Continued….. Sources:

https://citizen.digital/news/50-people-dead-413-injured-in-anti-finance-bill-protests-kenyan-rights-commission-reports-n345993

https://x.com/kakarezz/status/1877748260489551899/photo/2

https://x.com/i/status/1878872149173166543

https://edition.cnn.com/2024/12/28/africa/kenya-president-halt-abductions-critics-intl-latam/index.html

https://mmsadvocates.co.ke/arrests-and-the-rights-of-arrested-persons-in-kenya/

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2022/12/7/killing-of-pakistani-journalist-arshad-sharif-kenya-planned-assasination

https://nation.africa/kenya/news/mystery-abducted-turkish-nationals-pressure-kenya-release-4798220

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/11/20/ugandan-opposition-politician-kidnapped-in-kenya-taken-to-military-jail

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cd7dxz48e01o

‘HATS OFF’ TO COLONIALISTS FOR PAUSING WWI?

15 January is John Chilembwe Day in Malawi. It honours the anti-colonial hero of that name who led an uprising against the British in early 1915.

Chilembwe's exact year of birth is unknown, but is believed to lie between the late 1860s and early 1870s. In his youth, he had cordial relations with White British missionaries, who were pathfinders of Western colonialism in Africa. He worked closely with one of them, Joseph Booth, who facilitated his attendance at a theological college in the US in the late 1890s.

Upon his return to his homeland, Chilembwe's eyes were opened to the scale of brutality that the colonial settlers were inflicting upon the African masses, especially on the settler-owned plantations.

Continued….. The White missionaries' indifference to these spurred him to set up independent African churches. Soon, his churches were targeted by plantation owners opposed to his anti-colonial theology. They burned down some of them, but that did not deter him from continuing his work.

At the onset of WWI in 1914, Chilembwe campaigned against the recruitment of Africans into the colonial army to fight in a war that had nothing to do with them. This opposition eventually led him and hundreds of his followers to launch an armed uprising on 23 January 1915. Their first target was a plantation run by William Jervis Livingstone, a settler infamous for his brutality towards African workers.

After days of skirmishes with the British colonial forces, Chilembwe was shot dead on 3 February, and many of his supporters were arrested. 36 of them were later executed, mostly via public hangings, as a warning to other would-be anti-colonial fighters. However, this act of brutality had the opposite effect: it made the masses more determined to unyoke themselves from British settler colonialism.

The African uprisings led by Chilembwe were seen as such a threat by the imperial powers - who were also facing off in Malawi (then known as Nyasaland) in WWI - that Germany and Britain agreed to pause the fighting to quash the rebellion. This video tells that story.

Filmed By: @contentovereverything

Sources:

https://museumofbritishcolonialism.org/2023-1-14-the-chilembwe-uprising-of-1915/

https://www.britannica.com/biography/John-Chilembwe

PROXY PROOF: MORE UAE-SENT WEAPONS SEIZED IN SUDAN

Evidence that the United Arab Emirates has a blood-stained hand in the war in Sudan is mounting. The Sudanese army has seized another batch of weapons labelled with UAE addresses after retaking a key city from the Rapid Support Forces paramilitary. So far, Abu Dhabi has faced no consequences for its increasingly hard-to-deny role in prolonging the killing in Sudan.

BRAVE PROTESTER TO BLINKEN: ‘YOU ARE A MONSTER’

On 14 January, outgoing US Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s speech on the ‘Middle East,’ or what we call West Asia, was interrupted several times by pro-Palestine protesters. They called him complicit for his work providing US arms, funds and diplomatic cover to Israel’s military onslaught in Gaza.

The protester in this clip called him a ‘monster,’ while another during the same speech called him the ‘secretary of g*nocide.’

Since 7 October 2023, Israel had k*lled more than 186,000 Palestinians as of early July, according to a Lancet medical journal estimate. This month, the journal reported Gaza authorities may have undercounted deaths by 41 per cent.

Continued……. The protester mentioned that a group has been camped outside his home to appeal to his conscience for over a year, yet they had not received a response. In July 2024, authorities forced a six-month-long protest encampment off the road across from Blinken’s home in the US state of Virginia, just outside Washington. Protesters returned despite the police and the Virginia Department of Transportation referring to the protest as ‘illegal’ and ‘unsafe.’

