Why the US Government had African Stream Deleted from Social Media
A warning to all African Creators that free speech is not free for everyone
Good day Alkebulanians,
When I heard about this story regarding the deplatforming of African Stream a popular Africa-focused independent news outlet, I didn’t take it as seriously as I should have. The reason was that I’d become so accustomed to African creators and platforms getting censored or silenced that it seemed nothing out of the ordinary.
I was mistaken because this situation is on a whole other level.
It got all the way to the White House.
There’s a war going on, not only for control of our resources but of our narrative and image. There is a new breed of colonialism afoot and it’s for the most valuable thing you possess; your mind.
The apathy of Africans has become deadly. It is after all why we are still unable to work together to lift ourselves out of the quagmire we’re in. However, things are getting to a critical stage and ignorance most definitely won’t be bliss.
The consequences will not discriminate.
PAY ATTENTION
What does it mean to be deplatformed?
This is where a social media channel is taken off the respective provider and essentially deleted. This happened to African Stream on Meta (Facebook and Instagram) where I hear they had upwards of a million followers as well as YouTube where they had 445K subscribers.
Why did this happen?
African Stream is accused of being a cover for Russian propagandists focused on spreading disinformation to undermine US democracy.
It was because of their reporting on the US government’s military operations in Somalia that pushed things over the edge. More specifically, their concerns revolved around drone strikes that have allegedly killed civilians in the region.
The US government says the strikes are targeted at Al-Qaeda affiliated terrorist groups but African Stream said that was just a cover for the oppressive policies of imperialist control America wants to exert on Africa. Regardless, rather than simply putting out refuting factual evidence to the public proving that African Stream’s reporting was inaccurate, the US government is alleged to have influenced the social media giants Meta and YouTube to axe the African platform. This hypothesis that it was isn’t baseless.
Investigating The Russian Connection
Soon after the de-platforming, the US Secretary Of State mentioned African Stream in a press conference citing them as Russian shills as I mentioned above. The question is, do you believe the US government? Or is this just an excuse to eliminate a platform pushing a narrative they don’t want out there?
When you look at African Stream’s videos, they’re hardly the most inflammatory things on the internet and certainly tame in comparison to the deeply racist and anti-African rhetoric that comes from some right-wing commentators or content creators. Thus, I believe both things could be true; African Stream might have been backed by Russia but they could also have been telling the truth about US operations in Africa.
Strategically it makes sense that Russia would ally with African media networks because of the inroads Russia wants and needs to make into Africa. What America wants is the control of the hearts and minds of Africans because they need that to continue exploiting the continent for resources.
This system of narrative control is not particular to any one group but how exploitation and power work. You can’t control humans who ask questions because that leads to one thing; independent thought.
A New Era For African Voices
I anticipate that any African platform that gains a large following or influence will be on watch if they are pro-Russia. If that platform gains too much ground, they will be accused of working with Russian propagandists and will be deplatformed. This goes double for any who are pro-Iran and if you make the mistake of being pro-Palestine and have a massive following? This is where things are. There is no time for Afrobeats and booty-shaking folks.
This is an ideological war and the prize is us. Africa. It always has been and it will continue to be so till we step into the ring and fight for our future and destiny.
Russia isn’t a saint, they just happen to be fighting the people who have harmed us for centuries. They aren’t doing what they are because they love Africa, they’re doing it because it’s the smart move to make when they know how badly the US needs African resources.
Wake Up Before It’s Too Late
The worst part about this whole thing is the absolute ambivalence of the general black and African population. Our ignorance of these issues is truly staggering. There is no time for fun and games. The battle for the destiny of your children and grandchildren is being waged and folks are more focused on premiership football and the Champion’s League than the fact your entire future is being bartered with by world powers in the East and West.
African Stream might have been working for the Russians. I’m not going to sit here and say that is an impossible reality. The question is whether the work they did was beneficial to Africans, even if it was detrimental to the US government.
Or worse, what if the work they did was to truly expose negative actions against Africa by the US? I’m not saying this is a fact, I’m saying is that a possibility?
I suppose we will never know because the US government decides who can and cannot have a voice in America and you know what? I agree that they should.
It’s their country and it’s for Africans to create spaces and channels independent of American control and influence. This isn’t Rocket Science.
However, as I’ve said, we are so damaged as a people, that we don’t have the will as a group to make such a move a reality. I won’t go into my theories on this now, I have to get on with my day and writing this has been a dampener.
As far as the US people, Blinken said he got rid of African Stream because of them.
I think the American people are more focused on Deadpool and Wolverine.
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The real solution isn't particularly to take sides between West and East, since each is after its respective interests; the solution is to determine what Africa must do to establish good governance and accountability, because these are required to educate Africans, develop technology and means of our own defense, because technology and force is what the world powers employ to compete and rule the world.
In my estimation, until the colonial borders of African countries are addressed such that each African nation can have a measure of ethno-linguistic homogeneity, African nations cannot establish good governance and accountability. The high ethno-linguistic fractionalization (ELF) that exists within the former African colonies results in group competition for political power that prevents the necessary political consensus among citizens that is required to hold political leaders accountable.
The development, stability and economic problems of high ELF societies have been studied extensively in research by socio-economists. A compendium of such studies is at https://dash.harvard.edu/bitstream/handle/1/4553003/alesinassrn_fractionalization.pdf. A finding from the research is that "In a cross-country setting, [it is] shown that per capita GDP growth is inversely related to ethnolinguistic fractionalization in a large sample of countries."
Thank you for the analysis. The slumbering giant cannot sleep forever.