The similarities between two apartheid regimes
Israeli officers beat worshipers at the Al-Aqsa Mosque, Islam’s third holiest site, with batons and butts of riot guns, wounding many before arresting them, handcuffing over 400, and carting them off to jail. Their crime, reported Portside. org, was simply making Taraweeh prayers (night prayers) made during the holy month of Ramadan. Na'eem Jeenah is a senior researcher at the...
Burkina Faso expels reporters from French newspapers
Foreign reporters working for France’s ‘Le Monde’ and ‘Libération’ dailies have been expelled from Burkina Faso as part of measures the west African country has taken against French media. French newspaper Le Monde reported the expulsion on April 2, saying Burkina had told French correspondents to leave. “Our correspondent in Burkina Faso, Sophie Douce, has been expelled from the country ......
Ramadan in Africa comes with food shortages and rising costs
This year on the African continent, Ramadan, the annual month-long fast of the Muslim world, has come as food shortages and rising costs have left shoppers unable to splurge. During the four weeks of this sacred Islamic holy month, which is observed by nearly two billion Muslims worldwide, participants will abstain from food and drink from dawn to dusk,...
America’s sordid history of embracing European colonialism and neocolonialism
America’s history of endorsing European colonialism and neocolonialism in face of the current scramble for Africa needs to be revisited. But to say U.S. endorsement without showing the material benefits the country derived as a “colonial accomplice,” is to give an incomplete narrative. Case in point, according to the book, “The United States and the Liquidation of European Colonial Rule...
Ethiopian lawmakers remove Tigray group from terror list
NAIROBI, Kenya—Ethiopian lawmakers have removed the Tigray Peoples Liberation Front from the country’s list of designated terror groups more than four months after a peace agreement ended a conflict that killed hundreds of thousands of people. The March 22 decision highlights the improving relations between federal officials and Tigray regional ones and moves the region closer to the establishment of an interim...
Africa’s place in global diplomacy defined by colonial and post-colonial history
Africa’s placement in global diplomacy has almost always been informed by its “colonial and post-colonial history,” wrote Takudzwa Hillary Chiwanza, a barrister, journalist and social media content professional. “When African countries got independence, they inherited the colonial power structures of the colonizers without fundamentally altering them, thus perpetuating the dominance of capitalism to the detriment of the masses: the urban...
U.S. Anti-Semitism campaign funded by a South African who made fortune under Apartheid
The fight to suppress Palestinian rights and the fight against what is labeled “anti- Semitism” has strange bedfellows. One source of this apparent link is 92-year-old billionaire Nathan Kirsch, an entrepreneur, “philanthropist” and ardent supporter of the Zionist State of Israel. His fortune was first developed under South African apartheid. In a piece that appeared in a 2014 edition of...
Farrakhan, Mandela and Jewish leaders
The similarities between the interactions with Jewish leaders and organizations of influence—whether in person or upon reflection, by the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan and Nelson Mandela—are worth looking back on. Mandela was sentenced in 1964 by prosecutor Percy Yutar, who used his increased fame in the Apartheid State of South Africa to become attorney general and later the president...
Overcoming barriers through technology and providing services to hard-to-reach rural areas
Helping to improve direct and immediate access to even hard-to-reach communities with real-time measurable data through mobile phone technology is how Viamo explains its service. According to its Sudan Country Manager, Rudiana M.E. Mustafa, Viamo’s digital campaigns include starting a dialogue between organizations, governments, programs and the people they work with to utilize important public service messaging. Viamo works cross...
What is the aim, vision of Rep. Ilhan Omar’s U.S.-Africa Policy Working Group?
Before her removal from the powerful House Foreign Affairs Committee, U.S. Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) announced that she would launch an African Policy working group to hear from officials and experts who she works with and in Africa. Omar, as a member of the Foreign Affairs Committee, served as the vice chair of the Subcommittee on Africa. She was removed...