MONKEY GESTURES AT VINICIUS JR

A video has gone viral of a girl at a 21 October game making monkey-like gestures at Real Madrid's Brazilian footballer, Vinicius Junior. During that game, another man was found doing the same. Vinicius later thanked the Spanish club for quickly expelling the man.

Then, during last weekend's El Clásico games between the La Liga football clubs of Barcelona and Real Madrid, Barcelona fans were heard shouting monkey sounds at Vinicius and they threw a banana at him. These racist attacks aren't new. Last season, an effigy of the footballer was photographed hanging from a bridge in Madrid, showing how far fans are willing to go to abuse him.

These acts shed light, once again, on the deeply entrenched racism in Spanish football.

Let us know what you think.

Hear Us Roar: https://t.me/AfricanStream

DRC VIOLENCE FLARE-UP: 200,000 DISPLACED

The conflict in eastern DRC has burst back on the scene, uprooting 200,000 people in the latest flare-up of violence.

The M23 rebel group has been exchanging fire with local armed militias under the Wazalendo umbrella.

A Kenyan peacekeeper is among the victims. Peacekeepers - both from East Africa and the UN - have long been a sore point, with DRC’s president calling for their departure.

M23 is widely accused of being a proxy for neighbouring Rwanda. The group says the latest violence is due to DRC violating a ceasefire deal. Kinshasa denies this, though reports suggest Congolese soldiers are fighting for Wazalendo.

It jeopardises months of regional dialogue to end the insecurity in DRC, where - besides M23 - more than 100 armed groups operate.

Hear Us Roar: https://t.me/AfricanStream

DID IDF SHELLS KILL KIBBUTZ RESIDENTS?

Israel’s war in Gaza - which is threatening to spiral into an apocalyptic regional conflict on Africa’s eastern doorstep - is being waged not just with bombs, but with info.

The official Israeli framing of the events of October 7th is being used to justify a bombing campaign that’s killed thousands of Gaza’s children and triggered a humanitarian crisis in the Strip.

But according to reports in the Israeli media, including of survivor testimony, some of the civilians killed during the Hamas murder-and kidnap spree in Israel may have died as a result of IDF shelling. Unable to repel Hamas fighters, the Israeli army reportedly resorted to indiscriminate tank shelling, killing kibbutz residents.

Continued…. While in no way mitigating the atrocities committed by Hamas, these revelations cast doubt on the official Israeli narrative. Given the terrible consequences of that narrative, every aspect needs proper scrutiny.

In this clip, Propaganda and Co. - a social-media politics outlet - gives its take on the Israeli media revelations. Have a watch and let us know your own thoughts in the comments.

Hear Us Roar: https://t.me/AfricanStream

NETANYAHU: APARTHEID 2.0?

Dividing peoples into good and evil - light and dark - is a classical colonial trope, one Africans unfortunately had to suffer from during Europe's assault on our continent. I And now it's being marshalled against the Palestinians.

In this video, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks of a battle between the people of the light and those of darkness - as his country bombs and expands its ground operation into Gaza.

By the 'people of darkness', he will claim he means Israel's enemies. Still, the ease with which he slipped into this kind of Manichaean vocabulary indicates an apparent attempt to 'other' the entire Palestinian population living in Gaza.

Continued….To us, it smacks of the sort of apartheid we once saw in South Africa. In apartheid South Africa, ethnicities were divided and codified through the Group Areas Act, where the most desirable lands were allocated to the White settler population. Then, the Asians and coloured and, finally, the least desirable slums were reserved for the Blacks. The European settlers justified all this by claiming that this was God's will and the Blacks were savages, aka the 'people of darkness'.

Do you see the parallels we're seeing?

Hear Us Roar: https://t.me/AfricanStream

MALCOLM X: MAU MAU SELF-DEFENCE

In 2023, it is probably not hard to find people who understand and relate to Malcolm X's position on the Kenya Land and Freedom Army, popularly known as the Mau Mau. After all, it has become more commonly accepted that settler colonialism in Africa was brutal, racist and violent. It can be easy to forget that Western media depicted Mau Mau warriors as horrific blood-thirsty terrorists and savage criminals.

Malcolm X, like so many Pan-African freedom fighters, took the courageous position to defend the Mau Mau.

