ASSATA SHAKUR ON IMPERIALISM

The liberation of Black people will not come out of an individualistic pursuit of capitalist success - as embodied by figures such as Rockefeller or DuPont. That path only perpetuates systemic exploitation and inequality. As exiled political activist Assata Shakur puts it in this clip, the same system that subjugated the people of Vietnam and Black people in America cannot bring about our freedom. Liberation will arise out of socialism.

She highlights the importance of international solidarity, as the systems of oppression are themselves international. A break from capitalism will facilitate a world centred on human dignity, ecological sustainability and collective welfare.

Have a watch and please share your thoughts.

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BURKINA FASO’S PEOPLE ARE ITS BIGGEST RESOURCE

In 1983, in what was then known as Upper Volta—now Burkina Faso—a revolutionary 33-year-old military captain known as Thomas Sankara (1949-87) rose to power through a popular coup d’état that shaped the trajectory of the country for years to come. Sankara’s radical leadership inspired millions worldwide in just four years as president. Many Africans see him as the gold standard for an African leader. 

In this clip, Milton Allimadi, journalist, author, and co-founder of US-based newspaper Black Star News, explained why Sankara still commands respect decades later.

For example, Thomas Sankara’s literacy campaign increased the literacy rate from 13 per cent in 1983 to 73 per cent in 1987. Plus, his government planted over 10 million trees and built roads and railways.

Continued…….. Furthermore, he recruited women into government and reduced public servant salaries and government expenditure on luxuries. His anti-corruption campaign was so firm that he rode a bicycle to work and, upon his death, Sankara only had $350 in his bank account.

French-backed assassins k*lling Sankara helped revert Burkina Faso to a neo-colonial state under Sankara’s comrade-turned-enemy, President Blaise Compaoré. A 2014 popular uprising forced him to step down, and nearly a decade of instability followed.

However, since 30 September 2022, the state in Africa’s arid Sahel region appears to be back on the tracks Sankara set it upon under the leadership of Ibrahim Traoré, who came to power in a people-backed coup d’état. Severing military cooperation ties with France and opposing Western aid from the IMF and World Bank have placed the country on the path of liberation and self-sufficiency.

Sankara had asserted that ‘he who feeds you controls you,’ a philosophy shared by Congo’s revolutionary leader, Patrice Lumumba (1925-61), who declared that meaningful political independence must be ‘accompanied by rapid economic and social development.’ Unfortunately, the Congo veered off Lumumba’s charted course following his brutal assassination by Belgian-, UK- and US-backed Congolese forces.

Sources:

https://www.thomassankara.net/facts-about-thomas-sankara-in-burkina-faso/?lang=en

https://www.thenation.com/article/world/thomas-sankara-trial/

https://hoodcommunist.org/2023/03/02/the-homeland-or-death-accomplishments-of-the-traore-government-in-burkina-faso/

https://www.aljazeera.com/features/2014/10/31/burkina-faso-ghost-of-africas-che-guevara

https://africacenter.org/spotlight/understanding-burkina-faso-latest-coup/

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2022/1/23/timeline-burkina-faso-unrest

https://africacenter.org/spotlight/understanding-burkina-faso-latest-coup

https://www.marxists.org/subject/africa/lumumba/1960/08/31.htm

VICTOR DREKE: CUBAN REVOLUTIONARY DEDICATED TO AFRICAN FREEDOM

Cuban commander Víctor Dreke may be one of the greatest African freedom fighters you may not have heard of. He began to chart his revolutionary path as a teenager, joining the struggle as a 15-year-old student. The white supremacist and neo-colonial regime of Cuban President Fulgencio Batista (1901-73) pushed him to rebel. At 18, he fought as a soldier, struggling in central Cuba’s Escambray Mountains against Batista’s reactionary forces.

Continued………Dreke was a part of the Cuban revolution from the first day that it triumphed, and he continued to defend it amidst imperialist and counterrevolutionary attacks. This elder was already a commander when the United States tried and failed to put an end to the revolution through the 1961 Bay of Pigs attack.

But, Dreke did not only fight for Cuba. He dedicated a significant portion of his life to the struggle to liberate the African continent. He was second-in-command of Cuban forces after Ernesto ‘Che’ Guevara (1928-67) when they went to Congo to assist pro-Lumumba fighters. He was a comrade and combatant alongside anti-colonial revolutionary Amilcar Cabral (1924-73) and the African Party for the Independence of Guinea and Cape Verde (PAIGC). He met many Pan-Africanist leaders, such as Ghana’s Kwame Nkrumah (1909-72). 

