Continued………However, mainstream media minimises his legacy to a feel-good quote and a safe soundbite from the ‘I Have a Dream’ speech. They rarely speak of the King who challenged capitalism, exposed the hypocrisy of U.S. foreign policy and demanded a restructuring of the global order.

As he grew in political awareness, King began to address economic issues, championing a more equitable distribution of wealth and resources. He recognised that poverty and unemployment were not personal failures but historically systemic injustices that demanded actions, not mere rhetoric.

Throughout his speeches, King challenged the ‘bootstrap mentality’, which suggests that anyone can succeed in the US through hard work and determination. He also argued that the US ruling class, through capitalism and imperialism, profited from the hard work of others, whether it be Vietnamese in the Global South or Black people in America. Ultimately, he became an existential threat to the U.S. establishment - not because he dreamed, but because he refused to stay silent about the U.S.’ crimes

Would Dr. King stay silent while while Western corporations continue to plunder Africa, hiding behind trade deals, IMF conditions and military aid?

Continued……. Lesotho is now staring at potential job losses and factory closures, raising suspicions about the true intentions of AGOA. The deal’s framework is hinged on a set of conditions, among which is support for ‘democracy’ and ‘internationally recognised human rights.’ Washington reviews a country’s eligibility annually, and can revoke it based on non-adherence to these requirements - in other words, using AGOA to force Africans to toe Washington’s line (South Africa’s experience after filing a genocide case against Israel at the International Court of Justice being a prime example).

The new tariffs have sparked strong opposition, with South Africa’s Economic Freedom Fighters party condemning them as ‘imperialist tactics designed to maintain America’s economic dominance at the expense of developing countries.’

Swipe through for the full African list.

Sources

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c8dgmyzqr6do

https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/04/regulating-imports-with-a-reciprocal-tariff-to-rectify-trade-practices-that-contribute-to-large-and-persistent-annual-united-states-goods-trade-deficits/

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/trump-reciprocal-tariffs-liberation-day-list/

https://www.theguardian.com/business/2025/apr/03/trumps-tariffs-the-full-list

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2025/4/4/have-trumps-tariffs-killed-us-africa-preferential-trade

https://allafrica.com/stories/202504030443.html

https://businessday.ng/business-economy/article/full-list-of-african-countries-affected-by-trumps-tariffs/

https://archive.ph/gG9jE

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-67284812

WINNIE MANDELA TELLS OFF WHITE POLICE OFFICERS

As we continue commemorating the legacy of one of Africa’s anti-colonial heroines, South African liberation icon Winnie Mandela, who died this week in 2018, we share this video believed to be from the 1980s at the height of apartheid. The rare footage shows Mama Winnie, as she was fondly known by millions of supporters, confronting white police officers who had illegally detained Black people in the township of Soweto, on the outskirts of Johannesburg.

The video captures Mama Winnie in her element, an unwavering freedom fighter, a voice of the voiceless and one never to cower in the face of oppression.

Continued……. Even after the fall of apartheid, when many former liberators turned their backs on ordinary Black South Africans, Mama Winnie continued her courageous stand, remaining in the trenches with the downtrodden masses.

For this reason, Winnie Mandela remains an inspiration and shinning light for the ongoing global struggle against imperialism.

Video credit: Pascale Lamche

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

Continued……Two years earlier, in 1862, the District of Columbia Congress had passed legislation to free enslaved people. This led to the founding of Freedman’s Village on part of the estate. With a population that was over 70% Black, its population grew from around 100 people to several thousand, becoming home to formerly enslaved Africans who learnt to read and write, started businesses and acquired properties. That’s until the village was dismantled in 1900 by the federal government as the estate became more and more desirable for development.

The residents of Queen City were descendants of Freedman’s population who formed a new community in East Arlington. Our slides explain how their homes were also taken from them.

Sources

https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2023/jun/21/pentagon-virginia-queen-city-black-neighbourhood-erased

https://www.bbc.com/travel/article/20240619-queen-city-the-lost-black-community-swallowed-up-by-the-pentagon

https://arlingtonblackheritage.org/history/queen-city-arlingtons-lost-neighborhood/

https://www.arlnow.com/2025/01/21/historical-marker-to-honor-lost-community-of-queen-city/

https://www.npca.org/articles/3339-arlington-house-may-get-a-new-name

https://www.nps.gov/arho/learn/historyculture/cemetery.htm

IS RUTO’S RAGS-TO-RICHES TALE LEGIT?

Politics in the so-called democracy that is Kenya have become a get-rich-quick scheme. Critics say lawmakers and ministers, instead of representing citizens and their interests, are more focused on amassing wealth.

In this clip, Kenya’s National Assembly majority leader is challenged about the fortune and business empire of his boss, President William Ruto. But in response, Kimani Ichungw’a tries to dodge the question - by noting that poverty is ‘not a life sentence,’ and that both he and Ruto worked their way up to the top from humble beginnings.

