S. SUDAN TEEN THE NEXT
USAIN BOLT?

Meet the world’s fastest 16-year-old: South Sudanese-Australian Gout Gout (pronounced 'Gwot Gwot').

Hailing from a nation often associated with war and suffering in mainstream media, Gout joins in the ranks of those reshaping the narrative of South Sudan, shining a different spotlight on the world’s youngest country.

At the Australian All-Schools Championships in Brisbane on 7 December, Gout delivered a record-breaking performance, securing two historic noscripts.

Continued……First, he broke Peter Norman's half-century-old national record of 20.06 seconds set at the 1968 Mexico City Olympics, becoming the fastest Australian to ever run the 200 m. Second, with an extraordinary time of 20.04 seconds, Gout shattered Usain Bolt's 2003 world record of 20.31 seconds for the under-16 age group, earning him the noscript of fastest 16-year-old in history.

After the race, Gout acknowledged that the world record had been in his sights but came sooner than he had anticipated: “I thought it would come maybe next year, the year after that,” he told reporters, “but I didn’t think it would come this year.”

Sources:

https://x.com/AthsAust/status/1865288461256921562

https://www.bbc.com/sport/athletics/articles/c9vkk7y2ywvo

https://edition.cnn.com/2012/04/24/sport/olympics-norman-black-power/index.html

https://www.smh.com.au/sport/athletics/he-would-have-been-proud-of-you-touching-message-to-gout-gout-from-family-of-peter-norman-20241208-p5kwpb.html

EUROPE MAKES MILLIONS FROM REJECTING AFRICAN VISAS

When Africans are denied visas to Europe, there’s no doubt those decisions are often racist. But could they be capitalist too? African Stream’s Wambura Mwai looks at the big business that is EU visa rejections.

JAILED UK ACTIVIST’S POE ABOUT GAZA

Back in August, a group of Palestine Action activists broke into the heavily guarded premises of Elbit Systems - a defence technology firm in Bristol, UK. The company is Israel’s largest arms maker. It’s seen profits surge by nearly 15% since Tel Aviv’s war on Gaza began.

Ten members of the group were arrested under the UK’s Terrorism Act for their protest and have been in jail ever since. Among the activists was Zoe Rogers, whose mother recently gave an interview to UK activist-rapper @Lowkey0nline (X) (for @MintPressNews (X)). She read out a powerful poem written by her daughter from prison - explaining why she felt compelled to take action.

Video credit: @MintPressNews (X)

Continued………Sources:

https://www.mintpressnews.com/a-letter-from-jailed-palestine-action-activist-zoe-rogers/288338/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OOmk_IhiCS4

https://www.thecanary.co/uk/news/2024/08/16/filton-palestine-action/

https://palestineaction.org

https://www.thenationalnews.com/business/2024/12/02/israeli-arms-makers-break-records-for-weapons-sales-amid-gaza-war/

https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20241120-elbit-systems-profits-surge-due-to-increased-demand-from-israel-military-in-gaza-and-hezbollah-conflict/

1985 MOVE BOMBING FAMILIES DEMAND RETURN OF KINS' REMAINS

Relatives of 1985 bombing victims who belonged to the US-based MOVE liberation group called again on 9 December for the return of their kins’ remains from the Penn Museum (formally known as the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology), in another case highlighting the structural dehumanisation of Africans in the United States.

On 9 December, John Africa, Jr., told reporters gathered for a press conference that authorities returned some bodies to the family without heads or torsos. A University of Pennsylvania student named Jane Weiss reportedly included an X-ray of 12-year-old Delisha Africa's head in her 2019 senior thesis, ‘Who is Jane Doe?’ raising further concern about the treatment of the remains.

Continued……. @mikeafricajr (X) also stated that his great-uncle, John Africa, a key MOVE figure, was buried without his head because it was removed using a saw rather than authorities’ claim that he had been decapitated by the bombing, ensuing blaze or gunfire. 

Despite the city of Philadelphia and the University of Pennsylvania promising in 2021 to return all remains, MOVE maintains the institutions deny accountability and closure to the family.

At the news conference she helped organise for the family, city councilmember Jamie Gauthier (@councilmemberJG on X), who represents the district that includes the museum and the bombardment site, condemned the institution's ‘profound disrespect for Black life and Black death.’

MOVE was a Black liberation group focused on environmentalism and animal rights. On 13 May 1985, Philadelphia police bombed their home and fired more than 10,000 rounds of ammunition, k*lling five children and six adults as police prohibited firefighters from putting out the ensuing blaze. The attack destroyed more than 60 rowhomes and left 250 people homeless.

