AFRICA LOSES MORE THAN IT RECEIVES IN AID

Following the announcement that USAID would end operations, the Sputnik news outlet hosted African Stream’s William Sakawa for an African perspective on the issue.

While some see the ending of aid from Washington as a loss for Africa, others point to the fact that more wealth leaves our continent (around $192 billion a year) than enters it (some $134 billion - of which around $30 billion is aid).

Much of this loss can be put down to illicit outflows, and if these were curbed, aid would hardly be necessary. That would be even more true if Africa were fairly compensated for its abundant natural resources, rather than relentlessly exploited by the same multinationals that dodge our taxes.

Credit: https://en.sputniknews.africa/20250307/usaid-in-africa-development-partner-or-trojan-horse-1070959784.html

Sources

https://www.medact.org/app/uploads/2014/09/Honest-Accounts-report-v4-web.pdf

BRAZIL CARNIVAL SHOWS SOLIDARITY WITH CONGO

Brazil’s annual carnival is truly a spectacle to behold. Vibrant costumes, lively samba music and impressive displays dominate the streets before the 40-day Christian observance of charity, fasting and prayers called Lent.

Carnival’s Afro-centric indulgences make clear the impact of Afro-Brazilians, who comprise more than half of Brazil’s population. Their ancestors had been kidnapped in what is now Angola and the Congo, dragged onto ships and forced to labour in the former Portuguese colony starting in the 16th century.

Continued……That’s why it was heartening for many of our people to see Congolese flags flying on a parade truck this year as a show of solidarity. It comes during a time when many still don’t know about the heartbreaking Western-backed violence that creates the conditions necessary for looting the mineral-rich eastern part of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).

Between 1998 and 2010, the conflict k*lled about 6 million people. Amidst a recent escalation to capture the DRC’s east, the Rwanda- and Uganda-backed M23 militia had k*lled more than 8,500 people between January and late February 2025, according to Congolese authorities. Meanwhile, more than 7 million Congolese live in refugee camps after being forced off their lands.

Tech giants like Apple, Dell, Google, Microsoft and Tesla use the DRC’s minerals to power smartphones, laptops and electric cars, among other technologies, which has led many to call out Western powers.

Video credit: @tonton.gloire.98 (TikTok)

Sources

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

https://x.com/trtworld/status/1891713201529585939?t=fzTl_dqH4ZpCPa3HtAkfwA&s=19

https://news.un.org/en/story/2025/01/1159541

https://www.riocarnaval.org

https://oxfordre.com/africanhistory/display/10.1093/acrefore/9780190277734.001.0001/acrefore-9780190277734-e-430?p=emailAkOMNUDrTod0o&d=/10.1093/acrefore/9780190277734.001.0001/acrefore-9780190277734-e-430

https://apnews.com/article/brazil-slavery-angola-quilombo-rio-de-janeiro-valongo-48e614e15b317a3ee96a0422c8d7317a

https://www.cfr.org/global-conflict-tracker/conflict/violence-democratic-republic-congo

https://www.aa.com.tr/en/africa/over-8-500-people-killed-since-january-in-fighting-in-eastern-democratic-republic-of-congo/3495683

JULIUS MALEMA: DEFYING U.S. BULLYING, STANDING WITH PALESTINE

In this 6 March clip from his speech to the South African National Assembly, revolutionary Julius Malema asserted that South Africa will not bend to the will of the US despite its bullying tactics, such as aid cuts and threats of sanctions. Instead, South Africans would continue standing in solidarity with the Palestinians.

The US and South Africa have been embroiled in geopolitical tensions since Cape Town announced a new law that seeks to address the uneven distribution of land in a country where white settlers, who comprise less than 8 per cent of the population, hold over 70 per cent of private farmland. European colonialists and the apartheid regime dispossessed Black South Africans of their lands for decades.

Continued……Malema (@julius.malema.sello on IG, @julius_s_malema on X), president of the Pan-African political party, Economic Freedom Fighters (@effsouthafrica), argued that the Trump administration’s outrage over alleged ‘racial discrimination’ against white settlers and the unfounded claim of ‘white g*nocide’ in South Africa has little to do with the land expropriation law. He said these claims obscure that the US has been lobbying and threatening on behalf of its ally, Israel, over South Africa’s case claiming Israel violated the UN G*nocide Convention in Gaza.

The US has bankrolled $22.7 billion for Israel’s onslaught of Palestinians since 7 October 2023. According to the Lancet medical journal, Israel had k*lled as many as 186,000 people by early July 2024.

Video credit: @parliamentofRSA (X)

Sources

https://dirco.gov.za/south-africa-delivers-evidence-of-israel-genocide-to-icj/

https://www.trtworld.com/africa/all-you-need-to-know-about-south-africas-land-expropriation-law-18263403

https://pepfarwatch.org/pepfar-funding-freeze/

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

https://www.cfr.org/article/us-aid-israel-four-charts

https://watson.brown.edu/costsofwar/papers/2024/USspendingIsrael

RACIAL DISCRIMINATION AT KENYA’S COASTAL RESORTS

Kenyan beach resorts are accused of turning away locals while rolling out the red carpet for White tourists.

Stories of Kenyans being denied access - whether to beachfronts, hotel premises or even certain services - have fuelled debates about racism, neocolonialism and economic discrimination in the very country they call home.

While tourism remains a vital pillar of Kenya’s economy, this exclusion raises uncomfortable questions about whose pleasure and presence truly matters. Shouldn’t Kenyans have the same right to enjoy their own coastline and amenities as the foreigners whose dollars are so eagerly welcomed?

Video Credit: Miss Trudy (YouTube)

Collaboration and unity can defeat even those considered more dominant. In today’s world, the West, through exploitative and predatory means, has created the illusion that it’s stronger than the rest of the world: that it’s a ‘lion.’ Yet the reality is that the West’s strength only derives from those it relentlessly exploits

This week’s proverb (from Ethiopia) is a reminder of Africa’s might when its nations work together, especially in the face of imperialism. Even if imperialism were a lion - but we know better - a web made by ‘mere spiders’ could still stop it in its tracks.

That’s a truth that has been demonstrated by Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso. The trio expelled French troops and tore up exploitative mining contracts with the West, joined forces and created the Alliance of Sahel States (AES) - a defence and economic bloc aimed at creating a single pan-African federation.