A blog about African history, and heritage, through audio and video files.
Author: Dr. Y.
I am an African in love with the history of the world, and particularly that of Africa. I am a child of love, an artist, a scientist, a lover, a friend, a human.
I am in love with nature and beautiful things, art, history, geography, travel, dance, food, science, and technology, and much more.
Google Doodle of 28 August 2020 commemorating Alexandre Dumas (Source: Google)
Today I am happily surprised by the Google Doodle of the day which commemorates the French writer Alexandre Dumas, the author of The Three Musketeers and The Count of Monte Cristo, to name just a few of his works. In the Doodle he is clearly depicted as a Black man! Why does it matter? Do you know how long it has taken for him to be recognized as so? Do you know that it took over 100 years for Alexandre Dumas, the most read French writer to be buried at the Pantheon? just because of the color of his skin! It is only in 2002 that, then French president Jacques Chirac had Dumas’ body exhumed and then enterred at the pantheon! The most prolific French writer of all times!
Please check out the article I wrote about this great man a few years ago:
La parole des vieux ne doit pas être deshonorée – après tout, ils ont vu le soleil en premier (Proverbe San – Namibie, Botswana, Afrique du Sud, Angola, Zimbabwe)
Old people’s speech is not to be dishonored—after all, they saw the sun first (San proverb – Namibia, Botswana, South Africa, Angola, Zimbabwe).
The guts of these people sometimes! How can Germany after killing, and exterminating the Herero and San people of Namibia, thus perpetrating the First Genocide of the 20th Century, dare offer 10 million Euros for compensation to the Namibian government? Such an insult! Germany must really think that Namibians, Africans, are nobodies, below sub-humans… because it is quite unbelievable! They have almost eradicated an entire race, and to this day, Namibia is struggling because of this. And they give 10 million Euros? 10 millions Euros for torturing, killing, raping, destroying, displacing for years? Do you think they could have dared to make such an offer if the Namibians were Jews? This money is not even what they give as compensations to victims (and sometimes only one) during lawsuits against big companies. I clap for the Namibian government, and hope that they stand their ground; the rest of Africa is watching them! Excerpts below are from an article on the Guardian.
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Flag of Namibia
Namibia has rejected a German offer of compensation for the mass murder of tens of thousands of indigenous people more than a century ago.
German occupiers in Namibia almost destroyed the Herero and Nama peoples between 1904 and 1908 as they consolidated their rule in the new colony in south-west Africa. Some historians have described the bloodshed as the first genocide of the 20th century.
The two countries have been discussing an agreement on an official apology from Germany and an increase in development aid, but the talks appear now to be running out of momentum.
Namibia’s president, Hage Geingob, said on Tuesday that the most recent offer “for reparations made by the German government … is not acceptable” and needed to be “revised”.
Chained (by German forces) Herero men
No details were provided on Berlin’s proposal, but unconfirmedmedia reportshave referred to a sum of €10m.
…. Other countries in Africa are watching the negotiations between Namibia and Germany closely as they consider launching their own efforts to gain compensation for the violence and theft of decades of European rule.
Ibrahim Boubacar Keita, affectionately known as IBK, has been booted out of office on Tuesday of this week. The prime minister and the president (IBK) were taken from the office and held by the military. It has been months that the population of Mali was asking for him to leave because, as a puppet of France, he was not doing anything to help the situation of Malians, and nothing while the country was getting split into two by jihadjist forces funded by the West, and foreign forces on Malian soil, and the poverty. We salute the work of the Malian army which heard the cry of the population, and ousted the impostor.
Flag of Mali
The opposition coalition has called for a rally today, Friday, to celebrate IBK’s departure. Meanwhile, France (the puppet master) and its croonies (the international community) have been screaming against the departure of their puppet. The Malian people need to be extra vigilant that their movement and freedom is not hijacked yet again by France to place another version of IBK. A luta continua e la vitoria e certa!
