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

Rwanda has expressed strong discontent over recent US sanctions imposed on State Minister James Kabarebe. The US accuses him of contributing to the Western-backed, three-decade-long war over resources in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). The Rwandan government contends that such sanctions are ineffective, asserting that peace would have come long ago if they were a viable solution.

The DRC welcomed the US Treasury’s decision to sanction Kabarebe and M23 spokesperson Lawrence Kanyuka Kingston, and advocated for more stringent sanctions to compel Rwanda to withdraw from eastern DRC. Following the Rwanda- and Uganda-backed M23 militia’s capture of the capitals of DRC’s North Kivu and South Kivu provinces, the government has been urging the international community to take firmer action against Rwanda.

Continued……Critics argue that sanctions, when not directed at high-ranking officials, serve merely as symbolic measures that allow influential figures like Rwanda’s President Paul Kagame and Uganda’s President Yoweri Museveni to pursue their Western-aligned agendas in the Great Lakes region without facing the consequences.

The US employs sanctions as a means to punish individuals or organisations involved in alleged human-rights abuses and destabilising actions. By this standard, one could argue that Mobutu Sese Seko (1930-97), the DRC dictator supported by Washington after the assassination of Patrice Lumumba (1925-61), should have faced sanctions for gross human-rights violations. Instead, Mobutu’s reign of terror enabled Western corporations to exploit the DRC’s resources, and he was only deposed when the US found him of no use. Notably, Africa is the most affected by sanctions, yet conflicts and human-rights abuses continue, mainly because the US plays a significant role in destabilising the continent.

By 2010, approximately 6 million Congolese had lost their lives due to the ongoing resource conflict, with about 7 million more internally displaced as of last year, and 700,000 displaced since January alone.

Sources

https://home.treasury.gov/news/press-releases/sb0022

https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/soss_research/1869

https://www.usip.org/publications/2016/06/us-sanctions-policy-sub-saharan-africa

https://www.dw.com/en/us-sanctions-on-africa-need-an-overhaul-say-experts/a-55361234

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cy0dg11y6xko

https://www.chicagotribune.com/1997/04/29/victims-describe-mobutus-long-reign-of-torture

https://www.minaffet.gov.rw/updates/news-details/statement-on-us-designation

https://ofac.treasury.gov

https://x.com/PatrickMuyaya/status/1892642834307785186

https://www.caritas.org/2010/02/six-million-dead-in-congos-war