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

SENEGAL’S SUPERNATURAL REVOLUTIONARY

With Senegal’s president calling for the closure of France’s military bases in the country, it’s a good time to remember one of the nation’s great resistance figures - Aline Sitoe Diatta, who was first inspired to fight French occupation by a mystical vision, and who was later rumoured to have magical powers. This short video relates her fascinating life.

SANCTIONS FOR THEE BUT NOT UAE

The US wields significant global economic influence through the dollar, often shaping international outcomes to align with its interests. This power raises questions of justice, as seen in cases like Cuba and North Korea. In Cuba, decades-long sanctions and embargoes punished socialist reforms such as land nationalisation and healthcare improvements. North Korea, meanwhile, faces severe sanctions due to its nuclear-weapons programme, exacerbating economic hardship.

Continued……. In stark contrast to this is the US response to the United Arab Emirates. Despite well-documented evidence that Abu Dhabi is heavily involved in illicit African gold trading, funds paramilitary groups and contributes to human-rights abuses in Africa, Washington has refrained from taking decisive action - out of fear of upsetting its ally.

Sources
Why US sanctions are dangerous
https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2022/06/this-is-why-the-us-dollar-is-a-potent-sanctions-weapon-for-now/
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/03/16/opinion/us-russia-sanctions-power-economy.html

Sanctions on Cuba
https://www.state.gov/cuba-sanctions/

Cuba before socialism
https://www.thevintagenews.com/2017/05/18/fulgencio-batista-one-of-the-worst-and-most-cowardly-dictators-in-history/

Cuba after the revolution
https://www.thevintagenews.com/2017/05/18/fulgencio-batista-one-of-the-worst-and-most-cowardly-dictators-in-history/

US war on North Korea
https://www.vox.com/2015/8/3/9089913/north-korea-us-war-crime

US sanctions on North Korea
https://www.cfr.org/backgrounder/north-korea-sanctions-un-nuclear-weapons


UAE stealing billions of Africa’s gold
https://apnews.com/article/gold-smuggling-africa-uae-switzerland-e1a614c465766f1c3e90fb9e5a5167a2

Congo gold through Rwanda/Uganda to Dubai
https://www.miningweekly.com/article/billions-in-african-gold-smuggled-to-uae-yearly-swissaid-says-2024-05-30


Mali gold smuggled to Dubai
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2024-05-29/billions-in-african-gold-smuggled-to-uae-yearly-swissaid-says


UAE backs RSF
https://www.globalwitness.org/en/campaigns/conflict-minerals/exposing-rsfs-secret-financial-network/


UAE purchase of conflict gold from Sudan
https://www.globalwitness.org/en/campaigns/conflict-minerals/beneath-shine-tale-two-gold-refiners/


US frustrates investigations into UAE
https://www.globalwitness.org/en/campaigns/conflict-minerals/beneath-shine-tale-two-gold-refiners/
https://www.politico.eu/article/united-arab-emirates-eu-france-ergmany-uswest-wants-to-look-the-other-way-on-uae-money-laundering/
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/1-uae-dropped-financial-crime-153446297.html?guccounter=1

Impatience can be fatal. As this African proverb vividly puts it, in your haste, you might accidentally find yourself getting a venomous bite if you don’t watch your step. (On the other hand, dithering near poisonous snakes also isn’t a good idea!)

What a year! In a year marked by intensified US efforts to shut us down, we still endeavoured to bring you African stories that matter from a revolutionary and pan-African perspective.
We were there when South Africa's lawyers passionately argued the country's genocide case against Israel at the International Court of Justice; we accompanied the tens of millions of people across the continent as they went to vote in crucial elections.
We have continued giving a voice to the victims of the genocides in the Congo and Sudan, instigated by the West and the United Arab Emirates (UAE), respectively.
We ensured that the world was informed of the progress made by the revolutionary governments in the Sahel region.
As the year comes to an end, join us for a review and analysis of the stories that have rocked the African airwaves in the last 12 months.

POPULAR MOZAMBICAN BLOGGER GUNNED DOWN

In a chilling display of police brutality, a popular Mozambican blogger was shot during a live broadcast on 12 December. Albino Jose Sibia - popularly known @manoshottas - was at the Ressano Garcia border crossing between Mozambique and South Africa when a bullet struck him as he was filming the police crackdown against protesters there.

Minutes into the broadcast, he’s heard saying, 'I got shot, guys, I got shot... I am dying' - after which the recording goes dark. According to local media reports, the young blogger was taken to a nearby hospital, where he succumbed to his injuries the next day.