“Did you ever see a chameleon catch a fly? The chameleon gets behind the fly and remains motionless for some time, then he advances very slowly and gently, first putting forward one leg and then the other. At last, when well within reach, he darts his tongue and the fly disappears. England is the chameleon and I am that fly.” King Lobengula
Did you guys hear about the government of Zimbabwe agreeing to compensate white farmers the hefty sum of 3.5 billion dollars? I was shocked! When there is barely any money in the country, and the economy is in shambles, how can the government agree to this? Moreover, did these white farmers ever compensate the Africans after independence in 1980 for using their lands for a century, for abusing them off their lands? And for all the years of economic embargo forced on the country? Lastly, the clause is set so that the country will be paying this debt forever… 12 months to raise half of the money when the country is on life support? This is so disgusting, Robert Mugabe must be rolling in his grave!
Flag of Haiti
So my question is, is Zimbabwe the new Haiti? Remember how Haiti was made to pay France for over a century because of their freedom (When France extorted Haiti, the greatest heist in history)? Because the past slaves had beaten the masters, they were forced to pay France for over a century the hefty sum of 90 million goldfrancs (equivalent to 21 billion U.S. dollars in today’s money – when Jean-Bertrand Aristide requested reparations, he was ousted) after winning its freedom from France…? And this is why Haiti is so poor! Imagine this: Someone abuses you for years, not to say decades and generations, you finally free yourself, and now you are forced to compensate them because you freed yourself through a ruthless battle from their years of inhumanity. How fair is that? We must be living in a different type of world, because I just don’t understand the logic! Now, it would seem to be Zimbabwe’s turn?
I have always been skeptical of Mnangagwa… but now it has been fully confirmed! When I see this, I wonder why Africa’s leadership is so full of traitors, collabos, and haters of their own people! This will be the topic for another day. Excerpts below are from the CNN article of July 29, 2020.
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Zimbabwe’s government signed an agreement Wednesday worth $3.5 billion to compensate white farmers who were evicted from their land during a controversial and often violent land redistribution program in the early 2000s under former President Robert Mugabe.
“This momentous occasion is historic in many respects, brings both closure and a new beginning in the history of the land discourse in our country Zimbabwe,” said current President Emmerson Mnangagwa, after signing the agreement at State House with Andrew Pascoe, the president of the Commercial Farmers Union of Zimbabwe….
According to the agreement, 50 percent of the $3.5 billion would be paid with 12 months from the day of signing, while the balance is paid within five years.
Economists agree that the Zimbabwean government, cash strapped after years of hyper-inflation and allegations of mismanagement [and economic embargo imposed by Western powers], cannot afford to make the compensation.
In a statement, the Finance Ministry said that they will be issuing long term bonds and that the parties will approach international donors to try and raise the funds.
I always loved the sound of the name Bulawayo, the second largest city in Zimbabwe, after the capital Harare, and the largest city in the country’s province of Matabeleland. BU-LA-WA-YO… Doesn’t it roll on your tongue? Doesn’t it sound like thunder ? … like something big must have happened there? Well, …
Flag of Zimbabwe
Bulawayo was founded by the Ndebele king, Lobengula, son of Mzilikazi, when he settled in Zimbabwe in the 1840s, after the Ndebele’s people great trek from northern Kwazulu, in South Africa. The name Bulawayo comes from the Ndebele word bulalawhich translates to “the one to be killed.” It is said that at the time of the city’s founding, there was a civil war due to a kingship succession dispute. The dispute was between Mbiko ka Madlenya Masuku, a trusted confident of King Mzilikazi and leader of the Zwangendaba regiment, and Prince Lobengula who he (Mbiko Masuku) thought was not a legitimate heir because Lobengula was the son of the king born to a Swazi mother, of a lesser rank.
King Lobengula of Matabeleland
At the time Lobengula, was a prince fighting to ascend the throne of his father Mzilikazi. It was common at the time for people to refer to Bulawayo as “KoBulawayo UmntwaneNkosi“, “a place where they are fighting or rising against the prince” or the “the place where the prince shall be slain“. The city of Bulawayo coincidentally has the same name as the capital of the great Zulu warrior king Shaka ka Senzangakhona in Kwazulu, where Mzilikazi and his Khumalo clan and other Nguni people came from.
