MALCOLM X ON U.S. COMPLICITY IN DRC

Sixty years ago on this day, 21 February, in 1965, Pan-Africanist revolutionary and human rights activist Malcolm X was assassinated at the age of 39 when he was about to address a meeting of the Organization for Afro-American Unity at Harlem’s Audubon Ballroom in New York City.

However, a few months earlier, in 1964, Malcolm criticised Moïse Tshombe (1919-69), a former Katanga separatist leader in Washington’s good books who played a role in Lumumba’s assassination and later served as the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC)’s prime minister. Malcolm denounced Tshombe for being a Western puppet, much like how many today call out Rwandan President Paul Kagame and Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni for enabling a three-decade-long, Western-backed mineral war that rages in the eastern DRC.

Continued……In this clip, Malcolm responded to a CBS News reporter’s inquiry about ‘Operation Dragon Rouge,’ a covert military operation executed by Belgian forces, US forces, Congolese troops and mercenaries from apartheid-era South Africa on 24 November 1964. It k*lled two dozen out of 1,000 hostages in the short-lived People’s Republic of the Congo, specifically in Stanleyville, now known as Kisangani. Congolese fighters loyal to assassinated Prime Minister Patrice Lumumba (1925-61) used European and US hostages to protect their villages from US-backed aerial assaults.

Just 10 days before his assassination, Malcolm adeptly highlighted for an audience at the London School of Economics how imperialist media manipulates language and imagery to oppress Black people, both in Africa and the diaspora. He pointed out that the term ‘rebel-held’ was a strategic choice, framing the freedom fighters as enemies and justifying any violence inflicted upon them.

The US supported Tshombe and later the tyrannical Mobutu Sese Seko (1930-97), who permitted foreign corporations to exploit the DRC’s vast resources. Today, many monitoring organisations and activists say Rwanda and Uganda are guilty of taking part in exploiting the DRC’s mineral resources whilst receiving foreign aid.

Video credit: @cbsnews

Sources:

https://blogs.lse.ac.uk/lsehistory/2015/02/11/brilliant-rhetoric-malcolm-x-at-lse-11-february-1965/

https://www.hnn.us/article/malcolm-x-called-him-the-most-impressive-black-man

https://web.mst.edu/lib-circ/files/Special%20Collections/mxebook.pdf

https://medium.com/ummah-wide/the-final-international-speech-by-malcolm-x-74f4e90f97a4

https://history.state.gov/milestones/1961-1968/congo-decolonization

At the tender age of 21, most are still navigating the waters of youth, free from the weight of the world’s expectations. But Fredrick Allen Hampton, Sr (1948-69), was no ordinary young man. By his late teens, he was uniting rival street organisations (whom imperialists call ‘gangs’), feeding hungry people and igniting a revolution in his community. 

Continued……. A born leader, Fred was more than just a bright student. He was an athlete fuelled by a strong commitment to uplift his community. Hampton enrolled at Triton Junior College, immersing himself in pre-law studies, determined to weaponise the law against police brutality. His activism ignited early on when he took charge of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People’s West Suburban Branch’s Youth Council, transforming it into a formidable force of 500 activists.

Hampton joined the Black Panther Party (BPP) in 1968, becoming a self-styled revolutionary socialist. As deputy chairman of the national BPP and chair of its Illinois chapter, he didn’t just recite the party’s mantra, ‘Power to the People.’ He lived it, invigorating a movement that sought to dismantle systemic oppression. He was the architect of the Rainbow Coalition, a working-class, multicultural alliance that brought together rival Chicago street organisations under a shared vision of justice and equality. To stay close to the action, he and his partner, Akua Njeri, made their home in a four-room apartment at 2337 West Monroe Street, just blocks from the BPP headquarters.

As Fred’s influence grew, so did the fear of those in power. By 1967, the FBI had branded him and his fellow Panthers a radical menace. They unleashed a campaign that sent infiltrators into chapters to sow discord. A subsequent investigation into FBI misconduct would reveal the depths of their paranoia and the lengths they would go to silence voices.

Hampton’s life ended abruptly when a joint force of the FBI, Chicago police and the county prosecutor’s tactical unit fired 100 bullets into his home.

