France had in the past contributed to "destabilising certain African countries such as Libya" which had "disastrous consequences" for the region's security.
"France has neither the capacity nor the legitimacy to ensure Africa's security and sovereignty," he said in a statement.
Senegal and Chad have reacted strongly to remarks by French President Emmanuel Macron about African countries being ungrateful over France's role in helping fight militant jihadist insurgencies.
On Monday, Macron said that Sahel states "forgot" to thank France for its role, amid the continuing withdrawal of French troops from West African countries.
He said no Sahelian nation would be a sovereign nation without France's intervention that prevented them from falling under the control of militants.
In response, Chad's Foreign Minister Abderaman Koulamallah said Macron comments had revealed his contempt for Africa.
"Chad expresses its deep concern following the remarks made recently by [the French president], which reflect a contemptuous attitude towards Africa and Africans," he said in a statement on national TV.
He said "French leaders must learn to respect the African people and recognise the value of their sacrifices".
Senegal's Prime Minister Ousmane Sonko said France had in the past contributed to "destabilising certain African countries such as Libya" which had "disastrous consequences" for the region's security.
"France has neither the capacity nor the legitimacy to ensure Africa's security and sovereignty," he said in a statement.
Macron made his comments at an annual ambassadors' conference in Paris, saying France was reorganising its strategic interests in the region and rejected the idea that it had been forced to withdraw from Africa.
French troops were sent to Mali in 2013 in response to an Islamist insurgency. A year later the mission was extended to take in other countries in the region, including Niger and Burkina Faso.
"We were right [to deploy]. I think someone forgot to say thank you. It's ok it will come with time," Macron said on Monday.
"But I say this for all the African heads of state who have not had the courage in the face of public opinion to hold that view. None of them would be a sovereign country today if the French army hadn't deployed in the region."
Sonko said that in the case of Senegal's decision to ask French troops to leave, Macron's remarks were "totally wrong".
He said there had been no negotiation with France regarding the move to close its military bases in the country.
He said and the decision had stemmed from Senegal's "sole will as a free, independent and sovereign country".
Both Sonko and Koulamallah also cited the role of African soldiers towards the liberation of France in the world wars.
"Had African soldiers, sometimes forcibly mobilised, mistreated and ultimately betrayed, not been deployed during the Second World War to defend France, it would, perhaps still be German today," Sonko said.
Chad, Senegal and Ivory Coast have recently ended security agreements with France - while Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger told French troops to leave following coups.
France's influence in the region has been waning in recent years, amid accusations of neo-colonialism and exploitative relationships with their former colonies.
The junta-led governments in Niger, Mali and Burkina Faso have moved closer to Russia after the French withdrawal from their countries.
On Monday, Chad's foreign minister said France's contribution in the country was limited to "its own strategic interests" even as Chad had grappled with instability and other issues during their 60- year partnership.
Chad ended its defence agreement with France in November, saying it was "time for Chad to assert its full sovereignty and redefine its strategic partnerships according to national priorities".
Calls for justice ring out around the nation yet again as chilling bodycam video showing the brutal beating of 43-year-old Black male inmate, Robert Brooks, at the hands of New York State Department of Corrections and Community Supervision officers at Marcy Correctional Facility in Oneida County left viewers in a familiar state of rage and devastation.
Mr. Brooks, who was serving a 12-year sentence for assault since 2017, was moved to Marcy Correctional Facility on Dec. 9, 2024, from the nearby Mohawk Correctional Facility.
Bodycam footage of correction officers beating a handcuffed man, Robert Brooks, 43, at the Marcy Correctional Facility. (AP Photo)
According to prison records, the transfer came after Mr. Brooks was assaulted twice by other inmates in Mohawk and was seemingly moved for his safety. However, shortly after he arrived at Marcy Correctional Facility, Mr. Brooks experienced a vicious encounter with correction officers and died soon after.
While his official cause of death is still pending, autopsy details reveal that Mr. Brooks suffered “multiple bruises of the face and extremities, fracture of the nasal bone, multiple soft tissue hemorrhage of the muscles of the anterior right and left sides of the neck, hemorrhage overlaying of the thyroid cartilage, hemorrhage of the genital area soft tissues, the penis and both testes,” according to court documents.
The documents also note that the medical examiner who conducted the autopsy on behalf of the Onondaga County Medical Examiner’s Office also reported, “concerns for asphyxia due to compression of the neck as cause of death, as well as the death being due to the actions of another.”
According to several media reports, the autopsy details come as part of court documents from a Temporary Extreme Risk Protection Order, filed by the New York State Police and New York Attorney General’s Office against David Kingsley, one of the corrections officers accused of assaulting Mr. Brooks at the facility.
The documents were filed in Jefferson County, where Mr. Kingsley lives and came as an attempt to remove all firearms from the officer’s home—deeming him as a possible harm to others and himself due to his alleged involvement in Mr. Brooks’ beating.
The autopsy was conducted on Dec. 11, but a complete autopsy report has yet to be released.
Corrections officers at Marcy Correctional Facility were scene beating inmate Robert Brooks, who died on Dec. 10, 2024.
The devasting body-worn video
The bodycam footage, recorded on Dec. 9, starts outside the Marcy Correctional Facility entrance. Mr. Brooks can be seen lying down with handcuffs on when officers lift him off the ground and begin carrying him by his arms and legs into the infirmary.
Once inside, officers restrained Mr. Brooks to the examination table, where they could then be seen committing a wide range of heinous acts against him. This includes some officers repeatedly punching and kicking Mr. Brooks in his face, neck, chest, torso, buttocks and genitals as other officers continue to restrain him to the table.
