'ALLIANCE OF SAHEL STATES IS A BEACON OF HOPE'
The historic Conference in Solidarity with the Peoples of the Sahel took place 19-21 November in Niamey, the capital of Niger. Hundreds of participants gathered at the Mahatma Gandhi International Conference Centre from popular movements and organisations across Africa, Asia, Latin America and the United States to express solidarity with the people of the Sahel, an arid region south of the Sahara Desert.
In a powerful speech during the event, Jonis Ghedi Alasow, the executive director of Pan-Africanism Today, coordinator of its secretariat and one of the conference organisers, described the Alliance of Sahel States (AES) as a beacon of hope for states that were once under France's oppressive rule. However, even after the end of formal colonialism, most French-speaking African countries were forced to use the France-controlled CFA franc currency.
Between 2021 and 2023, Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger—with the support of their populations—expelled Western-aligned governments through coups d’état and demanded the withdrawal of French troops from their territories. These countries faced isolation from their Western-aligned neighbours, particularly the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), which imposed sanctions in response. To further defend their territories against the scourge of terrorism that Western military occupations had not stopped, Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger united to form the AES confederation, an anti-imperialist bloc that shares defence, economic and foreign policies. It plans to move toward becoming a federation, with the goal of continental unification.
The conference symbolised hope in the ongoing struggle against neocolonialism in Africa’s Sahel region and throughout Africa, igniting the spirit of revolution among African peoples.
Video credit: @peoplesdispatch (x)
Corporate media offers a helpful reminder: when 13 million of your voters stay home, it’s because they’ve suddenly become too sexist, or racist, or left-wing, or anti-genocide. … or something. Nothing to do with the Democrats’ "flawless campaign.”
@vonderleyen@MinPres The highest-ranking European official was outraged over ten injured Israeli fans who celebrated the killing of Gaza’s children with European weapons, yet she showed no anger for the tens of thousands of Palestinian child victims. The justification is ready: anti-Semitism.
@nonzerochances@tastefullysaucy@D_elleriously That is literally his point. They are protesting in spite of much worse punishment. There is nothing stopping white Americans from protesting trump. You have literally missed his point
These material realities CONTINUE to shape the ambivalent ideology and schadenfreude of this class. Keep in mind, though, that they were the progressive force vis-a-vis white supremacy until the development and conscious action of the Black proletariat.
2016, 2020, 2024 were epic years of people’s movements, from Standing Rock, to George Floyd, to Palestine. Liberals attempted to co-opt the first two into presidential campaigns. Their redline was co-opting anti-genocide. Instead, they beat students and bombed children. Yeah…
Anyway. Join and do work in a movement organization. We have an uphill battle irrespective of which Bozo leads the circus. @Blacks4Peace is great: https://t.co/b9XUB5WUmZ
@blackleftaf The staggering level of disrespect to George Jackson’s analysis and his warning to us all, from a fucking prison cell no less, of the dangers of omnipresent American fascism as a call to action is just baffling to the extreme for me.
I didn’t need to “google” deportation numbers to be “adversarial.” You would be denied a visa under a dem or repub pretending otherwise is nonsensical.
I have had multiple family members denied visas under Obama + Biden 🙃; but responding and then blocking is a choice
💃🏾
As I’ve said many times before: Liberalism is fascism and has helped aid broader conservative manifestations of anti-intellectualism in European + Anglo-settler states.
A decade of liberal performance and wider calls for politics to have “diverse” representation have given us
Seeing “identity politics” and “class first” nonsense on the timeline again — and as always, it also shows that “the left” doesn’t learn.
As long as people try to pretend that any social oppression is separate (or can even be separated) from class — it’ll be a losing game.
I remember this person lied saying I wasn’t correct in pointing out that they weren’t the “precarious immigrant” they made themselves out to be — then they said deportations “didn’t matter,” but here they are admitting as much 🌚
Another liberal “tired of resistance nonsense” 💃🏾
When income and privilege are your (precarious and reversible) buffer, reaction becomes the way to rabidly defend them in an attempt to not end up like THOSE Blacks (or whatever other poor members of a marginalized group). Schadenfreude.
@RaniaKhalek The problem is not the ones that voted for third party, the problem is that they were not enough.
Next time, vote ONLY third party people.