1. France’s Persecution of Pan-Africanist Kemi Seba

One of Francophone Africa’s leading anti-colonial activists, Kemi Seba, was arrested in Paris on October 14. Seba is the President of Urgences Panafricanistes (Pan-Africanist Emergencies). The organization has been on the frontlines of the movement across France’s former West African colonies against its continuing monetary stranglehold through the CFA-Franc currency.

Along with the group’s coordinator, Hery Djehuty, Seba was held and interrogated in the basement of France’s Directorate General of Internal Security, which is tasked with counterterrorism and counterespionage. He was released on October 16. The prosecutor’s office said that although no charges were pressed against him, the investigation into possible “foreign interference” in French affairs will continue.

Military codes applicable to spies and high-ranking officials sharing intelligence with a foreign power to promote an attack on France are being invoked against the civilian activist, Seba’s lawyer complained in a press statement while he was still in custody. These charges entail a prison term of 30 years.

Seba is no stranger to French prisons, having served sentences in 2009, 2011, and 2014 for his role in movement organizing. Born in France to Beninese parents, he first came to prominence in the mid-2000s after forming Tribu KA, a Black nationalist organization modeled on the U.S.-based Nation of Islam.

After France banned Tribu KA, accusing it of racism and antisemitism, he reconstituted the organization twice under different names. Both were dissolved by the Interior Ministry, following which he went on to head the New Black Panther Party’s branch in France.

In August 2017, Seba was arrested in Dakar after he publicly burnt a 5,000 CFA franc note, denouncing it as “colonial currency.”

When he was produced in court days later, along with another member who had been arrested with him, Urgences Panafricanistes held demonstrations not only in Dakar but also in city of Cotonou in his home country of Benin, Abidjan in Côte d’Ivoire, Moursal in Chad, Mali’s capital Bamako, Burkina Faso’s capital Ouagadougou and Niger’s capital Niamey.

Having thus contributed to the growing movement across France’s former colonies in West Africa, he walked free, securing an order from the court for his release on technical grounds.

In February, France—whose Parliament’s chairman of the defense committee in March 2023 had accused Seba of “relaying Russian propaganda”—initiated the proceeding to revoke Seba’s citizenship. A letter notifying him of this action provided his criticism of “French presence in Africa” as “neocolonialism” as reason.

“Your passport is not a bone that you give us or take away depending on how submissive we are to you as if Black people were dogs. I am a free Black man. I am a free African. I am a free Beninese,” Seba declared, after burning his French passport during a live press conference in March, months before the French government completed the process of stripping him of his citizenship in July.

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2. Northern Gaza Hospitals Suffer a Night of Israeli Attacks

Israeli forces shelled all three major hospitals in northern Gaza—Kamal Adwan, Al-Awda, and the Indonesian Hospital—on the night of October 18 through October 19. Dozens of people, including health staff, were killed or injured during the attacks, which targeted hospital grounds despite patients and displaced people sheltering there.

Similarly, attacks on Jabalia killed health workers and their family members, including nurses from Kamal Adwan and Al-Shifa hospitals, according to hospital sources. Later on October 19, reports on social media revealed that the IOF detained a large group of Palestinian men near the Indonesian Hospital, holding them in what appeared to be a large pit. The reports raised concerns that these men, like thousands of other Gazans, are likely to be forcibly disappeared at the hands of Israeli forces.

The attacks severely damaged all three hospitals. Large sections of Al-Awda’s upper floors were destroyed in shelling, and parts of the Indonesian Hospital’s walls and Kamal Adwan’s laboratory entrance were blown apart or damaged. All three facilities have effectively been forced out of service by the assaults, leaving hundreds of people—including pregnant women, children, and critically injured patients—without any access to care.

Dr. Marwan Al-Sultan, director of the Indonesian Hospital, stated that the hospital was unable to provide critical care due to the shortage of supplies and staff could not start the generator as a result of fuel running out. Al-Sultan added that IOF forces had surrounded shelters near the hospital, trapping hundreds of displaced families, including newborn babies and the elderly.

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3. Health Activists Picket Against High Cost of Nutritious Food on World Food Day

On World Food Day, October 16, the People’s Health Movement (PHM) South Africa organized a picket in front of the National Parliament to protest the high cost of healthy and nutritious food in the country.

While the South African Constitution guarantees the right to food, PHM South Africa argued that only the wealthy can afford healthy meals today. “The soaring prices of nutritious food have placed it beyond the reach of millions, forcing many to resort to cheaper, ultra-processed foods,” they said. Ultra-processed foods have been linked to a long list of non-communicable diseases, including cancer and diabetes, making this a pressing social justice issue, the picket organizers noted.

Currently, 20 million South Africans go hungry every day, with an additional 10 million unable to consistently provide enough food for themselves and their families. At the same time, approximately one-third of the country’s food production goes to waste annually. “This disparity between abundance and deprivation is a grave injustice,” PHM South Africa stated.

To address the crisis, health activists are calling on the government to take action, including regulating food prices, taxing unhealthy food products, and supporting small-scale farmers.

“Hunger, malnutrition, and [noncommunicable] diseases are preventable, but only with the necessary political will and decisive action,” they concluded. “We call on Parliament to lead in this effort and ensure that the fundamental right to food is fully realized for all South Africans.”

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4. Athens Dockworkers Block Ammunition Shipment Bound for Israel

Workers at the Piraeus Port in Athens successfully blocked a shipment of ammunition bound for Israel in a late-night action on October 17. Following a call to action by the dockworkers’ union ENEDEP, port workers and activists mobilized to prevent a container of bullets, designated for the port of Haifa, from being loaded onto the ship Marla Bull, owned by Israeli company ZIM Integrated Shipping Services.

In addition to ENEDEP, the action was supported by several workers’ organizations, including the Labor Center of Piraeus and unions of metalworkers and the shipbuilding industry. The workers declared they would not be complicit in Israel’s ongoing genocide in Gaza by allowing the container to sail, as its cargo would be used to kill more Palestinians.

As a result of the action, the Marla Bull was forced to leave the port without the shipment. According to local Palestine solidarity groups, the container remains near the port, guarded by workers and awaiting further investigation by port authorities.

During the action, workers demanded “disengagement from the imperialist plans and their consequences that turn our country and Piraeus Port into a target for retaliation.” They added that Piraeus should not serve as a “base of war.”

A delegate from the General Union of Palestinian Workers, Mohammed Iqnaibi, commended the workers for their solidarity, stating that Palestinian workers continue to draw strength and courage from their struggles. The Communist Party of Greece (KKE) praised the action.