AfricanStream

Spread the word - Burkina Faso is a wonderful place that‘s rich in culture and well worth visiting and living in. That was the message of the country’s president Ibrahim Traoré to a delegation from the African Diaspora Development Institute, led by Dr. Arikana Chihombori-Quao. They had been invited to experience the sights and sounds of Burkina’s Week of Natural Culture. In his address to the guests, Traoré said the world’s media had it in for his country and Africa in general, painting our continent as a bad place where only terrible things happen. He urged his audience to counter that narrative by acting as ambassadors for Burkina back at home and telling the truth about what they experienced during their stay. His message is that Burkina Faso is home to all Africans, including in the diaspora. Traoré isn’t blind to Burkina’s - or Africa’s - problems. But he’s clear that outside meddling has fanned divisions - and that Pan-African unity is the best way forward. See you in Ouagadougou?

After overcoming multiple obstacles, the United Kingdom will begin deporting asylum seekers to Rwanda within several weeks. Housing the first 300 deportees in the African state may cost the UK more than 600 million pounds. Human-right organisations have criticised the scheme as a violation of human rights, while the UK Supreme Court ruled in November that the initiative is ‘unlawful’ and raised questions about the safety of deportees. Here, African Stream reacts to two videos. One is of a British reporter from The Sun tabloid newspaper visiting a Rwandan hostel set to receive deportees. Another is of a British minister defending the scheme despite admitting to not knowing the difference between Rwanda and Congo.

In this exclusive African Stream interview, Pan-African organiser with @aaprpinternational, Ajamu Umi, argues Zionism was created and used AGAINST Jewish people. He says Zionists believed the persecution of Jews and expulsion from Europe strengthened the case for a Jewish national state in Palestine. On that basis, the movement’s founders encouraged countries, including N*zi Germany, to target them. Ajamu mentions Lenni Brenner’s book, Zionism in the Age of Dictators. It sheds light on the movement’s relationship with f*scist and N*zi regimes in the early 20th century. And this clip certainly spells out what it’s about. A history lesson you won’t get in school.

Before slavery, Africans ate healthy organic foods from the land. However, colonial powers changed that and fed slaves high-starch foods in the belief it would boost labour output. Unfortunately, high levels of carbs remain in many people’s diets, generating a tonne of health problems. Listen to holistic health expert Dr Llaika Afrika explain the history behind what we eat.

Speaking on our recent Pan-African Attitude podcast, Kambale Musavuli, analyst at the Center for Research on the Congo-Kinshasa, argued Rwandan President Paul Kagame is a modern-day Belgian King Leopold II, who was known for maiming Congolese as he colonised the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) to exploit its natural resources. @kambale, a Congolese native and one of the DRC’s leading cultural and political voices, told African Stream’s team on 22 April that Rwanda is the central transit hub of Congo’s mineral wealth, a fact that Kagame himself has admitted to. And, just as Leopold ruthlessly extracted Congo’s rubber to supply the United States’ booming automotive industry more than a century ago, Musavuli said Kagame ensures the West’s environmentally friendly transition by allowing the smuggling of Congolese minerals to power electric vehicles (EVs) that don’t emit greenhouse gases. According to UN reports, the smuggling business is an economic incentive Kigali uses to finance and arm the M23 militia group.

Donisha Rita-Claire Prendergast, Jamaican actress, model, dancer and poet, is the granddaughter of the late reggae icon, Bob Marley (1945-81). In this interview with @inweblood_, she spoke about the political power of Rastafari. The Afrocentric Abrahamic religion began in Jamaica and served as a counter-culture under British colonial oppression. Calling reggae music a ‘child of Rastafari,’ Prendergast said anti-apartheid fighters referred to her grandfather’s songs during the struggle in South Africa. @iamdonisha went on to say colonial culture has long ostracised Rastafari because its goal is African and human liberation.

Dr. Claud Anderson discussed the state of Black people in the United States and his book, ‘A Black History Reader,’ on the Rock Newman Show. During this clip from the 2018 interview, Anderson highlighted the remarkable resilience of Africans who survived slavery and apartheid. They achieved a feat that stands as one of the world’s most outstanding academic achievements: Reducing the nearly 100 per cent imposed illiteracy rate by half in the first 30 years after slavery’s abolition. What do you think of the feats Black people have achieved in the United States despite centuries of slavery and apartheid? Let us know in the comments.

