The end of Niger slave trade?

Subject: The end of Niger slave trade?
From: The Shambles
Date: 05 Mar 05 - 05:02 PM

http://news.independent.co.uk/world/africa/story.jsp?story=616978

Perhaps we thought that slavery had been ended?

Subject: RE: The end of Niger slave trade?
From: GUEST,The Shambles
Date: 05 Mar 05 - 05:04 PM

05 March 2005

Around 7,000 slaves are to be be granted their freedom in the Sahel desert in Niger today, in an unprecedented ceremony which will be attended by politicians, civil servants and human rights activists.

Subject: RE: The end of Niger slave trade?
From: CarolC
Date: 05 Mar 05 - 05:13 PM

The slave trade is alive and well in your own country as well, The Shambles:

http://www.catwinternational.org/factbook/UK.php

Subject: RE: The end of Niger slave trade?
From: GUEST
Date: 05 Mar 05 - 05:19 PM

Some people really need to get a full time paid job.

Subject: RE: The end of Niger slave trade?
From: gnu
Date: 05 Mar 05 - 05:35 PM

Especially people without names.

Subject: RE: The end of Niger slave trade?
From: Peace
Date: 05 Mar 05 - 06:37 PM

Good post Carol.

Subject: RE: The end of Niger slave trade?
From: Ebbie
Date: 05 Mar 05 - 07:20 PM

And in our country, CarolC.

Subject: RE: The end of Niger slave trade?
From: CarolC
Date: 05 Mar 05 - 07:26 PM

That's true, Ebbie.

Subject: RE: The end of Niger slave trade?
From: Azizi
Date: 05 Mar 05 - 08:54 PM

At some time or another, individuals and groups from every race and ethnic group hasve acted in inhumane ways.

Both of these posted links are examples of that.

Subject: RE: The end of Niger slave trade?
From: Rapparee
Date: 05 Mar 05 - 10:42 PM

I'm afraid that as long as there's greed -- for money, for power -- there will be slavery.

Subject: RE: The end of Niger slave trade?
From: Strollin' Johnny
Date: 06 Mar 05 - 03:15 AM

As long as there are human beings there will be slavery (along with every other kind of perversion). We're a horrible lot, gimme a dawg any time.

Subject: RE: The end of Niger slave trade?
From: GUEST,The Shambles
Date: 06 Mar 05 - 06:00 AM

As long as there are ready-made excuses, qualifications and distractions - we will use them.

Yes the darker side of human nature will always be with us and will tempt us all. However, we don't have to give-in to that temptation and indulge in practices that we know are wrong or do nothing and watch others indulge in this.

You may take the view that you will probably cut yourself accidently at some point in the future - so there is little point in cleaning and making sure that the cut you currently have does not get infected, spread and eventually result in your death.........

Subject: RE: The end of Niger slave trade?
From: GUEST,*Laura*
Date: 06 Mar 05 - 06:11 AM

Addressing this issue and similar...

Subject: RE: The end of Niger slave trade?
From: Azizi
Date: 06 Mar 05 - 02:45 PM

Thanks, Laura for that link.

I am sorry to hear of the recent death of Peter Benenson, the founder of the worldwide human rights organisation Amnesty International.

He truly made a difference in the world.


Azizi

Subject: RE: The end of Niger slave trade?
From: GUEST,The Shambles
Date: 07 Mar 05 - 08:27 AM

The following extract from the link in the first post.

According to the Anti-Slavery International organisation, up to 43,000 slaves in Niger perform gruelling work without pay and are routinely subjected to physical and sexual abuse. Activists hope that today's ceremony, which will be attended by slaves and their former masters, will trigger a series of similar events across the Saharan region.

Slavery in Niger was outlawed in 1991 and last year a constitutional amendment made slave ownership punishable by 30 years in prison. But up until today, the new rules were largely ignored. In the country's desert regions, government officials in the city and local chiefs in the desert still consider slave ownership to be a symbol of status and wealth.

Subject: RE: The end of Niger slave trade?
From: Wolfgang
Date: 08 Mar 05 - 05:05 AM

Once we have dealt with a criticism, by either disproving it, or accepting it, then talking about the faults of someone else is fair enough. But not until then. (McGrath))

Wolfgang

Subject: RE: The end of Niger slave trade?
From: Peace
Date: 08 Mar 05 - 12:20 PM

Slavery is an affront to the dignity and worth of humans.

Some examples

'nother

Until such time as we care for the poor of the Earth, slavery will continue to exist.

Subject: RE: The end of Niger slave trade?
From: Azizi
Date: 08 Mar 05 - 01:13 PM

Brucie, thanks for posting a link to those needed but very disturbing documents on modern day slavery. This is a cause that all caring people should champion.

For those who are still on dial up, here is an excerpt from that first link:

"Photographs of modern-day slavery will not reveal whips, auctions, and chains. They depict complex power relationships—debt bondage, forced labor, the sorts of servitude that come from social power, not direct physical force. Cruel hierarchies are not seen in a snapshot.

And so abolitionists around the world are using new methods to fight the ancient scourge of slavery. Countries in the developed world and their citizen consumers are being urged to say no to products made with forced labor; to do no business with or touring of countries that engage in slavery-like practices; and to press their governments, as Zimmer and Frank are doing, to act against slaving nations.

The efforts of abolitionists should be supported. In this, the last decade of the twentieth century, surely the world cannot abide the hideous practice of human bondage. Or can it?"