At one point during the attack, an officer can be seen attempting to stuff what appears to be a white cloth in Brooks’ mouth. The officers later yank Mr. Brooks off of the table, into the corner of the room where attacks continue. Officers later drag him back onto the table where they continued to assault and unclothe him.
By the end of the recordings, Brooks is seen lying motionless on the table in just his underwear.
This all occurred while Brooks’ hands were handcuffed behind his back.
Brook was later taken to Wynn Hospital in Utica, New York, where he was pronounced dead the following day, Dec. 10.
The corrections department has identified the 11 corrections officers involved as follows: Matthew Galliher, Anthony Farina, Nicholas Anzalone, David Kingsley, Nicholas Kieffer, Robert Kessler, Michael Fisher, Christopher Walrath, Michael Along, Shea Schoff and David Walters.
Kyle Dashnaw, a nurse, and two sergeants, Michael Mashaw and Glenn Trombley, were also identified as bystanding prison staff. All parties involved have been suspended without pay by the New York’s Department of Corrections and Community Supervision. One of the officers, Anthony Farina, has resigned.
In an interview conducted and streamed on Instagram by journalist, activist and former U.S. Green Party vice-presidential candidate Rosa Clemente with Elizabeth Mazur, the attorney representing Brooks’ family, the attorney stated,
“What you see on the video, those guys don’t look like this is the first time they’ve ever done that. Now we’re hearing these reports that there have been other complaints, other suits against these officers.”
“It sounds like this didn’t come out of nowhere, these officers were allowed to do this, the system was in some way, condoning it or allowing it. I think that’s also a question we want to answer and hope to pursue in civil litigation,” she added.
The Final Call reached out to Atty. Mazur for further comments but as of presstime, have not yet heard back.
According to New York Attorney General Letitia James, who released the footage to the public on Dec. 21, none of the 11 correction officers involved actually activated their body cameras during their encounter with Mr. Brooks.
This goes against the protocol for all officers to activate their body cameras when interacting with inmates. Instead, the videos obtained by AG James’ office were only recorded due to some of the officers’ body cameras being on standby mode—meaning recording with video, but without audio.
However, despite their lack of audio, the visual recordings of the brutal beating of Robert Brooks still spoke volumes to viewers.
None of the correction officers involved activated their body cameras during their encounter with Mr. Brooks.
Political calls for accountability
In a statement released by AG Letitia James on Dec. 21, along with her release of the bodycam footage, James said, “Law enforcement professionals must be held to the highest standards of accountability.”
In an effort to enforce said high standard of accountability, AG James’ Office of Special Investigation (OSI) opened an investigation to look into the use of force by officers that preceded Mr. Brooks’ death. At presstime, no charges have been filed against those involved and the OSI’s investigation is still ongoing.
Echoing AG James’ calls for accountability, New York Governor Kathy Hochul visited the Marcy Correctional Facility on Dec. 30 to demand answers and announce her plan for corrective action.
Gov. Hochul’s multipart plan includes directing the New York State Department of Corrections and Community Supervision (DOCCS) Commissioner Martuscello to appoint Shawangunk Correctional Facility Superintendent Bennie Thorpe as the new permanent Superintendent of Marcy Correctional Facility, expediting $400 million to install fixed cameras and distribute body-worn cameras in all DOCCS facilities, and adding DOCCS staff to the Office of Special Investigations.
During her visit to the facility, Governor Hochul stated, “Today, as I stood in the room where Robert Brooks was killed, I was once again heartbroken by this unnecessary loss of life and further sickened to think of the actions of depraved individuals with no regard for human life.”
She then added, “The system failed Mr. Brooks and I will not be satisfied until there has been significant culture change.”
In addition to her corrective action plan, Gov. Hochul has also ordered an immediate and full investigation into the death of Robert Brooks and further directed DOCCS Supervision Commissioner Martuscello to begin the termination process for the 14 individuals who were involved in the fatal attack.
The FBI and Justice Department are also now looking into the incident. Sarah Ruane, FBI Albany Public Affairs Specialist, released a statement saying, “The FBI Albany Field Office and the Department of Justice are reviewing the facts and circumstances during the death of Robert L. Brooks to determine the appropriate federal response. As this is an ongoing review, we are not able to comment further at this time.”
As of presstime, their review is still pending.
Robert Brooks received a vicious attack by Marcy Correctional officers and died soon after.
Public outrage across America
Since the release of the bodycam footage, public outrage has sparked across the nation.
Holding up signs reading and shouting calls for justice like “Black Lives Matter!” and “Justice for Robert Brooks!” protesters began gathering in New York to demand justice.
Protests, demonstrations and vigils have occurred in various locations throughout Manhattan and Albany, including in front of county jails and Gov. Hochul’s home.
Protests are expected to continue as the case develops further and expected charges are filed against the officers and others involved.
Angry, distraught and weary social activists, community members and celebrities, also took to social media platforms to react to the devasting news surrounding the brutal beating of Mr. Brooks.
Bernice King, lawyer and daughter of the late Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., writing on X, posted in part, “… it is another devasting instance of dehumanization and death in a ‘justice’ system laden with injustice and despair.”
Philadelphia rapper Meek Mill also took to X, writing “… this what it is for black men in America if you get caught without them cameras around! If you been to jail [before] you seen this with your own eyes!” The 37-year-old rapper has been publicly open about his own personal challenges in the prison system.
With a similar sentiment as Meek Mill, Tamika Mallory, social justice activist, wrote on Instagram, “What happened to #RobertBrooks is NOT rare. Most people don’t die from their injuries, but beating, torture, RAPE, starvation, etc., happens ALL THE TIME in jails, detention centers and prisons across America.”