Malcolm X would have turned 99 today. It’s as good excuse as any to revisit this gem of a clip. In it, X explains why it is so vital that “so-called Negros” in the US identify as AFRICANS. It’s part of his famous 1964 ‘Ballot or Bullet’ speech, in which he argued that voting rights are a potent weapon if exercised right - and that unity amongst Africans in America can be leveraged to force politicians to accept their demands and agenda once in office. However, despite his rhetoric, he was also sceptical about whether the electoral process could really bring about genuine racial justice for Africans in America. His speech was made in the same year as his trips to Africa, which gave him a greater understanding of the need to internationalise the struggle and connect it to the independence of continental Africans. Do you think Africans in America have a real chance of achieving their aims through elections in the US today, or do X’s words still ring true?

Here’s a question: should Black Americans support NATO? We’d love to hear your answers in the comments, but before posting, have a listen to TikTok commentariat member @prodigalsun3. In this clip, he answers that question with a rather good (in our book) analogy.

It’s difficult to watch this heartbreaking interview of a traumatised girl in a displacement camp in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Fighting back tears, she tells how even here isn’t safe, with rebels frequently carrying out kidnappings. She bears what can best be described as the ‘face’ of the Congo. An innocent child scarred by the daily horrors of the long-running conflict that’s impacted millions of defenceless Congolese. The country’s east is one of the most dangerous places in the world for women and girls. There’s the ever-present danger of rape, abduction or murder as they go in search of food and other essentials. As as this sister reveals, conditions in displacement camps are no better. They’re often overcrowded and unhygienic, with inadequate facilities for the protection of vulnerable refugees. More than 25 million people – a quarter of DR Congo’s population – don’t have enough to eat. Cholera and measles are spreading, worsened by floods induced by an El Niño weather pattern. Over seven million have been displaced, and millions of children cannot go to school due to threats to their safety and forced recruitment by rebels. A December 2023 UN report found Rwanda responsible for arming and funding the M23 militia, one of the groups fighting to control the mineral-rich eastern region of DR Congo. Western multi-nationals have also been accused of fuelling and profiting from the conflict, by purchasing illegally extracted minerals from the country.

On 9 May, African Stream journalist Inem Richardson visited the University of California Davis student encampment set up in solidarity with Palestine. An encampment representative and law student, Stanford McConnehey, shared that imperialism links the struggle in Palestine with the struggles waged in Africa, the Caribbean and the world at large. His analysis demonstrates US students are aware of the violence of 'Yankee' imperialism wherever it rears its ugly head, whether through US military bases that encircle the world, funding proxy wars, performing coups d’état, providing arms and other ways the United States uses to protect its economic dominance.

Frances Cress Welsing (1935-2016) was an American psychiatrist who held the controversial view that White supremacy is the expression of an inferiority complex. In particular, she argued that Whites fear ‘genetic annihilation’ by Blacks, claiming that their low levels of melanin are a form of albinism that’s genetically recessive. Her work has been criticised as pseudoscientific and as itself supremacist. But in this clip, she clarifies that she never claimed Whites are inferior - only that they ‘feel’ inferior, for the reasons given. She also starts off with an account of how her views got her fired from Howard University. Have a listen and let us know what you think of her explanation of White supremacy as a kind of melanin envy.

You might have seen a viral video of a man claiming the Japanese government wants African men to help repopulate the country. And it was claimed they’d be paid $75,000 for every baby born. Well, it was fake news. However, what isn’t fake is our report about Japanese mine workers in 1970s DRC conspiring with camp doctors to euthanise healthy, mixed-race babies they’d had with Congolese women. The survivors accuse their fathers of wanting to kill them to erase any trace of their existence, before returning to Japan. These are shocking allegations that haven’t received anywhere near enough media attention. Please help us get the word out.

Under UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s ‘Stop the Boats’ initiative, the United Kingdom will begin deporting asylum seekers to Rwanda within several weeks, according to reports. But does the UK have any right to worry about so-called ‘illegal immigration’? In a 6 May livestream with @authentic_african, African Stream journalist Inem Richardson called out Britain’s colonial history as the root of the modern ‘migration crisis.’ The pair explored reasons why Rwanda might have agreed to such a collaboration with the UK and Rwanda’s history in similar deals. Watch the whole livestream, ‘UK Begins to Deport African Asylum Seekers to Rwanda,’ on our YouTube channel under the ‘Live’ tab.