The violence continued at his funeral, as police officers reportedly gunned down four people along the route that the funeral procession took on the way to the cemetery.

Continued………. Violent protests have rocked Mozambique since the 9 October disputed elections. The country's electoral commission declared Daniel Chapo, the candidate of the ruling FRELIMO (Front for the Liberation of Mozambique), party the winner - with 70.6% of the votes. The opposition PODEMOS (Mozambican Development Optimist Party) has rejected the results. Its leader, Venancio Mondlane, garnered 20% of the votes, according to the election body.

The last two months have been marked by regular, nationwide protests that have frequently been met with a heavy response from the security forces, resulting in deaths and injuries. On 10 December, Plataforma DECIDE, a Mozambique-based elections monitoring organisation, reported that at least 110 have been killed since the beginning of the protests.

Video credit: ManoShottas/TikTok

Sources:

https://clubofmozambique.com/news/mozambique-elections-police-shoot-mourners-at-ressano-garcia-funeral-aim-report-272646/
https://www.swissinfo.ch/spa/al-menos-cuatro-muertos-en-el-funeral-de-un-joven-asesinado-en-las-protestas-de-mozambique/88595008

https://x.com/PDecide23/status/1866468692495851558

Kemi Badenoch is back in the headlines for all the wrong reasons. In an interview with The Spectator, the newly-elected leader of the UK's Conservative Party rejected being associated with Nigeria, saying she identifies more with her ethnic Yoruba heritage and went further to say that she has nothing in common with northern Nigerians.

The irony in arguing against being lumped in with Northern Nigerians is that she deployed a stereotype by associating northern Nigeria with ‘Islamism’ and ‘Boko Haram.’Perhaps it was Badenoch’s attempt at virtue signalling, considering the rise of t*rrorism and interregional tensions, like in many other African countries, are deeply rooted in the power imbalances created by British colonial rule in Nigeria between 1882 and 1960. It begs the question: If Badenoch has nothing in common with Nigerians from the north, how does she have anything in common with the British crown, whose imperial efforts created the deep divide between the north and south of Nigeria?

Continued……….. This cognitive dissonance is even more apparent when Badenoch says her maiden name, Adegoke, means warriors who protected the crown, and, therefore, she sees herself as a warrior who intends to fight and die for the British crown.

Badenoch's willingness to put her life on the line for former British colonial settlers, whose policies continue the exploitation of Nigerians and the broader Global South, reminds us of the famous phrase, ‘All skin folk ain’t kinfolk.’ In fact, Pan-Africanist Malcolm X (1925-65) called them ‘house negroes.’

Sources:

https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/i-will-die-protecting-this-country-kemi-badenoch-on-where-she-plans-to-take-the-tories/

https://fluxirr.mcgill.ca/article/view/104/87%23:~:text%3DAs%2520the%2520British%2520gained%2520dominance,the%2520Hausa%2520and%2520the%2520Igbo.&ved=2ahUKEwjP2rSx1auKAxW6WUEAHdWpIWQQFnoECDcQAw&usg=AOvVaw0Q-UdCDTxCdfmF2sKC2ZO3

MK’S MISSION TO DE-COLONISE
S. AFRICA FULLY


On 16 December, South Africa's uMkhonto weSizwe (MK) party marks its first year of existence. Since its formation, the new political force has been riding high, attracting many bigwigs from other political parties, including the ruling African Nation Congress (ANC) and the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF).

The cherry on top of the party's political cake so far has been winning nearly 15% of the vote in May’s general elections, effectively dislodging the EFF as the country's third-largest political party.

However, despite its rapid growth, many people in South Africa and beyond are still unaware of the party's ideological positions on several local and international issues. It is mostly known as the party of former president and ANC leader Jacob Zuma. For this reason, the party's Secretary-General, Floyd Shivambu, appeared on the Sizwe Mpofu-Walsh Xperience (SMWX) podcast to explain what the MK stands for.

Continued………One of the topics that Shivambu (who, until recently, was the deputy leader of the EFF) touched on was how his party intends to unite all progressive forces in the country - to decolonise South Africa’s economic and social structures totally.

Shivambu lamented that, decades after the fall of apartheid, Black South Africans largely remain on the fringes of the economy.

Credit: @SMWX (YouTube)u

Sources:

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/5/31/zuma-big-election-winner-as-south-africa-heads-for-coalition-government
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/06/03/world/africa/south-africa-jacob-zuma.html
https://x.com/MkhontoweSizwex/status/1863106321329033463
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/6/2/south-africa-elections-results-what-happens-next