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IOL News
3 days ago
- Politics
- IOL News
Africa Month shows that our continent is yet to benefit Africans
Pan-Africanist revolutionary and former Burkinabe President Thomas Sankara once said you cannot carry out fundamental change without a certain amount of madness. Image: Pascal George REVERED Pan-Africanist revolutionary and former Burkinabe President Thomas Sankara once firmly stated: 'You cannot carry out fundamental change without a certain amount of madness. It comes from nonconformity, the courage to turn your back on the old formulas, the courage to invent the future.' These sobering words have been significantly indisputable as we swiftly conclude the month of May, Africa Month, marked by Africa Day celebrations on May 25. This is the 62nd anniversary of the founding of the Organisation of African Unity (OAU), now known as the African Union (AU). At the 1963 formation of the OAU in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, the crème-de-la-creme of African leadership came out in throngs in order to advance continental solidarity, and eradicate Western imperialism. In fact, the OAU was formed upon the foundations of Pan-Africanism and self-determination, by leaders who epitomised those values wholeheartedly. As such, this 2025 Africa Month has presented a momentous occasion to not only celebrate the 62nd anniversary of this revolutionary body but also to spotlight the grievous challenges that still plague contemporary Africa. Novelist George Orwell once wrote: 'The war is not meant to be won, it is meant to be continuous… The object of war is not to destroy but to preserve a state of controlled desperation.' Video Player is loading. Play Video Play Unmute Current Time 0:00 / Duration -:- Loaded : 0% Stream Type LIVE Seek to live, currently behind live LIVE Remaining Time - 0:00 This is a modal window. Beginning of dialog window. Escape will cancel and close the window. Text Color White Black Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Opaque Semi-Transparent Background Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Opaque Semi-Transparent Transparent Window Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Transparent Semi-Transparent Opaque Font Size 50% 75% 100% 125% 150% 175% 200% 300% 400% Text Edge Style None Raised Depressed Uniform Dropshadow Font Family Proportional Sans-Serif Monospace Sans-Serif Proportional Serif Monospace Serif Casual Script Small Caps Reset restore all settings to the default values Done Close Modal Dialog End of dialog window. Advertisement Next Stay Close ✕ Ad loading This echoes the state of conflicts that ravage contemporary African societies. Across the continent, wars have been proliferating rapidly since 2010. Today, we see headlines of the wars in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Sudan, Mozambique, and the Horn of Africa make the headlines, often overshadowed by Western media's spotlighting of other conflicts in Ukraine and Gaza. Meanwhile, the African continent is experiencing more conflicts than at any point since at least 1946. In fleeting moments, we observe the painful horrors of war unfolding in the Congo, Sudan, and Mozambique emerge into the news cycles, but are quickly — and too often — drowned out by Euro-Western media's dominant, selective spotlighting of Ukraine and Gaza conflicts. According to Statista, today, over 10 million of Sudan's near-50 million inhabitants are internally displaced, and nearly 1.8 million have fled to other countries. According to the UN Refugee Agency, the Eastern DRC has been absolutely devastated and distorted by war, with over 7.3 million people displaced within the country, and more than 86 000 forced to flee to neighbouring countries. These wars are frighteningly only fragments of a much larger reality: Today, more than 35 non-international armed conflicts continue to wreak havoc across Africa — many of them underreported, and many more forgotten. Rampant war, civil conflicts, widespread poverty and forced displacement are certainly the straw that broke the camel's back in the mountain of problems that modern Africans contend with. However, major conflicts are not random, nor senseless. They are often the result of decades of neglect, greed, and failed leadership. They are born from fractured systems that deny people food, education, and dignity. They are fueled by poverty, corruption, and inequality. From dilapidated healthcare systems to mass unemployment to atrocious public service delivery, Africa is cracking under the weight of injustice, and these are the results. We must confront these roots, not just their violent consequences. For far too long, African nations have haphazardly embraced foreign-imposed structures and systems to rule African people. For far too long, these systems have been chastised and criticised, with very little reform. This is what the AU must be taking the reins on. African nations contend with a plethora of challenges. However, the biggest failure of bodies such as the AU is embracing structures that are designed to fail the many, while enriching the few. Contemporary African societies certainly reflect the harsh echoes of a long history of exploitation, instability, and neglect. However, modern day leadership is not effectively or sustainably engaging Africans in shaping a better Africa. Many of Africa's leaders are oftentimes condemned not just for failing to lift people out of poverty, but for actively preserving the inequality