On this day in 1960, Congolese revolutionary leader Patrice Lumumba was overthrown in a bloody CIA-backed coup. The coup and Lumumba’s subsequent assassination robbed Africa of one of the continent’s greatest Pan-African, anti-imperialist leaders.
Lumumba became the first prime minister of the Democratic Republic of Congo in 1960 after its independence from Belgium. 60 years of Belgian rule in Congo was one filled with terror and genocide that left up to 15 million people dead and plundered the country's wealth.
The US was an early ally of tyranny in Congo. The 1884 Berlin Congress granted Belgian King Leopold II not just colonial control, but private ownership of the entire 2,600,000 km² Congo Basin region. Seven months earlier, the US had already recognized his claim to the territory.
During Belgian colonial rule in Congo, the US acquired a strategic stake in the country's immense natural wealth and the uranium that it used to build the atomic bombs it dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945. Congo became vitally important to US global hegemony.
When Lumumba became Prime Minister in June 1960, he promised a break with imperialism, foreign control of the Republic of Congo's resources and championed Pan-African solidarity. His leadership threatened both US corporate interests and triggered US cold war paranoia.
A cable from CIA director Allen Dulles on August 25, 1960, read ''We are faced with a person who is a Castro or worse.” He subsequently ordered the CIA station chief in Congo: “Lumumba's removal must be an urgent and prime objective… and a high priority of our covert action.”
Both the US and Belgium, funneled cash and aid to rival politicians leading to Lumumba's kidnapping and assassination by forces allied with Colonel Joseph Mobutu. With Mobutu in charge, the Global North’s neocolonial grip on the country was assured.
During three decades of bloody rule under the US and European-backed Mobutu, the dictator came to control over 20% of the Democratic Republic of Congo's assets and his personal wealth ballooned to $5 billion, equal to the external debt of the country.
Today, the DRC still suffers the consequences of Lumumba’s murder. The country has raw minerals worth approx. $24 trillion, including almost half the world’s known cobalt reserves, a mineral found in batteries of almost every common electronic device, from phones to electric cars.
While multinationals continue plundering the DRC’s wealth, the country ranks among the five poorest worldwide, with approximately 60 million people living on less than $1.90 a day.
https://void.cat/d/7p1kMmk9EVHxdS4eoRnoHb.webp
#BlackHistory #AfricanHistory #PanAfrican
Niger’s coup authorities seized smuggled croissants bound for the blockaded French embassy, according to local media reports. Videos on social media show uniformed police and military personnel searching through bags of croissant deliveries that were sent to French employees.
At the same time, relations between Niger and its former colonial ruler, France, have become increasingly strained in the wake of the coup that toppled ex-president Mohamed Bazoum’s pro-Western government. Following the overthrow of Bazoum Niger’s coup authorities ordered the French ambassador out of the country, an order Paris ignored.
Niger then arrested a French official embassy advisor. France has also ignored demands from protesters to withdraw the approximately 1,500 troops they have in the country. Recently, Niger’s coup leaders have accused France of preparing for a military invasion of their country following the deployment of troops on the Nigerian border.
https://void.cat/d/QWYuc8SB1Ma3qqcXF32V7f.mp4
#NigerCoup #NigerInvasion #ECOWAS
Colombian teacher and union leader Steven Chalarca was killed yesterday by armed men in the Municipality of Yolombó, Antioquia. It brings the number of social leaders killed since the 2016 peace deal to a staggering 1516. 121 have been killed so far this year.
Chalarca was a teacher and union organizer at the Rural Education Institute (IER), and he was killed at the school where he was based. Like almost all such killings, those responsible have not been identified, but the two armed groups in that region are the 7th Division of the Colombian Military and the anti-communist drug cartel Gulf Clan (AGC).
Despite the 2016 peace deal between the FARC and the Colombian state, human rights abuses committed by the military and far-right paramilitary organizations have continued apace. It's for this reason and others that some dissident groups have continued the armed struggle as they see only side as having ever respected it.
