AfricanStream

In this 1964 clip, we see Malcolm X pushing back on CBS News reporters. They asked the chairman of the Pan-Africanist Organization of Afro-American Unity to condemn what the Western media labelled as the 'massacre' of European nuns held hostage in October 1964 in the resource-rich Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). Malcolm's reply serves as a stark reminder that the ongoing conflict that has killed more than 6 million since the mid-1990s began with Western powers vying for the Congo's mineral wealth since the late 1800s.

Tunisians have voiced their anger over Israel’s bombing of a camp for displaced people in Rafah. Hundreds took to the streets after Sunday’s attack killed at least 50 people and injured many more. Most victims were women, children and the elderly. Just days before, the International Court of Justice ordered Tel Aviv to stop its assault on the region in southern Gaza. South Africa filed the request over fears the attack would endanger the lives of over 1.4 million Palestinians in the city. ICJ judges ruled 13-2 in favour, but Tel Aviv has ignored the UN’s top court and says its bombardment will continue. The latest atrocity has sparked an international outcry, with EU leaders threatening to sanction Israel. Over 35,562 Palestinians have been killed and 79,652 injured in what Israel says are operations against H*m*s. Most of the dead are women and children.

South Africans are heading to the polls to elect a new government, the sixth time they’ve done so since the end of apartheid in 1994. But one issue during those thirty years has never gone away, South Africa’s massive wealth gap. The majority-Black population has remained poor three decades after Nelson Mandela’s African National Congress (ANC) took over the reigns of power. Many factors are blamed, including the claim Mandela and other ANC leaders sold out to White elites. The accusation isn’t disputed by Julius Malema, the leader of the Economic Freedom Fighters party. During this appearance at the UK’s Oxford Union, in 2016, he said Mandela was close to the White elite that ran the country and was a different man to the one everyone knew, when he left prison. However, we shouldn’t dwell on the past, says Malema. Instead, the new generation’s task is to accomplish what Mandela failed to do.

Hats - or academic caps - off to the faculty at Morehouse College who held high a DR Congo flag during a recent speech by Joe Biden, who was at the Black liberal US arts institution congratulating graduates, but also no doubt trying to secure a few extra African-American votes in the upcoming presidential race. Biden - who’s earned himself the nickname ‘Genocide Joe’ for his continued support for Israel in the face of mounting evidence of atrocities in Gaza - has also arguably been contributing to the genocide in DRC. Although US military aid to Rwanda - which is widely suspected of actively supporting rebels in DRC’s east - was frozen last year over the use of child soldiers, the fact remains that Washington has bolstered Kigali’s (and thereby the rebels’) military capacities. And US aid of other kinds still flows into Rwanda, while the White House remains mostly silent about the atrocities across the border. African Stream’s Wambura Mwai breaks down why, and walks us through the protest at Morehouse. What’s your reaction?

South Africans will be going to the polls on 29th May. Dozens of political parties will be taking part in the elections, which have been described as the most critical since the end of apartheid 30 years ago. According to many analysts, the election will be dominated by four parties: the current ruling party, the African Nation Congress (ANC); the White-dominated Democratic Alliance (DA); the Pan African-oriented Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF); and the uMkhonto weSizwe party (MK), led by former South African president and longtime ANC member Jacob Zuma. Consequently, the spotlight has been on the leaders of these four political parties. Of the four, the leader of the EFF, Julius Malema, has been on the receiving end of some of the most scathing attacks, especially by Western media outlets. He has been portrayed as an unhinged, White-hating loose canon whose policies are going to ruin South Africa. Some have gone as far as referring to him as the ‘Black Hitler.’ But those who support the man say he’s been badly misrepresented. They say his proposed policies in sectors such as mining, land and finance are exactly what the country needs to fully break away from its apartheid past. In this video, African Stream’s William Sakawa goes through the EFF manifesto and highlights the party’s views and policies on issues that are of great importance to South Africans and Africans in general. Whether you’re a South African or not, let us know in the comments if you think Malema is the right man for the top job. Do you have anyone like him in your country?