Video credit: @skynews

Sources:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rjS77L-KzAU

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vcoQVPrG1n8

https://truthout.org/articles/secretary-of-genocide-blinken-speech-interrupted-by-pro-palestine-protesters/

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/10/7/us-spends-more-than-20bn-in-aid-to-israel-middle-east-conflicts-report

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2025/1/10/deaths-from-israeli-attacks-in-gaza-undercounted-by-41-percent-study-finds

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

https://www.nbcwashington.com/investigations/protesters-seek-return-near-blinkens-home-as-police-cost-tops-340k/3726822

https://www.axios.com/local/washington-dc/2024/02/06/tony-blinken-house-protest-camp-gaza-ceasefire

REACTING TO 'TWO KITES': LOVE, LOSS, & THE IMPACT OF WAR

War is hell. While most of us are fortunate enough to witness it on social media, radio or television, it is far from abstract for millions of people worldwide. 

In Lowkey’s ‘Two Kites,’ part of his 2024 album ‘Soundtrack To The Struggle 3,’ he skillfully brings to the fore what love and grief can feel like in the midst of war. He tells of a man who loses his beloved, the one person who anchored him and brought him peace. Her death, caused by the chaos around them, leaves him broken and aimless, living in the shadows of their shared memories as ‘two kites in the sky.’

The song’s emphasis on love and human connection shows that relationships can be both a source of strength and a profound reminder of what is lost in the face of unimaginable suffering.

Watch the whole reaction video on X. You can find our work on Bluesky, Patreon, Rumble and Telegram.

TRAORÉ SCHOOLS RUTO ON DEMOCRACY

What should democracy mean in the African context?

We’ve juxtaposed two visions - the first, that of Kenya’s William Ruto, delivering a noscripted condemnation of last July’s military coup against Niger’s Western-backed president; the second, that of Burkina Faso’s Ibrahim Traoré, speaking candidly from the heart on International Youth Day in August 2024.

Traoré rejects an imperialist version of democracy - crafted to serve a privileged few while leaving the majority in the lurch. Under this form, despite elections, policies are still forced on unwilling citizens. He insists that clinging on to this kind of democracy is tantamount, at best, to incompetence.

Continued……. Traoré could well have been describing Ruto, who has faced accusations of ruthlessly suppressing demonstrations against IMF-backed tax increases and poor governance. Yet, Kenya is often hailed as a beacon of democracy in a tumultuous region. Ruto was the first African president since 2008 to be invited on a state visit to the US.

Many would argue that these ‘accolades’ haven’t translated into a better life for Kenyans. Meanwhile, Traoré, often labelled a putschist by Western mainstream media, is leading a revolutionary anti-imperialist movement in Burkina Faso that’s transforming the lives of the country’s citizens.

So, with their contrasting records, who truly grasps the essence of democracy and freedom?

Video credits:
RTB (Radiodiffusion Télévision du Burkina)
Citizen TV Kenya

Sources:

https://www.thedailyscrumnews.com/how-captain-traore-is-turning-burkina-faso-into-a-model-of-african-independence/

https://www.sidwaya.info/journee-internationale-de-la-jeunesse-le-capitaine-ibrahim-traore-appelle-la-jeunesse-africaine-a-lunion/

https://khrc.or.ke/press-release/ruto-must-take-responsibility-for-protests-gross-human-rights-violations/

https://www.reuters.com/world/africa/how-kenya-police-cover-up-killings-anti-government-protesters-2025-01-06/

https://allafrica.com/stories/202501130299.html

NYT CALLS FOR VENEZUELA INVASION

Here is New York Times columnist Bret Stephens agitating for an invasion of Venezuela on ‘moral and national security’ grounds. 

Perhaps this columnist has amnesia or a reactionary agenda, but history shows geopolitical and economic interests—not humanitarian concerns—drive US interventions. 

For example, the US focuses on Venezuela’s alliances with US adversaries like Iran and leans on issues like drug trafficking and migration to demonise the South American country. Yet, the Washington-based Center for Economic and Policy Research estimated Western economic sanctions killed about 40,000 Venezuelans between 2017 and 2018.

Continued…….. UN special rapporteur Alena Douhan said the sanctions caused an imports drop that left about 2.5 million Venezuelans facing food insecurity by 2021. Tanking oil prices and, later, Western sanctions forced 7.1 million Venezuelans to flee the country between 2015 and 2023. Rather than solve these issues, an invasion would likely exacerbate them, as seen with the migrant flows into Europe after the 2011 NATO invasion of Libya. US interventions have also destabilised Chile, Guatemala, Nicaragua and Panama, causing long-term suffering for their populations.

