US HYPOCRISY IN LIBYA

The US Embassy in Libya has tweeted ‘concern’ after fighting ramped up in the North African country.

But isn’t this rich coming from one of the key arsonists that set Libya ablaze during the NATO-led intervention in 2011?
Since then, civil war has ravaged the country.

And things have just got a whole lot worse after the commander in charge of militia group 444 Brigade was arrested.

Mahmoud Hamza, was seized at Mitiga airport by the state-backed Special Deterrence Force.

Still, good to know America is urging ‘de-escalation.’

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ETHIOPIA'S AMHARA CONFLICT EXPLAINED

Ethiopia is embroiled in yet another fierce local conflict. This time the country's army is pitted against militia groups in the Amhara region.

The clashes were triggered by Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed's order to dismantle regional security forces. Mixed in with that, there are tensions still spilling over from the Tigray War.

We break down what’s happening.

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WOMEN’S WEDNESDAY: WINNIE MANDELA

In this episode of Women’s Wednesday, we celebrate Winnie Madikizela-Mandela.

Also fondly known as the ‘Mother of the Nation’ in her country South Africa, she was a fearless advocate of justice for her people. Her legacy illuminated the path for equality and she’s remembered in history books as a woman of courage, determination and change.

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CHILD SLAVERY IN DRC

The DRC is the world's leading mined-cobalt source. It’s also home to 40,000 child slaves - forced to work in extremely dangerous conditions in the country’s mines. Numerous children have had their lives cut short by tunnel collapses or suffered life-altering injuries.

Many of the enslaved children earn as little as $2 a day, or even nothing at all - being made to work under indentured servitude for debts they can’t possibly pay off.

Cobalt is used in lithium-ion batteries, which power everything from our phones to our laptops, cars and more. Some of that very same cobalt, mined by child slaves, could be in your hands right now.

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ZIMBABWE LAND REFORM BEARING FRUITS

In the late 1990s, Zimbabwe embarked on an ambitious drive to redistribute some of the land stolen by White settler farmers to Africans. This ‘land reform’ aimed at correcting land-ownership imbalances rooted in the colonial occupation of the country by British settlers in the late 1800s.

In 1979, a few months before the country's independence, the British government signed the Lancaster House agreement with Zimbabwe's liberation movement - and the country's future leader, Robert Mugabe. Under this agreement, London committed to funding an equitable land-redistribution programme, but a decade later, it was clear it had reneged on its promise, forcing Harare to go it alone.

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Continued - ZIMBABWE LAND REFORM BEARING FRUITS

The ‘land reform’ policy led to Zimbabwe being placed under sanctions by the West and being treated as a villain in the mainstream media.

There is a common, and often unquestioned, narrative that the land-reform programme has been a complete failure. It’s claimed that the land given to African farmers lies in total ruin because, apparently, Africans do not know how to farm. But is this really true? In this EXCLUSIVE interview with African Stream, Christopher Mutsvangwa, the spokesperson for Zimbabwe's ruling ZANU-PF, addresses this question and highlights some of the oft-ignored successes of the land reform.

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BROTHERS KILLING BROTHERS

Movie scenes sometimes touch a nerve off-screen, making us think hard about real life.

This speech from The Final Comedown (1972) does precisely that, as the main character breaks down the contradictory nature of fighting people that look just like you and share the same struggles as you while your enemy that oppresses you both looks on with glee as you inadvertently do his dirty work.

This scene reminds us of today’s gang violence in inner cities in the United States, where Black and Hispanic men are socially conditioned to see other men that look just like them as their ‘ops’ through a culture that is promoted by white music executives who are happy to glorify violence that has little-to-no effect on their own day-to-day lives.

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Continued - BROTHERS KILLING BROTHERS

It could easily be applied to the conflict in Sudan, where former allies, General al-Burhan and General Hemeti, are now destroying their country of birth for the sake of regional and world superpowers, whose interests lie in Sudan's resources and not with Sudan's people.

The scene ends with a profound message: if we are going to die, then let's die for a genuine cause - so “that the language of the young brothers and sisters coming behind us can be the dialogue of living men!”

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‘A NIGER WAR BOOSTS BOKO HARAM’

No West African soldier is ready to die a foolish death in Niger.

That’s the opinion of Ghanaian journalist Kwesi Pratt, who warns any war would play into the hands of the Boko Haram insurgency sweeping the country.
The region is on tenterhooks following the Niger coup and subsequent ECOWAS threats to re-instate the western-aligned president by force.

Cool heads are needed!
Listen to Kwesi Pratt’s interview and tell us if you agree with him.

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BAZOUM TREASON CHARGE; NIGER LATEST

Niger’s military leaders have accused ousted president Bazoum of high treason. They intend to prosecute him after alleging he’s put the security of the country at risk. It’s the latest twist in the coup that unfolded three weeks ago with the threat of all-out war looming.

Increasingly clear is the West’s huge strategic interest in the African state. From gas pipelines to military bases, we break down the latest and why the stakes are so high.

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SEMPLE: AFRICA’S A
HEAVYWEIGHT BOXER

Africa could be like the world's first Black boxing heavyweight champion, Jack Johnson. He beat all-comers from everywhere because he was strong.

That was the powerful message of pan-African icon Marcus Garvey, re-enacted in this clip by Guyana-born performer Ron Bobb-Semple.

The profound statement is simple. Africa can grow to be an unbeatable opponent if it is unified.

Semple is speaking at one of his famous one-man shows in New York in 1988.

And he really captures the spirit of Garvey, who was imprisoned by the U.S. government 70 years before.

Garvey's prosecution was the first of many substantial actions by former FBI Director Edgar Hoover against revolutionary Black leaders in the U.S.

This clip is testament to Garvey's influence on future generations.

