The portrayal of Scots as abolitionists and liberal champions hides a long history of Scottish profiting from the enslavement of Africans. The wealth accumulated from the exploitation of millions of men, women and children was a huge boon to Scotland’s cities, institutions and economy. This week’s Facts of the Week explores the shameful Scottish slaver past. COLONIAL AMBITIONS
Though ultimately unsuccessful, Scotland’s 1698 attempt to colonise Panama (through the so-called Darien Scheme)foreshadowed its later involvement in the exploitation of African labour

BUNCE ISLAND OPERATION
Scots turned Bunce Island in Sierra Leone into a significant slave-trading post, shipping (between 1728-1807) hundreds of thousands of Africans to the Americas (an estimated 50% of them died on the journey), where they would work on plantations that enriched Scottish merchants

TOBACCO AND COTTON LORDS
Over half of Britain’s tobacco imports came through Glasgow, a hub for the cotton and tobacco trade, which relied on enslaved labour in the Americas, largely controlled by Scottish merchants like Andrew Buchanan and John Glassford, who have streets in the city named after them

Botswana's political landscape has been reshaped as the ruling party, the Botswana Democratic Party (BDP), suffered a historic defeat after nearly 60 years in power. In a media conference held on the morning of 30 October, the incumbent president and BDP leader, Mokgweetsi Masisi, conceded defeat even before the final results were announced. As of 7 am local time, the BDP had only won one out of all the 36 parliamentary seats whose results had been announced. The main opposition party, the Umbrella for Democratic Change (UDC), led by lawyer and longtime opposition leader Duma Boko, had amassed 25 seats and was on track to hit the 31 seats threshold needed to form a government.

Masisi said he had called Boko to inform him that he was conceding defeat and ready to start the transition formalities at Boko's convenience.
While many had anticipated a close race, the BDP's defeat was a shock. The party's lengthy reign over the diamond mining nation, coupled with Botswana's relative economic stability, had led to expectations of a different outcome. Many can only speculate on the reasons that could have led to Masisi's humiliating defeat. One of the most apparent reasons is the downturn in the economy due to falling global demand for diamonds. Between January and September 2024, there was a 52 per cent decline in the sales of Botswana, partially attributed to the rising popularity of lab-grown artificial diamonds.

This has reduced government revenue, forcing it to cut social spending and struggle to create employment for its growing population.
Masisi's fallout with his former mentor and predecessor, Ian Khama, in 2019 led to the ruling party split that saw several BDP heavyweights move to Khama's new party, the Botswana Patriotic Front (BPF). This has taken away a significant number of votes from the BDP. Disagreement over the sharing of diamond revenue led to a protracted feud between the Masisi administration and the London-headquartered diamond miner and trader, DeBeers which has presided over Botswana's diamond industry since its inception in the late 60s through Debswana-a 50-50 joint venture between the two sides.

Masisi's list of foes went beyond Botswana's borders; earlier this year, he threatened to send 20,000 elephants to Germany in protest against that country's opposition to his decision to lift a ban on elephant trophy hunting. In 2019, Masisi lifted the ban that the Khama administration had put in place five years earlier. The decision set him on a collision course with conservation groups and Western governments, claiming the move would result in more poaching; Masisi countered that the country's elephant population had exploded to unsustainable numbers, increasing human-wildlife conflicts. His embrace of Zimbabwe's ruling Zanu-PF party, a longtime nemesis of Western countries such as the United States and the United Kingdom, also earned Masisi more enemies in the West.

At this stage, it is hard to tell which of these factors was the straw that broke the camel's back. Botswana’s President Mokgweetsi Masisi, on 1 November, conceded defeat in the 30 October elections.

U.S. FUNDED PROPAGANDA WAR AGAINST GOVERNMENT OF ZIMBABWE

Over a month ago, the US accused African Stream - without evidence - of being a Russian propaganda outfit. Since then, we’ve been banned by social media giants such as Google, Meta and TikTok. Yet the irony is that it’s actually Washington funding propaganda abroad - including in Africa.

Zimbabwe in particular has been in its sights. In the last two decades, Washington has pumped money into two radio stations that Harare accuses of being mediums of 'Western imperialist propaganda.'

The first is the now-defunct Short Wave (SW) Radio Africa, which broadcast from its London-based studios into Zimbabwe and other neighbouring countries from 2001 till 2013. The station's news and programmes were widely seen as biased towards the Western-aligned opposition party, Movement for Democratic Change. The government of Zimbabwe accused the station of having a 'regime-change agenda' at the behest of Western nations that had imposed economic sanctions on the Southern African country in the early 2000s in the wake of its land redistribution programme. A 2005 diplomatic cable from the US embassy made public by Wikileaks revealed that the station had received funding from the US government to enable it to carry out its broadcasts. The allegations of Western funding and a regime-change agenda were given further credence in 2014 when the station announced it was shutting down. In an interview with the BBC station, founder and manager, Gerry Jackson attributed the closure to the decision by 'donors' to turn off the money tap due to 'massive disarray' in the opposition camp. The second station is the Washington-based Voice of America Studio 7, which has been beaming its signal into Zimbabwe for over 20 years using a transmitter in neighbouring Botswana, an act that the government of Zimbabwe has in the past described as piracy and an attack on its sovereignty. Like SW Radio Africa, Studio 7's broadcasts have been highly critical of the Zimbabwean government. The US government wholly funds Studio 7 through the State Department's US Agency for Global Media, which, on its website, explicitly states that its mission is to ensure that 'the long-range interests of the United States are served by communicating directly with the peoples of the world by radio.'

