OTA BENGA: THE BOY EXHIBITED IN A HUMAN ZOO

How Western colonisers practised barbarism in the name of science. The Tragic story of Ota Benga.

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AFRICA’S CARBON TIME BOMB

30-billion tonnes of Carbon dioxide are trapped under one giant area of African peatlands - and could spell environmental disaster if nothing’s done. The Congo Basin is an invaluable treasure not just for the six countries that host the bulk of the forest—Cameroon, the Central African Republic (CAR), the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, and the Republic of the Congo—but for Africa and the world. Without an intact Congo Basin, efforts to mitigate global warming and its many extreme side effects will fall short

But the rescue plan is very expensive - so who should pay?

ANCIENT WONDERS OF NIGER

Hear the word Niger these days, and you’ll think of revolutionary coups, uranium, and giving ECOWAS, France and the U.S the boot...
This time, though, we want you to think beautiful lost desert city
That’s right, hidden in the Saharan landscape is a pre-colonial African gem.
Despite the country's troubles, please take a moment to enjoy our tour of Ksars of Djado.

DON’T TELL US HOW TO SPEAK!

Just as any two living creatures have a common ancestor in the tree of life, so any two languages have a common tongue from which they ultimately derived. Scientists currently believe that the world’s 6,000 modern languages, from English to Mandarin, can all be traced back to a ‘mother tongue’ - an ancestral language spoken in Africa 50,000 to 70,000 years ago. Differently put: all languages are descended from primordial African!

This makes it all the more galling that Africans who visit, work or live outside of the continent are often taunted and laughed at because sometimes they don’t pronounce English words ‘properly’ - even though these words are ‘deviations’ (however far removed) from African-language words.

The continent’s turbulent history of colonisation is the reason for the use of European languages in African schools, commerce and governments today.

Continued……However, something that is overlooked is that most Africans are accustomed to speaking multiple languages, perhaps three or more, throughout the course of a single day.

That’s one reason Africans pronounce certain words with an accent - they can speak other languages fluently enough for those languages to interfere with their English.

In this clip, Anna Mwalagho (@mamaafricaanna) - an African storyteller living in the United States - gives a passionate defence of the uniqueness of African accents, arguing that this diversity is something to celebrate and be proud of.

Hit like if you agree.

Video Credit: @mamaafricaanna (IG)

THE MOTHER OF ALL KARENS

Everyone is familiar with the term “Karen,” but have you heard of the mother of all Karens? Her name is Karen Blixen.

She was a Danish writer and aristocrat who ‘owned’ a 6,000-acre coffee farm at the foot of the Ngong Hills in colonial-era Kenya. A small army of servants toiled and attended to her needs. The land actually belonged to the local Maasai, who’d been forcibly removed from it to make room for colonials like herself.

Her writings were infused with racism and a White-saviour complex. Yet Nairobi still honours her by having a suburb named after her - one that still has a whiff of colonial exclusivity and snobbishness.

African Stream takes you to the place where it all started.

HOW AFRICAN DIAMONDS FUND
ISRAEL’S WAR

We all know Africa is essentially being plundered though exploitative mineral-extraction deals.

But what would you think if you learned that not only are non-Africans reaping the profits on our precious stones, they are using those earnings to fund conflict - in particular, a war that many see as imperialistic and genocidal?

African Stream’s Ahmed Ghoneim looks at how Israel - and its military - are making a killing from our diamonds.

We’d love to hear your reactions in the comments.

DAVID HUNDEYIN EXPLAINS U.S. ATTACK ON AFRICAN STREAM

To make sense of social-media giants Meta, TikTok and YouTube suspending African Stream and other alternative media outlets, Breakthrough News’ Eugene Puryear (@eugenepuryear) and Rania Khalek (@raniakhalek) spoke to Nigerian investigative journalist David Hundeyin (@davidhundeyin). However, at the time of this interview, TikTok had not yet permanently banned African Stream.

Hundeyin explained how the bans proves the point African Stream has long maintained: That the US is an imperialist power. With the flick of a finger, 1.5 billion continental Africans and 200 million in the diaspora lost access to a critical source of information that sought to unify people of African descent globally and encourage sovereignty and liberty for the continent. Hundeyin also laid out the historical context behind the seemingly incessant US desire to control the narrative. 

Continued……However, he offered a glimmer of hope as the US is notorious for scoring its own goals. For example, recent US attempts to stifle China’s economic rise have backfired by disrupting the China-US supply chain, increasing operating costs and reducing US companies’ competitiveness, according to a recent US Federal Reserve Bank of New York report. Have a watch, and please share your thoughts.

