THEY DENY OUR CULTURE YET FILL MUSEUMS WITH IT!

Europeans long portrayed Africans as lacking culture. And yet they couldn’t resist stealing our cultural treasures in their thousands and putting them in museums around the world - if private collectors didn’t snap them up for a small fortune first.

Experts reckon over 80% of plundered African artefacts remain in European museums. The British Museum, for example, holds over 70,000; Belgium’s Royal Museum nearly 200,000; another 75,000 are in Germany’s Ethnological Museum; and France’s Quai Branly Museum keeps almost 70,000. The list goes on.

In this clip, pan-African academic PLO Lumumba argues that one reason Europeans stripped us of our culture was to erase our identity - and thereby make the task of subjugating our people easier.

Video Credit: Kabalega Foundation (YouTube)

JAMAICANS BARRED FROM OWN BEACHES: END THE BAN!

Imagine living on a beautiful island with picturesque beaches - but you’re not allowed to visit them.

That’s what life is like for Jamaicans, where less than 1% of the sandy coastline is open to the public. It’s a colonial legacy of the 1956 Beach Control Act, which grants private landowners extensive - almost exclusive - rights over coastal areas, effectively barring residents from enjoying their own shores.

As a result of this exclusion, prime beachfronts are predominantly reserved for private entities and foreign tourists, with Jamaicans marginalised in their homeland.

Under British rule, laws were instituted to favour the interests of the colonial power and its economic expansion at the expense of the local community. Although Jamaica achieved independence, these colonial-era statutes persist, perpetuating stark social and economic disparities.

Continued……This clip is part of a campaign calling for an end to the colonial-era beach law. In it, @mikaelaloach argues that denying locals access to their natural resources not only infringes upon their rights but also undermines their cultural heritage and identity.

It’s a prime example of exclusionary colonial practices creating systemic inequities impacting the quality of life of Jamaicans today, even after their so-called independence from the UK in 1962.

Video credit: @mikaelaloachy

Sources

https://www.sbs.com.au/news/podcast-episode/banned-from-the-beach-jamaican-locals-want-their-ocean-access-back/ix0zj00x3

https://www.sbs.com.au/news/dateline/article/second-class-citizens-why-locals-in-this-island-nation-cant-use-its-stunning-beaches/o76xj99ac

https://globalvoices.org/2023/10/15/an-overseas-media-report-reignites-jamaicas-longstanding-concern-regarding-limited-beach-access/

https://www.voice-online.co.uk/news/world-news/2024/11/27/jamaicans-fight-colonial-era-beach-law-in-court/

This week’s proverb is a call to action - don’t wait for a tragedy before trying to prevent one. It may well be in the minds of those activist racing to call for the release of Ugandan opposition politician Kiza Besigye - jailed for alleged treason. They say his health is declining dangerously as a result of his detention.

Continued….. SOURCES
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/donald-trump-elon-musk-usaid-soft-power-china-russia-rcna189756

USAID in subversion
http://www.intrepidreport.com/archives/12659

Cuban Twitter
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/apr/03/us-cuban-twitter-zunzuneo-stir-unrest

USAID vs Chavez
https://the307.substack.com/p/how-the-ned-and-usaid-are-tools-of

Uruguay torture programme
https://www.counterpunch.org/2020/08/13/teaching-torture-the-death-and-legacy-of-dan-mitrione

THE BOOK THAT GOT NKRUMAH DEPOSED?

Today marks 59 years since pan-African icon and Ghana’s founding leader Kwame Nkrumah was removed from office in a military coup engineered by the CIA.

After leading Ghana to independence from British colonial rule in 1957, Nkrumah embarked on a mission to unite the African people on the continent and in the diaspora. It was his firm belief that Africans share not only a common history, but a common destiny.

He was one of the founding leaders of the African Union’s predecessor, the Organization of African Unity, in 1963. In a key speech at the opening summit, he eloquently made the case for African unity. He explained that true independence and prosperity could only be attained if African nations united on both the economic and political front.

Continued….. He said this was the only way they could defeat the menace posed by the neo-colonial system, which was hell-bent on maintaining its control over the continent, even as most countries attained ‘flag independence.’

To the CIA, revolutionary pan-African leaders like Nkrumah were a danger that needed to be ‘neutralised.’ Their words were seen as threats by the US establishment. It is perhaps telling that it was only after Nkrumah’s overthrow that the IMF engaged in debt restructuring with Ghana.

In this clip, Nkrumah’s editorial assistant, June Milne, relates how his book - Neo-Colonialism, The Last Stage of Imperialism - was the last straw for the US. In it, he detailed how Western countries were looting Africa’s resources. Milne claims the book spurred Washington into sponsoring the coup that removed him.

Credit: One on One with June Milne, FineLine Production
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rjUc_9Nmr_M&t=0s