The hypocrisy is clear: while funding media entities to spread its propaganda to African audiences, the US is using unfounded allegations to gag independent outlets such as ours from reaching our fellow Africans with a radical anti-imperalist and pan-african message.

Oliver Reginald Tambo, a man sometimes referred to as the 'other half' of South Africa's African National Congress (ANC) party, was born on this day in 1917 in today's Eastern Cape province in South Africa.

As a child, Tambo excelled academically and received a scholarship to study sciences and teaching at the University of Fort Hare - the only tertiary institution that admitted Black students. There he met and befriended a certain Nelson Mandela. The two set up South Africa's first Black-owned law firm and also helped set up the ANC's Youth League. The 1950s saw Tambo rise through the ranks of the ANC. In 1957, he became its vice president.

In the aftermath of the 1960 Sharpeville massacre, which saw 69 protesters gunned down by the police as they peacefully protested against the draconian Pass Laws, the ANC asked Tambo to go into exile and set up operations there. The main reason was that, shortly after the massacre, the apartheid regime banned the ANC, thereby making it illegal for it to operate openly. Tambo ended up spending three decades abroad.

LIBYA: NATO'S FAILED STATE

Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi was assassinated by NATO-backed rebels on this day in 2011. Here’s a look at how his removal changed the country from an African model of prosperity to a hellscape of terrorism, human trafficking and conflict - benefitting only the West.

A Thread 🧵

Tell us you don't know what Pan-Africanism is without telling us you don't know what Pan-Africanism is. And tell us you don't understand what anti-imperialism is without telling us you don't know what anti-imperialism is.

That’s basically what the Stanford Internet Observatory (@FSIStanford on X) did in a poorly put-together smear piece against African Stream. 🧵 In what they call an 'analysis,' Stanford scholars Shelby Grossman (@shelbygrossman on X) and David Thiel (@elegant_wallaby on X) quoted US Secretary of State Antony Blinken calling us 'Kremlin propagandists' and then spent the rest of the piece writing about us as if his statement was a matter of fact rather than an allegation provided without any evidence.

AFRICANS ACCUSED OF BEING SOVIET AGENTS

The ‘Red Scare’ in Africa refers to the period during the Cold War when African leaders, freedom fighters and political movements were accused of being agents of the Soviet Union. 🧵 This paranoia was largely driven by Western imperialist and capitalist nations, especially the US, seeking to maintain control over African resources and prevent the unification of Africa and the spread of Africa’s version of socialism.

U.S. COURT EXECUTES BLACK MAN

The US state of Missouri executed Marcellus 'Khaliifah' Williams (1968-2024) on 24 September, despite mounting evidence casting doubt on his guilt and the victim's family opposing the death sentence for Williams.  🧵 Forensic evidence, including DNA found on the murder weapon, did not match Williams, and the conviction relied on the testimony of incentivised informants, who were promised leniency in their criminal cases. Unreliable informant testimony is a major factor in wrongful convictions, especially in capital cases. Further, the jury that convicted him was predominantly white because the prosecutor removed six of seven qualified Black jurors during jury selection.

Williams, 55, had spent over 23 years on death row for the 1998 murder of a Missouri journalist. He faced legal battles, including two stays of execution in 2015 and 2017. Over time, he converted to Islam, became an imam in the prison and began writing poetry, including a recent one titled, 'The Perplexing Smiles of the Children of Palestine.'

On Monday, the Missouri Supreme Court agreed with Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey's rejection of Prosecuting Attorney Wesley Bell's attempt to bring a motion to commute Williams' death sentence to life without parole. On Tuesday, the US Supreme Court declined to intervene, leaving Williams to face death that evening.

WESTERN ATTEMPTS TO DESTROY PAN-AFRICANISM

Western powers have historically worked to undermine pan-African movements. African leaders and thinkers who dared to propose the idea of a unified continent were targeted, spied upon, imprisoned or killed, all in a bid to prevent Africa from rising as a global power. 🧵 Last week, African Stream, which fervently promotes the solidarity of African nations and people of African descent around the world - calling for an end to colonialism, neo-colonialism and imperialist control - got the same treatment.

African Stream is under attack! 🧵 Since our inception less than two years ago, we’ve attempted to reshape the narratives surrounding Africa and African people. In doing so, we seem to have upset some very powerful people.

