Cinema, Kanpur, Varanasi, Engineering, ITBHU, BHU, Books, Coaching Mandi, IIT Varanasi, Doordarshan,Teen Taal, Autobiographical, Culture, Society,

The former liberation movements of southern Africa – the ANC in South Africa, SWAPO in Namibia, the MPLA in Angola, among others – have gathered in South Africa under the lofty theme: “Defending the Liberation Gains, Advancing Integrated Socio-Economic Development, Strengthening Solidarity for a Better Africa.” On paper, it sounds noble. In reality, it reeks of irony. For decades, these movements carried the dreams of their people, leading struggles that dismantled colonialism and apartheid. They promised freedom, prosperity, and dignity. Today, however, many citizens look at them and ask: What liberation gains are left to defend? Liberation vs. Governance The transition from liberation movement to modern political party has been dismal. Rather than evolving into democratic, citizen-focused organizations, many have remained trapped in the rhetoric of struggle while presiding over failing states. Corruption has eaten through their ranks, trickling down into the very governments they control. Public trust has eroded. The ANC, once the beacon of African liberation, is now tethered to power through an “unhappy marriage” – a coalition with its political nemesis, the Democratic Alliance. It is a partnership born not out of vision, but out of desperation to cling to authority. The Namibian Case Closer to home, SWAPO, the pride of Namibia’s liberation, has watched its once unshakable two-thirds majority crumble. The 2024 elections forced the party into survival mode, barely holding onto power. President [NNN] inherited a weakened mandate and a Parliament short on capable allies. Her cabinet, by many accounts, is not her ideal team but the only one available given SWAPO’s reduced strength. To her credit, she battles valiantly with the hand she has been dealt – yet the cracks in the system are glaring. Socio-economic development has stagnated. Youth unemployment festers. Corruption scandals linger. And the gap between promise and delivery widens by the day. The Lost Moral Compass There was a time when African leadership was anchored in moral clarity and selfless service. Leaders like Samora Machel, Sam Nujoma, Julius Nyerere, Robert Mugabe (in his early years), and Nelson Mandela embodied principled governance. They were not perfect, but they stood for something bigger than themselves. Today’s liberation movements often stand for staying in power – at any cost. The moral compass has been replaced by political expediency. Have They Run Out of Ideas? The summit’s theme speaks of “advancing socio-economic development” and “strengthening solidarity.” Yet, these are the very areas where liberation parties have failed. If after decades in power they still need to “discuss” these issues, what does that say about their ability to deliver? More troubling is the question of generational transition. Most of these parties are led by aging elites clinging to liberation credentials while failing to resonate with the young. The youth – who never experienced the struggle – are demanding jobs, innovation, and a voice in shaping their future. They are met with slogans from the past and leaders who seem stuck in yesterday. Another Talk Shop? Will this summit produce anything beyond a glossy communiqué? History suggests not. These gatherings have become ritualistic talk shops – high on rhetoric, low on tangible outcomes. Meanwhile, ordinary Africans wait for the “better Africa” that never comes. The Hard Questions As these liberation movements pat each other on the back, citizens must ask: * Have these movements outlived their usefulness? * Are they capable of reinventing themselves to meet the challenges of today? * Or are they relics of a glorious past, now stumbling toward irrelevance? The sad truth is that liberation history, however heroic, cannot forever be a license to govern. The people will not eat slogans. They need jobs, security, and leaders who govern with integrity. Until these parties confront their failures, embrace generational change, and put citizens before power, summits like this one will remain what they have become: empty political theatre. The liberation was won decades ago. The question now is: who will liberate us from the liberators?

