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 

Continued….. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vj7mjDmh5-E

https://mronline.org/2022/08/08/manufacturing-consent-how-the-united-states-has-penetrated-south-african-media/

https://www.mdif.org/news/mdif-majority-stake-mail-guardian/

https://www.american.edu/centers/latin-american-latino-studies/cuba-after-the-july-11-protes6ts-eaton.cfm

https://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/15/world/15aid.html