ALABAMA BRAWL NIGER STYLE

One of our favourite posts of 2023 was when merged two stories together and made this hilarious meme video where we took the now-viral clip of the Alabama Street Brawl and combined it with how Mali, Guinea and Burkina Faso declared that they would join forces with Niger to defend the nation against a possible ECOWAS attack led by Nigeria.

The original video went viral because it showed Africans collectively coming together to defend black security, set on by a mob of white people for just doing his job. We are constantly told that Africans are disunited, but this was a very visceral display of that unity, with a 16-year-old brother even jumping from a boat and swimming to support the security guard who was being attacked. Another theory is that after scores of videos circulated on social media of Africans in America and elsewhere being brutalised by police officers and racists, it is refreshing to see a video of Africans fighting back and embodying the words of Malcolm X:
"I don't call it violence when it's self-defence; I call it intelligence."

If the video has taught us anything, it's we must come together and defend one another, whether on the streets or that we come together as Africans to defend Niger from Western aggression. We must develop the appropriate attitude of "touch one, touch all" when defending African people and states from imperialism.

Mali and Burkina Faso did the right thing by rushing to Niger's defence as soon as imperialist forces threatened it. Guinea quickly followed suit. When we unite to fight our shared enemies, we become a real force to reckon with. Divided, we are weak; united, we are strong. As President Ibrahim Traoré of Burkina Faso stated, "Africa needs to be able to unite, and the more united we are, the more effective we are."