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Kae Matundu Tjiparuro IT is mindboggling how many times African leaders have to read the writing on the wall, which has been there since the days Imperialism and Colonialism, for them to realise that they are on their own. Regarding steering and shepherding African societies towards genuine economic emancipation and/or the whatever after Kwame Nkurumah’s political kingdom which all of the African countries have obtained. But since the dawn of political kingdoms not much have been happening and is happening to reach what should be the promised land. Economic emancipation.  That few if any of these countries can ever claim to have attained, let alone if only having moved be it a quarter and/or halfway towards it. With many of them remaining stuck in the political kingdom and to and for whom the nominal political kingdom now seeming to have become the destination.   With the would-be liberators and emancipators now willing, obedient and benign  hitchhikers in the vehicles  driven by former colonisers, today’s so-called development partners. While these development partners are no more than like in the colonial era nothing else but front women and men for Capitalism.  With the destination crystal clear, which is and has been no more and no less than Capitalism.  Living in its throes, that is after the extraction of raw minerals, the communities from where extractions are taking place and have been taking place, at best impoverished communities and at worst communities in ruins, ravaged by internecine wars fueled by the very same masters of Capitalism pretending to be development partners-cum-philanthropists.  This Capitalist template, which has been playing and recurring all over Africa, and to which African has lately been reawakening as exemplified by Burkina Faso under her leader Ibrahim Traore, has lately been flagrantly applied to the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). Where Capitalism’s present day foremost overlord, Donald Trump, President of the United States of America (USA), himself a warmonger as proven recently  with his ordering and commandeering of the bombardments  against the Islamic Republic of Iran, has proven.  All in the name of incapacitating Iran in terms of her nuclear capability. While it is known  and has been known that the USA’s actions against Iran are orchestrated by her ongoing trade wars with China. China, with Brazil, India and South Africa, in the emerging economic bloc of Brics, are destined to break America’s economic  stranglehold,  whereby the world has been beholden in transacting trade in the US Dollar. The finer points of the so-called peace deal between the DRC and Rwanda are yet to be known and seen for  what they are. But it is not difficult to know and seen that it has all the hallmarks of Trump’s, to make America Great Again. By continuing to siphon off the rich mineral resources of the DRC in the best interest of the USA. Because Trump has not been mincing his words that the interests of America and the American people come first. Not only this but he is and has been ready to make America Great Again by any means necessary. Hence her wars being currently fought on her behalf in the Middle East by Israel.  While that being the case African leaders have never been losing any opportunity to cow and pamper themselves to Imperialist countries. Not only this but condoning everything that the Capitalist  countries do. Which has been exclusively in the interests of these countries and their people. And never to the mutual benefit of the South, let alone Africa. While pretending any deals the North is and has been striking with the South, including with Africa, has been dangled in the African faces as in their best interests. While it is and has been clear to Africa that whatever the Imperialist Capitalist countries do with regard to especially Africa, and the whole so-called developing world, is only siphoning off the natural resources of these countries with little if any benefit at all to the countries naturally endowed with these natural resources. Which practically speaking the African countries do not own but are owned by multinational corporations from the metropoles of the Capitalist countries.  The latest case in point being the “deal” which the US President apparently brokered between the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC)  and Rwanda. It seems for the USA and fellow Capitalist countries African natural resources and the extraction thereof is legitimate and beneficial to African when it is being done by them but not by the Africans themselves and fellows. Just like in the case of Rwanda which is and has been accused to fueling the internecine war in the DRC to its own benefit because of the rich endowment with natural resources. It is only baffling how and why one African country cannot and should not benefit from the resources of a neighbour. Is this not what trade between and within African should and must be all about as per the African Continental Free Trade Area?  Which is all about the creation of a single market for goods and services facilitated by the movement of persons in order to deepen the economic integration of the African continent. Surely Africa’s natural resources must also be part of this equation. For what could is the agreement without keeping the continent’s natural resources within the continent. Extracting and processing them within for the benefit, foremost, of the continent’s people. This is why all over the world there are regional economic blocs. To ensure that natural resources are to the benefit of the respective regional constituents and their peoples.  But when it comes to Africa, it is and has been clear that the beneficiaries has been more, if not only so, the Capitalist countries and their peoples. While Africans have been grossly short-changed if not overly exploited. Yet Africa has been eagerly clamouring for the others’ economic blocs instead of cementing their own. The purpose of the other economics blocs which have not been well meant but to continue to plunder African natural resources thereby continuing to under-develop the continent. A case in point being the European Union relationship with Africa. That has been pretended to help Africa industrialise. More than 60 years after, there’s nothing to this effect that African can be proud of in terms of its strides towards industrialisation. Yet the chorus remains industrialisation which nowadays have been re-coined to scupper Africa’s industrialisation dream. To replace it with beneficiation. Meaning continuing to serve Africa with crumbs from its own natural resources.

The belief in Western superiority—rooted in centuries of colonial dominance, military power, and economic control—continues to shape how the United States and Europe engage with the world. These nations often see themselves not as equal participants in a shared global system, but as exceptional actors, entitled to privileges that others are denied. This worldview, built ... The post Western Exceptionalism and the Politics of Privilege and Punishment first appeared on street art united states.

In 1971, when I eagerly returned to Pakistan to serve there as a cardiovascular surgeon, I found the country was still shackled with British rules and

The Uukwambi royal family is calling for the restoration of kingship, saying the position has remained vacant since colonial rule. The Uukwambi last had a chief in 1932 after chief Iipumbu ya Tshilongo was abducted by South African authorities. They are now under the chieftanship of Herman Iipumbu, who yesterday told The Namibian he has been at the helm of the traditional authority for 40 years. Johaness Tshalonda, who claims to be a member of the royal family, yesterday said although the family wants the Uukwambi to have a chief, they are not pushing for Iipumbu’s removal. “He is our family member. He is our father. Silas Iipumbu was my grandfather and we are not saying he should be removed. We are saying the vacant position of a king that exists in Uukwambi should be filled. “We are a peaceful group. We are not terrorists. We want the king to be installed peacefully, and we are going to discuss it with chief Iipumbu,” he said. Tshalonda said the family had written a letter to Iipumbu. Uukwambi Royal Council chairperson Anna Festus in a statement says Uukwambi headmen are from Iipumbu ya Tshilongo’s bloodline. “We thus regard the restoration of the Uukwambi kingship to be long overdue after more than 35 years of independence from colonial rule.” Festus also addresses the controversy surrounding a planned event in August 2024 at Okakango Ka Abed Ha Kandongo, which was intended to commemorate the 1932 bombing of Iipumbu’s palace. “It is important to emphasise that the commemoration was meant to be a family event and not an Aakwambi event,” the release states. According to Festus, they invited the Uukwambi Traditional Authority (UTA) to attend the commemorative event. However, the authority declined the invitation, citing a prior commitment to a Roman Catholic Church centennial event at Oshikuku. The UTA also took legal action to stop the event. “The Uukwambi royal family nevertheless proceeded with preparations, only to be issued a letter from Sisa Namandje lawyers, threatening to get a court interdict prohibiting further attempts to go ahead with the preparations.” The case ended up in court, where a ruling favoured the UTA. The royal family was ordered to pay legal costs, which they say have been “fully settled”. The UTA in court documents accuses the royal family of attempting to “illegally appoint and install the king for Uukwambi” and claims the event could incite violence. The family dismisses the allegations as “fabrications”. “Even though the invitation to the Okakango Ka Abed Ha Kandongo event to UTA came from the royal family, they opted to take individuals to court, arguing they unlawfully represent the Uukwambi traditional community.” Iipumbu declined to comment on the matter yesterday. The post Uukwambi royal family calls for restoration of kingship, vacant since 1932 under colonial rule appeared first on The Namibian.

Reps Khanna, Jackson Push Back On Trump On South Africa.