Post credit: @whostye (X) / @classwar.memes (IG)

Sources:

https://exhibits.stanford.edu/saytheirnames/feature/fred-hampton

https://www.britannica.com/biography/Fred-Hampton

https://www.biography.com/activists/a45988576/fred-hampton

https://www.instagram.com/p/DGQ5X8avwcc/?igsh=QkFFSV9YblplVA%3D%3D

NIGER’S REVOLUTIONARY STUDENTS MARCH FOR MARTYRS

Niger has been making headlines since its military ousted a Western-aligned leader in a people-backed coup d’état on 26 July 2023. 

However, unbeknownst to many, Niger’s revolution comes after several decades of mass struggle by workers and students. Nigerien students have been fighting for socialism and Pan-Africanism through the Union of Nigerien Students (Union des Scolaires Nigériens or USN, @union_des_scolaires_nigeriens on Instagram) for the past 65 years. Unfortunately, some of these organised and politicised students have paid the ultimate price. One such example took place on 9 February 1990, when then-president General Ali Chaïbou’s (1940-2011) security forces massacred three Nigerien students. Since then, an annual march in all eight of Niger’s regions honours the slain.

Continued….. Today, students see a brighter future ahead. The National Council for the Safeguard of the Homeland (CNSP) government has already brought about major changes to the infrastructure of the educational system. The country is a part of the Alliance of Sahel States (AES), a Pan-African confederation of Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger that is working on developing a joint school curriculum adapted to the Sahel region’s culture, history and material needs.

African Stream’s Inemesit Richardson spoke to students on the ground.

Hear Us Roar: https://news.1rj.ru/str/AfricanStream

MUGABE: YOU DO NOT BECOME A CITIZEN VIA COLONISATION

Pan-Africanist icon and Zimbabwe’s first post-independence leader, Robert Mugabe, was born on this day, 21 February, in 1924.

The larger-than-life politician, who died of cancer at age 95 in 2019, was well-known for not holding back when calling out imperialists and their cronies. Mugabe was also passionate about ensuring that the British returned all land stolen during the colonial era to their rightful owners, Zimbabwe’s indigenous people.

In this 2009 clip, the straight-talking Mugabe corrected CNN host Christiane Amanpour about Zimbabwe’s land reform programme, clearing misconceptions that form the talking points of those against it. Mugabe asserts that one cannot become a citizen through colonisation and then claim a right to land.

Continued….. This is a message we hope filters through to Zimbabwe’s neighbour, South Africa, where, for decades, the government has hesitated to take steps to end glaring land-ownership inequalities between Black people and white settlers. More than 30 years after independence, white South Africans, who make up less than 8 per cent of the population, still own more than 70 per cent of South Africa’s arable land, according to a 2017 land audit conducted by the Department of Rural Development and Land Reform. 

Video credit: @cnn

SOURCES

https://www.gov.za/sites/default/files/gcis_document/201802/landauditreport13feb2018.pdf

https://www.sagoodnews.co.za/land-reform-progress-or-not/#:~:text=South%20Africa's%20efforts%20at%20land,a%20state%20clearly%20lacking%20capacity

https://www.aljazeera.com/opinions/2025/2/7/trumps-fear-mongering-on-south-africas-land-reform-exposes-his-hypocrisy

https://www.statssa.gov.za/?p=16716

https://www.gov.za/about-sa/south-africas-people

LIBERIA CRACKS DOWN ON
CORRUPT OFFICIALS

Liberia is taking a bold stand against government corruption. Its president has just put 450 officials on unpaid leave - for failing to declare their assets. Many are already rushing to file their paperwork. It will go some way to appeasing a population angry at the perceived self-enrichment of crooked officials amid a cost-of-living crisis. It’s also in contrast to the previous administration of Gerorge Weah, which was mired in greed and graft scandals.

As Africa continues its march towards true sovereignty, this kind of leadership is crucial in dismantling Western-backed economic policies where a select few act as intermediaries for neocolonial plunder.

Sources:

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2022/12/18/liberians-protest-living-costs-as-weah-returns-from-48-day-trip

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c3d5jx0vzr4o

https://www.emansion.gov.lr/media/press-release/president-boakai-suspends-nocal-presidentceo-pending-investigation

IS KENYA RELYING ON FOREIGN DEATH SQUADS?

