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TOYA, Mali — The insurgents who have fled from invading French troops in Mali have been taking with them some of their most important possessions — slaves.
The Tuareg tribes that overran Mali's military with the help of Arab extremist groups aligned with al-Qaeda have long held slaves and many of the captives are from families that have been enslaved for generations.
"It's no way to live, without your freedom," said Mohammed Yattara, a former slave who ran away from his Tuareg masters years ago.
"You depend on them for everything. If they tell you to do something, you have to do it, or they will beat you," he said as he sat with the chief of the village of Toya and among men and women who were descendants of slaves or former slaves.
"You can marry, but if the master wants to have sex with your wife, he will. Everything that's yours is theirs," Yattara said.
Tuaregs are a semi-nomadic people of North Africa's Sahara desert whose traditional land was divided into several nations, the borders of which were drawn by European colonialist powers.....snipped...
Is there any way that this kind of thing can be done away with ? Is it condoned by the people in power or what ?
I also saw a news report on CNN about this, apparently the government doesn't believe their is slavery, but CNN clearly proved it to them with video footage and then tried to deny it.
In the United States, about 0.7% of the population is being held as slaves in penal institutions. That is the highest in the world.
The world is currently passing through a temporary era in which Slavery is regarded as socially unacceptable and unnecessary. This will change, in the fluid dynamics of economic exigencies.
The present proto-oligarchical paradigm excludes (or at least minimizes) Africa, so it is not surprising that certain outliers can be found slipping through the cracks in Africa.
Although the points I've alluded to are somewhat off-topic and better discussed elsewhere, they should be kept in mind in an analysis of the situation in Mail.
jtur, I am not sure what you just said...lol. Who is being held in slavery in the US ?
I googled "proto-oligarchical paradigm" and got no straight answer. There was "oligarchical paradigm" and "proto paradigm" but not the three together. I suspect I already know what you were saying.
Quote:
...snipped...The world is currently passing through a temporary era in which Slavery is regarded as socially unacceptable and unnecessary...snipped...
why is it temporary ? I thought slavery was always, at least in the last century or so, among civilized people, unacceptable, unnecessary and immoral.
[LEFT]Lightning and thunder split the Saharan night. In northern Niger, heavy rain and wind smashed into the commodious goatskin tent of a Tuareg tribesman named Tafan and his family, snapping a tent pole and tumbling the tent to the ground.
Huddling in a small, tattered tent nearby was a second family, a man, a woman and their four children. Tafan ordered the woman, Asibit, to go outside and stand in the full face of the storm while holding the pole steady, keeping his tent upright until the rain and wind ceased.
Asibit obeyed because, like tens of thousands of other Nigeriens, she was born into a slave caste that goes back hundreds of years. As she tells it, Tafan’s family treated her not as a human, but as chattel, a beast of burden like their goats, sheep and camels. Her eldest daughter, Asibit says, was born after Tafan raped her, and when the child turned 6, he gave her as a present to his brother—a common practice among Niger’s slave owners. Asibit, fearful of a whipping, watched in silence as her daughter was taken away.
“From childhood, I toiled from early morning until late at night,” she recalls matter-of-factly. She pounded millet, prepared breakfast for Tafan and his family and ate the leftovers with her own. While her husband and children herded Tafan’s livestock, she did his household chores and milked his camels. She had to move his tent, open-fronted to catch any breeze, four times a day so his family would always be in shade. Now 51, she seems to bear an extra two decades in her lined and leathery face. “I never received a single coin during the 50 years,” she says.
Asibit bore these indignities without complaint. On that storm-tossed night in the desert, she says, she struggled for hours to keep the tent upright, knowing she’d be beaten if she failed. But then, like the tent pole, something inside her snapped: she threw the pole aside and ran into the night, making a dash for freedom to the nearest town, 20 miles across the desert.
History resonates with countless verified accounts of human bondage, but Asibit escaped only in June of last year.
Is there any way that this kind of thing can be done away with ? Is it condoned by the people in power or what ?
Seems that in order for slavery to be done away with in parts of Africa like Mali, a western government agency would have to either go to war to abolish slavery completely. I've been reading up on Mali for awhile now, and find the ingrained practice of chattel slavery by Tuaregs breathtaking. The Tuaregs are a nomadic group practicing slavery, with a history of involvement in both the Arab and Trans-Atlantic slave trade for thousands of years. They're barbaric and uncivilzed, and it will take some time for them to be dragged into modern world. The Tuaregs are supported by Islamists who do condone chattel slavery.
ETA: when Timbuktu was under attack where Islamicists where destroying the libraries, those actions were revolting and infuriating because so much ancient records were in those libraries predating colonialism. UGH.
Last edited by freespiritbty; 04-23-2013 at 04:59 PM..
jtur, I am not sure what you just said...lol. Who is being held in slavery in the US ?
I googled "proto-oligarchical paradigm" and got no straight answer. There was "oligarchical paradigm" and "proto paradigm" but not the three together. I suspect I already know what you were saying.
why is it temporary ? I thought slavery was always, at least in the last century or so, among civilized people, unacceptable, unnecessary and immoral.
thats what i was thinking, no one is being held as slaves in the usa...
They often have to work while they are in there, and they do not get compensated a fair wage for it.
Also, while there are some people who "deserve" to be in prison (murderers, rapists, etc.), there are also a large number of people who have not really committed any real crime. They were using drugs perhaps, which shouldn't be illegal, but instead is used an excuse to enslave them. Or some people legitimately did not even commit a crime at all and were still arrested and sentenced somehow.
Aside from China, USA has the most prisoners in the entire world - that's a lot of slaves.
ETA: when Timbuktu was under attack where Islamicists where destroying the libraries, those actions were revolting and infuriating because so much ancient records were in those libraries predating colonialism. UGH.
lol, what are "Islamicists"? You do realize the entire country of Mali is Muslim right? (yes, almost all of the blacks are Muslim too).
It's so stupid that people are painting this situation as "Muslims are attacking an African country". No, one group of Muslims (arabs aka Tuaregs) does not want to be ruled by another group of Muslims (blacks aka Bambara) - they just want to break away and form their own country. That's it. It has nothing to do with Islam because BOTH SIDES are "Islamicists"...
Timbuktu has been a Muslim city for centuries too (BTW).
lol, what are "Islamicists"? You do realize the entire country of Mali is Muslim right? (yes, almost all of the blacks are Muslim too).
It's so stupid that people are painting this situation as "Muslims are attacking an African country". No, one group of Muslims (arabs aka Tuaregs) does not want to be ruled by another group of Muslims (blacks aka Bambara) - they just want to break away and form their own country. That's it. It has nothing to do with Islam because BOTH SIDES are "Islamicists"...
Timbuktu has been a Muslim city for centuries too (BTW).
You really didn't bring anything to this topic besides being Cpt. Obvious about Mali. The point is both are murdering each other for control of the country. Peaceful religion my hide. Since both Tuaregs and Bambara are needlessly at war with each other (so much for being one ummah), there is no justification for barbarians killing each other and enslavement in the 21st century. My ancestry is part Tuareg, and there isn't one drop of Arab blood in my veins. But then again, that is the backwards twisted mentality of Islam.
You know what's stupid? Mohammedans burning historical data traced back to pre-colonial Mali. You know what else is stupid? Blacks becoming mohammedans and defending them as "holy warriors" when in fact nothing is holy about the slave religion of the fraud prophet Mohammed. Now that's the height of stupidity and comedy.
Last edited by freespiritbty; 04-27-2013 at 04:37 PM..
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