The people cheered as a charter granted President Ibrahim Traoré a 5-year extension in office, starting on 2 July. His title has changed from ‘President of the Transition of Burkina Faso’ to ‘President of Burkina Faso.’ On May 25-26, the landlocked African country held ‘Les assises nationales’ or ‘The National Conferences,’ when representatives from Burkina Faso’s 13 regions convened meetings to determine the country’s direction. The process included government officials, as well as representatives from civil society organisations and trade unions. This extension comes almost 20 months after a military coup that ousted a Western-aligned leader. Since then, the population has poured into the streets to express support for the new government, which has taken over areas once held by terrorist groups, kicked out widely unpopular French troops and media, nationalised local industries, and embarked on a pathway to industrialisation and job creation with new refineries and plans for new energy facilities. While political parties boycotted this past weekend’s decision-making process, party members decided to attend anyway to express their opinions as individuals. Such was the case with Moussa Diallo of Ex-Chef De Fil de L’opposition (Ex-Leader of the Opposition political coalition in English), who said to local TV news station Faso 7, ‘I told myself that, as a patriot, it was my duty to come here.’ The same was the case with Ali Badra Ouédraogo, former president of Rassemblement des Patriotes pour le Renouveau (Rally of Patriots for Renewal), who voiced satisfaction with the process. Many ordinary Burkinabè people we spoke to outside the conference hall are satisfied with the five-year extension. However, a visible segment of the population hoped for a 10-year transition period. Here is what they had to say.

Independent climate reporter Rachel Donald (@planetcritical) breaks down how the United Arab Emirates (UAE) might be behind the deaths of thousands of innocent people in Sudan’s Darfur region through what she describes as the UAE’s proxy, the Rapid Support Forces (RSF). Donald explains the importance of Sudan’s rich mineral deposits and location as motives for the UAE to work with the paramilitary force that, until 15 April 2023, worked alongside the Sudanese army as part of a civilian-military council to transition the country to civilian rule. Now, for more than a year, the RSF has been battling the army in the streets, creating a humanitarian crisis for 25 million—more than half the population—and displacing over 8 million Sudanese. Moreover, Donald links Russia, the US, and the European Union in profiting off the UAE’s actions in Sudan and ignoring civil society groups that have called for those governments to hold the UAE accountable for its blood money. All in all, a complicated game of realpolitik has cost more than 15,000 lives in Sudan over a year of conflict, according to US estimates. Plus, the UN recently said about 700,000 children in Sudan will suffer from acute malnutrition. This video is over 6 minutes long but worth watching until the end.

France maintains significant economic interests in Africa, particularly in sectors such as energy, mining, agriculture and telecommunications. Africa is also an important trading partner for France. French companies export goods and services to African markets, while also importing natural resources and raw materials from the continent. However, recent military coups in Africa - in Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger - have seen France’s influence wane on our continent, making its neocolonial exploitation (on which it depends) harder to maintain. Some are speculating that France is getting so desperate that President Macron is preparing to gamble everything. In this clip, Isa - a TikTok content creator and all-round commentator on things geopolitical - explains why he thinks France will try to escalate Russia’s war on Ukraine into a Third World War… to save itself, or make sure everyone else goes down with it! That might sound like a bit of a leap from losing influence in the Sahel, but hear Isa out and let us know what you make of his theory in the comments.

Here, Pan-Africanist Malcolm X responded to a CBS News reporter asking about the 24 November 1964 covert Belgian-US paratrooper operation called 'Operation Dragon Rouge,' which killed two dozen out of 1,000 European and US hostages in the short-lived People's Republic of the Congo capital, Stanleyville (later Kisangani). The effort involved DRC troops and apartheid-era South African mercenaries. Congolese rebels loyal to former revolutionary Prime Minister Patrice Lumumba (1925-61) opposed then-Prime Minister Moïse Tshombe (1919-69), a one-time Katanga separatist leader complicit in Lumumba's 1961 assassination. The rebels used hostages to shield villages from US-supplied aerial bombings. While Western media called the rebels 'cannibals,' and 'savages,' they identified themselves as 'simbas' (Swahili for 'lions'). Their attempt was part of a broader effort, the 'Simba Rebellion,' that took place between 1963 and 1965.

Here’s a scene that’s become a familiar sight. Furious demonstrators yell ‘war criminal’ and ‘Secretary of G*nocide’ at US Secretary Antony Blinken . He was confronted by pro-Palestinian supporters ahead of a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing. It was then interrupted several times by protesters, while others stood silently and held up their hands covered in red paint. U.S officials have faced regular protests during congressional appearances since Israel launched its war on Gaza. Blinken reiterated US support for Israel’s destruction of the besieged enclave, which has killed over 35,000 Palestinians in seven months.