and corruption that keep them in power. However, wars and power struggles are not the only challenges faced by Africans or the AU. Outreach International stated that Africa has the highest rates of extreme poverty across the globe. Furthermore, a report by Compassion International revealed that 42 African nations, out of the 54 in the continent, live in severe poverty. This is an outrageous 78% of the continent. Contrarily, Africa is the richest continent by far in minerals and resource wealth. According to the UN Environment Programme, not only does Africa hold a significant chunk of the global oil reserves, it also holds 40% of the world's gold and about 90% of its chromium and platinum — with a significant share of global mining reserves in cobalt, diamonds, uranium, and various other valuable minerals. The contrast between Africa's wealth in mineral resources and its debilitating rates of poverty goes hand-in-hand. Our abundance has not translated into prosperity for the majority because our resources are exceedingly exploited, not only by foreign interests, but also by local elites who profit from backdoor deals, opaque contracts, and exclusionary systems. While billions are made from gold, oil, and cobalt, too many Africans still lack clean water, electricity, and access to basic healthcare. This is not a natural misfortune; it is a manufactured injustice, upheld by corruption, substandard governance, and global complicity. These are the human rights and dignities that are supposed to be upheld not only by governments across Africa, but by the AU itself. What's worse is the state of education across countless African nations. The crisis in Africa's education systems is not just about underfunded schools or overcrowded classrooms; it is rooted in a deeper, more insidious, imperialist legacy. Much of our formal education remains trapped in a colonial framework, designed not to liberate but to condition. In fact, this largely Eurocentric framework has been the foundation of critique in post-colonial African societies. As the late Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o once powerfully stated, 'The domination of a people's language by the languages of the colonising nations was crucial to the domination of the mental universe of the colonised.' To this day, African children are taught to memorize foreign histories while their own are erased, to speak in tongues that deny them access to their cultural identity, and to chase validation through imported curricula that ignore local and lived realities. Indigenous knowledge systems, rich in ecological wisdom, philosophy, communal ethics, and more, are sidelined or dismissed as inferior. This is not just a failure of the education system, it is its weaponisation. Any education system that alienates a child from their land, language, and lineage is not education, it is blatant indoctrination. It is the method employed by colonial rulers that seeks to literally erase the African identity, and discard African knowledge. The AU needs to centre its gaze upon this challenge, as it is one of the most pivotal keys to continental transformation and empowerment. As revered Pan-Africanist and Black Consciousness pioneer Steve Bantu Biko once purposefully wrote: 'The most potent weapon in the hands of the oppressor is the mind of the oppressed.' The fact is that Africa would not be so rife with conflict and adversity if it were not something truly special. Africa's challenges are not rooted in its people, but in the persistent failure of systems built to serve the few, or outrightly serve foreign interests. However, these are the minerals and resources that build phones, computers, planes, factories, extensive infrastructure, complex structures, and various types of technologies. These resources are invaluable to the world, and they should be protected with the same ferocity. Collaboration and cooperation is not difficult to achieve, and is certainly not restricted to African continental zones. African nations that have an abundance of critical exports such as oil, foods, medicines, must be working together with all other African nations in establishing trade relations. African nations will go far if they bring serious focus to dependence on one another, above everybody else. The AU must be the driving force of this unification, identifying and connecting common economies and industries across the continent. The work of the AU is much more profound than they may realise. The AU must diligently do the work of imparting the values of Pan-Africanism, unity and the upliftment of human rights. Whether it's evident or not, the spirits of Kwame Nkrumah, Haile Selassie, Leopold Senghor, Sekou Toure, Julius Nyerere, and the other prolific founding members of the OAU remain embedded in the souls of African nations. Esteemed Pan-African revolutionary and founder of the Pan Africanist Congress of Azania (PAC), Robert Sobukwe, strongly affirmed this truth when he said:'We are fighting for the noblest cause on earth… the liberation of mankind.' This Africa Month, and everyday forth, may we remember the core of pan-Africanism: Africa is for Africans. * Tswelopele Makoe is a gender and social justice activist and the editor at Global South Media Network. She is a researcher, columnist and an Andrew W Mellon scholar at the Desmond Tutu Centre for Religion and Social Justice, UWC. The views expressed are her own. ** The views expressed here do not reflect those of the Sunday Independent, Independent Media or IOL.