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#PazColombia #DialogosPorLaPaz #Yolombo
30 years since the Oslo Accords between Israel and the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) were signed, we remind you of the peace process's complete failure as Israel continues expanding its borders deeper and deeper into the West Bank.
The 1946 map captures the land situation before the Nakba and the foundation of Israel. Despite a rapid increase in Jewish migration to Palestine, particularly after the horrors of the Holocaust, the vast majority of land was owned by Palestinians, albeit then under British colonial domination. The 1947 map shows the land allocation outlined in 1947 UN plan and the 1967 map reflects the land grabs made by Israel following the Six-Day War.
Our final map reflects Palestinians' horrific situation today as their territorial claims are discarded, and they are increasingly being ethically cleansed from their land. The Oslo Accords created the Palestinian Authority and, with it, a pseudo facade of Palestinian self-governance. The PLO was recognized as a negotiating partner with Israel during bilateral talks.
Although there was some limited Israel withdrawal from the West Bank and Gaza Strip, the Oslo process eventually stalled. Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, who signed the accords, was assassinated by a Zionist extremist in 1995.
Disillusioned by diplomatic agreements and broken lip service, the second intifada, a year-long Palestinian militant popular uprising against occupation forces, erupted in 2000. Today, Israel makes no secret of its plans to annex the West Bank while armed and unarmed resistance to the occupation is rising.
Tupac Shakur was shot dead on this day in 1996 – remembered not only as a hip-hop legend but also for his unapologetic, radical views on class struggle and Black liberation. Did you know that Tupac, the son of a Black Panther revolutionary, read the works of communist leader Joseph Stalin? Maybe you should too.
https://void.cat/d/F51gsfsQC5dxMpYz94ciBz.mp4
#Tupac #2Pac #TupacShakur
Happy Birthday to anti-colonial freedom fighter Amílcar Cabral, who led the fight to overthrow Portuguese colonialism in Guinea-Bissau and Cape Verde, contributing to the end of Portugal’s fascist dictatorship. Born today in 1924, Amílcar Cabral Cabral became one of Africa’s most influential communist pan-African revolutionaries.
The colonies of Guinea-Bissau and Cape Verde were governed by a fascist dictatorship in Lisbon long after other colonial powers like Britain and France had been formally thrown out of Africa by anti-colonial movements. Cabral led the fight for independence against the Estado Novo (New State) dictatorship led by António Salazar and his successor, Marcelo Caetano. Through helping the anti-Portguese resistance in Angola, he aimed to achieve freedom for all of Portugal’s African colonies.
As a committed pan-Africanist and socialist, he focused on creating a socialist bloc by unifying Guinea-Bissau and Cape Verde. As they liberated areas of Guinea-Bissau and Cape Verde, Cabral and his forces tried to build a socialist economy with central planning and cooperatives.
Cabral, a trained agronomist, pioneered social and agricultural programs to ensure food supply to the liberation army and the local population. Just eight months before Guinea-Bissau achieved independence, Cabral was assassinated by members of his movement, who it is believed were linked to the Portuguese intelligence services.
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#PanAfrican #BlackHistory #AfricanHistory
Happy 79th birthday to Native American rights activist and political prisoner Leonard Peltier! He was wrongfully convicted of aiding and abetting in killing two FBI agents in Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, South Dakota, 1975. He was sentenced to two consecutive terms of life imprisonment and is still incarcerated 46 years later, making him one of the longest-serving political prisoners in the world.
The evidence used to convict Peltier was very controversial. For instance, three witnesses who claimed that Peltier was near the crime scene later recanted their statements, stating that the FBI had threatened them, tied them to chairs, and refused access to their attorney. An impartial expert also concluded that the cartridge from the gun that was used to kill the FBI agents did not come from Peltier’s rifle. In his 1999 memoir, Peltier admitted that he took part in the shoot-out but denied killing the FBI agents.
