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.

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‘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.

Continued……. Impeached former deputy president Rigathi Gachagua, who has had a public fallout with President William Ruto, claims that a secret government unit is responsible for the abductions, as well as for the torture and killing of government critics.

The introduction of a controversial IMF-backed finance bill sparked anti-government protests in early 2024. Resentment towards the government is at an all-time high as Kenyans struggle with the soaring cost of living.

Sources:

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/ced8q1yxggqo
https://www.voanews.com/a/anger-over-abductions-mounts-in-kenya/7916747.html

https://www.standardmedia.co.ke/sso/?content=eyJpdiI6Ik1zVkJFWmtMTHBwamRJR3l5VElPMmc9PSIsInZhbHVlIjoiemJGRDZuZU1NWkZrdzZYdnVtUmFMakQ2MWpLOGxmNk83OVdwczgrZ3U2SnBlSlRWRVZQSithT0tDWGJrRnVPMVp1WGNhbmhSTlhpbG03NlUvR1pta0xKdThGNkgyK0VrSHFlTnJkSUpxMkU9IiwibWFjIjoiZDk2MDI1Y2NiODQ5ODA3M2JhY2Y1M2QwMDk3MGI4NzE0NmE1NTAxMjg3YzE0ZTYwMzllNmY1NDY3OWZkMTZiMCIsInRhZyI6IiJ9

https://web.facebook.com/CitizenTVKe/videos/abducted-youth-set-freefive-youth-abducted-by-unknown-people-freed-they-were-aba/1145853836881969/?_rdc=1&_rdr#

U.S. SANCTIONS RSF BUT NOT UAE FOR GENOCIDE

Belatedly, the US has slapped sanctions on the Rapid Support Forces paramilitary in Sudan and its chief - for genocide. The group’s atrocities in the proxy war tearing that country apart have been known about since at least May last year. Shamefully, though, Washington is still refusing to punish the RSF’s main outside backer, the United Arab Emirates. That might have something to do with it being a client of the US. The latest sanctions further highlight the inconsistent way in which US sanctions are applied, with Israel’s genocidal actions in Gaza going unpunished.

Continued……Sources:

https://home.treasury.gov/news/press-releases/jy2772

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cz0re4vm7mvo

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/sudan-genocide-rsf-civil-war-us-sanctions/

https://sudanhorizon.com/u-s-sanctions-on-goni-hemettis-brother/

https://www.reuters.com/world/uae-flights-flood-airstrip-un-says-supplies-weapons-sudan-rebels-2024-12-12/

https://www.globalwitness.org/en/campaigns/conflict-minerals/beneath-shine-tale-two-gold-refiners/
https://www.icij.org/investigations/fincen-files/us-treasury-department-abandoned-major-money-laundering-case-against-dubai-gold-company/

https://www.state.gov/genocide-determination-in-sudan-and-imposing-accountability-measures/
https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2024/12/amnesty-international-concludes-israel-is-committing-genocide-against-palestinians-in-gaza/

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/01/09/us/politics/icc-sanctions-house-israel.html

HOW UK MEDIA DEMONISED ASIAN MEN AS SEX PREDATORS

The far-right billionaire owner of Tesla and X, Elon Musk, in recent weeks, has used his social media platform X to attack and spread misinformation demonising South Asians and Muslims in the UK over a decade-old child sex abuse scandal. However, the demonisation of both groups over the so-called Grooming Gang Scandal predates Musk’s recent ramblings on X. In this clip, UK rapper and activist Lowkey (@lowkeyonline) gives a striking example of how the British media has been fanning the flames of racism that have been engulfing the country lately.

When a report by the Quilliam Foundation concluded that so-called ‘grooming gangs’ - which prey on often underage girls to sexually abuse them - consisted, in the UK, predominantly (84%) of Asian men, the media ran wild with the story, plastering their front pages with headlines that painted immigrants as sex pests.

Continued……. Yet the study had serious methodological flaws - so bad that Lowkey calls them criminal. First and foremost, the sample size was tiny (a hundred or so cases) compared with the vast number of sex crimes committed in the UK - so no general conclusions could confidently be inferred from it.

The Crime Survey for England and Wales reported that an estimated 1.1 million adults (798,000 women and 275,000 men) aged 16 years and over were victims of sexual assault (including attempts) in the year ending March 2022. Around 227,500 identifiable child abuse offences were recorded by the police in the year ending March 2019.

Of course, when the flawed nature of the study was finally realised, the media did little to disabuse the public. Why do you think that was?

CIA CAUGHT DEALING DRUGS?

People like journalist Gary Webb (1955-2004) have uncovered the CIA's connection to drug trafficking, reporting that the CIA facilitated crack-cocaine routes from South America to mainly Black neighbourhoods in the US to finance anti-communist efforts. Initially published in the San Jose Mercury News, Webb compiled his findings into a book noscriptd, ‘Dark Alliance: The CIA, the Contras, and the Crack Cocaine Explosion.’

The Iran-Contra affair is an example of the US arming Nicaraguan right-wing militia (Contras) using profits from CIA-run drug operations. 