Continued….Like Frantz Fanon, Kwame Ture, Josina Machel, Amilcar Cabral, Titina Silá and so many others in the struggle for African liberation, Malcolm X understood that the violence of the oppressed is fundamentally different from the violence of the oppressor. When Malcolm X spoke of African liberation 'by any means necessary,' what he meant was that the white-supremacist imperialist system that has come to control the world today was founded in violence, and fueled each and every day by violence.We cannot forget that when the oppressed launched an attack, it came after the Western imperialists had declared war on Africans and on other colonised peoples of the world, when they decided to build their wealth through conquest, plunder and our suffering.

Let us know what you think of Malcolm's remarks.

Hear Us Roar: https://t.me/AfricanStream

OCTOBER NEWS WRAP

In a month dominated by the conflict unfolding in Palestine, let’s not forget what’s been happening across Africa. Join us for a wrap of October’s biggest stories. We look at the French withdrawal from Niger, Nigeria being the Belt and Road Forum’s big winner and Burkina Faso agreeing to the construction of a nuclear power plant, among other important events.

The continent never sleeps. We invite you to join us again for another monthly wrap of news and events across Africa. In the meantime, share your thoughts on October’s big stories.

Hear Us Roar: https://t.me/AfricanStream

ANOTHER HERO EXECUTED BY THE BRITISH

Kenyan streets, stadiums and universities are named after him. 103 years after his birth, we look at why the revolutionary Dedan Kimathi is revered and remembered.

Hear Us Roar: https://t.me/AfricanStream

CLINTON: CEASEFIRE 'GIFT TO H@M@S’

It's reported that at least 8,000 Palestinians have been killed during Israel's assault on the Gaza Strip in the last three weeks with over 3000 of them children. But despite the horrific loss of life there’s no need for a ceasefire, according to former US
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. In her view, that would only give H@m@s the chance to re-arm during the conflict with Israel. It's a position shared by the US and UK who've vetoed calls for a pause in fighting at the UN.
Clinton made the remarks during a guest speech at America’s Baker Institute think tank. But her complete disregard for the humanitarian catastrophe that’s unfolding shouldn’t surprise you.
In case you forgot, she’s backed almost every war going and grotesquely took credit for Gaddafi’s assassination in Libya.

Hear Us Roar: https://t.me/AfricanStream

HISTORY OF INTERVENTIONS IN HAITI

A Kenyan court has temporarily halted the planned deployment of Kenyan police to Haiti, a move that is certainly welcome news for the predominately African state in the Caribbean Sea. Under the guise of tackling Haiti’s insecurity, Kenya, under US patronage to the tune of $200 million, announced it would have boots on the ground by the end of this year. Already, a small reconnaissance team was hosted at the US embassy in Haiti. African Stream hosted Kim Ives, editor at Haiti Liberté, to make sense of why Haiti is vehemently opposed to foreign forces on its shores.

Haiti’s history of foreign interventions is one replete with abuse and tragedy, and begins with a US occupation all the way to a UN deployment after the United States ousted democratically elected President Jean-Bertrand Aristide.

Continued….In every single instance, Haitians have paid a hefty price: Killings, rape, pollution of a key water artery and countless other crimes.

Kenya’s police are well known for their brutality. More than 30 people were killed at recent demonstrations against the rising cost of living. Innocent bystanders have been killed minding their own, including children. At the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, the killing of two young men for curfew violation was news for months. There is little to show a police deployment to Haiti would be different.

Let us know what you think.

Hear Us Roar: https://t.me/AfricanStream

SPORTING HYPOCRISY ISRAEL V PALESTINE

In the world of sport there's a glaring double standard when it comes to political stances. If you support Ukraine or Israel, it's cool. If you back Palestine, your contract might be suspended and the media might even call you a friend of terrorism. African Stream's Ahmed Ghoneim looks at African football stars who've been caught up in the hypocrisy.

Hear Us Roar: https://t.me/AfricanStream

ANGELA DAVIS DEFENDS PALESTINE

Angela Davis, the revolutionary scholar and activist, has long stood up in the United States for the liberation of Palestine. She understands the Palestinian freedom struggle is connected to the liberation of Africans in the United States and humanity as a whole. Davis became especially vocal in 2011, when she participated in a delegation and witnessed the horrors of Israeli occupation and settler colonialism.

