Country Report: Mauritania An 800-year-old system of black chattel slavery thrives in Mauritania. A Victim's Story Bilal wakes before dawn each day. He eats the leftover food scraps from the plate of his master, barely enough nourishment for his 20 year-old frame. By the time the sun is up, he is driving a donkey cart to the local well. He fills two 60-liter containers and begins watering rounds that will not end until sundown. Bilal is not allowed a break. Working through the desert's afternoon heat, he makes up to ten trips each day, traveling many miles to deliver water to those who can afford it. He is paid at each stop. The money, however, is passed on to his master. At night, Bilal continues work, cleaning and serving his master. He is finally permitted to rest at midnight. Every day is like this. Bilal was born a slave. Will he die a slave?
Estimates of the number of black Africans enslaved in Mauritania range from 100,000 to as many as one million. Chattel slavery, in which one person is owned as another's property, has existed in Mauritania for 800 years-born out of racism and a skewed version of Islamic fundamentalism. Slaves are raised to believe that serving their Arab-Berber masters is a religious duty, and most remain in bondage their entire lives.
Country Background Mauritania's desert landscape sits on the west coast of North Africa, where the Arab north meets the black south. Mauritania is the size of California and Texas combined, with only 2.7 million people. It has the lowest population density and is one of the poorest countries in the world. Most Mauritanians practice Islam. Three main population groups include "Beydannes" (literally, "whites" - Arabs and Berber tribes - who control the government), "Haratines" (black slave caste that makes up roughly 40% of the population), and free blacks. In the early 1990s, Mauritania backed Saddam Hussein in the Gulf War but several years later shifted to support the Middle East peace process, becoming only the third Arab nation to sign a peace treaty with Israel.
Causes of Slavery Slavery has been a part of Mauritanian society for centuries. 800 years ago, Arab and Berber tribes descended from the Mediterranean peninsula and launched slave raids against the indigenous African population, abducting women and children as slaves. Those enslaved were converted to Islam and raised to believe that their religious duty was to serve their masters faithfully. Slaves were taught that because of their impure dark skin they were forbidden from touching the Koran, praying in the mosque, and attending school. The saying "paradise under your master's foot" embodied the notion that the path to salvation was through loyal servitude.
While Christianity was once used in a similar manner to justify slavery to Africans ensnared by the trans-Atlantic slave trade, Mauritania's system persists today in the 21st century. Moors still hold "haratine" slaves, descendants of those abducted centuries ago. Slaves are bought and sold, branded and bred, and even given to the poor as an act of charity. Some are trafficked to Gulf states or even serve in embassies around the world.
Black slavery is simply an integral part of Mauritanian society, with slaves performing all sorts of physical labor. Mauritania has theoretically outlawed slavery three times, most recently with a military edict in 1980. But local Islamic courts rarely enforce anti-slavery statutes, and there is no evidence of widespread emancipation. The U.S. State Department used to cite Mauritania for slavery each year in its human rights reports, but the U.S. government has chosen to overlook the country's pervasive system of human bondage after Mauritania joined the Middle East peace process.
The Process of Enslavement Haratines remain enslaved to the same families for generations. Slaves do various types of work, as the Beydannes believe it is shameful to use their own hands for labor. In the countryside, slaves are agricultural laborers, maintaining crops for their masters. In cities, workers may be house servants or builders, forced to work every day. The only change from the past is that the slaves are no longer captured, as more than enough are simply born into bondage.
The life of a slave is tedium punctured by terror. Most slaves perform grinding chores for years on end. Yet those who disappoint their masters are often tortured. Human rights reports describe awful tortures, including insects being stuffed inside slaves' ears and slaves being ripped apart. Because haratine slaves perform all of the household's physical labor, violence is used by masters to assert their authority and discipline any signs of insubordination.
Enslaved women are often kept as concubines, raped by members of the master's family. Slaves are not allowed to marry without the master's consent, and women are stripped of the right of motherhood: At the master's whim, their children can be taken from them and sold off or given as wedding gifts. As an act of repentance, masters will often donate one of their slaves to the poor.
Beydannes rarely release their slaves and escape is rare, given that the ideology of slavery is accepted by both masters and slaves. As one enslaved woman told the New York Times, "God created me to be a slave, just as he created the camel to be a camel." Denied an education and trapped within Mauritania's pervasive racism and poverty, haratine slaves can hardly dream of freedom, let alone experience it.
Response on the Ground Two Mauritanian organizations - led by ex-slaves - work to free slaves at great risk. The underground movement El Hor ("The Free") and SOS Esclaves both pressure the government for change and assist escaped slaves.
//Those enslaved were converted to Islam and raised to believe that their religious duty was to serve their masters faithfully. Slaves were taught that because of their impure dark skin they were forbidden from touching the Koran, praying in the mosque, and attending school. The saying "paradise under your master's foot" embodied the notion that the path to salvation was through loyal servitude.//
5 comments:
Thanks for the video..
It is eye opening!
What happened to the jallies?
Silence?
