'Half the Sky': New York Times Magazine special on how to help empower the world's women and girls

Cover: The New York Times Magazine
Sunday August 23, 2009


Saving the World’s Women: How changing the lives of women and girls in the developing world can change everything

This week’s edition of the New York Times Magazine (Aug. 23, 2009) is a special issue dedicated to women’s issues and gender equality for the world’s women. Featured on the cover of the magazine (print edition) is a photo of a woman from Burundi, a woman who could not read or write, who was able to get away from literal enslavement in her hut, escaping the grinding poverty of life in her village, with the help of a US $2 dollar micro-loan. Now she is the main breadwinner for her family and a shining example for her whole community. She is living proof of what women can achieve with even the smallest amount of help from people who care.

This special issue of the New York Times Magazine is an excellent tie-in to the series I am working on at present about US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s visit to Africa and her tour of the hospitals and clinics for violent rape victims and brutal attacks against women and girls (and now men and boys as well) in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo.

So I will not waste a lot of your time with my opinions on how we all can do more, much more, to support women and girls in developing countries around the globe. The New York Times Magazine writers and contributors have done such a lovely job of bringing these important issues and needs to the forefront. Here are recommended ‘must reads’ in this special issue of the magazine:

The Women’s Crusade by Nicholas D. Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn 08/17/09
Nicholas D. Kristof is a New York Times Op-Ed columnist and Sheryl WuDunn is a former Times correspondent who works in finance and philanthropy. This essay is adapted from their book “Half the Sky: Turning Oppression Into Opportunity for Women Worldwide,” which will be published next month by Alfred A. Knopf. You can learn more about “Half the Sky” at Nicholas Kristof’s blog ‘On the Ground’.

Related multimedia and photo slideshows:
A Powerful Truth (audio/photo slideshow: Nicholas Kristof narrates, photography by Katy Grannan, produced by Zahra Sethna)
Must See: Holding Up Half the Sky - Lens Blog
Halftheskymovement.org – official website for the book and the network

Questions for Ellen Johnson Sirleaf - Madame President - Interview 08/18/09
Deborah Soloman interviews Liberia’s president in the wake of Secretary Clinton’s visit, photography by photojournalist and blogger Glenna Gordon (Scarlett Lion). I shall be writing more about Glenna Gordon’s wonderful photography of the people of Uganda, Liberia, and Sierra Leone in my continuing series on Hillary Clinton in Africa.

Related posts at Glenna Gordon’s blog (Scarlett Lion)
Scarlett Lion - NTYM: Interview with Madame President 08/20/09
Scarlett Lion - “Ma Ellen n Hilary Clinton r Sisters” 08/14/09
Scarlett Lion - Context Africa: village life makes it to the mainstream media 08/11/09

New York Times Magazine (continued)
A New Gender Agenda interview by Mark Landler 08/18/09
Excerpts from an interview with Secretary Clinton shortly before here Africa trip re: the Obama administration’s strategies to help empower womaen and about the violence against women and girls in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo__

Q: I’m curious about what priorities you’re setting. Will the Obama administration have a signature issue — sex trafficking or gender-based violence or maternal mortality or education for girls — in the way that H.I.V./AIDS came to symbolize the Bush-administration strategy?

Clinton: We are having as a signature issue the fact that women and girls are a core factor in our foreign policy. If you look at what has to be done, in some societies, it is a different problem than in others. In some of the societies where women are deprived of political and economic rights, they have access to education and health care. In other societies, they may have been given the vote, but girl babies are still being put out to die.

So it’s not one specific program, so much as a policy. When it comes to our global health agenda, maternal health is now part of the Obama administration’s outreach. We’re very proud of the work this country has done, through Pepfar, on H.I.V./AIDS [the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief was begun by George W. Bush in 2003]. We’ve moved from an understanding of how to deal with global AIDS to recognizing it’s now a woman’s disease, because women are the most vulnerable and often have no power to protect themselves. And it’s increasingly younger women or even girls.