The Citizen
6 days ago
- Entertainment
- The Citizen
‘Kivuli & Nuru: The Afrodisiacs Collection' —African erotic stories delving deep into the queer world of desire
'Kivuli & Nuru: The Afrodisiacs Collection' was launched on Africa Day by Pan-Africanist digital platform HOLAAfrica. The respect of elders and those around you is so deeply entrenched in African culture that it's often hard for Africans to openly speak about sex or anything about sexuality without being chastised for being crass. The situation is far worse if you're an African that identifies as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ). 'The situation of queer people around the continent is multifaceted; it is incredibly painful in some spaces and in others incredibly powerful,' said Tiffany Mugo. Together with Siphumeze Khundayi, Mugo is the co-founder of HOLAAfrica, a Pan-Africanist digital platform that focuses on sex and sexuality in Africa. This past Sunday, on Africa Day, HOLAAfrica launched Kivuli & Nuru: The Afrodisiacs Collection. It is a collection of African erotic stories that delve deep into the world of desire. The albums are described as a celebration of LGBTQ+ intimacies in their own words and voices. In a truly African way, the first episode opened with a prayer from Mpho Andrea Tutu van Furth, aptly titled A Prayer for Good Sex. 'Good sex inspires me because good sex is the wish that I have as a mother for my children. It is the hope that I have as a priest for my congregation. It is the desire that I have as a woman for myself, it is the prayer that I have as an African, for every person on our continent,' Tutu van Furth is heard in her prayer. Tutu van Furth is the daughter of revered political activist Archbishop Desmond Tutu. ALSO READ: Sleep divorce may improve your sex life Complexities of LGBTQ+ in Africa Mugo speaks about the complexities faced by the LGBTQ+ community on the continent, saying it's full of 'hard times and full of joy'. 'The thing about the situation of queer people on the continent is it is not any one thing because even in the darkest moments you will find such fun and chaos and delicious goodness. This is part of what the work we do focuses on, a more holistic idea of what it means to be LGBTQ+ on the continent,' Mugo shares. She adds: 'What is happening in those private moments, those mundane moments, those moments where the whole world doesn't seem to be against you. What does it mean to exist in your full glory?' HOLAAfrica has taken its work around the world, including to global TED Talk stages. Mugo admits that it's not all rainbows and sunshine as a queer on the continent and says Africa still has a long way to go before reaching the proverbial promise land. 'In a lot of cases, queer people's intimate lives have been used against them, making them seem dark and degenerate. Because so little is known about queer sex (outside of porn) it can be shaped into whatever those who weaponise it want it to be.' She says queer sex is as intimate, messy, beautiful, confusing and magical as heterosexual sex. 'It's no different.' 'It is not always easy to be queer and African, but it is always magical. Yes, there is a long way to go, but what must be celebrated is how far rights have come,' she said. Kivuli and Nuru mean 'shadow' and 'light' in Kiswahili, and Mugo says they chose these names to represent the light and dark aspects of sex, intimacy, and sexuality on the continent. 'If one wants to see how far we have to go, we can look to Kivuli, what is still lurking in the shadows; the things people can't express or explore,' she said. However, there is light at the end of the tunnel, and Mugo says that is what Nuru brings. 'These are stories of being able to bring their desires to the light and be who they want to be. No matter how you engage with your sexuality, there is always more to learn and unpack and engage with, but we have also come so far in a number of ways.' ALSO READ: 1 in 5 LGBTQ youth have attempted suicide in the past year – study The episodes There are 30 episodes of Kivuli & Nuru in the collection, which vary in length and titles. 