Is Kenya relying on foreign forces to do its dirty work - such as ‘disappearing’ opposition figures? That may sound like speculation, but some people say the recent events point in that direction. For example, Nairobi just hosted Sudan’s genocidal Rapid Support Forces paramilitary - infuriating Khartoum (which is engaged in a devastating proxy war with the group) and making people wonder what’s in it for Ruto. Some say it’s about Sudan’s gold, much of which the RSF controls. In this clip, Booker Omole (@bookeriro) - who is general secretary of the ‘Communist Party Marxist - Kenya’ - shares his worry that Kenya’s cozying up to the RSF (he refers to President William Ruto hosting the paramilitary’s boss Hemedti in January 2024) could be part of a guns-for-hire arrangement,

Continued….. noting also how there’s precedent - with foreign forces allegedly present during last year’s deadly crackdown on anti-IMF protests. Hear him out, what do you make of the idea?

Sources:
https://x.com/FGaitho237/status/1860248126583394554

https://www.newvision.co.ug/category/news/uganda-police-clarifies-on-truck-spotted-in-k-NV_190831

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cp8x3vr6zj2o

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/crln9lk51dro

U.S. SANCTIONS RWANDAN & M23 OFFICIALS

What are the implications of the US Treasury slapping sanctions on a Rwandan official and an M23 militia spokesperson for their alleged involvement in the three-decade-long, Western-backed conflict over minerals in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) that had internally displaced about 7 million as of 2024?

Critics argue that the sanctions on James Kabarebe, Rwanda’s Minister of State for Regional Integration, and M23 and Congo River Alliance spokesperson Lawrence Kanyuka Kingston are insufficient. They say these sanctions fail to target key figures like Rwandan President Paul Kagame, whom the media often depicted as a hero following the 1994 Rwandan G*nocide.

Continued….. The DRC has an estimated $24 trillion in mineral wealth. As long as the flow of minerals continues to Western capitals, sanctions will merely be a token gesture, allowing the real power players to carry on with their operations unscathed.

What’s your perspective?

Sources:

https://www.state.gov/sanctioning-drivers-of-violence-in-the-democratic-republic-of-the-congo/

https://archive.ph/9Umsa

https://www.jamboasbl.com/article/humanitarian-chaos-eastern-drc-call-sanctions-against-paul-kagames-regime

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/12/20/why-has-drc-filed-criminal-charges-against-apple-over-conflict-minerals

https://roape.net/2020/11/24/a-dictators-best-friend-corporate-media-covers-for-kagames-crimes/

https://youtu.be/Opf0b_svQl8?t=3444

ATTACKS ON AFRICAN STREAM EXPLAINED

Last year, agents of imperialism accused African Stream, an independent Pan-Africanist news outlet, of being ‘secretly funded’ by Russia.

The attacks, beginning with false reports by NBC News and Voice of America, reached their apex in September 2024, when then-US Secretary of State Antony Blinken claimed we were a platform for ‘Kremlin propagandists.’

Despite our accusers’ lack of evidence, social media platforms, such as Alphabet (parent company of YouTube and Google), Meta (parent company of Facebook, Instagram and Threads), and TikTok suspended or permanently banned us.

Unfortunately, 2025 has kicked off with the British Foreign Office’s ploy to run a smear campaign against us using pliable African journalists and media outlets.

Continued….. As the year progresses, we can only expect to see more such campaigns, as our work has ruffled the feathers of those who, for centuries, have been exploiting Africa and, therefore, see our Pan-African and anti-imperialist reporting as a threat to the status quo.

In this clip, renowned Nigerian investigative journalist David Hundeyin (@davidhundeyin), who Western imperialists have also tried to smear, explains why Pan-African-centred reporting unsettles imperialist forces.

Sources:

https://www.aa.com.tr/en/africa/google-bans-african-stream-locks-prominent-media-group-out-of-workspace/3348185

https://x.com/african_stream/status/1836781485191217614

https://china.usembassy-china.org.cn/secretary-antony-j-blinken-remarks-to-the-press-5

https://x.com/african_stream/status/1890237646577778957

BURKINA FASO NATIONALISES SUGAR & TOMATO PROCESSING

In Burkina Faso, food sovereignty and industrialisation are top priorities for greater national self-determination. Two food industry sectors, tomato paste production and sugar cane processing, have become the focus of Burkina Faso’s state-owned enterprises.

Thomas Sankara (1949-87), the great revolutionary leader of Burkina Faso who was assassinated, once famously stated, ‘Where is imperialism? Look at your plates when you eat. The imported rice, maize and millet; that is imperialism.’ 

Today, President Ibrahim Traoré is following in Sankara’s footsteps by placing food sovereignty at the forefront of national development after helping oust a Western-aligned leader in 2022.

Video credit: @rtburkina