But women die every minute from poor maternal health care. You know, H.I.V./AIDS, tuberculosis, malaria — those are all, unfortunately, equal-opportunity killers. Maternal health is a woman’s issue; it’s a family issue; it’s a child issue. And for the United States to say to countries that have very high maternal mortality rates, “We care about the future of your children, and in order to do that, we care about the present of your women,” is a powerful statement.
…………

Q: Gender-based violence is an enormous issue in much of Africa, and in places like Congo, rape, as you know, is an instrument of war. How can you, or anybody else, hope to combat that?

Clinton: President Obama and I and the United States will not tolerate this continuation of wanton, senseless, brutal violence perpetrated against girls and women. We don’t know exactly what we can do, but we are going to be delivering some aid and some ideas about how to better organize the communities to deal with it. We’re going to sound the alarm that this is not all just unexpected and irrational.

These militias, which perpetrate a lot of these rapes and other horrific assaults on girls and women, are paid well, or realize the spoils of guarding the mines. Those mines, which are one of the great natural resources of the Congo, produce a lot of the materials that go into our cellphones and other electronics. There are tens of millions of dollars that go into these militias that, in effect, get translated into a sense of impunity that is then exercised against the weakest members of society.

The ambassador for war crimes, Steve Rapp, has the distinction of being among the first international prosecutors to win a case on gender violence, and I specifically wanted him to take on this role, because I want to highlight this issue.

End excerpts___

Related article at the New York Times:
Clinton Presses Congo on Minerals by Jeffrey Gettleman 08/10/09


Technorati tags:gender equality women's rights human rights Hillary Clinton Barack Obama Michelle Obama government foreign policy USA Africa Asia Middle East Americas Europe global voices

Abraham Lincoln @ 200 Years: Looking for the man behind the myths

At a time when memories of the inauguration of President Barack Obama in Washington D.C. remain fresh in the minds of many people, the mental image of a former U.S. president stands out above all others___ Abraham Lincoln, America’s 16th president. This month marks the commemoration of Abraham Lincoln’s 200th birthday with special events and programs taking place all across America.

For people here in Europe who have had the opportunity to learn about American history the name Abraham Lincoln is well known. People generally associate President Lincoln with the freeing of black slaves in the United States of America through the issuance of the Emancipation Proclamation of 1863. Others remember that he was successful in helping to save the union of northern and southern states at the end of the American Civil War (1861-1865). Like all great heroes and important figures in world history the knowledge and visions many of us have about Abraham Lincoln are not exactly accurate.

Thanks to the work of some outstanding people with a special interest and deep knowledge of American history the U.S.A. is well prepared this year to share with the world the legacy of this great American figure on his 200th birthday. Among the many historians who have produced recent work on the life of Lincoln, the name of one of my favorite US historians stands out___ Dr. Henry Louis Gates Jr. of the W.E.B. Du Bois Institute for African and African American Research (Harvard University).

In the current issue of TIME magazine (TIME.com) there is a special feature on Dr. Henry Louis Gates Jr. where readers had the opportunity to ask a question of this prominent historian. On Monday this week I was delighted to learn that out of 77 questions posed to Dr. Gates from people around the globe, my question about the complex relationship Abraham Lincoln had with prominent American blacks and black slaves was one of the ten questions selected by the editors for the interview. To be honest I am overjoyed that both Gilbert Cruz of TIME.com and Dr. Gates decided to field my question. Here is the exact text of the question I submitted to TIME.com editors and Dr. Henry Louis Gates Jr.:

TIME.com - 10 Questions - Ask Henry Louis Gates Jr.

My question submitted to TIME.com on January 28, 2009

Dear Dr. Gates,

First I would like to say that I am big fan of your work in American history and that I closely follow your writings and documentary/educational multi-media productions online from Germany. I also am a regular visitor to your new online publication TheRoot.com

My Question:
In your recent op-ed ‘A Pragmatic Precedent’ at The New York Times (co-authored with John Stauffer) you explain the complex feelings and views President Abraham Lincoln held toward black people. Could you please expand on that topic in your upcoming interview with TIME.com.
Why did Lincoln view the great abolitionist Frederick Douglas as an (almost) intellectual equal but at the same time fail to understand that many African Americans in the mid-19th century had the same potential for achievement and success if only given education and opportunity to show what they could do? Surely President Lincoln was aware of other great black intellectuals that had emerged on the public scene in Europe from the 17th century up to his time (i.e. Professor Anton Wilhelm Amo in Germany et al.). Thank you for your consideration of this question.
-----------------------------