'The albums are explorations into the different ways we love and lust, in both covert and open ways. Featuring stories from Lagos to Nairobi, from Cape Town to Cairo, The Afrodisiacs Collection takes you on an audio journey through tales of immortality, coming home, gyrating in nightclubs, or tempting daytime trysts in the middle of an afternoon,' shared Mugo. In one episode, titled Why is There Never Foreplay in the Public Bathrooms written by Ghanaian author Kobby Ben Ben, the listener gets to be a fly on the wall in a public lavatory in Ghana during an intimate encounter between two lovers. 'During public sex, foreplay isn't a forgotten formality. Rather, it's elusive, measured by infinitesimal fractions of a second,' says the narrator in the episode, Anthony Oluoch. '…or just plainly edited out just to make for a racier porn clip.' The moans and grunts of pleasure give the episodes a strong sense of reality. So real that a minor listening to this collection of stories would be grounded for at least a year. 'Everything is delightful and pleasurable, even the darker stories, because it is erotica,' said Mugo. 'However, if you want to really zero in on the stories about threesomes, always delight, namely Ghosts of Threesomes Past, and It takes 3. But all of the stories will bring a hint of deliciousness.' In the heat of all the pleasure in the stories, Mugo says that at the core of it is education. 'Stories have always been the biggest way to teach people about things, and in terms of sex and sexuality, these will do that. The stories will bring you into a world of sexuality that informs you through storytelling.' NOW READ: Ghana parliament passes anti-LGBTQ bill
IOL News
23-05-2025
- Politics
- IOL News
Why appointing Tony Leon would be a slap in the face of the poor
The DA's touting of Tony Leon as ambassador – and the possibility the ANC government might actually consider it – shows how interchangeable the elites have become, says the writer. Image: IOL TONY Leon's nomination as an ambassador to the US must be situated in the broader trajectory of South Africa's liberal democratic project. The 1994 transition, while ending formal apartheid, created a constitutional order that preserved existing economic power structures under the guise of non-racialism and individual rights. The liberal constitutionalism championed by the DA has proven adept at containing radical change. It offers robust protections for civil liberties (important gains, to be sure) but has also shielded property relations and corporate capital from the kind of mass redistribution needed to uproot apartheid's legacy. Both the DA and the ANC largely operate within this paradigm – fiercely debating policy details while sharing a fundamental commitment to the neoliberal status quo. Indeed, over the past three decades, we've seen a striking elite convergence: former liberation movement cadres and erstwhile liberal opponents mingling in the same cocktail circuits, trading cabinet posts and ambassadorial gigs. It was no accident that the ANC government sent Tony Leon to Argentina as an ambassador shortly after he stepped down as DA leader – a gesture that symbolised the incorporation of the old white opposition into the new multiracial elite. Leon's return as a potential U.S. ambassador continues that story: a convergence of interests where yesterday's foes unite to manage an unjust order rather than transform it. From a Black Consciousness and Pan-Africanist perspective, this liberal elite pact is precisely what our liberation heroes warned against. Steve Biko cautioned that 'integration' (when pursued on white terms) could become a trap that co-opts black aspirations into a system still defined by whiteness and inequality. Today, we see a superficially integrated ruling class – black and white politicians alike – that largely serves global capital and local white-owned industry, while the masses remain dispossessed. The DA loves to wrap itself in the language of the Constitution, 'rule of law,' and 'orderly governance.' Yet what has this meant for the Azanian working class and dispossessed? It has meant patience and sacrifices urged upon the poor, while the wealthy consolidate their gains under