Mr. Brooks died Dec. 10, the day after cameras recorded him being beaten by corrections officers.
Although many voices have chimed in, they’re all calling for one thing—justice.
However, Student Minister Kenneth Muhammad of the Nation of Islam’s Muhammad Study Group of Rochester, New York, told The Final Call that the only true solution to bring about justice is the Teachings of the Most Honorable Elijah Muhammad.
“The Most Honorable Elijah Muhammad and The Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan have reminded us of the nature of a system that we have been dealing with since our people were brought here,” he said.
“Some were calling for closing of the penitentiary, but if we don’t address the attitude out of which the culture comes from, then closing one penitentiary versus another penitentiary does not solve the problem,” he added.
Student Minister Kenneth pointed to The Most Honorable Elijah Muhammad’s presentation of “The Muslim Program” as the only adequate call of action toward addressing the centuries-long problems of injustice plaguing Black people in America, as seen in the death of Robert Brooks.
Jimmy Carter served as the 39th president of the United States. Photos: MGN Online
James Earl Carter Jr., the Georgia peanut farmer turned 39th president, turned Nobel Peace Prize winner will be remembered by many for criticizing U.S. foreign policy, having a UFO encounter, writing 33 books, renovating 4,300 homes and condemning Israeli actions in Palestine as apartheid.
He died December 29 at the age of 100 and funeral plans include events in Georgia and Washington, D.C., that began Jan. 4 and will conclude Jan. 9. His body will lie in repose at the Georgia State Capital and then flown to D.C. on January 7, where it will lie in state in the Rotunda of the United States Capitol, allowing the public to pay their respects.
“With his compassion and moral clarity, he worked to eradicate disease, forge peace, advance civil rights and human rights, promote free and fair elections, house the homeless, and always advocate for the least among us. He saved, lifted, and changed the lives of people all across the globe,” said President Joe Biden in a released statement.
President Biden designated Jan. 9, a National Day of Mourning, and invited people worldwide to participate in the solemn commemoration.
President Carter had a humble beginning. He was born on October 1, 1924, to James Earl Carter Sr. and Lillian Gordy Carter. Their home, situated in the small south Georgia town of Plains, lacked electricity.
Former President Carter died December 29, 2024 at age 100.
He grew up during the Great Depression in the segregated Deep South, but Mr. Carter often played with Black children. These interactions influenced his thoughts on integration and were reflected in his political career.
He went to college and then the Navy. After the military, Mr. Carter focused on raising his family. He was married to Rosalynn Carter, who was by his side for 77 years. Together they focused on managing the family’s peanut farm.
He soon began his political career, securing a seat in the Georgia Senate in 1962. Although he failed to win the Democratic nomination for governor against segregationist Lester Maddox in 1966, Mr. Carter successfully campaigned for the same position four years later.
On September 18, 1973, then Georgia Governor Jimmy Carter filed a report with the National Investigations Committee on aerial phenomena that he saw a UFO four years earlier. Governor Carter explained that the experience led him to have more respect for others who have seen UFOs.
“There were about 20 of us standing outside of a little restaurant, I believe, a high school lunchroom,” he told reporters. “And a kind of green light appeared in the western sky. This was right after sundown.
It got brighter and brighter. And then it eventually disappeared.” Other witnesses described it as “very bright, changing colors and about the size of the moon.”
Mr. Carter’s next stop was the White House with Rosalynn as his first lady. He vowed in his inaugural address to put universal rights at the center of U.S. foreign policy.
“Our moral sense dictates a clear-cut preference for those societies which share with us an abiding respect for individual human rights. We do not seek to intimidate, but it is clear that a world which others can dominate with impunity would be inhospitable to decency and a threat to the well-being of all people,” he said.
“I join in the hope that when my time as your president has ended, people might say this about our nation,” he said. “I would hope that the nations of the world might say that we had built a lasting peace, based not on weapons of war but on international policies which reflect our own most precious values.”
International peace was a foundation of Mr. Carter’s presidency. One of his most significant achievements as president was the Camp David Accords, reached after exhaustive negotiations between Egypt and Israel that peaked at the presidential retreat in Maryland. It was the first of many peace deals between the Zionist state and Arab countries that didn’t last.
Over time, Carter became dismayed with Israeli leadership, becoming deeply critical of what he saw as a failure to live up to obligations toward the Palestinians. He sparked controversy in 2006 by saying that Israel’s settlement policies on the West Bank were tantamount to the apartheid policies of South Africa.
In 2006, while promoting his book, “Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid” President Carter said, “It’s based on a minority of Israelis occupying, confiscating and colonizing land that belongs to the Palestinians,” he told The Early Show co-anchor Harry Smith.
“When Israel does occupy this territory deep within the West Bank and connects 200 or so settlements (to) each other with a road and prohibits the Palestinians from using that road, in many cases even crossing the road—this perpetrates even worse instances of … apartheid than we witnessed in South Africa.”
While he was a beacon on international affairs, it was the takeover of the U.S. Embassy and 66 hostages in Iran on November 4, 1979, a year before the U.S. election, that began to erode President Carter’s support. The 444-day standoff transfixed the nation and gradually tanked President Carter’s hopes of a second term. He was defeated by Ronald Reagan.
He left office in 1980 and became an elder statesman. In 2002 he won the Nobel Peace Prize “for his decades of untiring effort to find peaceful solutions to international conflicts, to advance democracy and human rights, and to promote economic and social development.”
