Tuesday, November 28, 2017

Slavery In 2017 Exists In North Africa... Are Republican Party Policies Heading Us Back Towards That Institution Cherished By The Rich And Powerful?

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Roland and I were wandering around south-central Mali a few years ago, taking it in, meeting the folks. Alan Grayson had recommended Bandiagara and Sangha as a couple of off-the-beaten-track places east of Mopti and north of the border with Burkina Faso. In one of those towns Roland found a goat and its kid. The mother goat was freaking out because they were separating her from the kid and it looked like she knew the kid was headed for the stew pot. Roland bought the kid and we walked around with it for a few days before giving it to the mother goat's owner-- along with some Impeach Cheney caps, t-shirts and assorted foodstuffs and ephemera to seal an agreement that they wouldn't eat the kid. They seemed like honorable people and I bet the kid is still thriving-- unless the rebels ate him. We never bought a slave to free him though.

After our adventures in Dogon country, we headed north to legendary Timbuktu. We had seen slaves before, in Mali and in southern Morocco beyond the Atlas. It's even worse in Mauritania, which we've avoided. But as we headed north into Tuareg country we realized that the dark-skinned people were slaves of the more Arab-looking Tuaregs. We were at a river crossing one day and it was a noisy, lively place with music and everyone babbling away and little children running around playing. Suddenly the place turned deadly quiet and the only thing you could hear were the birds screaming. The women and children had all disappeared in a second. The place looked like a ghost town with a few surly men selling their goods to no one. And just as suddenly a pick-up truck rolled up to the ferry landing. It was filled with Tuaregs, heavily armed, menacing-looking Tuaregs. Later in the trip, up in the deep Sahara north of Timbuktu, we got to know some Tuaregs and did some bartering with them. There were slaves in their encampment and it was very creepy but they were-- and this is weird to write-- nice to us and polite enough.



So we weren't surprised when CNN reported that there are slaves-- migrants on their way from deep Africa to Europe-- being bought and sold in Libya. I don't expect much from the Trump Regime but France is taking the matter up to the UN. President Emmanuel Macron, terming the practice "a crime against humanity," requested an urgent meeting of the UN Security Council to discuss this treatment of migrants in Libya.
The UN in Libya is "dismayed and sickened by the recent video" and is actively pursuing the matter with the Libyan authorities to set up transparent monitoring mechanisms that safeguard migrants against horrific human rights abuses, said Ghassan Salame, Special Representative of the Secretary-General and Head of the United Nations Support Mission in Libya.

...Secretary-General António Guterres urged the international community to unite on the issue and called on all countries to adopt the UN Convention against Transnational Organized Crime and its protocol on human trafficking.

"I abhor these appalling acts and call upon all competent authorities to investigate these activities without delay and to bring the perpetrators to justice," Guterres said. "I have asked the relevant United Nations actors to actively pursue this matter."
Reuters reported that on Friday Pope Francis "excoriated politicians who foment fear of migrants, saying they were sowing violence and racism, and urged them to 'practise the virtue of prudence' to help them integrate. Pope Francis: "Those who, for what may be political reasons, foment fear of migrants instead of building peace are sowing violence, racial discrimination and xenophobia, which are matters of great worry for all those concerned about the safety of every human being." I hope no one accuses me of cultural appropriation for writing about it and condemning it. What's more un-PC, slavery or cultural appropriation? Who can keep up? Watch the CNN report:



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4 Comments:

At 7:12 PM, Blogger Gadfly said...

Those slaves were being sold in Libya before Jan. 20, 2017, when Dear Leader was still president.

Gotta love his ex post facto hand-wringing over Libyan intervention. Guess Hillary Clinton didn't listen to "Kumbaya" much more than Congressional Republicans.

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As far as the race issue, nothing new. Not talked about a lot, but Arab-world Muslims, going back centuries, looked down on sub-Saharan Africans.

 
At 9:30 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

There should be zero doubt that trump, his admin and his voters all long for the great days when they had owned help that they didn't have to pay, feed or provide care for. Their god, after all, CREATED the mud peoples for them to own, work to death and dispose of.

Ironic isn't it that those mud people also worship that same god?

Humans are soooooo fucking stupid.

 
At 4:17 AM, Blogger Daro said...

I heard a few unconfirmed stories about Black Africans in Libya being openly executed or driven out of Libya in the immediate months after Gaddafi's murder. One story had a large group being herded into a church whereupon it was burned down. Shortly thereafter began the refugee crisis across the Mediterranean which seems to lend credence to the rumours. No one will ever hold Saint Obama accountable for this. People are too busy screaming at Trump for some asinine transgression of the day. The Democrats are dead to me.

 
At 5:23 AM, Anonymous Hone said...

Many years ago, a National Geographic came in the mail. The cover story was "25,000,000 slaves in the world." Yes, 25 million!!! I was horrified, appalled, stunned. Yes, that was an estimate of how many people were enslaved for work, sex, etc. It is still going on.

We have it pretty damned good in the USA, that is, for many of us, but with what is going on politically, things will soon be much worse for the average American. The Republicans (and the New Dems and Blue Dogs) are doing all they can to grease the tracks and slide us further into the swamp.

The human race is a MESS.. Our planet is heading towards catastrophe. We are a science fiction novel morphing into reality.

 

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