Subject: RE: The end of Niger slave trade?
From: dianavan
Date: 09 Mar 05 - 01:11 AM

So many people who have posted seem to be resigned to the fact that there is greed and slavery in this world. Does this mean that we have to ignore it? No! Some say it is human nature to exploit others and maybe it is but that is no reason to stop striving for the ideal.

I say strive for the ideal where no human can hold another in bondage. I say boycott the products and the countries by witholding your dollars. Press your governments to stop doing business with those who profit from human misery.

Keep your ideals and strive for what is right.

Nobody said it was going to be easy.

Subject: RE: The end of Niger slave trade?
From: GUEST,mg
Date: 09 Mar 05 - 05:32 PM

I'm not sure that not visiting the countries will do much good...isn't it better to come and let them know you are going to be on the lookout? And that some of your tourist dollars are going to be spent on agencies that are working with the problem? mg

Subject: RE: The end of Niger slave trade?
From: GUEST,jOhn
Date: 09 Mar 05 - 07:37 PM

hello, you spelled nigger wrong.

Subject: RE: The end of Niger slave trade?
From: CarolC
Date: 09 Mar 05 - 08:28 PM

Stop it jOhn.

Subject: RE: The end of Niger slave trade?
From: Peace
Date: 09 Mar 05 - 08:29 PM

eff ewe geust psoter

Subject: RE: The end of Niger slave trade?
From: Azizi
Date: 10 Mar 05 - 02:46 AM

To Guest jOhn, who is probably not a Guest:

If I played The Dozens, my response to you would be

"Your mama."

But since I don't play The Dozens, I might not waste my energy but just ignore your ignorant, unenlightened ass.


Azizi

Subject: RE: The end of Niger slave trade?
From: GUEST,brucie
Date: 10 Mar 05 - 10:26 AM

That wasn't jOhn from Hull. That's beneath him.

Subject: RE: The end of Niger slave trade?
From: wysiwyg
Date: 10 Mar 05 - 11:03 AM

Doesn't jOhn always misspell hello as heloo?

~S~

Subject: RE: The end of Niger slave trade?
From: Peace
Date: 10 Mar 05 - 11:04 AM

LOL

Subject: RE: The end of Niger slave trade?
From: GUEST,Azizi
Date: 10 Mar 05 - 11:20 AM

Glad to know that wasn't jOhn from Hull.

That makes me feel alot better, seriously.

It usually takes alot to get me on a set.

I probably should have maintained my cool, but the only part of my comment that I really regret was the inference that Guest might be jOhn of Hull.

jOhn, please accept my apology for that.


Azizi

Subject: RE: The end of Niger slave trade?
From: CarolC
Date: 10 Mar 05 - 11:30 AM

Somtimes people who want to start fires in the Mudcat will post malicious things as GUEST, and then a member's name or something that is similar enough to a member's name to confuse people. I tend to think it wasn't John of a thousand kittens from Hull as well.

Subject: RE: The end of Niger slave trade?
From: Wolfgang
Date: 10 Mar 05 - 12:17 PM

John's style, John's sense of humor, John's history of quarrel with Shambles, John posting yesterday at that time in several threads as a guest from a friend's house.

Do you know the feeling of laughing and at the same time feeling bad about laughing? You know you shouldn't but you do it anyway. That's what happened to me when reading John's post. One single letter ruining a thread title! I did laugh and I felt bad about it.

We did it with everything we could think of when we were young, with film titles, with lines from the Bible, with advertisments, lines from songs etc. Our thought then were rather sexist. The pinnacle was if you could change the sense only by adding a comma.

I give you a link to an old thread (the link should lead to my post I hope) in which the song 'Ten little niggers' was discussed. When you read that you may understand that the offensive word in Britain is considered less offensive than in America.

click

Wolfgang

Subject: RE: The end of Niger slave trade?
From: Azizi
Date: 10 Mar 05 - 01:00 PM

I'm going to give John from Hull the benefit of the doubt. I stand by my above post in which I apologized for my inference that Guest was him and I also PMed him.

Wolfgang, I went thread you provided a link to, and was surprised that I had posted to that thead..I had forgotted that I had done so.
I believe that this excerpt of my comments then is still relevent now:

As an African American, I commend posters on this thread for the overall sensitivity of your comments.

Since I have been reading Mudcat threads, I've often wondered how different the responses to threads, and, for that matter, the topic threads would be if there were more people of [acknowledged?}African descent and more people of color who posted here. I think that such participation would add to the richness of the conversation.
Notwithstanding my wish that Mudcat would be more racially diverse, IMHO, Mudcat can't be beat for the posting of historical information/source material on folk music, including children's rhymes {which are my primary area of interest}.

I've already written in other Mudcat threads about my aversion to the historical and contemporary use by African Americans and others of the "N word". So I won't dwell on that here, but will say that though that individual and group referent was frequently used during pre-Civil War times by some slave and free African Americans {particularly free and freed economically "lower class" African Americans}, there were many other Africans & other people of African descent in the United States and elsewhere then {as now} who found {find}the term offensive...

end of quote.

And, BTW, the nations Niger and Nigeria are named after the great river Niver, and are not prounced like the dreaded "N" word..

I have heard Niger pronounced KNEE-jeer or NIGH-jeer, but never NIG-ger. Nigeria is pronounced nigh-JEER-ree-ah.

Not that any of this matters to folks who just want to have some fun with words or who haven't moved past the use of racially derogatory terms [and I'm talkin about Black people here too..]

Subject: RE: The end of Niger slave trade?
From: Azizi
Date: 10 Mar 05 - 01:01 PM

typo correction: the great river NIGER..