Dr. Henry Louis Gates Jr. responds to questions posed by TIME Magazine readers in the article and online video interview below:

TIME.com: 10 Questions for Henry Louis Gates Jr.
Photo Essay: Henry Louis Gates Jr.: A Life in Letters - 10 Questions - TIME
TIME.com video: 10 Questions Interview with Henry Louis Gates Jr.
http://link.brightcove.com/services/link/bcpid1670048590/bclid1342094282/bctid10280451001
Ask Henry Louis Gates Jr.: 10 Questions - TIME.com (list of 77 questions submitted)
------------------------------

So you see, it’s all in how you ask the question when you want to get the attention of a great US historian AND get a ‘Hat Tip’ from TIME.com to boot. Of course my introduction with high praise for Gates’ previous work on historical subjects didn’t hurt my chances of receiving a reply to my question.

Here are excerpts from a New York Times op-ed written by Henry Louis Gates Jr. and John Stauffer* just two days before the inauguration of the 44th US president:

January 19, 2009
Op-Ed Contributors
A Pragmatic Precedent
By HENRY LOUIS GATES Jr. and JOHN STAUFFER

UNTIL a martyred John F. Kennedy replaced him, Abraham Lincoln was one of the two white men whose image most frequently graced even the most modest black home, second in popularity only to Jesus. Perhaps none of his heirs in the Oval Office has been as directly compared to Lincoln as will Barack Obama, in part because Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation began freeing the slaves descended from the continent on which Mr. Obama’s father was born, and in part because of Mr. Obama’s own fascination with Lincoln himself.

Much has been written about what Mr. Obama thinks about Lincoln; but not much has been said about what Lincoln would think of Barack Hussein Obama. If his marble statue at the Lincoln Memorial could become flesh and speak, like Galatea, what would the man who is remembered for freeing the slaves say about his first black successor?

It is difficult to say for sure, of course, but one thing we can be fairly certain about is that Lincoln would have been, um, surprised. Lincoln was thoroughly a man of his times, and while he staunchly opposed slavery — on moral grounds and because it made competition in the marketplace unfair for poor white men — for most of his life he harbored fixed and unfortunate ideas about race.

Lincoln had a very complex relationship with blacks. Abolition was a fundamental part of Lincoln’s moral compass, but equality was not. While he was an early, consistent and formidable foe of slavery, Lincoln had much more ambivalent feelings about blacks themselves, especially about whether they were, or could ever be, truly equal with whites.

For example, on Aug. 14, 1862, he invited five black men to the White House to convince them to become the founders of a new nation in Panama consisting of those slaves he was about to free. A month before emancipation became law, he proposed a constitutional amendment guaranteeing financing for blacks who wished to emigrate to Liberia or Haiti.

Degrading words, deplored by most white abolitionists, like “Sambo” and “Cuffee,” found their way into Lincoln’s descriptions of blacks; he even used “nigger” several times in speeches. He also liked to tell “darkie” jokes and had a penchant for black-faced minstrel shows. The Lincoln of pre-White House days was a long way from the Great Emancipator; “recovering racist” would be closer to the truth.

…The truth is that successful blacks were almost total strangers to Lincoln, born as he was on the frontier and raised in a state settled by white Southerners. From this perspective, then, Lincoln most probably would have been shocked, perhaps horrified, by Mr. Obama’s election. Like the majority of Northern whites, Lincoln had a vision of America that was largely a white one.

End excerpts_____ Read the complete article ‘A Pragmatic Precedent’ at the New York Times.

Note*: John Stauffer is one of the world’s leading scholars of antislavery, protest movements, and interracial relations. He is currently the Chair of the History of American Civilization Program and Professor of English and African American Studies at Harvard University. Visit his personal website at johnstaufferbooks.com.