A sombre mood filled the city of Goma in DR Congo’s east as the city laid to rest victims of rocket attacks on nearby refugee camps. The atrocities, which Kinshasa says were carried out by the M23 rebel group with assistance from Rwanda, were perpetrated on May 3rd. They killed 35 people - mostly women and children. During the funeral, Modeste Mutinga, DRC’s minister of social action and humanitarian affairs, angrily warned Kigali that it would face trial at The Hague for this and other alleged war crimes. Mutinga said the attacks were a reflection of the ‘cruelty and guilt of Rwanda and its leader Paul Kagame.’ The United Nations and others have also accused Rwanda of being the force behind M23. Kigali has denied the allegations. What do you think? Should Kagame stand trial as a war criminal?

There’s a new scramble for Africa few are talking about. Countries are buying up huge swathes of the continent’s forests to off-set their own carbon footprints. And UAE is one of the biggest buyers. The Middle East petrostate aims to be a net-zero nation by 2050 and has snapped up African forests covering the size of Great Britain. But this sell-off comes at a huge cost for local populations. According to NGO, Fern, millions of people depending on Africa’s wildlife havens for their livelihood, are having their rights violated and sold off to a foreign entity. Meanwhile, major oil and gas producers of the world get to ‘whitewash’ their image as polluters. They can also make millions by selling their stake in forests to other polluting nations in the form of ‘carbon credits’. Ahmed Ghoneim looks at the dirty game being played in Africa as the world strives to go green.

On 9 May, African Stream journalist Inem Richardson visited a student encampment at California State University, Sacramento, California’s first state university campus and among the first universities in the United States to announce it would meet students’ demands for divestment from Israel. The university said it will divest $4.5 million it has ‘indirectly’ invested in Israel. While the university’s policy change did not officially reference Israel, it stated, ‘CSU Sacramento opposes and condemns all acts of gen*cide, ethnic cleansing, and other activities that violate fundamental human rights. CSU Sacramento will not engage in any activity or enter into any agreement that conflicts with these values.’ The student encampment lasted 10 days and around 100 students marched on 7 May. Richardson later visited a student encampment just 13 miles (21 kilometres) away at the University of California Davis. Check out what students had to say.

Gabon's deposed president, Ali Bongo, who last year pleaded with friends around the world to “make some noise" after he was overthrown in a military coup, has gone on hunger strike - in protest over his and his family’s alleged torture. According to the family's lawyer, two of his youngest sons, Jalil and Bilal, have decided to join him on the hunger strike. Ali Bongo was placed under house arrest in the capital, Libreville, along with Jalil and Bilal, after a group of Gabonese soldiers staged a coup and annulled the results of the country's disputed presidential election in August 2023, in which he was declared the winner with 64.27% of the vote. He was set to rule the Central African nation for a third term, having succeeded his father, Omar Bongo, who had been in power from 1967 to 2009 (when he died). In October 2023, Gabon's new leadership also imprisoned the deposed first lady, Sylvia Bongo, and her eldest son, Noureddin Bongo, on corruption and embezzlement charges. On May 14th, the family's lawyer claimed in a statement cited by AFP that both had been subjected to physical assault while in custody. The oil-rich Central African nation is part of OPEC and was colonised by France until 1960, when it became independent. It is currently under the leadership of Brice Oligui Nguema, a military officer who is serving as interim-president.

So, US senator and former presidential candidate, Mitt Romney, has finally admitted the truth. A US ban on TikTok aims to combat the spread of information sympathetic to Palestine. He was speaking during a forum staged by the Washington-based think-tank, McCain Institute. And there wasn’t much protest from Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who was sat alongside him. It follows accusations the app, which has servers in China, promotes pro-Palestinian accounts. Too bad. Meanwhile, Elon Musk, who owns X, and Mark Zuckerberg, who owns Meta, overwhelmingly support US foreign policy. Their apps are accused of censoring those challenging Western mainstream narratives, but there’s no talk of taking them down. Get the picture? So much for free speech.

