THE ECONOMIC CASE FOR AFRICAN UNITY

The recent cut in US aid to Africa - which was always a Trojan horse anyway - has only bolstered the case for overcoming decades of dependency by uniting as a continent. In this clip from last year, an Eritrean expert on development argues that a united Africa is our only defence against the predatory forces that plague us.

Speaking at the launch of The Afro-Asia Institute for Strategic Studies in Nairobi in January 2024, Milena Bereket said that Western powers reaped all the benefits when dealing with the individual ‘pieces’ of a fragmented Africa, leading to lopsided relationships and neo-colonial exploitation. Uniting under common economic and political interests would ensure African nations get the best deal, no matter who we’re dealing with.

Would it still be possible to shake-down an African nation when we are all speaking in one, loud voice?

Video credit: Afro-Asia Institute for Strategic Studies

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

In his last message to his wife Pauline Lumumba before he was executed by a Western-backed firing squad, Patrice Lumumba (1925-61) poignantly echoed the sentiment that revolution transcends individuals. Lumumba may have been killed, but the fight for a Democratic Republic of Congo, free from Western and capitalist exploitation, must live on with even greater resolve.

Sources

https://www.blackpast.org/global-african-history/primary-documents-global-african-history/patrice-lumumbas-letter-pauline-lumumba-1960/

EGYPT’S GAZA REBUILD PLAN READY

On March 4, Egypt presented its Gaza Reconstruction Plan at an emergency Arab summit in Cairo, a direct counter to US President Donald Trump’s so-called ‘Riviera of the Middle East’ scheme, which proposed displacing Gaza’s 2 million Palestinians to make way for a real estate project.

Unlike Trump’s vision of erasing the Palestinian presence, Egypt aims to rebuild the devastated enclave without displacing Palestinians.

Cairo’s proposal includes a Governance Assistance Mission to oversee humanitarian aid and reconstruction. However, the proposal reportedly states that international funding is unlikely to be secured if Hamas remains in control, so Hamas—in accepting the deal—has announced it would cede power. Egypt would like an International Stabilisation Force led by Arab states to handle security. It proposes that the security entity transition to a local police force.

Continued……. Moreover, any plans to restore Gaza depend on the successful implementation of a tenuous three-phase ceasefire deal that went into effect on 19 January between Israel and Hamas. The truce has already been thrown into doubt after Israel blocked the delivery of humanitarian aid into Gaza in an attempt to force Hamas into an extension of phase one. Tel Aviv has warned of additional consequences, including resuming military action if Hamas does not continue releasing more hostages.

Israel’s 16-month military onslaught on Gaza and the Palestinian people flattened the enclave, k*lling over 186,000 people as of July 2024, according to the Lancet medical journal, and around 18,000 children as of January, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry.

Sources

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cjd32xyjg4eo

https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/egypt-says-gaza-reconstruction-plan-ready-will-intensify-efforts-phase-two-2025-03-02/ https://www.palestinechronicle.com/egypts-gaza-reconstruction-plan-excludes-hamas-seeks-international-support-reuters/

https://www.eunews.it/en/2025/02/05/turning-gaza-into-the-riviera-of-the-middle-east-trumps-controversial-plan-unveiled-to-netanyahu/

https://www.dailynewsegypt.com/2025/03/02/gaza-reconstruction-plan-completed-to-be-presented-at-arab-summit-abdelatty/

https://www.africanews.com/2025/03/02/egypt-set-to-announce-its-plans-for-gaza-reconstruction-at-arab-summit/

https://www.ohchr.org/en/press-releases/2025/01/no-end-sight-israeli-forces-attack-occupied-west-bank-gaza-ceasefire-takes

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c4g039ergplo

https://www.africanews.com/2025/03/02/egypt-set-to-announce-its-plans-for-gaza-reconstruction-at-arab-summit/

https://www.american.edu/sis/news/20250129-understanding-the-israel-hamas-ceasefire-agreement.cfm

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c9q4w99je78o

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2025/3/2/israel-reneges-on-ceasefire-deal-warns-hamas-of-consequences

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2025/1/15/the-human-toll-of-israels-war-on-gaza-by-the-numbers

https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(24)01169-3/fulltext

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/7/8/gaza-toll-could-exceed-186000-lancet-study-says

https://www.aa.com.tr/en/middle-east/factbox-israeli-genocide-in-gaza-children-killed-maimed-denied-education-medical-care/3489334

https://www.palestinechronicle.com/egypts-gaza-reconstruction-plan-excludes-hamas-seeks-international-support-reuters

TRAORÉ: ‘OUR REVOLUTION WILL INSPIRE AFRICA TO UNITE’

The new Alliance of Sahel States (AES) flag is flying high over Burkina Faso’s skies.