PBS Lincoln Bicentennial TV program special ‘Looking for Lincoln’
Scheduled broadcast: February 11, 2009 @ 21:00 EST in the U.S. and Canada

A very interesting and educational TV program will be airing in the U.S. during the bicentennial celebration of Abraham Lincoln’s birthday. The documentary film ‘Looking for Lincoln’ will be showing on the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS). ‘Looking for Lincoln’ was written and is presented by Dr. Henry Louis Gates Jr. (see profile above). Dr. Gates had help from other outstanding US historians and Lincoln scholars, US political figures, editors and writers. Here is how PBS describes some of the key contributors to ‘Looking for Lincoln’:

In the film, Gates shows how the Lincoln legend grew out of controversy, greed, love, clashing political perspectives, power struggles, and considerable disagreement over how our 16th president should be remembered. His quest to piece together Lincoln’s complex life takes him from Illinois to Gettysburg to Washington, D.C., and face-to-face with people who live with Lincoln every day – relic hunters, re-enactors, and others for whom the study of Lincoln is a passion.

Among those weighing in: Pulitzer Prize winners Doris Kearns Goodwin and Tony Kushner; presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush; and Lincoln scholars including Harold Holzer, vice chair of the Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial Commission; Harvard University’s president Drew Faust and history professor David Hebert Donald; Yale University history professor David Blight; and Allen Guelzo of Gettysburg College. Former Ebony magazine editor Lerone Bennett challenges Lincoln’s record on race; writer Joshua Shenk talks about Lincoln’s depression; and New Yorker staff writer Adam Gopnik illuminates how Lincoln’s words changed the course of history.

So don’t miss it! ‘Looking for Lincoln’ will be airing at 8:00 PM EST starting on Wednesday, February 11, 2009 on your local PBS channel (check local listings). And for the rest of us living outside of the United States (foreigners, American ex-pats, and aliens) the 2-hour program is available online indefinitely at the Looking for Lincoln website at PBS (see PBS links listed below).
------------------------------------------

Note**: The Land of Lincoln (the State of Illinois) and President Abraham Lincoln’s legacy figure prominently in the history of my own family. Illinois was the American frontier (Illinois country) where one of my ancestors settled in the late 18th century as a free man. He was a former black slave who won his hard-fought freedom shortly after the end of the American Revolutionary War against the British. He arrived in this beautiful, unspoiled frontier land in the year 1790 and settled not far from the Mississippi River. According to family and official records he built a home, married and founded a family, raised horses and cows and did a bit of farming on his small plot of land.

This all took place nineteen years before Abraham Lincoln was born at Knob Creek Farm (Kentucky) and thirteen years before President Thomas Jefferson launched the Lewis & Clark Expedition (1803-1806) to explore the vast land mass west of the Mississippi River to the Pacific coast (incl. the Louisiana Purchase). Imagine that. This is perhaps a great story that deserves much more attention___ someday in the not so distant future.


Related articles and other resources on Abraham Lincoln

Lincoln Bicentennial Commission (1809-2009) - Live the Legacy
(U.S. Government official website)

The New York Times
Op-Ed Contributors - A Pragmatic Precedent by Henry Louis Gates Jr. and John Stauffer, 01/18/09

The Huffington Post
John Stauffer: What Obama Can Learn from Lincoln's Inaugural

PBS (Public Broadcasting Service)
Looking for Lincoln PBS
About the documentary ‘Looking for Lincoln’
Looking for Lincoln (press release November 20, 2008)
African American Lives 2 (press release July 2007)

The New York Times
Television Review - 'Looking for Lincoln' - Henry Louis Gates Jr. Examines a Hero and Is Surprised to Find a 19th-Century Man

The Los Angeles Times – review of the PBS special ‘Looking for Lincoln’
In search of the flesh-and-blood Abraham Lincoln - Los Angeles Times


Companion books to the PBS broadcast 'Looking for Lincoln'
Amazon.com: Looking for Lincoln: The Making of an American Icon: Philip B. Kunhardt III, Peter W. Kunhardt, Peter W. Kunhardt Jr.