The 32nd U.S President, Franklin D. Roosevelt, famously said: 'Judge me by the enemies I have made.'

We are not fans of Roosevelt, or any U.S president for that matter, but it is a good quote and one we couldn't agree with more.





So, when U.S-state funded Voice of America (VOA) wrote a smear piece attacking African Stream titled: “African Stream distorts U.S. military's mission in Somalia” we took it as a great compliment that our work is touching the right buttons and getting the attention of media outlets who receive funding from the world's greatest super power. Voice of America might as well be called Voice of the U.S government as it is funded by Global Media (USAGM), which gets its funding directly from the US Congress. It was also founded directly by former US President, Gerald Ford.

AFRICAN STREAM RESPONDS TO NBC ACCUSING US OF 'MISINFORMATION'

African Stream has been anticipating the day when self-appointed media watchdogs would come for us. 🧵 Well, America's National Broadcasting Company (@NBCNews ) recently had its knives out - after we were named in a new report by Onyx Impact as one of an number of platforms allegedly targeting Black communities with 'misinformation.'

Generations of Western archaeologists have for a long time overlooked the history of one of the greatest, earliest known civilisations in the world - the Kingdom of Kush - treating it as a mere appendage to Egypt, a mere footnote in the story of pyramids. Today, there is still much to learn about Kush. This week’s Facts of the Week cast light on the kingdom’s history and reveal just how advanced a civilisation in its own right it really was.

Mumia Abu-Jamal, a political prisoner, has been fighting to get out of prison for 42 years. His loved ones have attempted for several years to win his freedom so he can obtain medical treatment for a long-term deteriorating skin condition, as well as other ailments. They have accused the prison of medical neglect. Abu-Jamal became a Black Panther Party member at age 14 after white racists and a police officer assaulted him in 1968. During his time with the party, the FBI surveilled him through the Counterintelligence Program, better known as COINTELPRO. He then left the party in 1970.

Abu-Jamal started working for radio stations in 1975 and was recognised for reporting on the Philadelphia Police Department's harassment of the MOVE Black revolutionary group.

𝗪𝗛𝗘𝗡 𝗜𝗦𝗥𝗔𝗘𝗟 𝗔𝗧𝗧𝗔𝗖𝗞𝗘𝗗 𝗔𝗠𝗘𝗥𝗜𝗖𝗔

It’s hard to imagine, but Israel once attacked a US spy vessel - off the coast of Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula - using fighter jets and motor torpedo boats. It happened on June 8th, 1967, during the six-day Arab-Israeli war. Tel Aviv claimed it thought the boat belonged to Egypt (then The United Arab Republic) - one of the countries it was fighting.

.@african_stream is on the ground for #BRICSSummit2023.

Follow us for updates.

Here is a quick round-up of what was discussed yesterday and what has been said so far today 👇🏿🧵 South African Pres kicked it off yesterday with a statement that resonated with many of us in the room:

"African countries need to stop exporting rock and sand but export manufactured products" Cyril Ramaphosa

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Africa's Emerging Energy Producers

Significant oil and gas discoveries in Africa could soon see big money coming the continent’s way.

#oilandgas #gas #Africa #energy Africa already boasts major producers like Nigeria, Algeria and Libya. But new players are poised to join the party.

#oilandgas #Oil #Africa #Europe #Nigeria #Algeria #Libya

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Belgium's Hidden Holocaust in the Congo

This is the story of how Belgium’s Leopold II colonised, exploited, murdered, enslaved and maimed the people of the Congo - and how Brussels’ dark past is catching up with it today.

#DRCongo #Holocaust #Belgium Between 1885-1908, Belgium’s King Leopold II was responsible - directly or indirectly - for the deaths of 10-15mn people, in what’s today known as the Democratic Republic of Congo.

#imperialism #colonialism #history #kingleopoldII

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FRENCH CRIMES IN ALGERIA

“We did not choose the past.”

President Macron wants to distance himself from France's colonial past. However, the crimes committed in Algeria over a period of 132 years have not been forgotten and Paris still does not want to apologise. During Algeria’s war of independence (1954 - 1962), 1.5-million Algerians lost their lives seeking freedom.

#Africa #Colonialism #imperialism #IndependenceDay

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WHOSE PYRAMIDS WERE BUILT FIRST?

Sudan is home to more ancient pyramids than its neighbour Egypt! Despite years of tampering and looting, these unique pyramids still stand tall today. So which ones are older and hold more secrets of the African continent?

#Sudan The Nubian people are to thank - an ancient community living by the Nile since 5,000 BC. They once ruled both Egypt and Sudan in what is known as the Kush Kingdom.

#pyramids #Sudanese #sudanesenews #Egypt #History

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Burkina Faso’s Thomas Sankara was in power for only four years (1983 - 1987).

But his words, ideas and policies made him one of the most revered revolutionary symbols of anti-imperialism and Pan-Africanism. Sankara renamed his country from Upper Volta, its French colonial name, to Burkina Faso - the land of upright people.