RT calls out neo-colonialism in new multi-country Africa ad blitz

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Colonial legacies can take many insidious forms and metastasize into new ones. RT is uniquely familiar with the risks of such long-term foreign dominance – in our case, in the media space – and seeks to tackle them with new, Africa-focused content and a bold cross-continental ad campaign.

“Neo-colonialism is the worst form of imperialism”

“The anti-colonial struggle is essentially a struggle for human dignity”

“Independence and sovereignty cannot be shared”

“African resources should belong to Africa”

These phrases grace billboards across Ghana, Tanzania, Uganda and Zimbabwe. Years ago they were uttered by famed African leaders: Ghana’s Kwame Nkrumah, Tanzania’s Julius Nyerere, Uganda’s Milton Obote and Zimbabwe’s Robert Mugabe. Yet their words are still remembered and are resonant more than ever today – throughout the African continent and beyond.   

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Pervasive western mainstream media dominance is something that RT has had to battle for nearly two decades, essentially since the day of its inception – and Russia, as a whole, for much longer. For many decades, the global media landscape has been controlled by an oligopoly of news outlets, be it in print, radio or on TV, all protecting their countries’ or alliance’s interests, geopolitical and economic.

Today, monopolistic social media giants amplify their voices. What do they all have in common? They all come from the same handful of countries. And yet they have the gall to tell the entire world what to think and how to feel about the rest of the world, even about the ‘audience’ countries themselves.

America’s CNN and the New York Times, Britain’s BBC and The Guardian have dictated to the likes of Russia, India, South Africa, Indonesia and dozens and dozens of countries what to believe about the world and themselves; who is good and who is bad; what is black and what is white. 

They came into our lands, ‘invested’ in our media, scooped up some of our brightest young talents and shaped them in their own likeness. They set a narrow range of acceptable narratives. It was as close to media colonialism as it got. And with it, no true independence – media or otherwise – was possible.

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The backlash was inevitable. People stopped believing the so-called reality they were fed via that media echo-chamber, even about their own backyards, not to mention about lands halfway around the globe. The time has come to tell our stories, ourselves. New voices have risen up. Voices like RT.

For the last 19 years, RT has firmly established itself as a voice of dissent in the global news media space. We cover stories overlooked or ignored by others and thoughtfully explore points of view that rarely make it into the mainstream media.  

As we are proud to show you in our videos, currently playing at Addis Ababa International Airport in Ethiopia – also part of our multi-country African ad campaign – our journalists are not  afraid to come under fire, to challenge the most prominent world leaders, to engage with the visionaries of our generation. And we want to use our resources to showcase African countries and peoples in all their diversity and complexity to the world, to amplify their voices.

We are also proud to present a new show on RT, based out of Kenya – ‘Lumumba’s Africa’, with Professor P.L.O. Lumumba. The program delivers a deep and insightful look into the matters that are still most salient to Africa as a whole and many of its nations. Professor P.L.O. Lumumba takes his audience on a dramatic and educated tale of African issues like economic development, the colonial legacy, energy, education – and, most vividly, the bright hope for the future of Africa itself.

I am sure that there will be even more provocative questions that RT will seek to ask in the months to come. Why borrow money from the IMF if your country is rich in natural resources? Do international corporations care more about African people or their own profits? Do European leaders dream about getting their colonies back?  Should the West pay reparations for slavery? Why did Nigeria nearly get dragged into a war over US and French interests in neighboring Niger? Should the US dollar remain the main global reserve currency?

We are not afraid to start these conversations, in Africa, about Africa. For RT’s audience of millions all around the world.

You can find more images of the campaign HERE.