1.) Modern Arab Slave Trade Africa has been devastated economically, socially, politically, and demographically from a combined 13 centuries of chattel slavery at the hands of Europeans and Arabs that involved the removal of 35 million people from their native land, according to some estimates. Although slavery has been legally abolished, African people are still subjected to chattel slavery in 2013. Anti-slavery International reports that over 50,000 Africans have been sold and owned by Arabs in North Africa. An estimated 660,000 people are subjected to forced labor in sub-Saharan Africa. In the northwestern African country of Mauritania, a system now exists by which Arab Muslims—called the Bidanes (masters) who disdain physical work—still hold Haratine (enslaved Africans) as property. An estimated 90,000 Mauritanians remain essentially enslaved. Haratine mothers do not own their children; they are instead passed down through their masters’ estates. Captives are bought and sold, given as wedding gifts, and traded for camels, trucks, or guns. The enslaved Africans perform domestic work, haul water, and shepherd cattle. Sudan has seen a resurgence of slavery since 1983. During the second Sudanese civil war, as many as 200,000 people had been taken into slavery. The indigenous ethnic groups in South Sudan are often attacked by North African Arabs, who kill men and imprison children and women as slaves. Physical maiming is not uncommon and is usually done to the captives to instill fear and prevent escape. According to CBS News, slaves have been sold for $50 per person. Many of the perpetrators of these atrocities are mixed-race and Arabized Blacks who have completely rejected their African identities and murder and enslave in the interest of Arabs. Slavery also occurs in a number of other African countries including Somalia, Mali, Niger, and Chad. 2.) Neocolonialism in Africa by the US, European countries, Arab Nations and China American, Chinese, Arab and European powers have embarked on a new scramble for Africa, targeting its natural resources. The Chinese are traveling to Africa in large numbers, with over 1 million Chinese citizens on the continent already and more arriving daily. Angola alone has a Chinese population of over 350,000. China’s direct investment in Africa today exceeds $50 billion, but most of the profits are returned to China and do not largely benefit the people of the African nations. The presence of the United States is also expanding. The Pentagon’s Africa Command suggests there is one military base on the continent, but according to sources, the U.S. military is at work throughout Africa in base construction, security cooperation engagements, training exercises, advisory deployments, special operations missions, and a growing logistics network – all undeniable evidence of expansion to secure its interests there. Arab expansionists in Sudan are currently killing native Africans in Darfur and Nubia to grab land and resources and make way for Arabs outside the continent to resettle there. Over the past 50 to 60 years, Arabs have killed or enslaved millions of Africans, seizing land from them and displacing them in their efforts. 3.) Black Tribalism (Lack of Solidarity) The negative effects of tribalism permeate Black people in the Americas, Caribbean and within African nations. In Africa alone, there are over 3,000 distinct tribes and resulting conflicts have caused millions of deaths, trauma and displacement. In 1994, an estimated 1 million Rwandans were killed in the battle between the Tutsi and the Hutu. In the Americas and in parts of the Caribbean, tribalism also plays out in the form of Black-on-Black gang violence. The major issue stemming from tribalism among Black people is that it causes a lack of solidarity. Europeans and Asians have all but eradicate thousands of years of tribalism and have been able to unify and achieve major advancements. They understood the importance of binding together for success. Black people have been unable to accomplish this unity and so the Black world today is often divisive leading to mediocre governments, poor military defense, weak economies and other issues. Black tribalism is also part of the reason why Europeans and Asians have been able to take advantage of Blacks politically, economically and physically. For example, the colonial Belgian government began actively promoting tensions between the Hutu and Tutsi after World War I when it took control of Rwanda. 4.) Falsification of African Consciousness In his book, “Falsification of African Consciousness,” Dr. Amos Wilson offers an analysis of the current state of Black people’s collective consciousness and how it prevents them from developing solutions to their collective problems. Wilson defines consciousness in terms of three elements: a.) Contents – beliefs, opinions, knowledge, perceived knowledge, self-perceptions, worldview, conditioned responses. b.) Instrumentalities – how we process the contents in our mind. c.) Directional Organization – how we use our consciousness to pursue goals; the values we hold; and the reasons behind our thoughts. Via his analysis, Wilson concludes that white supremacy has altered the consciousness of Black people by giving us fabricated contents: a false history, false knowledge and false fantasies. Therefore, our ability to think and act in our own interests has been impaired because we have become confused about what knowledge is, who it belongs to, and how it should be used. Today, because of propaganda intended to influence our thinking, many Black people perceive racism only in terms of prejudice and discrimination. Therefore we are focused on the consumption of goods we think will get other people to like and respect us, while neglecting the acquisition of real power to dominate and control our own affairs. 5.) Underdevelopment and Lack of Security Twenty-five hundred years of invasion, conquest, slavery, and colonization have led to the severe underdevelopment of the African continent. Many economists argue that the physical infrastructure of African, Latin American and Caribbean nations are insufficient to maintain favorable economic development. Physical infrastructure refers mainly to public transportation ( roads, highways, railroads, ports, airports, etc.), telecommunications, potable water and electric energy systems, sanitation, schools, and hospitals. Adequate infrastructure is the foundation for economic development and the elimination of poverty. Its absence places limitations on a region’s international competitiveness, trade opportunities, and foreign investment. The African continent, the second largest on earth, is more immense than the United States, China, India and the European Union combined. Enormous distances combined with poor infrastructure hampers the intercommunication and the development of ties between African nations, which also consist of diverse ethnic groups. Unity in Africa is challenging under these circumstances. This is unlike Europe, which is only one-third the size of Africa and whose population have been unified by Christianity for almost 2,00o years. Economic, social, and political development in Africa and the Diaspora is essential to Black unity, which is absolutely necessary if we are to effectively address major world forces that threaten the Black world. It was a neglect of collective security that made it possible for other groups to divide, conquer, enslave, and colonize Black people repeatedly over the last 2,000 years. Building a Black world collective security system is, therefore, of vital importance for our dignity, self-respect and more importantly, our survival. Source: sscnet.ucla.edu Source: wfp.org Source: wikipedia.org Source: thepoint.gm Source: goafrica.about Source: motherjones Source: wikipedia.org Source: arabslavetrade Source: hope-project.org Source: britannica
Posted on: Thu, 14 Nov 2013 02:06:09 +0000
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