On 3 March, President Ibrahim Traoré spoke during a flag-raising ceremony. 

He said the flag represents the ‘blood and sweat’ that birthed the AES and inspires ‘the whole of Africa to unite.’

Traoré isn’t just speaking of Burkina Faso, but for all nations resisting neocolonialism. Time and time again, he has made it clear that Burkina Faso is ready and willing to work with any country that respects its autonomy but will refuse collaboration with countries that seek to exploit it.

Continued….. This is why Burkina Faso and its AES allies have strengthened their partnerships with countries like Russia, China, Iran, Venezuela, Nicaragua and Cuba. Furthermore, this quest for greater self-reliance fuels Burkina Faso’s push toward food sovereignty and industrialisation.

Video credit: @rtburkina 

Sources

https://geopoliticaleconomy.com/2023/07/30/burkina-faso-ibrahim-traore-sankara-imperialism/

https://orinocotribune.com/burkina-faso-in-a-multipolar-world-order/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jeL75bdqptA

HUGO CHAVEZ REMEMBERED

On this day in 2013, Hugo Chávez, one of the Global South’s anti-imperialist warriors, died aged 58 after a long battle with cancer. He had served as Venezuela’s president from 1999 to 2013, and was mourned beyond the shores of his homeland, including across Africa, where he had won many hearts for deepening ties between our continent and Latin America.

Under his leadership, two Africa-South America Summits were held to enhance South-to-South relations. Chávez was also the first Latin-American president to openly declared himself of African descent. His powerful words, “We carry Africa inside us, Africa is part of us, Latin-Caribbean America cannot be understood without Africa,” continue to inspire.

His defiant stance in the face of US bullying also resonated with many Africans, who, in one way or another, have had to live with the effects of US imperialist aggression for decades.

Continued……Chávez had been in Washington’s crosshairs since coming to power in the late 1990s and launching a campaign to end the parasitic control of his country’s oil industry by US multinational firms.

Imperialist forces made several attempts to overthrow his government, but they were all defeated by the Venezuelan masses. Chávez was undeterred from his revolutionary mandate of ensuring that Venezuela’s resources benefitted its people, not US tycoons and their local cronies. It is a mandate that he acted on until the end.

To mark the anniversary of Chávez’s death, here is a 2006 video clip of him dishing out some choice words for then-US president George W. Bush, branding him the Devil. It is a speech that still resonates today.

Video credit: UNTV

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

The World Bank has become the latest Western entity to attack South Africa's Black Economic Empowerment policy. The country’s affirmative-action initiative aims to address apartheid-era injustices by enabling historically marginalised Black people to participate in the economy.

In a new report, the Washington-based lender said South Africa needed to 'relax' its BEE drives, alleging that they are spurring corruption and inefficiency in public administration. The report advises the government to create jobs by attracting foreign investment rather than focusing on affirmative action.

Right-wing voices, both inside and outside South Africa, have for a long time opposed the country's affirmative-action policies, claiming that they are an impediment to business and a form of 'reverse racism.'

Continued……. Among those voices is tech billionaire and Trump sidekick Elon Musk, whose company SpaceX has been unable to set up in South Africa because it fails to meet BEE regulations, which require firms operating in sectors such as telecommunications to be at least 30% owned by individuals from historically disadvantaged groups.

According to South African newspaper Daily Maverick, Musk unsuccessfully asked South African President Cyril Ramaphosa during a September 2024 meeting to change the BEE policy to accommodate SpaceX. This raises the question of whether The World Bank's latest intervention was externally influenced, especially given that fact that it had acknowledged the positive impact of BEE policies in the past.

For instance, in a 2018 report noscriptd 'An Incomplete Transition: Overcoming the Legacy of Exclusion in South Africa,' the lender stated that 'affirmative-action policies have reduced inequality between Black and White South Africans.' So what’s changed?

