After 30 years of hurt, Liverpool Football Club are – to use a phrase coined by former Manchester United Manager, Alex Ferguson – “back on their perch”. Last week they were crowned English Premier League champions basically with their legs on the sofa. They were confirmed winners after Chelsea Football pipped Manchester City 2-1 which ensured Liverpool had an unassailable …
Read More »New laws and regulations in Germany from July 2020
Residents of Germany can expect numerous changes again in July 2020. Several of these are related to the ongoing corona crisis, such as the reduction in VAT or the end of tenancy protection or the easing of travel ban on non-essential travel into EU member countries. Pensioners, on the other hand, can look forward to a pension increase. The African …
Read More »How King Leopold’s horrific plunder of Congo laid basis for its contemporary troubles
BOOK REVIEW It is easy, as the western media often do, to dismiss Africa as a continent of misery where nothing new happens except this misery is recycled in new varieties: corruption, hunger, wars, etc. But nobody pauses to take a harder look into the past of this troubled continent and find how its terrible history has played a part …
Read More »Belgian police file charges against Dr Herzberger-Fofana over her violent assault complaint
Dr Pierrette Herzberger-Fofana’s speech in the European Parliament on 17 June on how Belgian policemen physically harassed her was greeted with a loud ovation and shocked Europe to the reality of police violence against Black people. It became a topic of media discussions across the continent. In a strange twist to the story, instead of the police to apologise to …
Read More »Activists launch campaign for renaming Berlin street for denigrating Black people
Black Lives Matter protests have led to the toppling of colonial and slavery monuments in the US and several European countries. In Germany, an online campaign has been launched calling for the renaming of a popular street in the country’s capital city. Mohrenstrasse, located in the central district of Berlin, is the focus of attention of activists who are questioning …
Read More »Opinion: Why Black Lives Matter is relevant to Africa’s economic development
NJ Ayuk, founder of one of Africa’s most successful law chambers, explains that “climate change — and the call to leave fossil fuels in the ground— is largely a western narrative”, which does not consider the situation of African countries whose oil and gas production earns export revenues, reduce energy poverty, create jobs etc. He explains how Western climate policy …
Read More »Germany: TANG demands government action on anti-Black racism, issues position paper
It’s time to demand concrete actions against anti-Black racism, Dr Sylvie Nantcha, chairman of The African Network of Germany (TANG), has said. She made the call on Thursday while speaking at the virtual conference of the organisation on the ongoing anti-racism debate in the country. “While we condemn racism in America, particularly the murder of George Floyd, we have to …
Read More »Why coronavirus fatalities are higher among Black people and what to do
The death rate from COVID-19 in the UK is four times higher for Black people than for their White counterparts, according to official reports. Anil Gumber*, Senior Health Economist, Sheffield Hallam University, explains the factors responsible for this difference. Given that the coronavirus doesn’t appear to be going away anytime soon and we don’t know when, or even if, a …
Read More »How MP’s ordeal shocked Europe to reality of anti-Black racism
The European Parliament, sitting in Brussels, was to debate racism and police brutality on Wednesday (17 June). Dr Pierrette Herzberger-Fofana, a member representing Germany on the platform of the Green party, was on her way to participate at the discussions on how Europe should respond to the demands of Black Lives Matter protesters calling for a continent-wide action. The Member …
Read More »Kenya elected member of UN Security Council after second vote
Kenya won the much-coveted UN Security Council seat after beating its African rival Djibouti in second-round voting in New York on Thursday Kenya has been elected a non-permanent member of the UN Security Council, defeating Djibouti for a seat designated for African countries. UN Member States chose the country in a second round of voting on Thursday in the General …
Read More »Why Kenya’s membership of the Security Council is meaningless without UN reform
Kenya won a seat on the UN Security Council on 18 June during the 74th session of the United Nations General Assembly. The seat is one of the three non-permanent seats allocated to Africa. David Monda, a scholar at the City University of New York, argues that there is nothing to celebrate over Kenya’s victory —– June 18, 2020 is …
Read More »The gathering rebellion over worsening insecurity in Nigeria
Funmi Ajala* writes on the worsening security situation in Nigeria, currently ravaged by a combination of a particularly brutal Islamist terrorism and widespread murderous banditry. —– Loss of Monopoly of Control In his explosive book, Nigeria: Dancing on the Brink, retired American diplomat John Campbell retorted that, “The (Nigerian) federal government has failed to provide basic security for its citizens and has …
Read More »Kenya makes its case for UN Security Council seat
Kenya and Djibouti will battle for a seat on the UN Security Council on Wednesday (17 June) during the 74th session of the United Nations General Assembly, holding at the United Nations Headquarters in New York. The seat is one of the one of the five vacant slots reserved for non-permanent members. Kenya is set to contribute its wealth of …
Read More »What Kenya has going for it in bid for Security Council seat
Kenya and Djibouti will battle for a seat on the UN Security Council on Wednesday (17 June) during the 74th session of the United Nations General Assembly, holding at the United Nations Headquarters in New York City. The seat is one of the three non-permanent seats allocated to Africa. Kenya has been endorsed by the African Union and, and all …
Read More »How a social enterprise provides succour to Nigeria’s street kids in the pandemic era
How one social enterprise is working to protect and support street children in Africa as stigma, a broken system and a global pandemic put them at risk LAGOS, Nigeria, June 15, 2020,-/African Media Agency (AMA)/- As the sun rises over deserted streets, a group of volunteers prepares for their day. For a few hours – from late morning until curfews …
Read More »Neo-Nazi murder of Alberto Adriano remembered, 20 years on
Dessau is notorious for two brutal deaths of Africans in separate incidents — one of which occurred in police custody and remains unresolved. Even today, few of the city’s white residents see racism as a daily problem. Ben Knight reports In the last 20 years, the eastern German city, where fewer than 4,000 of the 80,000 inhabitants are non-German, has …
Read More »Greens call for ‘race’ to be removed from German constitution
As tens of thousands in Germany flock to anti-racism protests, two prominent Green politicians have called for the term “race” to be removed from German discrimination law. “We need to unlearn racism,” they said. Elliot Douglas reports The term “race” should be removed from the German constitution, two leading Green politicians said Monday (8 June). In recent weeks, Germany has …
Read More »Nigeria begins identification number issuance to citizens in Germany, UK, US, 13 others
Nigeria has commenced enrolment and issuance of National Identification Numbers (NIN) to its citizens in 16 countries across five continents. The Director-General of the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC), Mr Aliyu Aziz, made the announcement on Wednesday in Abuja. He was speaking on “Strategic Roadmap for ID Development’’ at a video conference with newspaper editors. The civic registration exercise, being …
Read More »Black Members of European Parliament call for Action against Systemic Racism
Alice Bah Kuhnke and Dr Pierrette Herzberger-Fofana, both members of the European Parliament, in this opinion piece, note that Europe has seen an increase in right-wing extremism and a shift to the political right in the last decade. This, they argue, has led to an increase in both racially and religiously motivated attacks against minority communities. The authors call for …
Read More »George Floyd: We should focus on Afrophobia – Zentralrat’s statement
The following is the statement issued by the Zentralrat der afrikanischen Gemeinde in Deutschland (Central Council of the African Community in Germany or ZAGD), an umbrella body for African associations in Germany, on the worldwide protests on the police murder of George Floyd on 25 May in the American city of Minneapolis. ———– Police Violence, Racism and Afrophobia! We, the …
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