Webb's eye-opening revelations led to several congressional inquiries, including a notable 1996 town hall meeting where Michael Ruppert (1951-2014), a former narcotics officer with the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD), confronted ex-CIA Director John Deutch with proof of the agency's involvement in drug trafficking that contributed to the crack-cocaine crisis in Black communities. 

Continued….. In the mid-1970s, Ruppert uncovered a vast CIA-run drug network that included the US military and the LAPD. He ultimately left the police force in November 1978. After exposing these illegal drug operations, Ruppert faced threats and harassment. Tragically, he took his own life in 2014.

Video credit: @PowerfulJRE (YouTube), @joerogan (X) and @cspan

Sources:

https://www.democracynow.org/2014/10/6/inside_the_dark_alliance_gary_webb

https://www.kboo.fm/media/16200-investigative-journalist-michael-ruppert-found-dead-apparent-suicide

https://oig.justice.gov/sites/default/files/archive/special/9712/ch01p1.htm

https://www.freedommag.ca/magazine/201604-pill-pushers/the-lead/exposing-the-cias-involvement-in-the-cocaine-trade.html

https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/reagan-iran

https://oig.justice.gov/sites/default/files/archive/special/9712/ch04p1.htm

SCOTLAND’S ROLE IN THE BRITISH EMPIRE’S SLAVE TRADE

The European slave trade and the British Empire are so closely linked that you can’t discuss one without the other. Britain made a fortune from its Caribbean colonies through slave labour. From the 17th to the 19th centuries, British slave traders transported around 3.1 million enslaved Africans, who endured brutal conditions on plantations, producing cash crops like sugar, tobacco and coffee.

But one country that is often overlooked in this dark chapter is Scotland. According to the National Library of Scotland, 27 slave trade voyages set sail from Greenock, Port Glasgow, Leith, and Montrose between 1706 and 1766, transporting about 4,000 to 5,000 enslaved people across the ocean. For example, Alexander MacFarlane, an 18th-century astronomer and merchant, owned plantations and enslaved people.

Continued……During Black History Month in October, Humza Yousaf, Scotland’s former first minister and now a Scottish Parliament member, called on his fellow lawmakers to ensure Scotland’s true history is taught in schools.

We think it would be great to add a focus on reparatory justice to Yousaf’s important message, helping to acknowledge and provide some restitution for the millions affected by the slave trade.

Video credit: @scottishparl (YouTube) @scotparl (X)

Sources:

https://www.blackhistorymonth.org.uk/article/section/british-colonial-rule/the-toll-of-slavery-and-exploitation-under-british-colonial-rule-in-the-caribbean/

https://www.battlefields.org/learn/articles/slavery-in-the-colonies

https://www.un.org/en/un-chronicle/legacy-slavery-caribbean-and-journey-towards-justice

https://www.statista.com/statistics/1150546/number-slaves-arrived-in-each-region-of-british-caribbean-from-africa/

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/jul/12/british-history-slavery-buried-scale-revealed

https://www.nls.uk/collections/scotland-and-the-slave-trade/involvement/#:~:text=Indeed%2C%20Scots%20were%20directly%20involved,infrastructure%20of%20the%20slave%20trade.

UAE ROLE IN SUDAN WAR IS ‘CRIMINAL’

Commenting on the role of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) in the destruction of Sudan by funding and supporting the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), Sidgi Kaballo calls a spade a spade: “I have no other word to use for the Emirates leadership except they are criminals.”

The academic, economist and leading member of the Sudanese Communist Party did not mince his words. He says the UAE has an economic interest in Sudan’s wealth of resources. The Gulf Arab country’s involvement in the exploitation of Sudan’s resources - and, by extension, Africa - is something that has been well documented over the years. A 2023 report found that Africa lost billions each year in smuggled gold, 85% of which ends up in the UAE’s market - a country with no gold mines.

Continued….. Evidence of the country’s role in exacerbating and escalating the current vicious cycle of war in Sudan has been presented in numerous investigative reports. Yet the group has not been held accountable by any international bodies.

For instance, a November 2024 investigative report by media outlet La Silla Vacia found that Colombian ex-soldiers fighting alongside the RSF in Sudan were being lured by promises of jobs as security guards at UAE oil sites. Another investigative report by the New York Times uncovered through satellite images how the UAE was covertly arming the RSF using the Red Crescent logo to disguise shipments as aid through the Chadian border. These are just a few examples of the UAE’s illicit activities in Sudan at the expense of the Sudanese people.

Thus, there is no word to describe the UAE leadership other than ‘criminals,’ as Professor Kaballo puts it.

The full episode is available on our X, Patreon and Rumble platforms.
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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!

AFRICA’S FABULOUS FABRICS

Sumptuous African fabrics aren’t just beautiful to look at. Every thread weaves a tale of ancient dynasties and cultural rituals. From the geometric Kente cloth of the Ashanti, down to the Lamba Mena in Madagascar, they stitch together the continent’s rich history. Here are some of our favourites. Let us know yours!