How Western colonisers practised barbarism in the name of science. The Tragic story of Ota Benga.

It’s not often you see two African presidents out for an evening stroll in the city together. But that’s exactly what happened a couple of months back. In this clip, you can see the presidents of Eritrea and Somalia wandering through downtown Asmara - casually interacting with locals, amid minimal security. There were hand shakes, high fives and big smiles all round, and the promenade included a stop-off at a coffee house. Of course, Isaias Afwerki and Hassan Sheikh Mohamud had some very important business besides socialising and checking out the capital’s nightlife. They were holding security talks amid heightened tensions in the region, after Ethiopia (from which Eritrea broke away) recognised (Somalia’s) breakaway Somaliland in return for access to the sea. Relations between Eritrea and Somalia haven’t always been great either, with the latter previously accusing the former of providing insurgents with weapons - something Asmara brands a lie put about by Addis Ababa. But judging by the videos of their relaxed walkabout, the two presidents get on well enough - so it could signal a new era in bilateral ties. The videos also contradict the typical Western portrayal of Afwerki as an autocratic ruler… would you agree?

Images on social media appear to show the Rafah border crossing has re-opened allowing aid into Gaza from Egypt. There’s been no official confirmation, but on May 15th this footage was posted by activist @Kahlissee on X. We hope it turns out to be true, with millions of Palestinians desperate for medical and food supplies. The crossing has been shut since it was seized by Israel last week, blocking the flow of aid workers and supplies. In a statement the International Rescue Committee (IRC) said the scale of the crisis ‘defies imagination’

A painting of King Charles III has caused a stir online. British artist Jonathan Yeo said his strokes meant to communicate the king's 'deep humanity.' However, the painting's blood-red background has creeped out many online, saying it alludes to the British royal family's violent legacy of colonialism. 'Looks like he's going straight to hell,' one social media user wrote. The British empire reigned over 412 million people—23 per cent of the global population—in 1913. At its peak in 1920, it controlled about 22 million square kilometres, nearly 17 per cent of the global land area. Currently, King Charles III is the biggest landowner in the world, according to financial experts at Invezz, which said the king and the royal family own over 6.6 billion acres of land or 17 per cent of the world's land area. That's 37 times more than the next largest landowner, the Catholic Church, which, according to Invezz, owns some 177 million acres. Most of the king's holdings are in former British colonies, after having displaced indigenous people. The royal family also played a vital role in the European slave trade. King Charles II set up two shipping companies in the 1660s and 1670s, monopolising the slave trade between West and Central Africa and the Americas. The company undertook nearly 250 slave trafficking voyages between 1680 and 1688. In 1678, the British parliament passed a law allowing merchants' companies to join the sinister trade. In total, British ships trafficked about 3.4 million Africans to sell in the Americas during the European slave trade. More recently, shortly after Charles's mother had become queen, the British imprisoned, tortured and k*lled about 100,000 Kenyans during a state of emergency between 1952 and 1960. Those are just a few of the British Empire's crimes.

The recent Ridley Scott movie about Napoleon has been widely panned for its numerous historical inaccuracies. But it doesn’t just get things wrong, it also completely ignores crucial facts about the French tyrant’s life - such as his disregard for Africans and his forcibly bringing back slavery on the island of Haiti (then known as Saint Domingue). African Stream’s Ahmed Ghoneim’s got a bone to pick with Boney…

EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW | WHY AFRICANS SHOULD OPPOSE ISRAEL :PART 1 As Israel's relentless violence against Palestinians in Gaza continues to cost thousands of lives, more and more people are educating themselves on the history of Z*onism. But how did Israel get the funds to create such a wealthy and powerful state to begin with? We know the US is a major funder of the Isreali state today, but much of Israel's original wealth comes from the exploitation of African labour, land and resources. In this video, Pan-African organiser Ajamu Umi of @aaprpinternational explains how the brutal exploitation and colonisation of Palestine is linked the pillage and plunder of Africa. As African people, we stand in firm solidarity with the Palestinian struggle. Not only because we can personally relate to their experiences, but also because Israel continues its exploitation of our continent. To this day, Israel profits extensively from Africa's diamonds, often known as 'blood diamonds' due to their links with imperialist-fuelled conflicts.