the protection of law. The Pan-Africanist lens reminds us that true decolonisation was not achieved in 1994; South Africa remains tied to neocolonial patterns – its economy dominated by Western interests and its foreign policy often pulled between loyalty to the African continent and pressure to appease Euro-American powers. A figure like Tony Leon tilts the balance decidedly toward the latter: the imperial core's preferences over Pan-African solidarity. Even the ANC, in its quest to be the 'broad church' of all South Africans, has too often prioritised elite reconciliation over revolutionary change. We recall how the ANC under Mandela and Mbeki reassured whites and investors – from retaining apartheid-era economists to including the old anthem 'Die Stem' in a composite national anthem. These concessions were aimed at stability, but they also signaled a deal: political office for the black majority, economic power stays largely with the (mostly white) elite. In such a context, the DA and ANC start to look like two wings of a pro-capital, centrist consensus, squabbling over patronage but aligned on fundamentals. The DA's touting of Tony Leon as ambassador – and the possibility the ANC government might actually consider it – shows how interchangeable the elites have become. It's a far cry from the vision of thinkers like Ali Shariati, the Iranian revolutionary who railed against the 'Westoxified' local elites in the Global South who became administrators of imperial interests. Shariati's call for a spiritual and cultural reawakening – a revolution of values to overthrow both foreign domination and domestic tyranny – resonates as we witness these tepid power games. Where is the moral compass in our politics? Certainly not in the self-congratulatory liberalism that anoints a man like Tony Leon as an ambassadorial savior. The DA's move to elevate Tony Leon is not a bold innovation but a tired repetition of politics-as-usual. It reflects a poverty of imagination among South Africa's establishment. When faced with crises – like frosty relations with the U.S. after our government took principled stances on Palestine or dared foster BRICS ties – their impulse is to retreat to the old comfortable figureheads who reassure the empire that nothing truly radical will transpire in Pretoria. Leon is being sold as the ultimate problem-solver, the wise elder who will restore luster to South Africa's image abroad. Yet to the oppressed majority, this is a slap in the face. It says: your liberation can wait; first we must placate Washington. It says that those who defended the status quo for decades – who resisted calls for economic justice – will not only escape accountability but be rewarded with plum posts. We reject this cynical narrative. True merit in a society like ours would mean elevating those who have fought for the people, not those who fought to keep the old order intact. A genuine commitment to good governance would prioritize dismantling structural racism and inequality, not merely installing a different manager in the same old mansion. And an authentic diplomacy worthy of a democratic South Africa would project the voices of the grassroots, the workers, the landless, and the youth on the world stage – not the polished platitudes of a career politician with an uncritical affinity for the West. South Africa's destiny should not be to play perpetual junior partner to Washington, no matter who the ambassador is. Our destiny, as envisioned by Pan-Africanists and revolutionaries, is to chart an independent course, speaking truth to power globally and pursuing justice at home. The campaign for Tony Leon's ambassadorship is a symbol of liberal complacency. It is a comfort with mere symbolism over substance – swapping out envoys while the neocolonial scaffolding remains firmly in place. As citizens invested in a real liberation project, we must challenge not only this appointment but the entire mindset that produced it. We must insist that South Africa's representatives, at home and abroad, be accountable to the cause of liberation – a cause that neither begins nor ends with polite diplomacy in the corridors of Washington.