In this 27 October clip, Davis spoke with African pro-Palestine activist, Marc Lamont Hill. She quoted African activist, June Jordan, who stood up for Palestine during the 1960s and 1970s, when so few in the United States did so. ‘Palestine,’ Davis said, ‘is a moral litmus test.’ Furthermore, she highlighted stark parallels between apartheid South Africa and occupied Palestine.

Continued….Israel had provided the apartheid state with various forms of support. In turn, the Zionist state learned from the South African method and perfected its violent methods. No wonder Davis also pointed out South African freedom fighter Nelson Mandela’s vocal opposition to the Israeli oppression of Palestine.

Let us know if you agree with Davis.

Hear Us Roar: https://t.me/AfricanStream

Zimbabwe has the largest lithium reserves in Africa and is among the top lithium producers in the world. Until recently, though, the nation hadn’t really been cashing in. Lithium exports have grown tremendously over the years, rising from $1.8 million in 2018 to $70 million in 2022 - and to a staggering $209 in the first nine months of 2023. Last December, the Zimbabwean government banned the export of raw lithium to encourage investment in local processing facilities.

It approved a lithium-ore policy to consolidate the country's beneficiation strategy, meant to push miners to agree to smelt their output on Zimbabwean soil rather than export raw material overseas. Chinese firms - including Zhejiang Huayou Cobalt, Sinomine Resource Group, Chengxin Lithium Group, Yahua Group and Canmax Technologies - have spent more than $1 billion over the past two years on acquiring and developing lithium projects in the country.

Continued….Cash-strapped Zimbabwe has been buckling under the weight of Western sanctions but is increasingly looking to the mining sector, which contributes almost 20% to the country’s $66 billion GDP, to help solve its budgetary constraints. Lithium is set to become the nation’s third-biggest mineral export after gold and platinum, which registered $2.46 billion and $2.27 billion respectively in export receipts last year.

A decade ago, President Robert Mugabe made headlines by forcing the country’s platinum miners to refine their product in-country, rather than exporting raw material for processing in South Africa, in return for a sweetened deal on an indigenisation law that required mining firms to hand over a majority of their shares to Black Zimbabweans. It appears Zimbabwe is finally starting to live up to its potential.

Let us know your thoughts in the comments.

Hear Us Roar: https://t.me/AfricanStream

GERMANY ISSUES APOLOGY FOR COLONIAL-ERA ABUSES

A day after the UK’s unelected head of state, King Charles, refused to apologise for Britain’s atrocities during his long-awaited trip to Kenya, Germany did the opposite in Tanzania. During a visit, German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier extended apologies for colonial-era atrocities and to the descendants of local war hero Songea Mbano. He was hanged and beheaded, alongside his fighters, for staging the Maji-Maji rebellion against German forces in the early 1900s.

Germany’s colonisation of Tanganyika, the name of present-day Tanzania, was marked by the same level of depraved violence characteristic of European colonisation throughout Africa. During the Maji-Maji rebellion, for instance, Germany killed as many as 300,000 Africans, nearly a third of Tanganyika’s population. The German colonial government also forced indigenous people to work on plantations and in mines, often under dangerous conditions.

Continued…..Germany carried out mass executions of suspected rebels and dissidents and burned villages and crops.
However, Tanzanians speaking out on social media want more than an apology. They want cash to the families of those who suffered.
To compensate for the early 20th-century genocide in Namibia, where more than 100,000 Herero people and 10,000 Namaqua people were massacred, Germany promised to pay around $1.3 billion. But it will be spread across different projects over 30 years. The genocide of Jews during World War II, in comparison, has been compensated to the tune of more than $86 billion. Despite the genocide in Namibia occurring decades before the Jewish genocide, Namibia reparations were announced in 2021, while Jewish reparations were given nearly immediately after the war.

But is it a case with Tanzania and Namibia of better late than never? Let us know in the comments.

Hear Us Roar: https://t.me/AfricanStream

CHARLIE WON’T SAY SORRY

The destructive legacy of Britain in Kenya has loomed large over King Charles’s four-day visit. But he’s again stopped short of giving an official apology for his country’s colonial crimes.

Countless voices have called for one together with reparations - pointing to land dispossession, murder, torture, and concentration camps at the hands of the British. However, as usual, London struggles to accept its history.

Maybe Charlie fears how much it could cost the country he rules over. An apology could open the floodgates to compensation claims everywhere. In Kenya, for example, Samburu elders are demanding tens of millions of dollars.