When British oil giant Shell held its annual general meeting on 21 May in London, no one expected to hear the controversial story of Nigeria's Niger River Delta until Mikaela Loach intervened. The Jamaica-born author, climate justice activist and medical student silenced the room with a passionate exposé of Shell's crimes in the delta, where Life expectancy is around 41, 12 years lower than the national average. Since 1958, Shell's extraction operations have ravaged the densely populated delta's land and waters leading into the Atlantic Ocean. While the delta region only makes up 7.5 per cent of Nigeria's territory, it is home to 45 million people or 20 per cent of 218 million Nigerians. Shell is also blamed for Nigerian security forces cracking down on protesters in the delta's Ogoniland area, leading to the 1995 hanging of Ken Saro-Wiwa, a writer and activist, and eight other environmental activists, all dubbed the 'Ogoni Nine.' The National Oil Spill Detection and Response Agency reported oil companies had spilt 19,058 barrels of oil, or the equivalent of around 95 oil tanker trucks, in 2023 alone. Two Swiss researchers calculated in 2019 that nearby oil spills that occur before conception increase newborn mortality by 38.3 deaths per 1,000 live births, an approximately 100 per cent spike. In 2021, a Dutch court ruled in a case that four Nigerian farmers and environmental group Friends of the Earth (@friends_earth) brought in 2008 suing Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria (SPDC) for Niger River Delta oil spills and Royal Dutch Shell for neglect. Shell agreed to pay $16 million to the farmers and their communities to compensate for damage while the court ordered Royal Dutch Shell to install a leak-detection system. According to reports, Shell also lost a Nigerian high court case in November that could lead to $44 million in damages. Meanwhile, the UK Supreme Court unanimously ruled in 2021 that plaintiffs had a 'good arguable case' that Shell was legally responsible for the pollution caused by its Nigerian subsidiary, SPDC, and that the case would proceed.

Echoing revolutionary Ghanaian leader Kwame Nkrumah's dream of the Congo's pivotal role in transforming Africa, our recent ‘Pan-African Attitude’ podcast guest Kambale Musavuli laid out statistics on his country's vast economic potential. Musavuli, one of the Democratic Republic of the Congo's leading journalistic voices, argued that Africa's stalled potential is partly caused by our failure to see that the Congo's sorry state is by design. Using proxies Rwanda and Uganda, Western powers have been able to extract the country's vast natural wealth, estimated to generate $16 trillion from four key minerals—copper, nickel, cobalt, and lithium—in the next 25 years, according to the IMF.

Author, activist and medical student Mikaela Loach is known for speaking out against climate injustice. However, in this recent BBC interview, the sister lends her voice to the more than 2 million Palestinians under Israeli bombardment and an escalated siege since 7 October in the Gaza Strip. The Jamaica-born, UK-based activist called out the UK government for continuing to sell arms to Israel in the face of what the International Court of Justice ruled in January as 'plausible' g*n*cide. Loach also took it back to the annals of history to show that Israel's oppression of Palestinians didn't begin on 7 October, but since 1948, when Israeli settlers expelled about 750,000 Palestinians after establishing the state of Israel with the UK's support. So far, Israel has k*lled more than 35,000 Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, primarily women and children. Listen in.

Garrison Hayes is a storyteller who specialises in history and race. In this clip, he brilliantly responds to a racist question someone asked him on X/Twitter: Will Blacks in the US ever be ‘self-sufficient’? He politely points out that numerous African communities in the US built all the infrastructure they needed and were well on their way to prosperity when Whites came along and attacked and destroyed everything. The real question, in Hayes’ view, is this: when will Whites ever be ‘self-sufficient’ and not have to oppress Blacks? What’s your answer?

New Afrikan organiser Siphiwe Baleka (@siphiwebaleka) recently visited the Thomas Sankara Centre (@burkinabooks) in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, seeking to connect the struggle of African peoples in the diaspora with the fight waged on the continent. He used his family’s history starting from the European Slave Trade to bridge Africa and the Americas. Baleka travelled to Burkina Faso with the African Diaspora Development Institute (ADDI), meeting with President Ibrahim Traoré to discuss the importance of defending Africans in the diaspora, supporting a potential reparations case at the International Court of Justice, and granting diaspora Africans citizenship in Burkina Faso. Former African Union Permanent Representative to the United States Arikana Chihombori-Quao is ADDI’s founder and president. Baleka identifies as a New Afrikan instead of as ‘Black American’ or ‘African American.’ The former term describes a descendant of enslaved Africans in the United States seeking to reclaim a historical land base in the US South, where their ancestors were forced into labour. The term signifies a collective identity rooted in shared experiences, acknowledging the unique history, culture, and struggles. Some have noted the contradiction in claiming land unceded by the region’s indigenous peoples. Baleka also represented the Pan African Federalist Movement (PAFM) West Africa Region, of which he is Head of Research and Strategy. The organisation seeks to create a federal ‘United African States’ to benefit the diaspora, potentially granting citizenship in a new Pan-African superstate.