Country Report: Mauritania
An 800-year-old system of black chattel slavery thrives in Mauritania.
A Victim's Story
Bilal wakes before dawn each day. He eats the leftover food scraps from the plate of his master, barely enough nourishment for his 20 year-old frame. By the time the sun is up, he is driving a donkey cart to the local well. He fills two 60-liter containers and begins watering rounds that will not end until sundown. Bilal is not allowed a break. Working through the desert's afternoon heat, he makes up to ten trips each day, traveling many miles to deliver water to those who can afford it. He is paid at each stop. The money, however, is passed on to his master. At night, Bilal continues work, cleaning and serving his master. He is finally permitted to rest at midnight. Every day is like this. Bilal was born a slave. Will he die a slave?
Estimates of the number of black Africans enslaved in Mauritania range from 100,000 to as many as one million. Chattel slavery, in which one person is owned as another's property, has existed in Mauritania for 800 years-born out of racism and a skewed version of Islamic fundamentalism. Slaves are raised to believe that serving their Arab-Berber masters is a religious duty, and most remain in bondage their entire lives.
Country Background
Mauritania's desert landscape sits on the west coast of North Africa, where the Arab north meets the black south. Mauritania is the size of California and Texas combined, with only 2.7 million people. It has the lowest population density and is one of the poorest countries in the world. Most Mauritanians practice Islam. Three main population groups include "Beydannes" (literally, "whites" - Arabs and Berber tribes - who control the government), "Haratines" (black slave caste that makes up roughly 40% of the population), and free blacks. In the early 1990s, Mauritania backed Saddam Hussein in the Gulf War but several years later shifted to support the Middle East peace process, becoming only the third Arab nation to sign a peace treaty with Israel.
Causes of Slavery
Slavery has been a part of Mauritanian society for centuries. 800 years ago, Arab and Berber tribes descended from the Mediterranean peninsula and launched slave raids against the indigenous African population, abducting women and children as slaves. Those enslaved were converted to Islam and raised to believe that their religious duty was to serve their masters faithfully. Slaves were taught that because of their impure dark skin they were forbidden from touching the Koran, praying in the mosque, and attending school. The saying "paradise under your master's foot" embodied the notion that the path to salvation was through loyal servitude.
While Christianity was once used in a similar manner to justify slavery to Africans ensnared by the trans-Atlantic slave trade, Mauritania's system persists today in the 21st century. Moors still hold "haratine" slaves, descendants of those abducted centuries ago. Slaves are bought and sold, branded and bred, and even given to the poor as an act of charity. Some are trafficked to Gulf states or even serve in embassies around the world.
Black slavery is simply an integral part of Mauritanian society, with slaves performing all sorts of physical labor. Mauritania has theoretically outlawed slavery three times, most recently with a military edict in 1980. But local Islamic courts rarely enforce anti-slavery statutes, and there is no evidence of widespread emancipation. The U.S. State Department used to cite Mauritania for slavery each year in its human rights reports, but the U.S. government has chosen to overlook the country's pervasive system of human bondage after Mauritania joined the Middle East peace process.
The Process of Enslavement
Haratines remain enslaved to the same families for generations. Slaves do various types of work, as the Beydannes believe it is shameful to use their own hands for labor. In the countryside, slaves are agricultural laborers, maintaining crops for their masters. In cities, workers may be house servants or builders, forced to work every day. The only change from the past is that the slaves are no longer captured, as more than enough are simply born into bondage.
The life of a slave is tedium punctured by terror. Most slaves perform grinding chores for years on end. Yet those who disappoint their masters are often tortured. Human rights reports describe awful tortures, including insects being stuffed inside slaves' ears and slaves being ripped apart. Because haratine slaves perform all of the household's physical labor, violence is used by masters to assert their authority and discipline any signs of insubordination.
Enslaved women are often kept as concubines, raped by members of the master's family. Slaves are not allowed to marry without the master's consent, and women are stripped of the right of motherhood: At the master's whim, their children can be taken from them and sold off or given as wedding gifts. As an act of repentance, masters will often donate one of their slaves to the poor.
Beydannes rarely release their slaves and escape is rare, given that the ideology of slavery is accepted by both masters and slaves. As one enslaved woman told the New York Times, "God created me to be a slave, just as he created the camel to be a camel." Denied an education and trapped within Mauritania's pervasive racism and poverty, haratine slaves can hardly dream of freedom, let alone experience it.
Response on the Ground
Two Mauritanian organizations - led by ex-slaves - work to free slaves at great risk. The underground movement El Hor ("The Free") and SOS Esclaves both pressure the government for change and assist escaped slaves.
http://www.iabolish.org/slavery_today/country_reports/mr.html
//Those enslaved were converted to Islam and raised to believe that their religious duty was to serve their masters faithfully. Slaves were taught that because of their impure dark skin they were forbidden from touching the Koran, praying in the mosque, and attending school. The saying "paradise under your master's foot" embodied the notion that the path to salvation was through loyal servitude.//
Sad
Thanks Kannan, Thanks Raj and anonies..
Yes. It is truly sad!
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