Black America Web
19-05-2025
- Black America Web
Malcolm X's Childhood Trauma And The Case For Abolishing Family Policing
Source: Michael Ochs Archives / Getty As we celebrate the centennial birthday of El-Hajj Malik El-Shabazz—known to the world as Malcolm X—let us resist the urge to sanitize his legacy. We shouldn't spend this moment only posting his image or quoting his speeches stripped of their revolutionary meaning. We must also remember him as the boy this country tried to annihilate—long before he became the man Ossie Davis eulogized as 'our living, Black manhood… our own Black shining prince—who didn't hesitate to die, because he loved us so.' Malcolm X was born Malcolm Little on May 19, 1925, in Omaha, Nebraska, into a household steeped in Black nationalist politics and resistance. Malcolm's father, Earl Little, was a Baptist preacher and an outspoken organizer with Marcus Garvey's Universal Negro Improvement Association (UNIA). His sermons lifted up Black pride, economic independence, and Pan-Africanist solidarity. His mother, Louise Norton Little, was equally formidable: a Grenadian-born writer who contributed to Garvey's Negro World newspaper and kept the Garvey movement's flame alive in their family home. Together, they taught their children that Black people could—and must—liberate themselves. For these beliefs, the Littles were marked, surveilled, and terrorized. Before Malcolm could even speak, white supremacists were at his family's doorstep. The Ku Klux Klan threatened the Little family home in Omaha, forcing them to flee to Lansing, Michigan. There, their home was firebombed by white vigilantes. And in 1931, Earl Little was found dead on the street, nearly severed by a streetcar. Though officials ruled his death an accident, the family believed he had been murdered by the Black Legion, a local terrorist white supremacist group. With that ruling, the insurance company denied Louise the life insurance that might have kept the family afloat. The trauma of this brand of racial violence was only the beginning. What followed would be no less devastating: a slow dismantling of the Little family through a state apparatus masquerading as 'child welfare.' After Earl Little's death, Louise Little struggled to support her eight children. She turned to public assistance, but help came only with strings, surveillance, and contempt. Welfare caseworkers, all white, visited constantly, undermining her authority, probing her parenting, and prying into the family's home. Malcolm later recalled that they 'acted as if they owned us… as if we were their private property.' Rather than offer support, the child welfare system became a hostile presence in their lives. Louise, proud and politically conscious, resisted their intrusions. She 'talked back,' defended her children, and demanded dignity. For this, the state labeled her unstable. The relentless surveillance wore her down. In 1939, the state committed Louise to the Kalamazoo Mental Hospital. She would remain there for 26 years. Soon after, Malcolm and his siblings were stolen from their family and community and scattered into foster homes, institutions, and detention centers. 'They were as vicious as vultures,' Malcolm later wrote of the state welfare workers. 'They had no feelings, understanding, compassion, or respect for my mother.' He did not mince words: 'A judge had authority over me and all my brothers and sisters… nothing but legal, modern slavery, however kindly intentioned.' What was framed as child protection was, in fact, racialized family policing—a brutal, bureaucratic dismantling of a proud Black family committed to liberation. What happened to Malcolm X's family wasn't an isolated tragedy of the 1930s. It was—and remains—standard operating procedure for a system built on controlling Black families, not caring for them. Today, Black families are still disproportionately targeted by the family policing system. According to a landmark study from the American Journal of Public Health , over 50% of Black children in the U.S. will experience a child welfare investigation before age 18, nearly double the rate for white children. Black children are also more likely to be removed from their homes, with nearly 10% being placed in foster care at some point during childhood. Though Black children make up only about 14% of the U.S. child population, they represent 22% of all children in foster care. This overrepresentation isn't due to higher rates of abuse. In fact, the vast majority of child removals stem from vague accusations of 'neglect'—a category that overwhelmingly reflects poverty, not harm. In 2019, 75% of confirmed child maltreatment cases were neglect-related. Parents who lack stable housing, childcare, or access to food are labeled unfit, and their children are taken. The state punishes poverty but calls it protecting children. The family policing system is not only racist—it is profoundly ableist. Louise Little was institutionalized, not because she posed a danger, but because she was a Black woman in mourning, under immense pressure, and because she refused to be silent about it. Instead of receiving mental health care or support, she was disappeared into a psychiatric facility. Her children were removed under the guise of her 'unfitness,' and the system never looked back. Today, this