Further, a US invasion would violate Venezuela’s sovereignty and right to self-determination, preventing ordinary Venezuelans from shaping their future. The columnist’s proposal to install a US-backed government and offer amnesty to military officials would create a neocolonial structure that ensures Venezuelan compliance with US interests, perpetuating dependency in the process.

The United States selectively calls for justice by punishing Venezuela while rewarding US ally, the United Arab Emirates, as it destabilises countries in Africa. 

Sources
News
https://archive.ph/hI5sT

Effects of sanctions on Venezuela
https://www.democracynow.org/2019/4/26/headlines/report_us_sanctions_have_killed_40_000_in_venezuela_since_2017#:~:text=More%20than%2040%2C000%20people%20have,and%20increased%20disease%20and%20mortality

Effects of West invasion of Libya
https://www.counterpunch.org/2018/09/25/bombing-libya-the-origins-of-europes-immigration-crisis/

Effects of US imperialism in Latin America
https://jacobin.com/2023/03/greg-grandin-interview-us-policy-latin-america

UAE as a negative actor in Africa
https://www.alestiklal.net/en/article/airlift-between-the-uae-and-chad-military-support-to-the-rsf-in-sudan-under-humanitarian-guise

https://venezuelanalysis.com/analysis/us-sanctions-are-killing-venezuelans

https://www.humanrightspulse.com/mastercontentblog/humanitarian-impact-of-sanctions-on-venezuela

PALESTINIAN KIDS CELEBRATE GAZA CEASEFIRE

Joy and relief flooded Palestinian homes following Qatar announcing a ceasefire agreement between Israel and H*mas.

This video showing jubilant children reflects the atmosphere in Gaza after 15 months of relentless Israeli military operations that, as of mid-January 2025, have claimed over 46,000 lives, according to the Gaza Health Ministry. However, the Lancet medical journal reported this month that authorities may have undercounted deaths by over 100,000 with an early July 2024 figure surpassing 186,000. The Gaza Health Ministry has said Israel has primarily k*lled women and children.

The latest surge in violence during Israel’s 76-year occupation of Palestine has disproportionately impacted Palestinian children.

Continued…….. A Human Rights Watch report from 9 April 2024 accused Israel of employing starvation as a weapon of war, resulting in severe malnutrition and dehydration among children, as well as pregnant and nursing mothers. Furthermore, Israel’s destruction of nearly all Gaza hospitals has exacerbated the crisis, leading to more child deaths.

While the Geneva Conventions, a set of international treaties that determine how civilians should be treated in armed conflicts, bar civilians from collective punishment, Israel has obstructed humanitarian aid deliveries and severed water, electricity, and fuel supplies to Gaza. An October 2024 UN report revealed that over 1.8 million Palestinians faced ‘extremely critical’ levels of hunger. Disturbingly, Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich suggested it might be ‘just and moral’ to allow 2 million civilians to starve until hostages are released.

Under the ceasefire agreement set to commence on 19 January, H*mas will return Israeli hostages in exchange for hundreds of Palestinian prisoners, some of whom are women and children.

Yet, the memories of bombings, sniper fire, corpses, and blood may haunt Palestinians for years to come. Further, with Israel violating a ceasefire in Lebanon and the ceasefire drawn up early last year for Ramadan in Gaza, we can’t be sure this will stick. Do you think the ceasefire will stick. Please let us know in the comments.

Sources:

https://www.globaltimes.cn/page/202501/1326986.shtml

https://www.hrw.org/news/2024/04/09/gaza-israels-imposed-starvation-deadly-children

https://www.ipcinfo.org/ipcinfo-website/alerts-archive/issue-97/en/

https://edition.cnn.com/2024/08/06/middleeast/israeli-minister-smotrich-starve-gazans-intl/index.html

https://news.un.org/en/story/2024/10/1155836

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2025/1/10/deaths-from-israeli-attacks-in-gaza-undercounted-by-41-percent-study-finds

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

L.A. FIRES: BLACK RESCUERS BRANDED LOOTERS

As California burns, the flames of racism have also been reignited. News coverage of looting going on in abandoned homes was accompanied by video of Black people going in and out of houses - immensely misleading, as a closer look reveals they were helping rescue items from the fire. It’s unclear whether the implicit racism was intentional, but our brother Louis Plummer (@advicefromloius), sick of the way upstanding Black people are still being constantly disparaged in the US, breaks the issue down.

https://x.com/AdviceFromLouis/status/1877524332735508642