The Christian Science Monitor (CSM)
Looking for Lincoln book review by Alfredo Sosa, Dec 8, 2008

Princeton University Press
Gates, H.L., Jr. and Yacovone, D., eds.: Lincoln on Race and Slavery. March 2009
Amazon.com
Giants: The Parallel Lives of Frederick Douglass and Abraham Lincoln by John Stauffer
John Stuaffer’s personal website (johnstaufferbooks.com)


TheRoot.com
Finding Lincoln Smart and Funny
Note: formerly titled ‘The Man Who Knows Lincoln’

Colbert Nation with host Stephen Colbert (Comedy Central)
Henry Louis Gates, Jr., February 3rd, on ColbertNation.com
US comedian Stephan Colbert interviews Henry Louis Gates Jr. about President Abraham Lincoln and the new book “Lincoln on Race and Slavery”


Technorati tags:Abraham Lincoln Lincoln American History history civil war American presidents United States history African American history black history Black History Month global voices

The Last Slaves: French filmmakers and ARTE TV take a hard look at slavery in Africa and the Middle East

Note: see updates below for July 1st, 9th, 15th, and 19th re: important information about these films

I’ve been eagerly following some recent work (film, writing) on the history of slavery in North Africa and the Middle East, in sub-Saharan Africa, and the Transatlantic Slave Trade. A scholarly, open, and honest discussion about the history of slavery of black Africans in Islamic countries over 1400 years is both rare and valuable. The same can be said about scholars who research the trading of slaves between African kingdoms over many centuries and the participation of African slavers and monarchs in the booming trade across the Atlantic.

The French-German cultural TV network ARTE.TV aired throughout June 2008 several feature programs about the history of black Africans throughout the world, including such classics as Roots and short biography of Malcom X. The series of special programs is titled FREEDOM and additional info about the series can be found at the ARTE.TV website address:

http://www.arte.tv/de/geschichte-gesellschaft/Freedom/TV-Programm/2038212,CmC=2032338.html

The programs are available in both French and German languages and the ARTE +7 online video website provides full length videos of each program for a period of seven days after the original program broadcast dates.

My readers from France and Germany and those with good German and French language skills can dig right in by following the links to the ARTE.TV websites provided below. In the meantime I will work on English translations of the German language text below, “Meschenhandel – Ein welweites Verbrechen” (Human Trafficking – A Worldwide Crime), “Die letzten Sklaven” (The Last Slaves), and “Sklaven für den Orient” (Slaves for the Orient). When the translations are complete I will publish the information in English to Jewels ASAP.

As the ARTE +7 video service will terminate the availability of the films “Die letzten Sklaven” and “Sklaven für den Orient” online after July 1st (films originally aired on June 24th), please visit the ARTE TV website ASAP to enjoy the work of the French filmmakers and the discussions and interviews with leading African and European scholars and activists that helped to make these excellent documentaries about the slave trade in Africa and the Middle East possible. For readers in Europe who receive ARTE TV programs via cable or satellite, the two documentaries will be repeated on July 3, 2008 starting at 10:00 AM CET.

Update July 15th

The links to the ARTE TV streaming video files for the two documentaries referenced below have expired on the ARTE +7 website. Fortunately I have found a website that is hosting the full 45-minute version of the film "Sklaven für den Orient" (Slaves for the Orient). Online access to the documentary is free, no sign-up is required to view a five minute preview of the documentary, and you can (presumably) access the film from anywhere on the planet (unlike the ARTE +7 video archives). The full video file can be downloaded to your PC for viewing offline (see instructions at Veoh.com).

So, please visit the new Veoh Internet TV website and checkout Sklaven für den Orient (French & German language) by filmmaker Antoine Vitkine. For those readers living in France, Germany, and countries listed in my July 1st Update (see below), the documentary "Sklaven für den Orient" will repeat on ARTE TV network (cable, satellite) Friday, July 18th at 11:05 CET (see more info here).

Last but by all means not least, Sociolingo's Africa blog has a fine post about the continuation of modern-day slavery in Mali. Please read Mali: 21st Century Slavery at Sociolingo's Africa, a featured cover story at the UNHCR's IRIN News website.

IRIN News - a Hear Our Voices special feature
Mali: Thousands still live in slavery in north (Gao, 14 July 2008)

Update July 19th

I tried to find some information online today about the 20th Century journalist Joseph Kessel and his 1930 report for the French newspaper Le Matin. Kessel is the author of the book 'Marchés D'esclaves' (Slave Markets) which was featured at the beginning of the documentary film 'Slaves for the Orient' referenced above and below.