Could it be that the Bank is dancing to the tune of the new pipers in Washington DC, who are opposed to policies that seek to redress injustices committed against Black people for centuries through slavery and settler-colonialism?

Sources

https://www.worldbank.org/en/country/southafrica/publication/driving-inclusive-growth-in-south-africa-quick-wins-with-competitive-markets-and-efficient-institutions

https://documents.worldbank.org/en/publication/documents-reports/documentdetail/815401525706928690/south-africa-systematic-country-diagnostic-an-incomplete-transition-overcoming-the-legacy-of-exclusion-in-south-africa

https://www.ewn.co.za/2024/02/19/da-looks-to-scrap-race-based-legislation-like-bee-should-it-assume-power

https://x.com/Our_DA/status/1639938403876651008

https://www.politicsweb.co.za/opinion/the-third-wave-of-bee-what-it-is-and-why-it-must-b

https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2025-02-09-after-the-bell-musk-vs-mzansi-spacex-challenges-sas-bee-rules/

WHAT HAPPENED TO BLACK ANTI-ZIONIST INFLUENCERS?

Many have noted the shift in what it means to be an influential Black figure. Our global diaspora has gone from revering radical figures like Muhammad Ali (1942-2016) and Malcolm X (1925-65), who championed global solidarity with the oppressed, to admiring seemingly apolitical celebrities like boxer Floyd Mayweather, influenced by powerful Z*onist interests. 

We spent an hour in December discussing why Africans should care about Palestine with Pan-Africanist social media influencer @mariamtheugandan (IG). 

African Stream Editor-in-Chief Ahmed Kaballo noted that US government repression via the Counterintelligence Program (or COINTELPRO) muffled and sometimes k*lled Black liberation leaders who made connections between domestic and global struggles against oppression. Today, he said, Black celebrities are permitted to discuss racism, but only in limited, individualistic terms.

Continued………. Having lived in the US, Mariam observed that the individualism embedded in capitalist-driven US culture elevates material success rather than collective welfare. Growing alienation has led many in the US to focus solely on personal concerns and ‘getting that coin’ rather than organising against global injustices. This trend became especially clear after the 2024 elections, when some announced they would disengage from advocating for international liberation struggles, such as in Congo, Palestine, Sudan and Western Sahara. 

Have a watch, and please let us know what you think.

Sources

Malcolm X on Palestine
https://mondoweiss.net/2024/03/malcolm-xs-final-written-words-were-about-zionism-here-is-what-he-said/

MLK Jr. on Palestine
https://jacobin.com/2019/02/martin-luther-king-israel-palestine-occupation

Mayweather as a Zionist
https://www.jpost.com/israel-news/article-826597

COINTELPRO
https://www.blackpast.org/african-american-history/cointelpro-1956-1976/

CONGO CRISIS NEEDS MORE ATTENTION

The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) isn’t just suffering from a crisis, it’s enduring a Western-backed resource war. Yet, the world looks away.

As our guest, Pappy Orion from Focus Congo (@focuscongo on IG, @focuscongo_drc on X) explained in this clip, the conflict is not getting the attention it deserves.

@pappyorion (IG and X) said preconceived notions dehumanising Africans and the mistaken perception that it is only an African affair have helped to obscure the true nature of the three-decade-long, Western-backed proxy war over minerals that had k*lled over 6 million people by 2010. However, minerals extracted from Congo power modern technology, including smartphones, electric cars and aeroplanes used worldwide.

Continued……. One of the proxies involved is the Rwanda- and Uganda-backed M23 militia, which generates $800,000 from taxing mining in just one town, Rubaya. Meanwhile, DRC’s government reports losing $1 billion annually in resource theft to Rwanda alone. The beneficiaries of minerals like cobalt are the world’s biggest corporations, including Apple, Dell, Microsoft and Tesla.

As of 2024, the ongoing violence had internally displaced more than 7 million Congolese.

As Pan-Africanist Ghanaian leader Kwame Nkrumah (1909-72) said, ‘If we allow the independence of the Congo to be compromised in any way by the imperialist and capitalist forces, we shall expose the sovereignty and independence of all Africa to grave risk. The struggle of the Congo is therefore our struggle.’