“The world has changed greatly since I left the White House,” he said in his acceptance speech. “Now there is only one superpower, with unprecedented military and economic strength.
The coming budget for American armaments will be greater than those of the next 15 nations combined, and there are troops from the United States in many countries throughout the world.
Our gross national economy exceeds that of the three countries that follow us, and our nation’s voice most often prevails as decisions are made concerning trade, humanitarian assistance, and the allocation of global wealth. This dominant status is unlikely to change in our lifetimes,” the former president said.
“To suggest that war can prevent war is a base play on words and a despicable form of warmongering. The objective of any who sincerely believe in peace clearly must be to exhaust every honorable recourse in the effort to save the peace. The world has had ample evidence that war begets only conditions that beget further war.”
President Cater became a best-selling author, worked with Habitat for Humanity to renovate homes and let people know his thoughts on America and the world.
In 2004 during an interview with The Independent on the first anniversary of the American and British invasion of Iraq, President Carter said the two leaders probably knew that many of the claims being made about Saddam Hussein’s weapons of mass destruction were based on imperfect intelligence.
“There was no reason for us to become involved in Iraq recently,” he said. “That was a war based on lies and misinterpretations from London and from Washington, claiming falsely that Saddam Hussein was responsible for [the] 9/11 attacks, claiming falsely that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction.
And I think that President Bush and Prime Minister Blair probably knew that many of the allegations were based on uncertain intelligence … a decision was made to go to war [then people said] ‘Let’s find a reason to do so.’”
In 2021, Brother Askia Muhammad, the late senior editor for The Final Call and former editor of Muhammad Speaks, wrote a column in The Washington Informer about President Carter. “Jimmy Carter was always a genuine, down-home, grime-under-the-fingernails kind of peanut farmer and patriot.
He was a good soul, I would say. But understand, he may have been innocent, pure of heart like a choir boy, but he occupied the seat of the character in Scripture referred to as ‘Pharaoh,’” Brother Askia Muhammad wrote in the column titled, “More Honors Due to President Jimmy Carter.”
“America is a land of torment for Black people and that continues no matter who is president. The president who sits in Pharaoh’s seat must perform many wicked and despicable acts, in the name of the United States of America.
It goes with the territory. The fact that Carter was a one-term president speaks highly of him when it comes to the wicked deeds he didn’t perform, … to get reelected,” he wrote.
My dear brothers and sisters of Haiti, I’m very, very happy and honored to set my foot on the soil, the sacred soil, of Haiti. Black people all over the world owe Haiti a debt of gratitude, for you produced the first free Black Republic in the world.
The reason you suffer is because The Enemy knows that what you did in 1804 can be done again. So, from France, from England, from America: No matter what they say, they do not want to see Haiti rise again.
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The reason that we are here is because as the Bible teaches, “My people are destroyed for the lack of knowledge”—it is not because of the blackness of our skin, but it is because we lack the knowledge of self that will free our minds from the domination of The Enemy.
Who are you, Haiti? Why are we Black? The Enemy taught us that we are Black because we are “cursed by God”; to be hewers of wood and drawers of water for other people! But we are not Black because we’re “cursed,” we are Black because we are The Original People of this Earth!
As the Bible teaches, “First there was darkness, and then came light,” then first there was Black, and then came White. You are the Alpha and the Omega of the scriptures! We didn’t come to this great island nation seeking “freedom.” Our fathers were brought here in the holds of ships to be made slaves to Western powers.
They never did intend for us to ever come out from under their domination, so when the French had the slaves, they took away our African names, they took away our African language, they took away our African culture; and they imposed on us their language, their culture, their religion to make us worship them as though they were God.
To the east of Haiti is the Dominican Republic… It was Black Haitians under Toussaint Louverture, under Jean-Jacque Dessalines, under Henri Cristophe that freed this whole island, West and East.
But the Spanish, who have always been battling with the French, took that side of the island and made the people to speak Spanish, gave them Spanish names, gave them Spanish culture; and made that side hate this side!
My parents came from the British West Indies—so now, we speak “English,” we have “English” names; we have “English” culture, but the one thing The Enemy gave us all was his religion. There’s nothing wrong with “Jesus Christ,” but there’s something wrong with those who use his good name to do evil things in his name!
My dear brothers and sisters of Haiti, I know that you know much, and I can feel your pain, but the one thing that I can assure you is that we are living at the end of White Supremacy.
Soon Haiti will be free! Soon, and very soon, The Enemy will be removed from power not only over your lives here, but he will be removed from power over the people of our planet! So what is your and my responsibility in an hour like this?
Ayiti Toma! (Haiti) —This is your land! Everything under this land is your rightful possession! But The Enemy wants to own your wealth. There once was a time when we fed ourselves; we were the masters of agriculture, so we all had rice.
Now, we are not producing the same rice that we once produced, so it’s coming from former President Bill Clinton’s state of Arkansas. We once had lots of chicken; but now, chicken is coming from Tyson’s Foods in Arkansas… What are they bringing into Haiti in the food?
May I humbly say to you, dear brothers and sisters: A man named Zbigniew Brzezinski recently was talking to the Foreign Relations Committee, and here’s what he said: “In the past it was easier to control a million people than to kill a million people. But now it is easier to kill a million people than to control a million people.”
The Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan
The anger that’s in the masses of the people is directed at those in authority. But what we don’t see is that Haiti, Jamaica, Barbados, Trinidad—all of the islands of the Caribbean have borrowed money from the International Development Bank, and the International Monetary Fund.