Today, at the age of 87, he is the president of the Cuba-Africa Friendship Association, which works to strengthen Cuban-African relations and continue the fight for Africa’s emancipation.

African Stream’s Inemesit Richardson interviewed Dreke during a recent visit to Cuba.

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HAIR PARTY FOR BLACK GIRLS IN MARTINIQUE

@hairpartyclub (IG) organised a party on the Caribbean island of Martinique to show African girls how to care for their natural hair while celebrating their beauty and uniqueness. The club welcomes girls aged 7 to 11 and aims to inspire, educate, and instil a sense of pride in their heritage to help boost their confidence. The hair party club creates an environment for the girls to connect with their roots and culture in a meaningful way.

Video credit: @iamatanga (Instagram)

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WANNA SELL YOUR HOUSE? BEST NOT BE BLACK

The fight against racism in the US has been ongoing since the first Africans disembarked from slave trading ships. Centuries later, Africans still fight to be treated with dignity and fairness as humans amidst state-sanctioned police violence, mass incarceration, discrimination in many sectors of life including housing, and a wealth gap.

Take Abena and Alex Horton, a couple seeking to sell their home in Jacksonville, Florida. The New York Times highlighted their case in 2020, reporting that the first appraisal valued their home at $330,000, significantly below their expectations. Suspecting racial bias, Abena, a Black woman, removed all signs of her African heritage from their home, including family photos and culturally significant books. She and their 6-year-old son left her white husband alone in the house to meet the second appraiser, who valued the house at $465,000, a more than 40 per cent increase.

Continued……Far from being an isolated case, Black neighbourhoods are consistently undervalued compared to those in white areas, costing Black homeowners $156 billion in cumulative losses, according to a 2018 report published by US polling company Gallup and think tank the Brookings Institution. The report found that a home in a majority-Black neighbourhood is likely to be valued at 23 per cent less than a nearly identical home in a majority-white neighbourhood.

Video credit: @PBDspodcast (X)

Source:

News:
https://archive.ph/zzeeF

Not everyone who looks like you is your ally. The tragic rise in violence in the Congo serves as a sad reminder that, despite our shared identity as Africans, the threat can come from those closest to us. Overwhelming evidence from experts and independent investigations now points to Rwanda’s involvement in supporting the M23 rebels, who have caused immense suffering in the Congo - yet Kigali persists in its denial of any role in the region’s turmoil. Is Rwandan leader Paul Kagame the lion among the cattle in this week’s African proverb?

GULLAH GEECHEE FIGHT TO KEEP ANCESTRAL LANDS

The Gullah Geechee community are descendants of enslaved Africans forcibly brought to the coastal regions of the US states of North and South Carolina, Georgia and Florida during the 18th century. This resilient group has long been committed to safeguarding their heritage and the land inherited from their ancestors.

On St. Helena Island, off the South Carolina coast, Gullah Geechee people stood firm against developers threatening their traditional way of life when a company proposed a golf course and residential properties. Fortunately, the local government voted down the proposal in 2024, citing the Cultural Protection Overlay zoning law that bans golf courses and resorts.

Will the Gullah Geechee people’s cultural rights prevail over the pressures of capitalist development?

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Continued……. Sources:

https://www.theguardian.com/news/2024/oct/26/gullah-geechee-st-helena-island-south-carolina

https://www.cnn.com/2012/12/07/world/africa/gullah-geechee-africa-slavery-america/index.html

THE WEST NEEDS AFRICA!

The West has consistently misrepresented Africa as a continent of poverty and in dire need of saving. But it’s quite the opposite: The West desperately needs Africa for its resources.

Africa received less than $30 billion annually in aid while losing $192 billion to those same countries, according to a 2014 report noscriptd, ‘Honest accounts? The true story of Africa’s billion dollar losses.’

As filmmaker and writer Mallence Bart-Williams explained in this 2015 video clip, the West destabilised wealthy African states to sell the narrative that Africa is poor, dying and surviving only because of the mercy of the West.

She pointed out that the West has nothing to offer. That’s why they still have their teeth sunk in African soil. ‘Instead, you should come empty-handed, filled with integrity and honour,’ she says.

Video credit: @tedx (X)

Source:

https://www.medact.org/app/uploads/2014/09/Honest-Accounts-report-v4-web.pdf