel.de/forschung/files/Global_Partnership_Network/2023_MasterarbeitFionaFaye.pdf

Continued......Sources

https://www.judiciary.uk/about-the-judiciary/history-of-the-judiciary-in-england-and-wales/history

https://www.liberationschool.org/sankara-revolution-not-a-replica/

https://journaldufaso.com/les-magistrats-du-burkina-faso-adoptent-le-faso-dan-fani-une-revolution-dans-le-monde-judiciaire/#google_vignette

https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/articles/zxc2vj6#zhk6g2p

'NO SUCH THING AS A PALESTINIAN' - U.S. AMBASSADOR TO ISRAEL

In these viral clips, President-elect Donald Trump’s pick for US ambassador to Israel, Mike Huckabee’s pro-Israel positions are on display. 

Over the years, the evangelical preacher and former Arkansas governor has endorsed the ongoing Israel's ongoing illegal expansion and occupation of Palestinian lands. Huckabee has also rejected the two-state solution while supporting Israel's plan to annex the West Bank. The 69-year-old Republican Party member has advocated for the relocation of Palestinians from their indigenous lands, saying enough land is available elsewhere to re-settle them. In fact, members of the Zi*nist movement—with Zi*nism being a political ideology that uses Judaism for imperialist purposes—had considered establishing Israel in East Africa before shifting their attention to Palestine.

Continued......It seems Trump, who branded himself an anti-war candidate, may expand on President Joe Biden’s catastrophic West Asia policy that has enabled Israel to k*ll at least 186,000 in Gaza as of early July, according to the Lancet medical journal, and more than 3,500 in Lebanon.

Have a watch, and please share your thoughts.

Credit: @CNN

Before you blow off some steam, remember venting your anger might feel good at the time but it’s not very productive in the long run. As this Nigerian proverb nicely puts it, rage won’t feed you.

Momodou Taal, a 30-year-old PhD student at Cornell University in the United States, will neither be disenrolled from the institution nor deported from the country after the British national of Gambian origin won an appeal in October that reversed the university’s decision to expel him. 

Cornell suspended Taal in September for taking part in shutting down a career fair featuring weapons manufacturers, L3Harris and Boeing, which arm Israel. 

Taal, who is Muslim and participates in pro-Palestine activities, is banned from accessing campus premises and is not allowed to teach a course on Blackness and the racialisation process. However, he is allowed to complete his dissertation. Had Cornell expelled Taal, he would have lost his student visa and immediately been deported from the US.

Continued........
University officials bowed to intense pressure from students, faculty, alums and activists to reverse their decision. Taal's predicament came in the backdrop of a massive student protest movement across US universities demanding a US arms embargo and a ceasefire in Gaza. During April and May, students pitched Palestine solidarity tents on campus grounds, demanding their colleges divest from companies supporting Israel.

Photo credit: @momodoutaal on X

Sources:

https://links.org.au/united-states-students-movement-palestine-needs-everyone

https://www.rollingstone.com/culture/culture-features/cornell-protest-palestine-immigration-1235112444/

https://www.insidehighered.com/news/quick-takes/2024/10/11/cornell-international-grad-student-says-he-wont-be-deported

https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/it-bittersweet-cornell-university-over-suspension-mamadou-taal

GHANAIAN YOUTH NEED JOBS NOT HANDOUTS

This resurfaced viral clip shows frustrated young people in Ghana rejecting rice handouts - sent in by a minster who’d promised jobs at the last election. The clip (from July 2021) has become a symbol of Ghanaians’ dissatisfaction with political leaders who fail to address the root causes of unemployment and economic instability.

As a fresh election nears, both presidential candidates, Mahamudu Bawumia of the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP) and John Dramani Mahama of the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC), are promising to address the country's economic challenges.

Continued.........But many voters remain sceptical, especially in light of past initiatives such as the 'One District, One Factory' policy, which failed to generate sustainable jobs or integrate local resources into industry, ultimately leading to the abandonment of newly-built factories.