In the 1860s, the city was highly coveted by Europeans, because of its land, wealth, and strategic location. Cecil Rhodes tried different tactics to trick King Lobengula. Lobengula once described Britain as a chameleon and himself as the fly. The fact that Lobengula was a force to reckon with is not to be ignored. Cecil Rhodes himself confided to Rothschild saying, “I have always been afraid of the difficulty of dealing with the Matabele King. He is the only block to central Africa, as, once we have his territory, the rest is easy … the rest is simply a village system with separate headmen …” So trickery was the only resort for Rhodes in order to get Lobengula. Thus, the treacherous Rudd Concession – 30 October 1888 (British Colonial Treaties in Africa: The Ruud Concession in Zimbabwe 30 Oct 1888).
Cecil Rhodes
During the 1893 Matabele War, British South Africa Company (BSAC) troops invaded and forced King Lobengula to evacuate, after first detonating munitions and setting fire to the town. BSAC troops and white settlers occupied the ruins. On 4 November 1893, Leander Starr Jameson declared Bulawayo a settlement under the rule of the British South Africa Company. Cecil Rhodes ordered the new settlement to be founded on the ruins of Lobengula’s royal kraal,a typical action by a conquering power. This is where the State House stands today.
The principal street of Bulawayo in 1905
Historically Bulawayo has been the principal industrial centre of Zimbabwe (former Southern Rhodesia – after Cecil Rhodes); its factories produce cars and car products, building materials, electronic products, textiles, furniture, and food products. Bulawayo is also the hub of Zimbabwe’s rail network and the headquarters of the National Railways of Zimbabwe. Thus its nickname: “City of Kings” and also “kontuthu ziyathunqa” – meaning “smoke arising” in Ndebele, because of its large industrial base, and the large cooling towers of its coal-powered electricity generating plant situated in the city center which once used to exhaust steam and smoke. Today, as the rest of Zimbabwe, it slowly pushes through the steam.
Well, if you visit the city of Kings, remember King Lobengula, remember his fire, and his fight for his people’s freedom from western domination… remember the greatness of the Ndebele king, and remember the fire that burns dormant in the people of Bulawayo, fanned by their ancestors. Enjoy the video below on Bulawayo.
For the past few years, we have been told about Silicon Valley sponsoring African startups and promoting technology in Africa. Like many, we were happy. However, a recent article by the Guardian sheds lights on the fact that even though Silicon Valley is sponsoring African Startups, it is sponsoring African startups owned by non-Africans!!! Interesting right? That means Silicon Valley is not actually sponsoring “African”-owned startups but non-African owned startups… so much for that! For the full article, go to The Guardian.
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American venture capital and private equity is dominating Africa, but it’s mostly funding other white foreign founders as black entrepreneurs struggle to raise financing.
… North America-headquartered investors accounted for 42% of all African venture capital deals in the last five years, according to theAfrican Private Equity and Venture Capital Association. Only 20% of venture cash came from Africa-based investors, forcing the continent’s entrepreneurs to seek support from westerners.
Of the top 10 African-based startups that received the highest amount of venture capital inAfricalast year, eight were led by foreigners, the Guardian’s analysis of public data revealed.
In Kenya, for instance, only 6% of startups that received more than $1m in 2019 were led by locals, aViktoria Ventures analysis found. In Nigeria, 55% of the big money deals went to local founders and 56% for South Africa.
Silicon Savannah
Global heavyweights such as Goldman Sachs, Stanford University, Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, Andreessen Horowitz and Sequoia Capital have all invested in startups started by white founders in Africa more frequentlythan they have invested in firms led by black Africans.
… A white founder is 47,000% more likely to be funded in Kenya than in the US, the Seattle-based author and entrepreneur Roble Mussecalculated based on 2018 disclosures. White people make up less than 1% of the population. He discovered that 65% of expatriate founders – mainly from the US, the UK, Italy, Denmark and Germany – had not even lived in Kenya before they started their companies. …
American venture capital and private equity is dominating Africa, but it’s mostly funding other white foreign founders as black entrepreneurs struggle to raise financing.
African Heritage 