Continued……Now, that may be true enough. But wealth gained from looting public funds without accountability and transparency - while ordinary people suffer - should not be a pathway out of poverty either. Ruto has had a long list of allegations levelled at his door, some dating as far back as the 1990s: from misuse of public funds and illegal proprietary acquisitions/sales, to having had a hand in the 2007 post-elections violence.

Ruto has managed, over 30 years in politics, to climb the social ladder - to become one of the country’s wealthiest men. Ichungw’a‘s time in politics has also seen him become a (KES) billionaire. While defenders might claim they both achieved all that legitimately, without straight answers, accountability and transparency, suspicions will linger.

Sources

https://businesstoday.co.ke/inside-rutos-hotels-in-mombasa-nairobi/

https://www.businessdailyafrica.com/bd/corporate/companies/ruto-s-name-dropped-from-list-of-weston-hotel-owners-4913434

https://www.capitalfm.co.ke/news/2021/09/show-kenyans-the-source-of-your-wealth-tuju-tells-ruto/

https://www.standardmedia.co.ke/politics/article/2001422454/ruto-i-have-200000-chicken-and-make-sh15m-a-day-selling-eggs#google_vignette

https://rutomustgo.pages.dev/Blogs/corruption

https://nation.africa/kenya/news/1056-859784-format-xhtml-43dyhwz/index.html

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-24028714.amp

WHY WHITE S. AFRICANS DON’T WANT TO BE ‘SAVED’!

White South Africans have been mocking their privilege - in response to US president Donald’s Trump’s recent offer of asylum. He and his administration seem to be under the illusion that Pretoria is persecuting White citizens in the country. Africans Stream’s William Sakawa explains why, sets the record straight, and looks at why White South Africans actually have everything to lose by being ‘saved.’

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

YOUNG WINNIE‘S LIBERATION VISION

One of South Africa’s leading liberation icons, Winnie Mandela(1936-2018), died this week in 2018 (2 April). Mama Winnie’s life was marked by her commitment to the struggle against the brutal apartheid system in her homeland.

She became an anti-apartheid activist early in her life, long before she met her future husband and liberation-struggle leader, Nelson Mandela. She continued her activism after marrying Mandela in 1958. A few months after the wedding, she helped organise the 1958 Johannesburg protest against the racist, so-called ‘pass laws’ that restricted the movement of Black people. She and dozens of other women were arrested and detained for about two weeks. The apartheid regime also fired her from her job as a social worker at a government hospital.

Continued……However, this did not break her resolve - rather, it strengthened it. Following Nelson’s arrest in 1961 and subsequent imprisonment, Winnie remained a key figure in the liberation struggle and the campaign against the imprisonment of her husband and other political activists. This put her in the spotlight of the brutal apartheid ‘security’ system. The next three decades of Winnie’s life would be characterised by harassment and frequent arrests at the hands of the regime.

Not one to be deterred, Mama Winnie marched on in her quest to free her people from the yoke of apartheid. In this undated video, a young Winne Mandela explains her vision for a liberated, future South Africa.

Credit: Chris Austin

Sources

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/apr/02/winnie-madikizela-mandela-obituary

VOA PROPAGANDA AGAINST AFRICAN STREAM

Unions representing Voice of America employees are suing the Trump administration for shutting down the U.S. Agency for Global Media (USAGM), the organization used by the government to fund VOA and other U.S. propaganda outlets.

In a 14 March executive order, Trump axed the USAGM for allegedly being a propaganda outlet.

Filed by journalists and their union in the New York Federal Court on 21 March, the lawsuit claims that Trump’s decision to turn off the tap funding VOA infringes upon their First Amendment right to free speech.

As a media organisation ourselves, we at African Stream strongly support freedom of speech and freedom of the press. However, in regards to VOA, we shed no tears. Effectively, VOA has been devoured by the beast they have fed and coddled for decades and one whose bidding they didn’t hesitate to fulfil.

Continued…….. In September 2024, reporting at the behest of imperialist powers led by the US, VOA targeted us with its venom. This real deal propaganda arm published two hit pieces that tried to portray African Stream as a foreign-funded propaganda outlet that was whitewashing terrorist organisations.

In an apparent, well-choreographed sequence of attacks, VOA’s unfounded allegations were soon followed by similar claims by the former US Secretary of State Antony Blinken. Ultimately, African Stream was put on the chopping block, banned without prior notice from prominent social media platforms such as Google, Meta (Facebook, Instagram and Threads) and TiKTok.

In this video, produced just days after VOA’s slander against us and, consequently, the right of our viewers to be informed, we push back at their propagandistic report.


Sources

https://www.reuters.com/legal/voice-america-employees-sue-trump-administration-over-shuttered-us-funded-news-2025-03-21/