The Igbo landing is considered America’s first Freedom March, and is one of the most tragic acts of resistance. It’s the story of African slaves who took their own lives in May, 1803, after briefly breaking free from their captors. An example of the horror and sorrow inflicted on millions of Africans shipped across the Atlantic to be sold as slaves in the Americas. Despite the historical significance, the site of Igbo Landing is not well preserved or commemorated. Investigative news website Mother Jones reported in 2022 there was still no permanent marker on St Simons Island where the tragedy unfolded. It should not be forgotten, nor should the impact of the appalling European salve trade which is still felt today. Nations that benefitted should pay reparations to the victims of descendants, but still refuse to do so.

Ok, so many of you keep asking why African Stream backs the Palestinian cause and why it’s relevant to Africans? Well, here’s your answer. In this clip @aaprp organiser Ahjamu Umi explains how both share a common fight against Zionist and Western imperialism. And it’s been that way for decades. There’s a long and rich history of solidarity and collaboration between the African and Palestinian freedom movements. Thomas Sankara, Nelson Mandela, Samora Machel, and Julius Nyerere are just a few revolutionary African heads of state who had a great relationship with the Palestinian Liberation Organisation (PLO). Black revolutionaries of the diaspora, including Huey P. Newton and Malcolm X, also worked with and learned from Palestinians. Even in more recent times, Palestinians have taught Black Lives Matter protesters how to stay safe from tear gas and other dangers tied to protesting. However, according to Ahjamu, it’s not down to friendship. Even if Palestinians disliked Africans (which they don’t) he’d still support their struggle as it weakens the common enemy of imperialism. To him it’s logical. Do you see it that way too?

On 21 May, Nigerians rallied against Shell in front of one of its offices in Lagos, demanding the British oil giant pay reparations and clean pollution before it divests by selling $2.4 billion in holdings to an umbrella company led by Africa-based former Shell executives. In January, a Nigerian court rejected the deal, which environmentalists have dubbed another example of greenwashing. However, an April news report indicates Nigeria’s oil regulation agency is reviewing divestments. Protesters like Zikora Ibeh, a member of Corporate Accountability and Public Participation Africa (@cappafrica), say Shell isn’t leaving but more so seeking to operate through a shell company (no pun intended) that could alleviate liability. Indeed, of the $2.4 billion deal, Shell is financing $1.2 billion and has agreed to an additional $1.3 billion in future loans. Shell has been trying to sell its Nigerian operations to five companies under an umbrella called Renaissance Africa Energy Company Limited. According to the company’s list of its African leaders, at least three have held high-ranking positions in Shell or in a British oil and gas company, BG Group, which Shell acquired in 2015. Shell would hold a 30 per cent stake in the new company. The British oil giant says it will remain a ‘major investor in Nigeria’s energy sector’ because it is transitioning to other extraction activities. Since 1958, Shell’s extraction operations have ravaged land and waters leading into the Atlantic Ocean. While the delta region only makes up 7.5 per cent of Nigeria, it is home to 45 million people or 20 per cent of Nigerians. The National Oil Spill Detection and Response Agency reported oil companies had spilt 19,058 barrels of oil, or the equivalent of around 95 oil tanker trucks, in 2023 alone. Two Swiss researchers have calculated nearby oil spills that occur before conception double newborn mortality. And, while Nigeria’s life expectancy is 53, Niger River Delta residents only live to 41 years.

Happy African Liberation Day! It’s an annual call to action, a time to renew our commitments to the struggle for liberation and unity. Some people wrongly think it celebrates the founding of the African Union. It was actually started in support of African national liberation struggles against settler or Portuguese colonialism in the 1960s and 1970s. And it still has huge relevance today. Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger have formed the Alliance of Sahel States to push back against French neocolonialism. Resource-rich DRC, Sudan and the diaspora in Haiti are other examples where Africans continue to be oppressed. While some refer to it as ‘Africa Day’, we’ll refer to the full title until the continent has freed itself from imperialism. To learn more about African Liberation Day or to see if there is an event near you, check out africanliberationday.net. Are you observing African Liberation Day this year? Let us know how in the comments.