Most of the information online about Kessel is in the French language (my bad luck, my French language skills are very elementary) but I did find a report written in English that references Kessel's travels to Africa and Arabia in the early part of the twentieth century. Here is a link and a excerpt to that testimony before the British House of Lords in 1931.

Source: Hansard 1803-2005 (UK) Official records of the proceedings in both Houses of Parliament
URLhttp://hansard.millbanksystems.com/lords/1931/jul/22/slavery

Excerpt from Hansard's Archives, Earl Buxton speaking, Lords Sitting of July 22, 1931:

The next country to which I wish to refer and in which the position is a very difficult one is Arabia. There is incontestable evidence from all hands that the worst slavery and the worst slave-trade are carried on in parts of Arabia and further east than that. The Temporary Commission reported very strongly as to the existence of the slave trade and slavery in many parts of Arabia. We have had recently the evidence of Mr. Eldon Rutter, Mr. Bertram Thomas and Mr. Joseph Kessel, who have all recently travelled through this country enquiring into the matter. All of them agree as to the very serious position which still exists there. It is true that at one time there were many public places at which slaves were sold like merchandise, and the evidence goes to show that to a certain extent these public sales are not so frequent as they used to be. But Mr. Rutter says that there are centres in towns and villages where slaves are sold privately; in other places dealers keep a definite stock of slaves, or there are agents who dispose of any slaves that anyone desires to sell.

§ He goes on to say this—and I think your Lordships will bear with me if I quote his words—in regard to the present position as to the supply of slaves, that there are three ways of keeping up the supply of human merchandise in Arabia. First, he says, there is breeding for the market. The Sudan and Abyssinia have furnished such a vast number of slaves during the passage of years that their children are to a great extent sufficient to meet the demand. The child of a slave woman, even if the father be free, remains a slave and becomes part of the estate and can be sold separately. Secondly, he says, there is the slave trade. This consists of bringing the human cargo to the Arabian coast by the desert and by clandestine routes and then despatching by caravans to the great towns of the Hejaz. This Mr. Kessel describes as "risky."

§ He gives a case which, if I may read it, will serve to show what the risks are. He says that he was speaking to the owner of a dhow and that the dhow owner told him this: One day a little while ago a warship chased me. This was overtaking my dhow. There was scarcely any wind and there was no narrow channel where I could find refuge. Then I threw a slave into the water and the warship stopped to pick him up. I increased the distance between us and three times I did the same thing. I got off by this trick. How is it"— said the dhow owner thoughtfully— that the strangers are so fond of slaves that they would lose such a fine dhow as mine to save a slave? That shows, at all events, that the trade still exists.

§ Thirdly, Mr. Kessel says that there is what is called the pilgrim method, which is less dangerous but almost more infamous. The slaves are embarked well within the regulations as pilgrims, but they never return. It also comes about that parents who have taken their whole family to the Sacred City are beggared by the exploitation of faith practised there, and sell their children in order to have money with which to return. This is confirmed by other witnesses who have also seen the same thing in regard to the Mecca pilgrims. There is no doubt that Arabia is one of the most difficult parts to deal with. It is very scattered and there is a restless population to deal with and control.

End excerpt___

Update July 1st

I've just learned today from one of my readers in the States (USA) that the following message appears at the ARTE +7 website:

"Um dieses Video zu sehen, müssen Sie in Deutschland, Frankreich, Guadeloupe, Französisch-Guayana, Martinique, Reunion, Französisch-Polynesien, St. Pierre und Miquelon, Wallis und Futuna, Mayotte, Neukaledonien oder Französische Südgebiete wohnen. Wir bitten Sie um Ihr Verständnis."

Translation (English): In order to view this video you must reside in Germany, France, Guadeloupe, French Guyana, Martinique, Reunion, etc. etc. ... We ask for your understanding.

What a bummer! It is not understandable why such an excellent TV network like ARTE would restrict access to online visitors from countries other than those listed above. I'll try to get to the bottom of this and get back to my readers. ENDE

Update July 9th:

While doing a bit of follow-up research today on these documentaries I came across a post about the ARTE TV special on Menschenhandel (slavery, human trafficking) over at Spreeblick, a top German blogger based out of Berlin. One of Spreeblick's readers, Van, has provided URL's to the streaming video files hosted at ARTE +7 and they are still working past the online viewing cutoff date of July 1st. Note: online streaming video access is unfortunately no longer available as of July 15th.