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PAN-AFRICANIST MARCUS GARVEY

Iconic Pan-Africanist Marcus Garvey was born on this day (August 17) in Jamaica in 1887.

He became one of the movement’s most influential figures. And he inspired some of our favourites like Nkrumah and Malcolm X, whose parents were Garveyites. Garvey was a political activist, publisher, journalist and orator.

He founded the Universal Negro Improvement Association and African Communities League (UNIA-ACL), a pan-African organisation with branches in many countries.

However, his dedication to African liberation during heightened racial oppression in the US put the arrow on his back.

Due to his massive influence throughout the Americas and beyond, he was a target for soon-to-be FBI director J Edgar Hoover.

He was tasked with destroying Garvey's mass movement and, in 1920, sent an undercover agent to infiltrate the UNIA-ACL.

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AFRICAN COUNTRIES QUEUE FOR BRICS

More African countries are looking to forge links with BRICS.

The bloc is made up of the world’s biggest emerging economies - Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa. But it wants to expand and invited several African nations to its recent foreign ministers meeting in Cape Town. Among them were representatives from Comoros, DRC, Gabon, Burundi and Guinea-Bissau.And there’s also talk of Egypt and Algeria joining its ranks soon.

So what’s the attraction?

A lot of nations need infrastructure to keep pace with their economic development and BRICS has launched a New Development Bank that can help do just that.

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Continued - AFRICAN COUNTRIES QUEUE FOR BRICS

Unlike loans from the IMF and World Bank - there don’t appear to be nasty conditions (austerity) attached. It also lends in local currencies to protect borrowing countries from a strengthening US dollar (and potential debt trap).

What’s more, the NDB is owned equally by BRICS members and non have veto powers (sounds democratic).

Fancy knowing a bit more?

Have a listen to South Africa’s foreign minister go through the bloc's goals and ambitions.

Spoiler alert: the words ‘fair’ and ‘sustainable’ get used.

By the way, there's also speculation BRICS will launch it’s own gold-linked currency - but that’s for another day!

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GALLOWAY: NIGER'S FRENCH PROBLEM

Stealing other people’s things and putting lipstick on it. That’s how British former Member of Parliament George Galloway describes France’s exploitation of African countries. And it has a lot to do with the current anti-French sentiment sweeping the Sahel, whether it's financial oppression via the CFA franc or the extraction of resources.

Listen to Mr Galloway’s take on the colonial relationship that hasn’t ended.

Niger has joined a growing list of African nations calling for the French to leave. Only then will they be able to utilise their resources for their development.

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TRUTH HURTS: WAKANDA CATCHES UP WITH FRANCE

The recent dramatic events in the Sahel got our Miss Phyll thinking back to that time the French defence minister got all upset about the film Wakanda Forever. One scene that particularly rubbed Sébastien Lecornu up the wrong way was the one where French mercenaries - dressed in the uniforms of soldiers from Operation Barkhane (Paris’ anti-terror op in the Sahel between 2014-2022) - are made to appear before the UN after being caught during an attempted incursion to plunder Africa. But judging by the views of Africans living in the Sahel and elsewhere, the portrayal wasn’t as “false and deceptive” as he made out - as Miss Phyll’s round-up of recent headlines coming out of the region also confirms.

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ALABAMA BRAWL NIGER STYLE

Everyone has seen the now-viral clip of the Alabama Street Brawl, and there are different theories on why it has gone viral and why some people in the United States are jokingly calling for August 5th to be a civil rights national holiday because of the brawl.

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Continued - ALABAMA BRAWL NIGER STYLE

One theory is the collective coming together to defend black security, set on by a mob of white people for just doing his job. We are constantly told that Africans are disunited, but he is a very visceral display of that unity with a 16-year-old brother even jumping from a boat and swimming to support the security guard that was being attacked. Another theory is that after scores of videos circulated on social media of Africans in America and elsewhere being brutalised by police officers and racists, it is refreshing to see a video of Africans fighting back and embodying the words of Malcolm X:
"I don't call it violence when it's self-defence; I call it intelligence."

If the video has taught us anything, it's we must come together and defend one another, whether on the streets or that we come together as Africans to defend Niger from Western aggression. We must develop the appropriate attitude of "touch one, touch all" when defending African people and states from imperialism.

Mali and Burkina Faso did the right thing by rushing to Niger's defence as soon as imperialist forces threatened it. Guinea quickly followed suit. When we unite to fight our shared enemies, we become a real force to reckon with. Divided, we are weak; united, we are strong. As President Ibrahim Traoré of Burkina Faso stated, "Africa needs to be able to unite, and the more united we are, the more effective we are."

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Sincerely from Takoradi, Ghana ,13th August 2023

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TRAORÉ’S BID FOR NUCLEAR POWER

Much was chewed over at the recent Russia-Africa Summit - including the prospect of bringing nuclear power to West Africa. Burkina Faso's leader discussed a possible joint project to create a plant in his country with his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin. This, argued Ibrahim Traoré, would be a key strategic asset that could also provide power to neighbouring countries. Most nations don’t have nuclear power stations, and only two in Africa currently do. It will be interesting to see how this plays out.

What do you think, is it a good idea?

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PUTIN CALLING OUT WEST OVER GADDAFI

As Western countries ratchet up yet another military intervention in Africa, this time in Niger, an old speech from Russian President Vladimir Putin is worth remembering.

With reference to the Libya conflict in 2011, he highlights how Western goals went beyond their stated intentions.

Wikileaks revealed incentives included controlling Libya’s vast oil reserves and reducing the threat of Gaddafi who campaigned for Africa’s economic independence.

NATO's bombing turned Africa’s most prosperous country into an open slave market.

The organisation is entrenched in Africa under AFRICOM, whose largest presence - coincidentally -is in Niger.

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