TRAORÉ SHINES BRIGHT IN GHANA’S BLACK STAR

He was African Stream’s Man of the Year 2024 - and if the cheers in Ghana’s Black Star Square on Wednesday are anything to go by, Burkina Faso’s President Ibrahim Traoré will carry on inspiring Africans well into 2025.

He was visiting Accra for the inauguration of Ghana’s new president, John Dramani Mahama. But even he had to acknowledge, with a smile, that - of all the visiting dignitaries - the biggest crowd pleaser was the young revolutionary captain from the Sahel.

He’s been winning over hearts and minds not only in Ouagadougou and Accra, but across the continent and even the global diaspora - by giving Western (especially French) neo-colonialism the boot, and charting a new course towards pan-African unity.

Many compare him to fellow ‘upright man’ and first president of Burkina Faso, Thomas Sankara. What do you make of the comparison?

MACRON BERATES ‘UNGRATEFUL’ AFRICAN LEADERS

France’s Macron has been throwing his latest tantrum - unable to accept that France’s former colonies no longer want to rely on the shoddy military ‘security’ Paris had been offering them. In a 6 January speech, he accused African leaders of ingratitude after they kicked out French troops from their countries over their failure to fight terrorism effectively. He also insinuated they were cowards for failing to counter the growing anti-French sentiment in the Sahel over the ex-coloniser’s neo-colonial practices there. As African Stream’s William Sakawa explains in this video, it’s a bit like an arsonist getting upset that his help isn’t wanted fighting fires. Have a watch, and share your reaction with us.

QUESTIONS LOOM OVER DEATHS IN ECUADOR

Ecuador’s public prosecutor’s office is investigating if 16 Air Force soldiers are responsible for the recent deaths of four boys aged 11 to 15. Just a few weeks ago, on Christmas Eve, mutilated and charred corpses were found near a military base in Ecuador. Authorities said forensic genetic tests confirmed that the bodies corresponded to the four children who went missing after being detained by the Air Force on 8 December. The victims were identified as Nehemias Arboleda, Steven Medina, and brothers Josué and Ismael Arroyo and are collectively known as the ‘Guayaquil 4.’ They’d gone out to play football in the city of Guayaquil when their whereabouts went unknown for over two weeks.

NBA ATHLETES CAN’T PUBLICLY SAY ‘FREE PALESTINE’

In this clip from a 6 January 2025 interview on ‘The Gauds Show,’ eight-time National Basketball League (NBA) All-Star champion Dwight Howard explained the limitations that come with being a professional athlete, mentioning the NBA commissioner and others once asked him to delete a tweet that said ‘free Palestine.’ A single post almost got @DwightHoward (X) kicked out of the league.

Pan-Africanist Malcolm X (1925-65), asserted that celebrities are not leaders but ‘puppets and clowns that have been set up over the Black community’, so it makes that the powers that be would be outraged when a Black athlete tweets something that goes against their interests. How dare he?! He also added that Black celebrities ‘say exactly what they know that the white man wants to hear.’

Howard’s experience confirms the only way to survive within the white supremacist system is to dance only to the beat of the masters’ choosing.

Video credit: @thegaudsshow_ (X)

Continued……Source:

https://www.youtube.com/@cspanHistory
_____________________________

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!

The BBC has always been trigger-happy when it comes to firing off negative headlines about Africa. On Thursday, it claimed Burkina Faso's President Ibrahim Traoré “sparked concern” at an inauguration ceremony in Ghana by carrying a gun. But people on X were quick to fact-check the mainstream outlet, pointing out in a community note that no one in attendance was the least bit bothered by the captain’s holstered pistol. The enthusiastic cheers Traoré received in Accra's Black Star Square confirm this version of events.

Continued……. But there is a sense in which the BBC might be right. The revolutionary Burkinabe leader has been causing Western governments and their mouthpiece newsrooms concern, as they are more used to pliant African leaders who enable them to exploit the continent as they please. Since coming to power, Traoré has carried out much-needed reforms, such as giving the French military the boot and giving Burkinabe people more control over their resources.