Video credit: @BTnewsroom

Sources:

Total African digital TV subscribers of 33 million: https://finance.yahoo.com/news/africa-pay-tv-market-forecasts-100100649.html

Multichoice's 22 million subscribers: https://www.ft.com/content/62071de0-e323-4672-8821-eae4f9b9c06e

US strategy on China backfiring: https://www.globaltimes.cn/page/202408/1318138.shtml

Information manipulation campaigns: Africa cannot think for itself

https://www.europarl.europa.eu/thinktank/en/document/EPRS_BRI(2024)757654

Blinken announcing censorship on African Stream:
https://www.state.gov/secretary-antony-j-blinken-remarks-to-the-press-29/

Drapetomania
https://allthatsinteresting.com/drapetomania

Three fifths a man
https://www.litcharts.com/lit/the-new-jim-crow/quotes

Aboriginals regarded as flora and fauna
https://bloggingtheology.net/2017/09/07/australia-until-60s-aborigines-came-under-the-flora-and-fauna-act-classified-them-as-animals-not-human-beings/

The Royal Niger Company (RNC) and the Making of Modern Nigeria,
https://infinitypress.info/index.php/jsss/article/download/2206/855

Kwame Ture moves to Africa
https://hoodcommunist.org/2021/11/18/why-did-kwame-ture-move-to-africa/

FBI trying linkng MLK to the USSR
https://www.history.com/news/martin-luther-king-jr-fbi-j-edgar-hoover-communism

France24 claims Nkrumah-Soviet links
https://www.france24.com/en/africa/20230720-soviet-spies-in-africa-how-the-kgb-expanded-russian-influence-during-the-cold-war

NYT draws Lumumba Soviet links
https://www.nytimes.com/1981/08/02/magazine/the-cia-and-lumumba.html

Blacks are happy in South Africa under apartheid
https://www.thoughtco.com/quotes-pw-botha-43577

No Problem' With Chinese Involvement in Ghana's Economy
https://en.sputniknews.africa/20230525/no-problem-with-chinese-involvement-in-ghanas-economy-president-says-1059476147.html?ysclid=m1kcfulqo1172844295

US plans to hobble others backfire
https://www.trtworld.com/opinion/americas-chip-curbs-on-china-appear-to-have-backfired-14914615

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/newsletters/2024-05-13/russian-economy-stays-strong-amid-sanctions-ukraine-war-spending

US to tighten China chip squeeze with old Cold War rule
https://asiatimes.com/2024/08/us-to-tighten-china-chip-squeeze-with-old-cold-war-rule/

China breaks through chip development
https://theconversation.com/chinas-chip-industry-is-gaining-momentum-it-could-alter-the-global-economic-and-security-landscape-222958

Meta censorship
https://x.com/african_stream/status/1837135639059308802

2023 total African subscribers: 33 million (https://finance.yahoo.com/news/africa-pay-tv-market-forecasts-100100649.html)

Multichoice's 22 million subscribers (https://www.ft.com/content/62071de0-e323-4672-8821-eae4f9b9c06e)

Canal + ownership of Multichoice
https://techcentral.co.za/canal-takes-its-stake-in-multichoice-beyond-30/222030/

Europe upholds RT ban
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2022/7/27/european-court-upholds-broadcasting-ban-on-russias-rt

Africa refuses to pick a side
https://www.vox.com/23156512/russia-ukraine-war-global-south-nonaligned-movement
African Stream website
http://africanstream.media

The effects of neocolonialism on Africa’s development
https://journals.ju.edu.et/index.php/panjogov/article/view/4846

Lobito Corridor and its focus on getting African minerals out
https://www.usip.org/publications/2024/08/lobito-corridor-us-bet-africas-critical-mineral-development

Kenya’s protest expose African fury wih IMF
https://www.ft.com/content/0e1be993-90e1-4477-9c29-41400c0d1c98

Youngest continent in the world
https://www.visualcapitalist.com/mapped-the-median-age-of-every-continent/

Internet access in Africa

https://www.diplomacy.edu/resource/report-stronger-digital-voices-from-africa/internet-access-connectivity-africa/

US kicked out of Sahel
https://www.npr.org/2024/05/19/1252380146/us-troops-leave-niger

AFRICOM GENERAL REVEALS REAL REASON U.S. IS IN AFRICA

Western media paints US imperialism as an altruistic initiative to bring democracy to savages too simple-minded to know who their enemies are. But, sometimes, the truth slips out, such as when US Africa Command (AFRICOM)’s General Michael Langley admitted why the United States holds a vast footprint on the continent. Apart from access to African resources, the presence of non-Western powers seems to be a problem for Washington.

However, history shows the West broke African society through slavery, colonisation and ongoing neo-colonisation for the past five centuries. Russia and China, on the other hand, do not have such a history.

What’s more puzzling is the West’s insistence on this strategy despite the messaging not attracting many adherents on the continent, not even from far more Western-leaning countries like Ghana.

Take a look and please share your thoughts.

AFRICAN LANGUAGES BANNED IN SCHOOLS

African countries may have gained their independence but those countries’ languages haven’t. Some schools still ban them, requiring students to use the language of former colonial masters. And what’s worse, the native languages are dying out
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If you want to support our work, please consider joining our Patreon! Our African-centered videos take many hours to conceptualise, develop, research, noscript, present and edit. We need your support to sustain the production value of the channel and to help us reach new audiences. Join our community at patreon.com/AfricanStream, where we'll provide some of our members with great perks! Link in Bio!