Peltier has received support from many, such as Nelson Mandela, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Mother Teresa, and Reverend Jessie Jackson. His supporters believe that his sentence was a political act of revenge following the American Indian Movement’s (AIM) struggle for self-determination during the 71-day takeover of Wounded Knee in 1973. Before being imprisoned, Peltier was an active member of AIM, an Indigenous rights advocacy group that campaigns against the racism and police violence experienced by American Indians.
Despite being eligible in 1993, Peltier has been consistently denied parole. He was denied clemency by President Barack Obama in 2017. Peltier ran for US President in 2004, winning the Peace and Freedom Party nomination, receiving 27,607 votes. 2020, he initially ran for Vice President before withdrawing due to health concerns.
“The only thing I am guilty of is struggling for my people,” he once said. However, sadly, Peltier faces the prospect of dying in prison.
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#NativeAmerican #LandBack #Indiginous
50 years ago today the US-backed fascist coup overthrew Salvador Allende in Chile. What is the legacy of the Popular Unity government and the coup it suffered? We spoke exclusively to Eduardo Artés of the Chilean Communist Party (Proletarian Action).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2SpiTR0YbBM
Watch our documentary to uncover the factors that led to this pivotal moment in shaping Latin America's history. Was Allende a revolutionary, or merely a reformist trying to change a reactionary system through reforms?
Watch Chile 1973: Reform or Revolution? here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=imgLGGLx7q0
#Chile50 #Pinochet #SalvadorAllende
German far-right MP Alice Weidel won’t “celebrate the defeat” of Nazi Germany – says the chairwoman of the Alternative for Germany (AFD).
Remarks like these aren’t uncommon for Weidel and the AFD, a party known for its nationalist rhetoric and antisemitic, Islamophobic, and outright fascist statements. For example, in 2017, Weidel tweeted about a “cult of guilt,” referring to celebrating the end of fascism in Germany. She has also portrayed her father as a victim of “the atrocities committed against the German population after WW2”.
Since its founding in 2013, the AFD has become incredibly popular, being one of the main opposition parties and holding 10% of the seats in the German parliament. Over the years, fascist elements inside the AFD have grown in power and assumed leadership. Recent polls have shown nationwide AFD support to be at least 20%, while support in local elections is at an all-time high. Even though the next federal election will take place in 2025, the AFD is ready to choose its candidate for the chancellorship, and the possibility of Weidel becoming the party’s candidate is relatively high.
https://void.cat/d/LwBqWAcfwkBK5sG2Z8RQ3K.mp4
#FarRight #AntiFascism #AntiAFD
46 years ago today, legendary South African anti-apartheid activist and socialist Steve Biko died alone naked in his prison cell in Pretoria. Although the racist apartheid authorities denied any wrongdoing, claiming Biko had died on hunger strike, an autopsy revealed that Biko had suffered an "extensive brain injury" leading to "acute kidney failure."
His funeral on 25 September 1977 took five hours and was attended by around 20,000 people. 1994, following the end of apartheid, five police officers appeared before the Truth and Reconciliation Commission requesting amnesty for their involvement in Biko's death. Although amnesty was refused in 1999, it was decided in 2003 that there was insufficient evidence to prosecute them.
Born in the Eastern Caper in December 1946, Biko was raised in a township and, in 1966, secured a scholarship to study at the University of Natal Medical School. Initially, Biko became active in the moderate Union of South African Students (NUSAS) before founding the all-Black South African Students' Organization(SASO) before its first president. SASO was based on Black consciousness, encouraging Black people to recognize their dignity and self-worth. As the concept of Black consciousness spread across South African universities, Biko became of the Black People's Convention, an umbrella organization for Black consciousness groups in 1972.