In the meantime I will work on those promised translations of the German text to English about these documentaries and throw in some extras (historical research and articles) on the subject to boot. So if you are really interested in learning more about the history of black slavery in the Middle East and on the African continent, stay tuned.

The film “Sklaven für den Orient” is loaded with rare documentary film footage and photographs about the history of the slavery of black Africans in the Arab and Islamic world and on the continent of Africa. “Die letzten Sklaven” by filmmakers Sophie Jeaneau and Anna Kwak is a riveting account about the efforts to free a modern-day slave held in captivity in the Islamic Republic of Mauritania.


ARTE.TV – Geschicte & Gesellschaft – Themenabend June 24, 2008
Menschenhandel - Ein weltweites Verbrechen

Es ist kaum zu glauben, aber weil sie die ganze, ungekürzte und umfassende Geschichte der Sklaverei aufrollen und erzählen wollten, wurden französische Historiker vor kurzem an den Pranger gestellt. Doch die Fakten lassen sich nicht einfach von der Hand weisen und wegdiskutieren. Tatsächlich war der innerafrikanische Handel mit Menschen mindestens ebenso verbreitet wie der von den Europäern organisierte Sklavenhandel von Afrika in überseeische Kolonien. Jahrhunderte lang wurden Sklaven aus Schwarzafrika in den Orient verkauft. Die Sklaverei ist eine zähe Tradition, die sich beispielsweise in Mauretanien bis heute gehalten hat.

Der Themenabend will die grausame Tatsache des Sklavenhandels, den die Europäer nach Amerika organisierten, nicht relativieren. Aber er will auch andere, "tabuisierte" Formen des Menschenhandels und der Sklaverei benennen. Neben einer Dokumentation über die Jahrtausende alte Tradition der Sklaverei in Mauretanien ist ein Beitrag über den noch zu Beginn des 20. Jahrhunderts betriebenen innerafrikanischen Menschenhandel zu sehen. Den Abschluss des Themenabends bildet eine Gesprächsrunde, moderiert von Daniel Leconte.

Menschenhandel – Ein weltweites Verbrechen
http://www.arte.tv/de/geschichte-gesellschaft/Freedom/TV-Programm/2049194.html


Die letzten Sklaven

Das westafrikanische Land Mauretanien ist die letzte Hochburg der Sklaverei. Schon viermal wurden dort Menschenhandel und Versklavung offiziell abgeschafft, aber verändert hat sich im Grunde nichts. Doch nun gibt es einen Hoffnungsschimmer: Die junge Generation lehnt sich gegen Sklaverei und Menschenhandel auf, und das sowohl auf Seiten der Sklaven als auch auf der der so genannten "Herren".

Die Islamische Republik Mauretanien, im August 2007: Der neue Präsident der Republik, Sidi Mohamed Ould Cheikh Abdallahi, verabschiedet ein Gesetz, das Sklaverei unter Strafe stellt. Bereits zum vierten Mal wird in Mauretanien offiziell die Haltung von Sklaven "abgeschafft". Daraus lässt sich im Umkehrschluss folgern, dass die Sklaverei in diesem Land der Sahelzone zwischen Maghreb und Schwarzafrika bis vor knapp einem Jahr noch toleriert wurde.

In Mauretanien gehört die Sklaverei zum System. Eine Jahrtausende alte Tradition will, dass jeder Mensch hier als "Herr" oder "Sklave" zur Welt kommt. Weder Gesetz noch Staat konnten diesen Brauch bisher unterbinden. Die Sklaven gehören zu Haus und Gut ihres Herrn. Sie erledigen die niedrigen Arbeiten, während ihre «Herren» Schöngeister, Geschäftsleute, Beamte und Intellektuelle sind. Auf diesem althergebrachten System baut die gesamte mauretanische Gesellschaft auf, sowohl in der "maurischen", Arabisch sprechenden als auch in der schwarzafrikanischen Gemeinschaft. Um einen Aufstand der Sklaven zu vermeiden, werden diese von ihren Sklavenhaltern mit religiösen Argumenten eingeschüchtert: Wer fliehe, komme in die Hölle.