Video Credit: @INFORMANT (Facebook)

SOURCES:

https://ghana.un.org/en/239323-25-countries-halved-multidimensional-poverty-within-15-years-11-billion-remain-poor

https://www.statsghana.gov.gh/gssmain/fileUpload/pressrelease/Multidimensional%20Poverty%20Ghana_Report.pdf

https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=1981279715371636

https://www.theafricareport.com/367808/ghana-elections-what-are-the-five-key-issues/

https://www.ghanaweb.com/GhanaHomePage/features/Ghana-s-Import-Dependency-The-failure-of-the-One-District-One-Factory-1D1F-policy-1934225

https://thefourthestategh.com/2023/03/newly-built-1d1f-factories-abandoned-some-employing-far-less-than-the-government-claims/

CASTRO ON AFRICAN SACRIFICE

Cuban revolutionary leader Fidel Castro (1926-2016) died on this day, 25 November. He was a crucial figure in the international struggle against Western imperialism.

An internationalist by word and deed, Castro’s contribution to the anti-imperialist fight went beyond the shores of his beloved home, for which he led a revolution that succeeded on 1 January 1959.

He dispatched Cuban troops to pro-independence movements in Africa, with about 36,000 deployed in the mid-1970s to help the newly independent state of Angola fight US-backed rebels and South African apartheid forces. This not only consolidated Angola's independence but also ultimately contributed to the collapse of the apartheid regime in South Africa.

Away from the battlefields, Castro also sent doctors, technicians, teachers and other essential workers to many African countries and other Global South countries that faced shortages of skilled workers.

Continued.........On several occasions, such as in this clip, he hailed the contributions of Africa's people to the world. Here, he spoke about the four centuries of immense sacrifice that the people of the Global South—and Africa, in particular—have had to make.

Sources:

https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/democraciaabierta/do-you-remember-cuba-dedication-to-angola/

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-38130554

NIGER SUMMIT ENDS WITH PALESTINE SOLIDARITY MARCH

Niger hosted the historic ‘Conference in Solidarity with the Peoples of the Sahel' on 19-21 November in its capital, Niamey. 

Socialists worldwide representing popular movements, labour unions and peasant organisations attended alongside hundreds of Nigeriens. 

The summit aimed to build international solidarity for the Sahel's anti-imperialist revolution that has thus far booted the French and US militaries from Niger and the French from Burkina Faso and Mali.

Continued….. However, delegates did not forget other ongoing struggles, such as the Palestine liberation movement, so the conference concluded with a march in the streets to express their support for the Palestinians, who have endured a relentless and US-backed Israeli military onslaught that had k*lled more than 186,000 people as of early July, according to the Lancet medical journal.

Video credit: @EugenePuryear (X)

Sources;

https://peoplesdispatch.org/2024/11/18/niger-hosts-historic-conference-on-the-fight-against-neocolonialism-in-the-sahel/

https://www.aa.com.tr/en/middle-east/gaza-death-toll-tops-44-000-as-71-more-palestinians-killed-in-israel-s-genocidal-war/3400142

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

Continued….. The scepticism toward foreign aid programmes may stem from Western countries’ historically using them as instruments to advance their geopolitical interests. Many have criticised institutions like the US Agency for International Development (USAID) for covertly advancing US intelligence objectives during the Cold War, including allegations of training operatives and torturers. Similarly, the United States established the National Endowment for Democracy (NED) to carry out what was once the CIA’s covert work, with its founding president openly acknowledging that. Further, Vincent Crouzet, a former French intelligence officer, admitted that the African Sahel region’s instability offers opportunities for ‘secretive’ destabilisation operations.

Continued……SOURCES

News
https://www.reuters.com/world/africa/eu-recalls-envoy-niger-after-junta-accuses-it-mismanaging-aid-2024-11-23/?taid=674221844dd3f40001cfb853

https://www.barrons.com/news/niger-says-requests-replacement-of-eu-ambassador-amid-aid-row-89e7fcc1

USAID connection to US intelligence
https://archive.ph/5EUEQ#selection-1973.0-1973.77

NED and the CIA
https://mondediplo.com/2007/08/04ned
https://countercurrents.org/2022/05/the-national-endowment-for-democracy-a-second-cia/

French opportunities for destabilization
...

This Washington Post Editorial Board headline says everything one needs to know about the hypocrisy of the West, including that of so-called human-rights advocates.

The International Criminal Court (ICC) issued arrest warrants for senior Israeli officials, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defence Minister Yoav Gallant, for 'crimes against humanity and war crimes committed from at least 8 October 2023 until at least 20 May 2024.’

The editorial board claims that instead of going after Netanyahu, whose government has killed at least 186,000 people as of early July in Gaza, according to the Lancet medical journal, the ICC should pursue suspects in places such as Russia, Sudan, Syria and Myanmar.