5 MUST READS: BY CHINUA ACHEBE

Chinua Achebe’s reputation as one of Africa’s best writers rests firmly on these five novels. ‘Things Fall Apart’ is lauded for its importance, but Anthills of the Savannah and Arrow of God saw him go for a more complex style and a bigger scope. ‘No Longer at Ease‘ and ‘A Man of the People‘ deal with contemporary Nigerian life and examine issues of corruption and governance. Do you agree with our picks? Let us know in the comments

STRONGEST AFRICAN PASSPORTS!

Did you know that the two small island countries of Mauritius and Seychelles have the strongest passports in Africa? We break down why citizens of these nations enjoy more visa-free travel than other Africans.

Let us know what you think in the comments.

DIFFERENT COLONISERS, SAME TACTIC

The thing about colonial forces is that they often lack bravery. Knowing they are hated, they constantly have to watch their backs. British soldiers serving in Northern Ireland have admitted that they used to feel safer patrolling near children as they thought there’d be less chance of being shot at. This despicable tactic - using kids as human shields - was also in evidence in apartheid South Africa and has been used by the IDF in Israel.

It’s worth remembering that, under international humanitarian law, the use of children on a battlefield and the use of human shields are strictly prohibited through treaty and custom - and are defined as war crimes by the International Criminal Court.

WHITE LIBERTY GOOD BLACK LIBERTY BAD?

Here’s a quote from American-born African writer James Baldwin: “When any White man in the world says, ‘give me liberty or give me death’, the entire White world applauds. When a Black man says exactly the same thing, he is judged a criminal and treated like one.”

Baldwin was speaking on The Dick Cavett show in 1969. And it highlights the hypocrisy underlying Western society that many of us know and feel.

Africans growing up in the United States and other imperialist countries are educated on the brave struggles of Western ‘freedom fighters’, from George Washington to Joan of Arc. However, when it comes to the question of the emancipation of African people who have been subjected to hundreds of years of oppression, all of a sudden, fighting for freedom is unacceptable.

Continued……. Baldwin gives two examples: The treatment of Nat Turner, who led the famous US slave rebellion in the 19th century, and the backlash against human rights activist Malcolm X around a hundred years later.

Baldwin also talks about Israel in this video but later made clear he’s anti-Zionist, saying: “I don’t believe they have the right, after 3,000 years, to reclaim the land with Western bombs and guns on the biblical injunction.”

WHITE TEARS ARE THE MOST DANGEROUS LIQUID

Today, the name, ‘Karen,’ is a pejorative term for a self-ennoscriptd white woman.

But, back in 1955, a white woman named Carolyn Bryant falsely accused 14-year-old Emmett Till of whistling at her, which led to his kidnapping and murder. Bryan recounted in this video that, decades later, Bryant (1934-2023), recanted the story while on her deathbed. Not only that, in recent years, a team of researchers found an unserved arrest warrant in a Mississippi courthouse basement charging Bryant with Till’s kidnapping. In 1955, two white suspects were tried and acquitted.

Till’s courageous mother, Mamie Till-Mobley (1921-2003), decided to hold an open-casket funeral so the world could see the horrific condition of his face and body, adding fuel to the fire of the then-budding Civil Rights Movement.

No one has been held to account in this case.

Video credit: @drinkableRyan

WHITE AGENDA IN CONSERVATIONISM
EXPOSED

Tourism and conservation have been designed to advance the White man’s agenda. That’s the verdict of Mordecai Ogada, an animal ecology and conservation policy expert who co-wrote the book: ‘The Big Conservation Lie’.

He argues the management of Africa’s natural resources is controlled by foreign interests at the expense of Africans. If you want an example, look no further than the Maasai herders. They’ve been forced to water their flocks away from the best locations, so tourists can get the perfect view of Mount Kilimanjaro.

Continued…….. So, why don’t local conservationists speak out? Mordecai says it’s because many have been ‘bought’ with big offices and cars and are happy to further a Western agenda. An agenda that’s rooted in the racial hierarchies and imperialism pushed by US President Theodore Roosevelt in the 20th century.

Mordecai’s illuminating book gives the low down on what’s happening. In the meantime, this clip will give you a taste. Tell us what you think in the comments.

Video credit: @LynnNgugi

THE CONTROVERSIAL LEGACY OF COLONIAL ASKARIS

Askari is a common word used throughout East Africa, but the word has dark origins. Askaris described native African soldiers and Indian soldiers, who served in European colonial militaries throughout Africa during the 19th and 20th centuries. Their service extended to other parts of the continent over time. Askaris were used in other ways, such as in the Scramble for Africa, the Herero and Namaqua genocide, the suppression of the Maji Maji Rebellion, the East Africa Campaign of World War I, the East African Campaign of World War II, and in the Pacification of Algeria, among other conflicts.

What do you think about the Askaris? Let us know in the comments.