In 1973, Biko and four other members of SASO were banned. This meant that their associations, movements, and public statements were restricted. Biko went underground, was arrested multiple times, and held without trial for months. On 18 August 1977, Biko and his friend Peter Jones were seized at a roadblock and jailed in Port Elizabeth. On 11 September, he was driven 1,190 km to a prison hospital in Pretoria, where he tragically died the following day, aged only 30.
https://void.cat/d/7LbgmJj7Git6AzhhwEJotb.mp4
#PanAfrican #BlackHistory #AfricanHistory
September 11 marks the 50th anniversary of the U.S.-backed coup against elected socialist President Salvador Allende in Chile. Watch our documentary to uncover the factors that led to this pivotal moment in shaping Latin America's history. Was Allende a revolutionary, or merely a reformist trying to change a reactionary system through reforms?
The country's "Peaceful Road to Socialism" was ultimately crushed by the very state institutions and military that Chileans were told to trust. The aftermath led to more than 40,000 individuals being jailed and tortured, including 3,200 who were killed or disappeared. The junta executed and tortured Allende supporters in football stadiums and forced many into exile, initiating a 17-year fascist dictatorship.
red. Media explores how Allende's Popular Unity Coalition ignored the warning signs of the impending coup, as well as the growing calls from its supporters to go on the offensive against the right-wing counter-revolution. This oversight led to a missed opportunity to arm the working class against the reactionary bourgeoisie.
Watch Chile 1973: Reform or Revolution? here.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=imgLGGLx7q0
#Chile50 #Pinochet #SalvadorAllende
Leftist protesters stormed the General Cemetery in Santiago, where they set fire to the tomb of a key official from the fascist Pinochet dictatorship and destroyed the police mausoleum, ahead of the 50th anniversary of the fascist coup against the democratically elected self-proclaimed Marxist Salvador Allende.
Senator Jaime Guzman, one of Pinochet's most important allies and known as the "creator" of the fascist Pinochet constitution of 1980, is buried in the tomb. Guzman was considered a hardliner in terms of launching a counterinsurgency against revolutionary guerrillas during the Pinochet era, making him the target of an assassination attempt in 1991, when he was shot dead by the communist Manuel Rodriguez Patriotic Front.
Protesters also stormed the mausoleum of Chile's notorious anti-riot police Carabineros, who killed more than 30 protesters and arrested nearly 30,000 during the 2019 social unrest in Chile. The gravestones of dead Carabineros were smashed, and the walls were sprayed with anti-police slogans.
https://void.cat/d/FgHPJuURMSEopRNq1DxhgT.mp4
#Chile50 #AntiPolicia #Pinochet
Violent protests rocked Santiago de Chile on the eve of the 50th anniversary of the US-backed military coup that overthrew the democratically elected self-proclaimed Marxist Salvador Allende and brought fascist Augusto Pinochet to power. Protesters confronted Carabineros with Molotov cocktails, rocks, and anything else they could get their hands on.
Self-proclaimed leftist President Gabriel Boric, heavily criticized by leftists in Chile, initially joined the protests but distanced himself from the event when clashes broke out. Later, he went online saying, "I categorically condemn these events" and threatening that the protesters involved "must face the rule of law." Police forces arrested three people, according to their reports.
Clashes also broke out between Chile's notorious anti-riot police, called Carabineros, and protesters at Allende's grave, shelled with tear gas. The anniversary of the coup is accompanied by an annual day of struggle called Romería, which demands justice for the victims of the Pinochet era.
During Pinochet's 17-year rule, at least 40,000 people, mainly communists and their allies, were killed, imprisoned, tortured, or disappeared. Pinochet had close ties to the CIA and the White House and turned the country into a laboratory for neoliberalism.
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#Chile50
On this day in 1909, the iconic Ecuadorian communist, Indigenous leader, and feminist icon, Tránsito Amaguaña, was born.
Amaguaña's early life was rooted in the struggles of Indigenous workers on a ranch in the Ecuadorian countryside. In an era when peasants and workers were effectively bound to landowners as if they were slaves, she began working at just seven years old. At 14, she married an older man and became a mother at 15, eventually having four children with her alcoholic and abusive husband. Breaking norms of the time, she divorced him after the birth of her fourth child, a revolutionary decision for an Indigenous woman.
