‘We will continue all forms of resistance’ Military crackdown in Sudan continues, protestors remain undeterred
The strangeness of writing a column about Africa and being married to an African in the middle of a political, economic and social crisis is personal and is substance for the current column. Don’t worry, my wife Zakia during the month of Ramadan is spending time with her mom, far removed from the epicenter of the conflict in Khartoum. In...
Why U.S.-led NATO & its complicit press framing Africa as being in bed with Russia
Western media outlets in many cases have wrongly accused Africa of siding with Russia in its war against Ukraine. No mention is ever made of NATO’s involvement in provoking Russia’s recent invasion. “The war could have been avoided if NATO had heeded the warnings from amongst its own leaders and officials over the years that its eastward expansion would lead...
Happy independence anniversary? French nuclear testing health hazards, dirty war deaths, torture, abuses and Algeria’s yet unresolved post-war issues
(GIN)—Tucked away in the treaty that signaled Algerian independence from France was a “gerboise bleue”—a “blue desert rat” and a code name for the first French nuclear test on Algerian soil. In the independence pact, known as the Evian Accords, France reserved the right to test atmospheric and underground nuclear bombs in Algeria, helping to make France the fourth largest...
After fleeing Ukraine, South African students arrive home
JOHANNESBURG—Ten South African students who fled Ukraine after Russia’s invasion of that country recently arrived home, with 25 more expected over the next few days. Welcomed by cheering family and friends at OR Tambo International Airport, the students are among more than 80,000 foreign nationals who have left Ukraine since the Russian invasion, according to the International Organization for Migration. Returning...
U.S. museum contests ownership of statue’s digital image obtained by art gallery in Congo
(GIN)—A fierce tug of war is underway between a U.S. museum and a Congolese gallery over a statue depicting the angry spirit of a Belgian officer beheaded during an uprising in Congo in 1931. An image of the statue of Maximilien Balot, a colonial administrator, is claimed by the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts which is accused of stonewalling requests...
Jazz ambassadors abroad versus U.S. racism at home
During the Cold War with communism and the old Soviet Union, the American government tried to use jazz musicians to bolster its global reputation and used cultural performances to cover covert operations in Africa. There was often tension between musicians representing American interests abroad while their people suffered at home. The U.S. State Department’s first actual jazz ambassador, Dizzy Gillespie,...
Nkrumah’s 1958 All-African People’s Conference and the CIA’s opposition to African liberation
The West African country of Ghana celebrated March 6 the anniversary of its 1957 independence, or as it’s called “Ghana National Day.” The man who championed the struggle that led to independence from colonial rule was Asagyefo Kwame Nkrumah. But the date/event that is least remembered, and one that put Ghana and its leader on record as Africa’s champion for...
The consequences of underdevelopment in Sudan
During my nearly two months in Sudan, leaving less than a week before the October 25, 2021, military coup, I reflected with fascination on how Sudan’s majority Muslim and majority Black, with Arab and Turkish mixture population, could live and in some cases thrive in such “underdevelopment,” as Walter Rodney coined it in his 1973 book: “How Europe Underdeveloped...
African coaches show gain in jobs once reserved for Whites
(GIN)—Africa may finally be trusting its own coaches. This year’s Africa Cup of Nations featured 15 African-born coaches, leading some to conclude that local coaches had broken through racial and ethnic barriers to a level long reserved for Europeans. But do the success stories in a few nations mean that the coaching pathway has truly opened up for local coaches in...
African Union Summit raises more questions than answers on viability
This year’s recently concluded African Union Heads of State Summit left more questions than answers, including resolution for a substantive plan of action to resolve the increased and growing number of coup d’etats on the continent. This was followed by the kicking down the road—by a six-member panel of heads of state that was given a year to determine—the...