So when we borrow their money to help develop our land, they put conditions on the loan that are destined to rob the people of their wealth; so Haiti is in debt, Jamaica is in debt, Trinidad is in debt—Africa is in debt! And debt is another form of slavery!
We have to break the chains that keep us from enjoying the good life. My brothers were angry because it is wrong that a few of us can enjoy a good life, while the masses of our people are suffering.
But here’s what I saw when my feet touched the soil of Haiti: I saw a strong and resilient Black people! I saw you by the side of the road with your businesses, trying to sell products so you could feed yourself and your family. I saw strong Black women…
And I say to you, Haiti: No nation can rise any higher than its women! If your woman is down, you and I are down; if your woman is up, we are up! For when you teach a man, you teach an individual, but when you teach a woman, you teach a nation!
It is your time now to rule where you live! It is your time now to rise up, Haiti, and come into unity among yourselves for that is the power that will free you from foreign aggression and oppression!
Those of you who are the people of vodou (voodoo): In America, they want us to believe that vodou is “evil,” that vodou is “satanic”; and they want you to believe the same! But if it were not for vodou there would not be a free Black Republic in the world.
It was vodou—and Boukman, a Muslim—that started the Revolution that gave us Toussaint, that gave us Dessalines, that gave us Cristophe, that gave us Liberty!
But where is Toussaint now? Where is Dessalines now? Where is Cristophe now? Where is Boukman now? I’m looking at Toussaint! I’m looking at Cristophe! I’m looking at François Makandal! I’m looking at Dessalines! They are in you! So rise up Haiti! Take back your land!
Take back your heritage! And protect your woman, because The Enemy likes to have “sport” with our women. We must not let The Enemy think that our women are free for them! God gave you and me the Black woman, and she has produced our life!
In my conclusion, the Bible teaches that Jesus said, “In the end there will be wars and rumors of wars; nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom; there will be earthquakes in diverse places;
There will be famine and pestilence. But this is just the beginning of sorrows.” We lost 250,000 Haitians in the earthquake of January 12, 2010; behind us is the National Palace, with the dome fallen in.
The “dome” is your head, and when your head is absent of knowledge, your dome falls in. So to the leadership in Haiti: The people can’t take much more. Jesus said:
“I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd will lay down his life for the sheep”—we need leaders who are willing to live for the people. And when we as leaders can’t help it, willing to die on behalf of the people!
Leaders of Haiti: Do not let foreigners tempt you with money to betray your people and this nation! Soon, the money will be worthless… In fact, America is printing dollars that have no backing (fiat currency), so if we will betray one another for “dollars” or “francs,” or “euros,” we have sold our soul to the devil!
Haiti, I am so happy to be with you. I hope that you will get the messages that I left with government, the messages I left with the press, the messages I left with those in leadership. But most importantly: You are the people that can make leadership accountable for their promises.
So as I leave you, although my heart and my spirit will never leave you, by stating: Ayiti toma–This is your land! Everything on it is yours! Everything under it is yours! And when your mind is free from the chains of ignorance and self-hatred, then we will free the land!
We will feed ourselves again! We will grow the cotton, turn it into lint and cloth, and clothe ourselves again! We will take the wood from the trees, and remove the tents and build houses for the people of Haiti to live in!
This is not going to come from outside, it’s going to come from you and those who love you that will help you to rise to your destiny.
I want to thank Wyclef Jean, who is my friend and a fellow musician, who came back to Haiti to be with his brother. And I thank him for what he wants to do in his heart for the Haitian people. But he needs the unity of Haiti, that his voice may speak to the forces that want to crush Haiti! We can’t do it by ourselves, but we can do it together.
May God bless Haiti! May God guide Haiti! May God grant Haiti wisdom and power, that the next 10 years will see Haiti rise from the ashes of an earthquake, and then lead the whole world as you did in 1804.
I am a student of the Honorable Elijah Muhammad. The Qur’an says “every nation has received a messenger”—and my beloved Muslim family believes that the final messenger is Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him. But when Prophet Muhammad came, the Western world had not been discovered, America had not been founded, slavery had not begun, and the Native American people, who are the owners of this country, had not met an enemy that deprived them and us of life, liberty and the pursuit of their happiness.
America is in need of a divine messenger and a warner from God. America is in need of someone to help her to keep her from a destructive fall.
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A criminal nation (America) and the current condition, a people kidnapped, enslaved and robbed
The Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan
Inside America is a people that did not ask to come here; a people that were brought out of their native land and people, and brought on a westerly course. And here we are, the Black man and woman in North America: What is our condition? A people robbed and spoiled. … Nearly 50 million of us who do not know our origin in the world, 50 million of us are ill-acquainted with our own history so that today they are “kind enough” to give us a month to study a History that is older than the Sun, Moon and Stars.
Slavery is a crime! Then America is a criminal. Kidnapping is a crime! Then America is a criminal. Robbery is a crime! Then America is a criminal to bring us from our native land and people, and rob us of a connection to our native land and people. You have Irish here; they have a connection. You have Italians here, you have Greeks—everybody has a connection. Ours was cut off. That’s a crime.
Black man and woman: You don’t wear the names of your parents. We wear the names of our former slave masters and their children. That’s a crime. Other people can speak words of their native language or mother tongue, but for us, “mother” gone, “father” gone; “motherless child” sees a hard time. That’s a crime. “Slavery”: Selling another human being like a piece of property; then, if we disobeyed master, to be beaten, to be burned at the stake, to be castrated. All of these horrible things have happened to us as a people.
To my dear Christian family: We have to consider that for 300 years they never taught us to read. The Bible was a locked book, and any White person of decency that tried to teach us to read was severely punished; and so, in the 1700s, they thought it not incompatible to have us as “slaves,” and then to make us “Christians.”