Becoming active in the Ecuadorian Socialist Party, Amaguaña emerged as a leader in the Indigenous movement against the powerful agrarian elite. Her participation included leadership in 26 Indigenous marches known as the "marches of Quito." She played a significant role in the historic 1931 Olmedo strike, the first strike by Indigenous people in Ecuador's history. During this period, her home was destroyed, forcing her to live in hiding for 15 years due to the threat of political persecution.
In 1944, she contributed to the founding of the Ecuadorian Indian Federation, and from 1946 onwards, she advocated for establishing bilingual Spanish-Quechua schools for rural children. 1961, she joined the Communist Party of Ecuador and traveled to Cuba and the USSR. Upon her return, she was unjustly accused of arms trafficking and imprisoned for four months.
Amaguaña continued her activism into her old age and passed away at 99, leaving a legacy of unwavering dedication to the rights and empowerment of Indigenous people and the working class.
https://void.cat/d/WR9K9SAmUk3eVARGhuPUzC.webp
#Comunismo #Marxismo #AbyaYala
As India hosts the G20 summit from September 8th to 10th, the poor of the capital city of Delhi have been swept under the rug. In a desperate attempt to demonstrate itself as a global superpower, the Narendra Modi-led BJP government is hiding slum dwellers from the view of foreign delegates.
In an attempt to hide the stark economic inequality, the government has also demolished over 1600 homes, leaving many residents homeless ahead of the summit. These disturbing tactics don’t just perpetrate exclusionary urban development policies but also reinforce the existing socio-economic inequalities.
Established in 1999, the G20 is an intergovernmental forum comprising 19 countries and the European Union. Member states include the world's largest economies including Global North and Global South countries. G20 countries make up 85% of the world's economic output and 75% of world trade.
This year's summit in Delhi is likely to be dominated by the war in Ukraine and attempts by Global North members to persuade those in the Global South to support Kyiv citing the disruptive influence the Russian invasion has had on the global food supply chain. However, Global South countries such as India are likely to raise the issues of rising food and energy prices as well as debt.
Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping won't be attending with foreign ministers Sergey Lavrov and Li Qiang deputizing. British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak who is of Indian heritage himself is likely to use the summit to increase efforts to establish a trade deal with India.
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/1mmNh6_kDHc
#G20India #G20 #NoG20
As anti-government protests resume in Kenya watch Communist Party of Kenya National Vice Chairperson Booker Ngesa Omole argue that Kenya only has 'two tribes' the 'haves and have-nots' and that the 'war we have in our country is a class war'. Booker also blasts President William Ruto for his decision to cut subsidies to Kenyans living in poverty as well as the subservience of the bourgeois Kenyan political class to international capitalist institutions like the IMF and The World Bank.
Booker argues that the recent protests in Kenya have been motivated by opposition to the 'rogue' IMF and The World Bank while proposed bipartisan talks will do nothing to help the plight of ordinary Kenyans. He also argues that Kenya is still haunted by neocolonial structures. Although the British white settlers left the country many years ago, they have been replaced by 'a Black oppressor'.
Multiple protests have broken out in Kenya about the ongoing cost of living crisis in the country since March. Protesters have been furious at the ending of subsidies and rising taxes imposed by President Ruto's government. For example, Ruto has removed fuel subsidies while doubling fuel levies and increasing taxes on basic commodities. Inflation has rapidly increased and the country is at risk of defaulting on its loans.
Ruto introduced this brutal austerity regime through the Finance Act which was backed by the US and the International Monetary Fund (IMF). Police have fired tear gas and live ammunition at protesters and according to Amnesty International, at least 30 protesters have been killed by the police since the protests began.