ableist logic remains intact. Parents with disabilities—especially Black parents—are far more likely to have their children removed. A national survey found that parents diagnosed with serious mental illnesses are eight times more likely to face CPS involvement, and 26 times more likely to have their children taken from them. Disabled Black mothers live with the compounded fear that asking for help will result in punishment, not support. It is a vicious cycle: state neglect begets trauma, and trauma becomes the justification for more state violence. Malcolm X's early life—shaped by racist terrorism and family separation—planted the seeds of his radicalism. He saw through the lie of state benevolence. He called it what it was: legal slavery, white domination, institutionalized cruelty masked as care. If Malcolm's story teaches us anything, it is that our families need solidarity, not surveillance. Louise Little didn't need to be stripped of her children; she needed respite, mental health support, and community. What the Littles needed was care, not cages. Had neighbors, kin, or even public resources been offered without strings, Malcolm might have grown up more whole. Instead, he grew up in fragments—and forged those fragments into a fire the world could not ignore. Today, abolitionists build on that fire. We demand a world where no parent is punished for being poor or disabled. A world where no child is disappeared into the system for loving their mother too fiercely. Abolition isn't about the absence of safety; it's about building real safety rooted in care, not coercion. As Malcolm once said, 'Our home didn't have to be destroyed.' And as we honor his 100th birthday, we say: no more destroyed homes, no more destroyed families, and no more destroyed communities. Josie Pickens is an educator, writer, cultural critic, and abolitionist strategist and organizer. She is the director of upEND Movement, a national movement dedicated to abolishing the family policing system. SEE ALSO: Malcolm X's Plans Before He Was Killed Malcolm X's Estate Sues FBI, CIA Over Assassination SEE ALSO Malcolm X's Childhood Trauma And The Case For Abolishing Family Policing was originally published on Black America Web Featured Video CLOSE
Business Insider
03-05-2025
- Politics
- Business Insider
Nigeria's secret police clamps down on rally for Burkina Faso's Traoré, arrests organizer
Nigeria's Department of State Services (DSS) has arrested a Marxist activist and leader of the Talakawa Parliament, Comrade Kola Edokpayi over his involvement in organizing a rally in support of Burkina Faso's junta leader, Captain Ibrahim Traoré. Marxist activist and leader of the Talakawa Parliament, Comrade Kola Edokpayi, arrested by Nigeria's DSS Arrest stems from organizing a rally in support of Burkina Faso junta leader, Captain Ibrahim Traoré Rally intended as Pan-African solidarity demonstration, sparking controversy and concerns The planned rally, in support of the Burkina Faso junta leader, Captain Traoré which was intended as a Pan-African solidarity demonstration, has sparked controversy and raised concerns among authorities about its potential to incite unrest. In an interview with SaharaReporters, a source close to Edokpayi shared the details of his arrest. " He had organized the solidarity rally, but a day before the event, the Commissioner of Police contacted him for a meeting and urged him to cancel the protest. Edokpayi agreed and directed his team to call off the rally. However, DSS and police officers later raided his office, forcibly entered, and arrested six people. While four were released, Edokpayi and one other individual were detained." The rally, according to its organizers, was part of a broader Pan-African effort to support Captain Traoré's resistance against French neo-colonialism in West Africa. Support for Traoré sweeps across Africa Recent acts of aggression targeting Sahel nations have triggered a wave of solidarity across the African continent, with thousands rallying in support of Burkina Faso and its revolutionary leader, Captain Ibrahim Traoré. United under the banner 'Hands Off the AES!'—a reference to the Alliance of Sahel States—protesters took to the streets in Burkina Faso, Ghana, and Liberia. Organized by grassroots movements and Pan-Africanist groups, the demonstrations denounced foreign interference and condemned ongoing imperialist efforts to destabilize the region. This outpouring of support comes in the wake of a foiled coup attempt in Burkina Faso, which authorities say was orchestrated on April 21. The government described the plot as a deliberate attempt to plunge the country into chaos and derail its revolutionary trajectory under Traoré's leadership. Adding fuel to the tension, U.S. Africa Command (AFRICOM) issued a controversial statement last month. During a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing, AFRICOM Commander General Michael Langley accused Captain Traoré of diverting Burkina Faso's gold reserves to sustain his military government, rather than using the wealth to benefit the people. Langley's remarks have drawn widespread backlash from Pan-African activists and supporters of Burkinabè sovereignty, who view the statement as emblematic of a broader pattern of Western intrusion into African political and economic affairs.