Sources

Goma killed and displaced
https://www.cnn.com/2025/02/06/africa/dr-congo-goma-violence-deaths-intl-hnk/index.html
https://dutchrelief.org/goma-drc-acute-crisis-joint-response/

DRC loses $1 billion a year
https://issafrica.org/iss-today/rampant-cobalt-smuggling-and-corruption-deny-billions-to-drc

M23 makes $800,000 a month
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/as-the-drc-battles-rwanda-backed-m23-what-s-needed-to-stop-the-fighting/ar-AA1yYzHD

Western firms complicity
https://www.theafricareport.com/339705/drc-blow-for-activists-as-us-court-dismisses-child-labour-case-against-five-tech-giants/

Nkrumah on Congo
https://africanagenda.net/nkrumah-on-the-significance-of-the-congo-for-africans/

KENYA: THE LAND OF BROKEN PROMISES

Kenya’s leadership has mastered the art of empty promises, but when confronted with cold, hard facts, even the most powerful struggle to spin their way out. In a damning interview with Al Jazeera’s Mehdi Hasan, Kenya’s National Assembly Majority Leader, Kimani Ichungw’a, was put on the spot over the 281 pledges made by President William Ruto’s government. His response? Evasion, deflection, and an embarrassing inability to account for the administration’s failures.

When asked how many of the pledges made to Kenyans by the ruling party had been fulfilled, Kimani Ichungw’a had to admit that he couldn’t give a straight answer.

Continued….. It’s a cringeworthy watch. This was no case of integrity-driven honesty. It reflects the political bad will and the general political landscape in the country, in which politicians rise up the ranks and say things they do not mean simply to gain votes. Kenya’s ruling elite has turned the country into its personal cash cow, while the mass of citizens suffer.

The ruling elite’s greed did not stop it from attempting to tax Kenyans even more under the IMF-backed 2024 Finance Bill, resulting in mass protests across the country calling for Ruto to step down.

When it was pointed out to Ichungw’a that, over two years, only 14 of the promises have been honoured, he was unable to explain why, resorting to distraction.

Video Credit: @aljazeeraenglish (YouTube)

Sources

https://www.aljazeera.com/amp/news/2024/7/7/why-are-kenyans-angry-with-the-imf

https://tracker.mzalendo.com

https://www.ictd.ac/blog/kenya-protests-show-citizens-dont-trust-government-with-their-tax-money-can-ruto-make-a-meaningful-new-deal/

https://nation.africa/kenya/newsplex/fact-check-does-kenya-really-lose-sh2-billion-to-graft-daily--3282360

https://www.citizen.digital/news/revisiting-president-elect-william-rutos-manifesto-n305126

https://nation.africa/kenya/news/politics/the-promises-versus-reality-president-ruto-s-rough-road-ahead-4282818

Continued….. Nairobi Israel ties
https://eastleighvoice.co.ke/tear-gas/66861/israeli-gas-kenyan-tears-israel-supplied-riot-control-agents-used-against-demonstrators
https://missiledefenseadvocacy.org/air-defense-news/kenya-acquiring-spyder-air-defence-system-from-rafael/
https://www.ynetnews.com/article/sj5blgkn2

Palestine observer status
https://www.egyptindependent.com/au-grants-palestine-observer-status/

AU vs Israel
https://www.africanunion-un.org/post/international-day-of-solidarity-with-the-palestinian-people
https://apnews.com/article/african-union-israel-gaza-85c4b497463fe29c59fca5ffd987dd53
https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20230221-palestine-welcomes-african-unions-support-of-palestinian-rights/
https://www.africanunion-un.org/post/international-day-of-solidarity-with-the-palestinian-people

Gaza wartime deaths
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2025/2/3/gaza-death-toll-rises-close-to-62000-as-missing-added
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/7/8/gaza-toll-could-exceed-186000-lancet-study-says

Uganda raid
https://allafrica.com/stories/200907060577.html

Kenya politician support for Palestine
https://www.the-star.co.ke/news/2023-11-05-we-stand-with-palestines-raila-condemns-israeli-attacks-on-gaza

https://kenyanforeignpolicy.com/kenya-criticised-for-abstaining-on-un-vote-to-end-israeli-occupation