As a new generation of conscious, pan-African leaders emerges in the Sahel and across Africa, we can only hope there will be more grounds for ‘concern’ at the BBC!

WHEN NETANYAHU MARKED LIBYA FOR DESTRUCTION

In September 2002, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu made a bold case to Congress for the US war on Iraq, claiming that Israel’s enemy, Iraq, had nuclear weapons, when in fact, the said weapons did not exist. He included Iran and Libya in his list, suggesting these countries were on the verge of getting weapons of mass destruction.

Fast forward to March 2003, when the US-led coalition invaded Iraq based on these pretences, k*lling 2 million and devastating what was once known as the cradle of civilisation, Mesopotamia.

Continued……Then, in 2011, under the pretext of protecting Libyan civilians from a supposedly brutal regime, the US-led NATO coalition bombed Libya and took out its revolutionary Pan-African leader, Muammar Gaddafi, arming terror groups, sparking civil war and creating the conditions for modern slave markets.

Netanyahu has a long history of advocating for military interventions, leveraging his influence in Western capitals to uphold his country’s colonial and imperialist agendas in West Asia. Perhaps it’s time to view his more alarmist warnings about so-called rogue states with a critical eye.

Video credit: @cspan

Sources:

https://www.c-span.org/program/house-committee/israeli-perspective-on-conflict-with-iraq/125088

https://www.voanews.com/a/a-13-a-2002-09-13-30-former-67437682/384518.html

https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2022/02/israels-apartheid-against-palestinians-a-cruel-system-of-domination-and-a-crime-against-humanity/

https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/haaretz-today/2024-09-30/ty-article/.highlight/for-netanyahus-government-the-endgame-of-war-is-war/00000192-43b3-d755-add7-63f7b7700000

U.S. BILL CALLS TO SANCTION ICC OVER ISRAEL ARREST WARRANTS

‘Put the ICC prosecutor Kareem Khan back in his place.’

That’s how Mike Johnson, the speaker of the US House of Representatives, describes a bill to impose sanctions on the International Criminal Court (ICC) in response to its arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defence Minister Yoav Gallant.

On 4 June, the House passed the ‘Illegitimate Court Counteraction Act’ for a second time by voting 243-140. This act aims to sanction anyone who assists the ICC in investigating, detaining, or prosecuting citizens from the US and its allies that don’t recognise the court’s authority. Both the US and Israel did not sign the Rome Statute that created the ICC.

If the US Senate, which has a pro-Israel Republican majority, approves the bill, ICC judges could face sanctions like asset freezes, travel restrictions, and visa denials.

Continued……….. In November, ICC prosecutor Karim Khan issued arrest warrants for Netanyahu, Gallant, and a Hamas official, claiming ‘reasonable grounds to believe’ that these people are responsible for war crimes and crimes against humanity.

On 26 January 2024, the International Court of Justice, the UN’s top court, stated that Israel’s military actions in the Gaza Strip, home to over 2 million Palestinians, could potentially be g*nocidal. They ordered Israel to take steps to comply with the 1948 UN G*nocide Convention. The latest Gaza Health Ministry figures indicate Israel’s actions have resulted in over 46,000 Palestinian deaths and more than 100,000 injuries, with many victims being women and children. However, in July, the Lancet medical journal estimated Israel had already k*lled more than 186,000 people.

This situation starkly contrasts with US calls for the ICC to arrest Global South leaders, including those from Sudan, Syria, Myanmar and Russia.

Video credit: @CNNnews18 (X)

Sources:

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2025/1/9/us-house-votes-to-advance-bill-to-sanction-icc-over-israel-arrest-warrants

https://www.wsj.com/world/middle-east/icc-arrest-warrants-for-netanyahu-gallant-deepen-israels-isolation-27d2a86a


https://www.theeastafrican.co.ke/tea/news/north-africa/us-imposes-sanctions-on-sudan-rsf-leader-hemedti-4882058

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cx2nqg05pz9o

https://news.un.org/en/story/2024/11/1157406

https://theconversation.com/icc-arrest-warrant-for-vladimir-putin-a-king-size-dilemma-for-south-africa-202528

'THE WORLD NEEDS AFRICA'

Africa does not need the world, the world needs Africa. It’s a simple message from the former African Union envoy to the U.S. Dr. Arikana Chihombori-Quao.
The continent has all the resources everyone else needs, and without them countries like France would be third-world.

