2648 - Conflict In Ethiopia And How The Western Media Perceives Africa w/ Milton Allimadi

Sam and Emma host Milton Allimadi, publisher of The Black Star News and the author of Manufacturing Hate: How Africa Was Demonized In Western Media, to discuss the exploitative and racist depiction of African people and governments in US media coverage, before moving on to exploring the current conflict in Ethiopia in the Tigray region. They begin with Allimadi’s work on the African narrative created by US Journalists at the New York Times during decolonization that helped build a violent, impoverished, and chaotic image of Africa, emphasizing Africans as brutal and tribal, and establishing this image of the continent for the century moving forwards. Milton, Sam, and Emma look into how NYT clout dominated this discourse so heavily that Allimadi struggled for years coming out of Columbia to get his work published, before they begin to unpack the historical context for the current conflict between Ethiopia and Tigray. They discuss the history of military leadership following the fall of Haile Selassie, and the antagonistic relationship between the Ethiopian government and regions of Tigray and Eritrea, igniting a three-way conflict that would only begin to shift as the Eritrean-Ethiopian War came to a close, and began to center the Tigray region as Ethiopian and Eritrean forces invaded from either side. They discuss the land and independence-based rationale for the war, the devastating famine created by the Ethiopian blockade, and the role of the war on the greater continental and international levels, with PM Abiy Ahmed recently turning to China for infrastructural aid. Emma and Sam round out the first half by covering the continued rampant spread of the Delta variant as the US tries to get its act together to push back, and look into what this week might mean for the Infrastructure bill.

And in the Fun Half: Emma, Sam, and the MR crew cover the developments in the Colonial Pipeline spill, with the gas company, stunningly, incredibly underestimating the actual devastation caused by the leak, Matt discusses the role of Jury nullification in helping prohibit legal action against protesters or for minor drug offenses, and they watch Maria Bartiromo take Senator Cramer to task on the lack of racism in the infrastructure bill, until he finally fights her off by reminding her of the big bad shadow coming in from the East – China. Riley from ND calls in to show appreciation for the Cramer coverage and look into the GOP’s attempt to capitalize on their misinformation about Critical Race Theory in school board elections, Gorfalax and Sam dive into the role of Trump’s (still standing) tariffs and how they bolster monopoly, and the crew covers Joe Rogan’s reiteration of the age-old fear mongering behind public health provisions, plus, your calls and IMs!

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Check out Milton's Patreon, African History Club, here.