I submit to you that we were never made Christians to bring us closer to Jesus, because if we were as close to Jesus as we could be, as we should be—as we must be—we would never be in the condition that we are. And the church would never be an instrument of disunity rather than an instrument of unity of all the Christian family.
Nobody changed our condition, so God, as He did in the past, intervened in our affairs and in America’s affairs. And His pattern is the same: He doesn’t run to the ruler to choose a messenger. He doesn’t go to the college to choose a messenger. He goes among the oppressed, the poor, the weak, the disadvantaged, and out of them He chooses a man and feeds that man the truth that will deliver his people and the truth that will warn the government that has mistreated his people, that perhaps they might listen and avoid utter and complete destruction.
So we believe that The One Who was to come has indeed come, called in your Bible “The Son of Man,” Who would come out of The East, for as the scripture teaches in the Book of Matthew, Chapter 24, verse 27: “For as the lightning cometh out of the east, and shineth even unto the west; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.” He would come: Habakkuk the prophet saw Him coming! Isaiah the prophet saw Him coming! Moses saw Him coming; Jesus talked about His coming!
“As it was,” Matthew 24:37 teaches, “in the days of Noah, so shall it be at the coming of the Son of Man.” Is it like that today? What was it like in the “days of Noah”? The scripture teaches in the Book of Genesis, Chapter 6, verse 5 that “every imagination of the peoples’ hearts was to do evil.” How about America today? A robbery every 15 seconds? A murder every 30 seconds? Murder, robbery, rape and racist killing, and our own fratricidal conflict killing one another: This doesn’t have anything to do with Jesus. It doesn’t have anything to do with Prophet Muhammad.
I know my president, Brother Barack Obama, was trying to keep away from saying “Islamic terrorism”; and today, I want to help my brother—I want to talk about the root of “terror.” And I have a word to say to you, brothers and sisters, about “terrorism” and the universal cry that is intensifying in the people for justice.
I hate the division that is manifested in the world today, particularly in the world of Islam, where we are witnessing the killing of Christians because they are Christians, the killing of Jews because they are Jews, and those who kill Muslims simply because we are Muslims. I would like to say those things that unite us, to say the things to make us see each other as a “family,” and to say those things that will demonstrate to the world that God has raised a light in the midst of the darkness of America that shines back towards The East where all the prophets came.
The “light of the prophets” has gone out in The East, and it is now alive and well in The West. Today I’m going to weave all the scriptures together, and in that process weave us together as a beautiful garment of many colors like Joseph’s coat, that you may see where we fit, and why the universal cry that is intensifying for justice has called God out of His hiding place.
‘The Day of Judgment’ in which we now live
The Al-Fatihah, which is to the Muslims like “The Lord’s Prayer” is to our Christian family: Elijah Muhammad would say this prayer, “In The Name of Allah, The Beneficent, The Merciful. All praise belongs to Allah, The Beneficent, the Merciful, Master of the Day of Judgment”—but he added something—“in which we now live.”
That’s where I’m going today; because for religious scholars and leaders to think that The Day of Judgment is “afar off”: You’re in it right now. And that’s why if you watch the weather, the meteorologists can’t get it right. That’s why there’s trouble all over the Earth, because we are at the end of the time of this world.
Dear pastors, pay attention: The Bible teaches “God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten son, that whosoever would believe in him should not perish but have everlasting life.” I cannot allow you to think that God loves this world, because if you think that way you’ll want to stay in it; you’ll see yourself as desirous of being a part of it.
My poor brother president: He’ll never be able to bring peace, no matter how sincere his heart is. I’m so sorry that he wanted to be Pharaoh in the time of the end of Pharaoh. I’m so sorry that he wanted to be Pharaoh when God has come to put an end to that “Egypt” which old Egypt was a sign of.
God did not love this world. He declared its destruction the day of its inception. He gave this world six days. … And to my Seventh Day Adventist family: In “the seventh day,” God would come. And you, Black man and woman: You think so little of yourself.
Though you sing the song “What He Did for Others He Can Do for Us”—but He hadn’t done it yet; and you have rejected the gift of life that He wishes to give to you because you are so in love with your former slave masters, and their children. You want to be a part of this. Wrong. The scripture teaches, “Come out of her, My people. Babylon has fallen and has become a habitation of devils.”
Do you really think you’re a saint? Let’s discuss this, because if we are “saints” then God helps righteousness. What is a “devil”? A rebel against God and His way; and not only one who is a transgressor, but leads others into transgression.
Brothers and sisters, I just want you to pay attention to my words; if “the seat gets a little hot,” I’m not after you, I’m after what’s sitting up inside you that makes you an enemy of God and an enemy of yourself. … If you fear, you won’t live to see justice. If you are a scared-to-death people, you are scared of the power of the enemy because you’re not acquainted with The Power of God.
“God so loved the world”: When you use the definite article, you’re talking about that world that is “the example of worlds,” and is why this world will not last! God so loved the world that was in His Mind, that He gave His only begotten son to bring that world into existence because this one is perishing—and if you love this world, you will go down with it as it’s going! That is why you have to be told the truth that will set you free.
Free of what? Free of your oppressor. Free of the tyranny of those who terrorize you. Free of that fear that makes you into a “little boy” in the face of your enemy, when God wants to make you a man.
‘The Cry of the Human Family in Demand of Justice’: With 100 percent dissatisfaction, what power will bring about 100 percent change?