Have a listen to another minute of straight talking from Chihombori.
This time she’s tongue-lashing Washington elites during a speech at The Brookings Institute think tank.

Credit: The Brookings Institution

ISRAEL IN AFRICA

Many African nations cut diplomatic and other ties with Israel after the 1973 Ramadan War (Yom Kippur War). However, many factors - from the desire for Israeli agricultural and security technologies to various US-brokered deals (Camp David, Oslo, Abraham Accords) aimed at peace and normalisation - have seen most of Africa back on diplomatic talking terms with Tel Aviv. Even South Africa, which strongly sympathises with the Palestinian cause and regards Israeli actions as comparable to the apartheid regime’s, has an embassy in Tel Aviv. However, Pretoria downgraded relations last year - and currently has no ambassador. Out of the Alliance of Sahel states (AES), only Burkin Faso recognises Israel but has no formal relations with it. There is no Israeli embassy or consulate in Burkina Faso. However, the Israeli Embassy in Abidjan, Ivory Coast, issues visas to citizens of Burkina Faso.

Continued….. There is no such service for citizens of Mali and Niger.

Keeping their backs turned fully towards the Israeli regime are Algeria, Comoros, Djibouti, Libya, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Somalia, and Tunisia. Could Israel’s current indiscriminate war against Gaza change the overall picture? Let us know in the comments.

________________________

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!

‘WHO DID YOU EXPLOIT TODAY?’

‘Who did you exploit today?’ That’s what Tahmel Morton asks men working on Wall Street in New York. Filmed as a comedy sketch for the MTV2 programme ‘Wonder Showzen,’ what makes it so funny is how it sheds light on a brutal yet taboo reality.

With its origins dating back to 1711, Wall Street emerged as none other than a slave market where stolen Africans were auctioned as cattle and commodities to the highest bidder. The founders and their descendants of top Wall Street financial institutions, such as Bank of America, Wells Fargo, Citibank, and JP Morgan (to name a few), made astronomically large sums of money through the labour of enslaved Africans in the US South, Cuba, and other Caribbean islands. And speaking about the US South, let’s not forget the US North.

Continued……. Their businesses and institutions equally profited from chattel slavery by building slave ships, financing plantations in the US South, trading enslaved Africans to and from the Caribbean islands and beyond, and benefitting from slave labour at so-called prestigious colleges, such as Princeton, Harvard and Brown.

By the end of the 19th century, Wall Street banks embarked on a brutal mission of colonial expansion into the Caribbean, targeting countries such as Haiti, Cuba, the Dominican Republic, Nicaragua, Puerto Rico and Panama with the goal of taking over local banks, forcing them to rely on the US dollar, opening Caribbean branches of Wall Street banks, controlling commodity financing, and re-organising national debt owed to Europe.

Wall Street investment firms have since destroyed the lives of many working-class African-descent people in the United States by controlling the housing market and buying up entire neighbourhoods, putting the ownership of single-family homes out of reach for millions of people. They have created a global economic order in which a worker’s most important task is to maximise a company’s share value.

The question to investment bankers, hedge-fund managers, stockbrokers and financial managers on Wall Street remains: Who did you exploit today?

Video credit: @mtv2

KENYA ABDUCTIONS: RIGHTS GROUPS
RAISE ALARM

The Kenya Human Rights Commission, along with several other rights groups, has raised concerns regarding the rise in abductions in Kenya. In a recent case, five young Kenyans were taken in broad daylight by unknown individuals and released after protests erupted in the streets. Human-rights organisations have reported that at least 82 individuals have been kidnapped since anti-government protests began in June 2024, with some 20 still missing.

Rights groups have accused the police of carrying out these abductions, a claim that the force has vehemently denied.