#KenyaProtests #NeoColonialism #PanAfrican
Did you know that during the Great Patriotic War against fascism, a Soviet city was cut off from the outside world for over 2 years? On this day 82 years ago on 8 September 1941, the German military cut the last remaining road the city of Leningrad had to the outside world. What followed was 872 days of heroic resistance by Soviet citizens but also unbearable hunger, despair, and cruelty as 1.5 million people died before the blockade was finally lifted on January 27, 1944.
Watch Lady Izdihar explain how the legendary Soviet armed forces liberated the city after one of the longest and most destructive sieges in history.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rCTakcLLHu4
#Leningrad #Soviet #WW2 #LeningradSiege
Happy Birthday, Ruby Bridges, whose age of 69 reflects just how close racial segregation in the US is to the past. At six years old, she was the first Black child to attend an all-white elementary school in the US South. On her first day, federal marshals with guns were needed to protect her from a crowd of adults screaming racial slurs, spitting, and waving Confederate flags. In her classroom, all her classmates withdrew or abandoned the class except for one teacher. Throughout the year, Ruby and the teacher were the only ones in the classroom. She refused unpackaged food due to poisoning threats.
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#BlackHistory #CivilRights #Racism
A year ago today Queen Elizabeth II died. Her death revived demands for reparations for the crimes of the British Empire. When Elizabeth II became queen in 1952 she ruled over more than a quarter of the world's population. The vast majority of these people had only ever known poverty, suffering, and death due to Britain.
Up to 100 million Africans were enslaved as part of the transatlantic slave trade between the 15th and 19th centuries. The British played a leading role in the abduction, enslavement, and trafficking of people from Africa. Britain rarely pays reparations unless it benefits the British ruling class. Soon after the abolition of slavery in 1833, Britain paid the equivalent of what today would be over $200 billion to "compensate" slave owners for their "lost property". Britain also forced China to pay reparations under the treaty that ended the First Opium War which Britain started in order to allow British capitalists to sell opium.
The treaty forced China to pay the equivalent of $780 million and to give Hong Kong to Britain. The transatlantic slave trade was key in building European wealth and the poverty of people in Africa and the Caribbean today.
While no amount of reparations will undo the evil and pain of slavery, however, Britain continues to ignore Jamaica's modest demand for $10.6 million. Although there haven't been any official demands from the Indian government there are increasing demands for reparations from Indians.
Indian economists estimate that Britain stole $45 trillion from India between 1765 and 1938 as the colonists turned one of the richest countries in the world into one of the poorest. A coalition of 15 Caribbean countries known as (CAIRCOM) where colonists stole resources and turned the countries into slave plantations are calling for reparations for genocide the transatlantic slave trade and the racialized system of chattel slavery. Of the 14 countries outside the UK that still have Charles III as their head of state known as Commonwealth Realms, at least 6 in the Caribbean have expressed a desire to become republics.
These countries would follow Barbados, which removed the queen as its head of state to become the newest republic in the Caribbean in November 2021.
Japan's Supreme Court has just ruled against an attempt by Okinawans to stop the construction of a new US Marine base in Henoko. This base is part of US efforts to contain China in the Indo-Pacific region and is replacing the Futenma air base which is dubbed the most dangerous in the world as it’s in a densely populated residential area.
72% of Okinawans voted against this new base in a 2019 referendum. Ever since, people in the Okinawa prefecture have been fighting through the courts to stop the construction of the base. There's been years of mass protests and hunger strikes by the local community against this.
This base will cause huge environmental damage to Okinawa. The construction will destroy coral reefs and sea grass and endangers the 5000 species of marine life. The effect will be felt all over the island because Henoko, where the base is being built, has soft soil so massive amounts of soil will taken from elsewhere in Okinawa in order to build runways.
Okinawans have a terrible relationship with US military personnel on the island. US officers have been involved in hundreds of serious crimes in the area, including the '1995 incident' in which three US marines kidnapped and raped a 12 year old Okinawan girl. This triggered mass protests and the subsequent plans to relocate the US base to the less populated area of Henoko.
#AntiWar #Imperialism #Okinawa
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