God’s world is in need of a truth that will set up a government where everybody can live in peace under real freedom, real justice, and real equality. Christian family: You pray for it every Sunday, and even through the week! You don’t pray for “this world,” but you say “Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done.” “The Will of God” is not being done today in any country, including the holiest places of Christianity and Islam, and Judaism; so we can go from Jerusalem to Mecca, to Medinah, to Rome—to wherever you think is a “holy place,” it has been defiled.
And those of us who think that we are “holy” because we like to put on robes, and strut like peacocks in front of the ignorant as though we are “holy”: You have never been holy. Even if you tried, you haven’t made it. So let us disabuse ourselves of the arrogance of self-righteousness, and the hypocrisy of it. “There is none righteous, no not one.” (That’s what the Book says.)
If this were God’s world, there wouldn’t be 100 percent dissatisfaction. Trouble is breaking out in all the countries, and America, “the land of the free”—and the home of the slave, as well as “the brave”: There’s trouble in Ferguson, trouble in St. Louis, trouble in Chicago, trouble in New York, trouble everywhere you look. Because “justice” is not where we look; it’s injustice that is the order of the day.
Seven billion people on our planet are upset, angry, dissatisfied with those who lead and govern their lives and the institutions that have been put into place by various governments to govern lives of the people of the Earth. This intense cry for justice demands The Presence of God—and we find Him in The Great Mahdi (or Mahadiah, or “Guide that is Self-Guided”).
The poor Muslim world, trying to get back to the pristine purity of the faith of Muhammad: You haven’t made it, have you? And you won’t make it because you are not guided right. That’s why God sent a Guide; because we’ve lost the way. Christians: You’ve lost the path of Jesus; in fact, most of you never knew his path. You know his name, you know something about his goodness, his beauty as a human being, and you love to praise him in song, in dance, and in preaching, but our hearts are far removed from living the life that he wanted us to live. So what good is it to know the name of a great one, to talk about him, and then deny him in our actions?
Every nation on Earth now: If you listen to the politics of each nation, they’re running on a theme, or a plan, about “change” to satisfy the dissatisfied elements. But no change can satisfy the demand of the Human Family for justice. No change orchestrated by those presently in power could ever satisfy the cry of the people. You know why? Because this cry is not a cry that comes out of some petty hurt or pain; it’s not a cry to “fix the unions,” it’s not a cry to “straighten out the politics,” it’s not a cry to “get the mosque right or the church right”—it’s so much deeper than that.
The change that will satisfy the cry of humanity can only come not from any present ruler, but from God Himself. No institution that presently exists can satisfy the cry of the people; no government—and no religious order.
Again, no religious order can satisfy the cry that is coming up out of the people in your own order, much less the order of someone else. And you know why? Because what is demanded out of the very Nature of God, and the nature and order of His creation that is inside the nature of the people, that has been stirred, now, by the cry for justice: There’s something in you that is crying out, and it cannot be met in the political arena, or the voting booth.
Now, you can vote for whoever you want for mayor. But it is an exercise in futility; because you are never going to get what you think you might get if you put “the right man” in office. I don’t care what his color is—he can’t fix it because he doesn’t know enough to solve the problems. The problems are too complex, and the cry continues to get stronger and stronger. …
The people are crying out for The Kingdom of God to be established on the Earth. This is why God says through the Book of Revelation, “There will be a new heaven and a new earth, and the former things will pass away.” That not only means there will be a new sun, a new moon, new stars; that is in the works now, but we will never live to see it for it’s billions of years in the future. But The God with perfect knowledge is dissatisfied even with what we think is already “perfect,” so there will be a new sun, a new moon, a new star—but that is not what the scripture is talking about.
A “new heaven” means a new spiritual order, and a new political order governed by the spiritual order that will bring human beings together. Not on the basis of color of skin, or ethnicity or biology, but on the basis of our desire to do that which is right.
Cut down trees lie near the limit of the Cordillera Azul National Park, Peru’s Amazon, on Oct. 3, 2022. Photo: AP Photo/Martin Mejia, File
An Indigenous community in the Peruvian Amazon is celebrating a legal victory in the latest stage of its attempt to take back claimed ancestral rainforests.
The Puerto Franco community of the Kichwa tribe say their territory was stolen to form the Cordillera Azul National Park in 2001. Companies such as Shell and TotalEnergies spent tens of millions of dollars on carbon credits in the park to counter emissions from their fossil fuel operations.
The Kichwas got next to nothing and were left in hunger, despite a 2022 Associated Press investigation finding that it was almost certainly their ancestral territory, by the terms of a convention Peru signed decades ago.
The community celebrated a dramatic legal victory last year, when provincial Judge Simona del Socorro Torres Sánchez ruled that creating the park without their consent had violated their rights. Authorities were ordered to grant them legal ownership and proceeds from the carbon credit sales.
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But that was quickly overturned by an appeals court in a move that some legal experts called questionable.
Judge Sánchez has now ruled once again in the Kichwas’ favor, however, making a new order that the Kichwas should get their land back and benefit from the carbon credit sales. She found the Kichwas were Indigenous, and their territorial rights counted for more than the amount of time that’s passed.
The Peruvian government and a nonprofit which runs the park, CIMA, have argued that too much time has passed for the Kichwas to make a claim, and that they are not truly Indigenous people. Peruvian authorities have also argued in legal filings that the community didn’t object to the park’s creation in 2001.
Kichwa leader Inocente Sangama said he was “outraged” at the claim they were not Indigenous people. “Who said an Indigenous person cannot wear clothes?”
“The justice system has proved us right,” he said. “We feel pride and happiness.”
