The idea of writing about slavery in Mauritania came
to me, after I was unable to attend an event on Sunday, October 12, 2014 at 3:
00pm hosted by Trinity United Church of Christ in partnership with Masjid
Al-Taqwa and the Abolition Institute. Panelists John Sutter (CNN, Slavery’s Last Strong Hold), Dr Babacar MBengue
(DePaul University Islamic World Studies), Sarah Mathewson (Anti-Slavery
International), Bakary Tandia (Abolition Institute), and Rashidat Ololade
Sanya, (Trinity United Church of Christ) gathered on that day on the Southside
of Chicago to discuss and champion “Freedom for Victims of Slavery in
Mauritania Africa.” In this topic, I will talk about the Mauritanian community
in Senegal in the 1980’s and analyze the status of slavery as it exists in
Mauritania, today.
There are different accounts on the etymology of the word slavery, but we could acknowledge that it originated from the English term slave that has its origins in the word Slavs, people who inhabited a large part of
The Australian based organization Walk Free Foundation estimates
that 35.8 million people are living as slaves right now. Despite the fact that the
world came together on December 10, 1948 to condemn the practice of slavery under
Article 4 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which states: “No one
shall be held in slavery or servitude, slavery in all its forms should be eliminated.”
The last country to abolish slavery was Mauritania .
Despite the facts, the Mauritanian government is still in
denial and is doing little to stop the practice of slavery. According to a BBC
report from January 17, 2011, the only person persecuted for owning slaves was
Oumoulmounine Mint Baker Vail, who was sentenced to six months in jail.
For many Mauritanians living in Senegal in the 1980’s, the dream of
making a fortune and returning home would come to an end after April 9th,
1989. Diawara, located in the Bakel region near the northeastern Senegalese-Mauritanian
border, would witness an incident that emblazed both countries and affected the
lives of thousand of Senegalese and Mauritanians, who had lived together in
peace for centuries. On April 9th, 1989, Senegalese Fulani herdsmen
clashed with Mauritanian Soninke Farmers over grazing rights. Mauritanian
border guards intervened, killing two Senegalese peasants and injuring several
others. As a result, shops owned by Mauritanians were looted and burned on the
Senegalese side. At the end of the conflict, known as the “Mauritania-Senegal
Border War”, hundreds had died, thousands were displaced, and hundreds became amputees;
many were victims of mob attacks and police brutality. Both Beidanes and
Haratins were forced to leave Senegal .
The Beidanes left their shops behind; the Haratins gave up their dream of freedom
and headed north to their homeland with an uncertain future. The Senegal
neighborhood water fountain, which gave them the hope of freedom, was closed
years later under the Diktat of the World Bank, and the International Monetary
Fund experts called privatization.
As history has taught us, great leaders emerged through
great crises. We would not talk about Martin Luther King Jr. if African-Americans
weren’t denied their civil rights in America . We would not talk about
Gandhi if the British hadn’t colonized India ,
and we would not talk about Nelson Mandela if the system of Apartheid in South Africa
never existed. The fight to abolish slavery in Mauritania is led by Biram Dah
Abeid, a Mauritanian politician and founder of the Initiative for the
Resurgence of the Abolitionist Movement (IRA). On November 11, 2014, he and 16
IRA-anti-slavery activists were detained for protesting the repeal of charges
against a slave master who raped a 15-year-old girl that worked as his slave.
He is still in jail waiting a pending appeal trial.
Slavery in Mauritania
is a reality, and anti-slavery organizations, activists and ordinary citizens are
coming together to show solidarity to the estimated 600,000 enslaved Mauritanians.
In Chicago , the event of “Championing freedom
for Victims of Slavery in Mauritania ”
resulted in a fatwa written in Arabic that was delivered by clerics in the
surrounding West African countries denouncing the practice of slavery and those
who attribute slavery as a call from the Holy Qur’an.
On February 27, 2016, I responded to an invite and attended
an event at the Lindblom Math and Science
Academy in the Englewood neighborhood celebrating Black
History Month. People were welcoming. I had the chance to listen to Noura Mint
Seymali from Mauritania , the
Lindblom Math and Science Academy ’s Acapella choir, Abraham, a musician from Liberia , and Pittsburgh activist rapper Jasiri X. Despite
the stigma of gangs, shootings and dilapidated houses, the night was peaceful,
beautiful, and the energy was pleasant. Just as any other community, they came
together to rise to the occasion and share their best. The Englewood community
deserves the “Right to a Better Image”.
At the end of a beautiful evening, I carried with me Noura’s
traditional Moorish music, knowing that in Mauritania, there is a secret hiding
behind the beautiful image of Moors with their camels and tents; there is a
secret hiding behind the splendid scenery of sand dunes and oasis, and that secret
is slavery. We should condemn it, because as people of the United Nations, we
believe as the Universal Declaration of Human Rights states under Article 1: “All
human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed
with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of
brotherhood.”
Sincerely,
Alpha
You also could learn more by visiting:
www.championingfreedom.org
http://www.cnn.com/interactive/2012/03/world/mauritania.slaverys.last.stronghold/
ld/mauritania.slaverys.last.stronghold/