Watch the whole press conference here: https://youtu.be/1xOrMC31Dxg

Donate to the @hate5six YouTube channel’s Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/hate5six

Sources
Family demands MOVE bombing victims remains
https://www.cbsnews.com/amp/philadelphia/news/move-bombing-remains-penn-museum

https://www.nbcphiladelphia.com/news/local/family-calls-on-penn-museum-to-return-remains-of-girl-killed-in-move-bombing/4049143

https://www.phillyvoice.com/move-bombing-victim-remains-penn-museum-mike-africa-jr

MOVE bombing
https://www.vox.com/the-highlight/2019/8/8/20747198/philadelphia-bombing-1985-move

Jane Weiss
https://www.researchgate.net/figure/Dr-Janet-Monge-right-and-Penn-undergraduate-student-Jane-Weiss-in-CAAM-190-Classroom_fig2_375625627

Mention of Jane Weiss senior thesis
https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/7ACBDC69D82453DC49FA2FC1A534EF52/S0940739123000127a.pdf/open_access_violence_legacies_of_white_supremacist_data_making_at_the_penn_museum_from_the_morton_cranial_collection_to_the_move_remains.pdf

MALEMA: REMOVE 'AFRICAN PUPPETS' TO BE EFFECTIVE ON UNSC

Africa needs a permanent voice at the UN Security Council, but it won’t make much difference for ordinary Africans given the unimaginative political status quo plaguing the continent, according to South Africa’s Economic Freedom Fighters President Julius Malema.

In this clip from a recent exclusive RT interview, @effsouthafrica’s @julius_s_malema (X) said Africa must address internal challenges, including political dependency, resource giveaways and colonial-era legacies, to develop a strong, united leadership to position Africa as equal among powerful states like the United States, China and Russia.

Video credit: @RT_com (X)

CUBA HONOURS AFRICA THROUGH ART

African Stream recently touched down in Cuba, where we met with Afro-Cuban artist Emilio O'Farrill Almendáriz. He runs an art studio and gallery in the city of Matanzas through his project, AfroArte. He aims to defend and promote Cuba's African heritage through artistic expression.

The gallery is located in the Castle of San Severino, a fort created during the Spanish colonial period to defend western Cuba from attack. However, the fort converted into a prison, where the colonial administration executed rebellious enslaved Africans and the US-backed right-wing dictatorship executed Cuban revolutionaries.

Continued………. Today, the site is dedicated to the historical memory of slavery and education about the role of Africans in creating the Cuban state, as Matanzas was, at one point, the centre of Cuba's sugar production fueled by slave labour. Traders dropped off more Africans in Matanzas than in other western Cuban cities. The African presence in Matanzas increased exponentially after the Haitian revolution, as countries refused to purchase sugar from liberated Haiti, and Cuba spiked its import of kidnapped Africans to take Haiti's spot as the top sugar producer at the time.

African Stream’s Inemesit Richardson participated in a delegation from the Alliance of Sahel States (AES)—comprised of Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger. In Cuba, they learned that Africa's cultural roots run deep on the island and that the revolution made African heritage essential to Cuba's national identity. The delegation witnessed how the revolutionary government attempts to rectify the historical injustices birthed through the slave trade and addressed the value of African life.

The artist can be followed on Instagram via instagram.com/emilioofarrill and on Facebook at facebook.com/emilioofarrillalmendariz. Follow the museum: facebook.com/CastilloSanSeverino

SOURCES:

https://eap.bl.uk/project/EAP060
https://whc.unesco.org/en/tentativelists/6748/
Most of the information came from our tour guide at the museum in Cuba

WASHINGTON POST: ‘ICC IS NOT FOR ISRAEL’

The Washington Post editorial board recently published an article stating that the International Criminal Court (ICC) should not bother issuing arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his former defence minister for crimes against humanity and war crimes and should instead turn their focus on more suitable suspects from Russia, Sudan, Syria and Myanmar. 

The editorial board went on to mention that an arrest warrant for the man behind the ethnic cleansing in Gaza has limited practical effect and that the ICC is ‘putting the elected leaders of a democratic country with its own independent judiciary in the same category as dictators and authoritarians who kill with impunity.’ Most of the leaders prosecuted at the ICC have been non-white, leading many to say the Global North created the ICC to persecute the Global South.

Continued……. Just as a reminder, Israel’s bombardment has killed at least 186,000 people as of early July, according to the Lancet medical journal. Read the article yourself and let us know your thoughts in the comments.

Sources:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2024/11/24/israel-hamas-gaza-icc-arrest-warrants-international-criminal-court

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

https://www.icc-cpi.int/defendants