Reactionaries defend slavery in Bolivia

This essay is part of an occasional feature on this blog that presents compelling stories from elsewhere in the world, particularly Africa, that are little reported in the American media. It's part of my campaign to get people to realize there is a lot going on in the world outside the US, IsraelStine and the Trumped Up Enemy of the Month. A list of all pieces in this series can be found found here..

Pretty much any leader in Latin America who doesn't slavishly adhere to neo-liberal economic policies and tries to pass economic reforms designed to address land reform or other massive inequalities is ripe for vilification by the American media.

Obviously, Hugo Chavez of Venezuela is target number one, though his grandstanding, cult of personality and alliances with theocrats shouldn't endear him to progressives.

Bolivia's democratically elected president Evo Morales has also taken his fair share of criticism, despite focusing primarily on improving the lives of his people (in contrast to his Venezuelan counterpart who's more interested in being an international big shot).

That Pres. Morales has been wildly vilified by the big land-owning elite in his country is not surprising. They see his fairness reforms as threatening their inherited privilege, in much the same way there was a backlash from the white elite against majority rule in South Africa.

The true nature of the Bolivian elite is shown by the widespread use of slavery, a right they no doubt feel comes from God. They clearly resent their ill-gotten economic privilege being threatened by that socialist in the presidential palace.

Not coincidentally, the forced laborers are overwhelmingly indigenous, much like the president so hated by the slave owners. Sharecropping and serfdom were eliminated in the United States and Russia long ago but they remain a plague in anti-Morales parts of Bolivia . The BBC reports.

The price of a woman? $500

This essay is part of an occasional feature on this blog that presents compelling stories from elsewhere in the world, particularly Africa, that are little reported in the American media. It's part of my campaign to get people to realize there is a lot going on in the world outside the US, IsraelStine, Iraq, North Korea and Iran.

In what will hopefully be a landmark decision, a West African court ruled that the Republic of Niger failed to protect a woman from being sold into slavery when she was 12 years old.

The Community Court of Justice, the judicial body of the West African regional organization ECOWAS, ordered the Niger government to pay close to $20,000 in damages to Hadijatou Mani, who is now 24.

Slavery wasn't officially outlawed in Niger until 2003, but remains a problem there and in nearby West African countries like Mali and Mauritania.

As The New York Times reported:

Ms. Mani’s experience was typical of the practice. She was born into a traditional slave class and sold to Souleymane Naroua when she was 12 for about $500.

Ms. Mani told court officials that Mr. Naroua had forced her to work his fields for a decade. She also claimed that he raped her repeatedly over the years.

"I was beaten so many times I would run back to my family," she told the BBC. "Then after a day or two I would be brought back."

[...]

She had initially sought protection under Niger’s laws. In 2005, Mr. Naroua gave her a certificate freeing her, but when she tried to get married he claimed that she was already married to him.

Some observers have compared Ms. Mani to Rosa Parks. This is probably an understatement. It's difficult to imagine how much courage it took for her to bring the case in an extremely conservative society by challenging traditional practices that have been going on for generations.

The Niger government said it would respect the court's decision.


Also see:
-Anti-Slavery International
-Free the Slaves
-UN information of human trafficking

Need a laugh?

Because I can't imagine anyone taking this guy seriously.

This yahoo argues that slavery really wasn't such a big deal. It's an object lesson in how to create strawmen in such a way as to advance a patently absurd argument.

For example:

-America is not the only country who did slavery but we deserve Divine credit for ending it!

-Slavery was "brutal" but at least it wasn't genocidal. Hooray for non-genocidal mass atrocities!!

-Slavery existed in America "only briefly" (two and a half centuries) so big whoop!

-Criticizing slavery is mere political correctness, so by definition slavery must be fine.

I assume this guy is a bad satirist because it'd hurt my head to think otherwise.