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Cynthia McKinney on Obama, Africa and fake change
April 21, 2013
Secretary of State John Kerry made headlines this week when he suggested, at a House Foreign Affairs Committee hearing, that President Obama might soon be visiting Africa. Kerry gave no details about when or which countries. KPFA’s Ann Garrison spoke to former Georgia Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney about the president’s relationship to the continent of his father’s birth.
India emerges as leader in 21st century ‘Scramble for Africa’
March 20, 2013
“Africa shining” is just as potent a mirage as “India shining”; the shine is restricted to the economic and political elite on both sides of the Indian Ocean. African leaders – both elected politicians and traditional chiefs share the responsibility for allowing the pillage of their continent in the name of economic growth and development.
‘African Independence’ doc: an interview wit’ filmmaker Tukufu Zuberi
March 8, 2013
“African Independence,” a film that discusses true African liberation, colonialism and neo-colonialism with many of Africa’s former leaders – colonialists and revolutionaries alike – will be screened at the Oakland International Film Fest on April 6 at 5 p.m. at the San Leandro Performance Arts Theater. Check out filmmaker Tukufu Zuberi in his own words …
‘Mugabe: Hero or Villain’: an interview wit’ filmmaker Roy Agyemang
March 3, 2013
Roy Agyemang is a Ghanaian filmmaker from London who recently made the documentary film “Mugabe: Hero or Villain?” an in-depth look at Robert Mugabe, president of Zimbabwe. It recently screened at the Pan African Film Fest and won an award, and it will be screening in the Bay opening night at the Oakland International Film Fest at 6 p.m. on Thursday, April 4, at the Grand Lake Theater in Oakland.
Conversation with international film director Jean Pierre Bekolo
May 28, 2012
In the midst of the Dallas Film Society’s International Film Festival in April, Southern Methodist University hosted the 38th African Literature Association Conference that feted celebrated international film director Jean Pierre Bekolo. Inspired by Spike Lee, Bekolo says Lee “gave me the vision that I could do this thing, that I could film from the perspective of Africa.”
Wanda’s Picks for April 2012
April 4, 2012
The Oakland International Film Festival is Friday-Sunday, April 6-8, at the Oakland Museum of California, 10th and Oak Street, Oakland. Visit http://www.oiff.org/2012schedule.pdf. This year’s headliner is one of the most controversial independent films ever made, “The Spook Who Sat by the Door.” Watch it again here.
Should Africa be an ally of the West or China? The case of Cameroon and Côte d’Ivoire
December 27, 2011
The past 12 months were very intense on the African continent. Some important elections stirred up a whole lot of interests. Shared zones of influence are being renegotiated between the old powers of the world, the Western powers, and the new power, China.
Imperialism will be buried in Africa
September 20, 2011
The North Atlantic tribes, under the banner of NATO, and their Arab flunkies are lining up for a showdown in Sirte. Muammar Qaddafi and the Al Fateh revolutionary forces remain defiant and have issued statements saying that they will never surrender.
Seeing no evil in the Congo
August 19, 2011
Do you have a smart phone? A laptop? Then you play a role in the violence that occurs in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Cell phones, laptops and other electronics don’t work very well without the mineral, coltan. In the Democratic Republic of Congo, poor farmers are gathered by armed gangs and enslaved to dig coltan out of the ground.
‘In tha Wind’: an interview wit’ Memphis based rapper Powwah
July 12, 2011
Powwah and his family are some of the people that I check in with when I am in the Memphis area. Besides being one of the most politically educated entrepreneurs that I know, Powwah makes music. His new album, “In tha Wind,” is Southern conscious rap at its finest with precise lyrical content and the type of production that we traditionally think of when we think of bar-b-cues and Southern Comfort.
Open Letter from an African to American President Barack Obama on the war in Libya
July 8, 2011
It is with a heavy heart that I am writing this letter to appeal to you to take heed of the message that the House of Representatives sent out to Americans on June 24 by rejecting the text authorizing U.S. military intervention in Libya and ending the on-going attacks against the Libyan people with the most extravagant excuses, like the attacks are there to protect them.
Barack Obama: Africa’s friend or enemy?
June 28, 2011
President Obama, who many expected to bring peace and civility, has become a warmonger. His predecessor, George Bush, created so much animosity in the world … So naturally, the world expected Obama to be different. Sadly, this hasn’t been the case.
War on Libya is war on Africa
June 4, 2011
Gerald Perreira has lived and worked in Libya as an organizer and journalist and has been giving regular reports to Block Report Radio and the San Francisco Bay View newspaper. It is important to develop our own media and experts who can speak from an African perspective.
Cynthia McKinney: We are here because we love humankind
May 27, 2011
How wonderful to be at a conference (the International Conference on Global Alliance Against Terrorism for a Just Peace in Tehran, Iran) where the word “love” is used; we are here because we love humankind. We are here from all corners of the earth; we are against terrorism; we want peace.
Malcolm and the music
May 19, 2011
El-Hajj Malik El-Shabazz (Malcolm X), born 86 years ago on May 19, 1925, was loved by the oppressed and hated by the oppressors. Our “Black Shining Prince,” in the words of Ossie Davis, aimed to “use whatever means necessary to bring about a society in which the 22 million Afro-Americans are recognized and respected as human beings.” His influence is immeasurable – from music to foreign policy to religion. Today Islam, followed then by very few, is the second largest religion in the United States and Canada.
Hiding Africa’s looted funds: Silence of Western media
March 26, 2011
There has not been any concrete effort to expose the banks that collude and connive with corrupt leaders who are impoverishing the people. No effort has been made by the political elite in Europe and America to force the banks to return these stolen monies to the poorest of the poor.
Libya, getting it right: a revolutionary pan-African perspective
March 8, 2011
There is no possibility of understanding what is happening in Libya within a Eurocentric framework. Libya’s system and the battle now taking place on its soil stands completely outside of the Western imagination. The battle that is being waged in Libya is fundamentally a battle between pan-African forces on the one hand, who are dedicated to the realization of Qaddafi’s vision of a united Africa, and Libyan Arab forces who look toward Europe and the Arab world for Libya’s future.
Ted Pontiflet says farewell to Oakland
November 26, 2010
Ted Pontiflet is an Oakland icon. He is East Coast swing meets West Coast bop. Classy. The man is too smooth to be close to 80. Ted is around until Dec. 1 and then away he goes.
The natural mystique: an interview wit’ natural hair stylist Camille
November 16, 2010
Self-love is the first and most important love that an individual or a community can have. Without it, self-hatred develops. And I believe that our community is crawling out of the cave of self-hatred with more women desiring to do their hair naturally, and more men desiring women who are not afraid of their natural beauty.
Congo Week: an interview wit’ Kambale Musavuli, spokesman for Friends of the Congo
October 20, 2009
Coltan is a mineral necessary for making electronic things work – like cellphones, ipods, PS3s and laptops. Over 6 million Congolese have been murdered to assure that the corporations and governments involved have a corner on the market for the minerals that the Congo produces. This is “Break the Silence” Congo Week. Check out the events and get involved!