The Democratic Republic of the Congo has hired lawyers to press Apple about its supply chain after evidence emerged that the tech giant could be sourcing minerals from conflict areas in the east of the country. It’s alleged that people who worked on Apple’s supply-chain verification in Congo had their contracts terminated after they raised concerns over ’blood’ minerals. On April 22nd, 2024, the group of lawyers gave Apple CEO Tim Cook and the company’s French subsidiaries three weeks to respond to queries about the matter. Apple has neither acknowledged receipt of, nor responded to the queries. It has previously said it does not directly buy, procure or source primary minerals. Rebels from the M23 rebel group captured DRC’s Rubaya town, a key mining base for coltan used in smartphones and other appliances. UN reports have said M23 is supported by Rwanda. Do you have an iPhone?

A group of Haitians called Kenyan President William Ruto a ‘slave’ on 23 May for trying to push through a US-backed and -funded deployment of Kenyan police officers to the Caribbean state that Western enslavement, occupation and interference has ravaged for centuries. Kenyan critics’ litigation to stop the government’s plan has delayed Ruto’s effort to deploy police. Haitians, too, have said they don’t want foreign police or military on their soil, as past occupations have brought deaths, sexual assaults and diseases. Further, many have questioned how Haiti can agree to a deployment without a working national assembly. This protest in Washington occurred during Ruto’s state visit to the United States

US oil giant Chevron has a long, chequered history in Nigeria dating back to the 1960s. But apart from huge oil fields, it’s also built one the biggest neighbourhoods in Lagos for its workers. The thing is, it’s named it after itself. Another example of shameless imperialism, or just harmless self-promotion? African Stream’s Poloum David takes to the streets of the country’s biggest city to find out.

There were fears of another coup In Burkina Faso last week, after gunshots were heard near the presidential palace. Reports say an individual tried to attack a guard to gain entry. Nothing serious transpired, but the response from locals was eye-catching. Dozens ran onto the streets ready to defend their leader Ibrahim Traoré . African Stream’s Inem Richardson was also there and witnessed the spontaneous show of support.

For the past few months, Ivory Coast’s Abidjan - deemed West Africa’s economic capital - has been kicking poorer residents out of their homes. The plan is to build even more luxury hotels and shopping malls. The city is famous for its gorgeous infrastructure and surface-level development. But this has come at a grim cost: the brutal neglect of Abidjan’s working-class majority. From its first decade of independence through the present era, Ivory Coast has had especially close ties to France and the West. More than any other West African country, it’s supported France’s position on nearly every major foreign-policy decision. Ivory Coast’s first president, Félix Houphouët-Boigny, was a staunch anti-communist and opponent of Pan-Africanism. He positioned himself in firm opposition to leaders such as Kwame Nkrumah, Ahmed Sékou Touré and, later, Thomas Sankara. Today, the current president of Ivory Coast continues that legacy by staunchly opposing the Alliance of Sahel States (consisting of Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger), which has shown France the door. But the country’s hyper-conservatism is not only hurting neighbouring states. Writing about the inequality in, and European neo-colonial development of, Abidjan, Peter Schwab, the author of ‘Designing West Africa’ states the following: “Abidjan, the commercial centre of the Ivory Coast and until some years ago its capital, is the focus of Ivorian elites, and was where the French ensconced themselves… the metropolis is, in fact, largely divided into an African quarter, Treichville, and a European one, Cocody. In the French quarter sits the Hotel Ivoire, once the outstanding jewel of Ivorian elites, French expatriates and foreign tourists... It stood as a symbol of what Ivorian elites subscribed to, and how European culture impressed itself on Africa.” The question is: when will the Ivorian working-class see the benefits of the country’s proclaimed economic development? Your insights in the comments are appreciated.

A fundraiser dinner attended by lots of wealthy influential high-society types is surely exactly the right place to plead for help for the children going hungry in Gaza. But apparently not - as South African-Canadian author Kagiso Lesego Molope found out when she did just that at the ‘Politics and the Pen’ gala in Ottawa. After she used her time on stage to warn the audience that future generations will condemn our inaction (receiving applause, but also many boos and heckles), security removed her from the plush premises (Chateau Laurier). As she was leaving the building, she told a journalist she didn’t want to stay anyway if the people inside didn’t care that children were dying. Shame on event organisers the Writers’ Trust. One in three children under the age of two in the north of Gaza is severely malnourished, according UNICEF. More than 35,000 Palestinians - many of them women and children - have been kill*d by relentless Israeli attacks since October 7th. African Stream’s Wambura Mwai talks us through what happened. Let us know your reaction to Molope’s treatment in the comments.