The AP emailed the Peruvian government but did not immediately receive a reply. Jorge Aliaga Arauco, a director at CIMA, said by email that they would appeal the decision and were on solid evidential ground. The nonprofit says proceeds from the carbon credit project help protect the ancient rainforest, one of Peru’s most pristine and biodiverse environments.
The case may be moving towards a conclusion.
Juan Carlos Díaz, a constitutional lawyer at Pontifical Catholic University of Peru, told the AP that the ruling could be appealed before a superior court. If the Kichwas win there, the decision would be final, he said. Should the Kichwas lose, they would have one last right of appeal, to a Constitutional Court in Lima, but the government doesn’t have that last recourse. (AP)
Yemeni armed forces have claimed responsibility for an operation against a power station located on the Mediterranean coast in the Israeli-occupied territories, in retaliation for the Tel Aviv regime’s genocide against Palestinians in Gaza.
The spokesman for the Yemeni Armed Forces Brigadier General Yahya Saree announced in a televised statement on Sunday that Yemeni missile units targeted the Orot Rabin power station in Hadera, with a Palestine-2 hypersonic ballistic missile.
Saree added that the retaliatory strike attained its desired objectives successfully.
He noted that the Yemeni nation, its leadership, and its armed forces will continue to fulfill their religious, moral, and humanitarian obligations towards oppressed Palestinians.
Saree underscored that Yemeni military operations in support of Palestinian resistance fighters in Gaza will continue unabated as long as the ongoing aggression on the impoverished coastal territory persists and the siege is not lifted.
A member of the Supreme Political Council of Yemen also issued a warning to Saudi Arabia whose forces targeted a border region on Thursday evening, killing a Yemeni civilian and an African refugee.
“Our people have the experience and readiness to confront any escalation of tensions that aim to distract people from the issue of Palestine,” Mohammed Ali al-Houthi said.
“We tell Saudi Arabia that the de-escalation was a golden opportunity to review the wrong assessments that previously got you into trouble,” he said, referring to years of war between the two sides.
“You thought that Yemen would fall in two weeks, and today every other mistake will fail and the Yemeni people will win,” he added.
In March 2015, Saudi Arabia launched a war on Yemen in collaboration with its Arab allies and the support of the US and some Western countries to reinstall a Riyadh-friendly regime and crush the Ansarullah resistance movement.
The Saudi-led coalition, however, achieved none of the objectives and remained bogged down in Yemen for years in the face of stiff resistance by its nation and armed forces.
Yemenis have been carrying out high-intensity and high-precision military operations against vessels linked to the Israeli regime in the Red Sea, Arabian Sea, and Indian Ocean.
They also carried out long-range missile strikes deep inside the occupied Palestinian territories, including Tel Aviv.
Yemen’s arsenal includes long-range ballistic missiles, cruise missiles, and drones capable of hitting targets up to 2,000 kilometers away, which has been on full display in recent months and weeks.
The domestically manufactured missiles have repeatedly penetrated Israel’s much-hyped military systems.
In recent weeks, Yemen has notably intensified its pro-Palestinian strikes on Israeli military targets within the occupied territories, employing advanced hypersonic ballistic missiles.
In an attempt to halt these pro-Palestinian operations and in support of the Israeli genocide, the US and UK have conducted indiscriminate aerial attacks on the Arab country.
However, despite months of heavy airstrikes, Yemeni forces have remained undeterred and continue to target Israeli-linked vessels in regional waters. These attacks have also prompted Yemen to retaliate by targeting West’s military assets stationed off its coastline.
The Yemeni armed forces have said they will not stop their attacks until Israel’s ground and aerial offensives in Gaza end.
Israel has killed at least 45,717 Palestinians, mostly women and children, and injured another 108,856 individuals in Gaza since the onset of the war.
Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich attends Israel Hayom's security conference in Jerusalem, December 1, 2024
(photo credit: YONATAN SINDEL/FLASH90)
Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich approved the rescheduling of the days on which the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange will operate – to Monday to Friday instead of Sunday to Thursday.
Friday’s trading will end at 2 p.m. to account for Shabbat.
The previous trading was from Sunday to Thursday. Friday's trading, however, will end at 2 p.m. so that Shabbat will still be observed.
Smotrich visited the TASE on Monday. According to Ynet, his representative said the switching of the trading days was to “adapt the Israeli economic market to international standards.”
Ittai Ben-Zeev, TASE’s CEO, hosted Smotrich during his visit.
Finance Minister and Head of the Religious Zionist Party Bezalel Smotrich leads a faction meeting at the Knesset, the Israeli parliament in Jerusalem, December 9, 2024 (credit: YONATAN SINDEL/FLASH90)
Change to happen in over a year
Maariv reported that the change was expected to take effect in early 2026. It added that the move received broad support from both local and international market players.
According to the publication, many of them emphasized the advantages of the move.
They said, for example, that it would improve accessibility for global investors – because adapting trading days to global standards would allow foreign investors to operate more easily in the local market.
Increased contribution to more accurate pricing and improved market efficiency were more reasons listed in favor of the change.
Supporters also said the revised schedule could increase the chance of future integration of Israeli securities into leading world indices, as this will allow for an integration into international stock market indices.
“During the longest war in the country’s history, the stock exchange demonstrated impressive resilience, strength, and growth,” Ben-Zeev said.
“The move to the Monday to Friday trading days is an opportunity to leverage its advantages in the global financial arena,” he added.
“Adapting the exchange’s activities to the world will open a window for broader international investments, strengthen the attractiveness of Israeli companies, and accelerate the growth of the local capital market," Ben-Zeev said.