Biram, Boubacar, Aminetou, Mohammed Lémine und Messaoud stammen aus beiden Lagern, Sklaven und «Herren». Sie haben jetzt den Mut aufgebracht, sich dem System zu verweigern. Ihr Ziel besteht darin, das Land von der Geißel der Sklaverei zu befreien. Auf ihnen ruht die Hoffnung, dass in Mauretanien die Sklaverei bald tatsächlich der Vergangenheit angehört.

(Frankreich, 2008, 45mn)
ARTE F - Regie: Sophie Jeaneau, Anna Kwak

Die Letzten Sklaven (video program available online June 24 – July 1, 2008 at ARTE +7)


Sklaven für den Orient

Über den grausamen Handel der Europäer mit afrikanischen Sklaven nach Amerika ist allgemein vieles bekannt und von Historikern wissenschaftlich dokumentiert. Doch bis heute ist es tabu, darüber zu sprechen, dass, Schätzungen zufolge, im Laufe der Jahrhunderte insgesamt allein 17 Millionen Afrikaner gefangen genommen und als Sklaven in die muslimische Welt verkauft wurden. Die Dokumentation versucht nachzuvollziehen, warum dieses Thema ebenso wie der Sklavenhandel zwischen afrikanischen Ländern bis in die heutige Zeit ein Tabu geblieben ist.

Jeder weiß Bescheid über den von den Europäern organisierten Sklavenhandel von Afrika nach Amerika und über die elf Millionen Afrikaner, die unter schlimmsten Bedingungen wie Vieh auf Sklavenschiffen verfrachtet wurden. Dieser Menschenhandel ist heute Gegenstand einer aktiven Vergangenheitsbewältigung. Weniger bekannt ist jedoch der Verkauf von Sklaven aus Schwarzafrika in den Orient und in die arabisch-muslimische Welt. Schätzungen zufolge wurden im Laufe von 14 Jahrhunderten insgesamt 17 Millionen Afrikaner als Sklaven in muslimische Länder verkauft.

Außerdem befasst sich die Dokumentation mit dem der Öffentlichkeit noch weniger bekannten innerafrikanischen Menschenhandel, den afrikanische Königreiche Jahrhunderte lang betrieben - lange bevor die Europäer die afrikanischen Küsten für sich entdeckten. Ferner veranschaulicht die Dokumentation durch bisher unveröffentlichte Fotos, dass der Sklavenhandel in der muslimischen Welt und Schwarzafrika bis in die Mitte des 20. Jahrhunderts weiterblühte.

Wie wurden die Sklaven gefangen genommen? Welche Arbeiten mussten sie verrichten? Diese und andere Fragen beantworten die Experten Salah Trabelsi, Ibrahima Thioub, Henri Medard und Mohamed Ennaji. Die arabischen und afrikanischen Historiker erläutern, warum die Geschichte des Sklavenhandels in der afrikanischen und muslimischen wie in der westlichen Welt ein heikles Thema ist und bleibt. Dahinter stehen diverse Ängste: Angst davor, den Sklavenhandel nach Amerika zu banalisieren, Rachegedanken zu schüren und des Rassismus oder der Kolonisierung beschuldigt zu werden - alles Gründe, die einer Vergangenheitsbewältigung heute noch im Wege stehen.

(Frankreich, 2008, 45mn)
ARTE F - Regie: Antoine Vitkine

Sklaven für den Orient (Les esclaves oubliés) by Antoine Vitkine, France 2008

Documentary preview and full length video at Veoh Network
http://www.veoh.com/videos/v14343096EahdrxAP?confirmed=1

Slaves for the Orient (Les esclaves oubliés, Sklaven für den Orient) by Antoine Vitkine (program description, French and German languages)

More information about ARTE.TV documentaries and cultural programs can be found at the ARTE +7 website and the ARTE TV website (French and German language).


Technorati tags: Africa North Africa Middle East Europe America history slavery freedom labor race racism media documentary
global voices

Age of the Dragon: German press on China's Conquest of the 'schwarze Kontinent'

While the People’s Republic of China is still reeling from the latest slavery scandal in the country (Hat Tip: Global Voices) and the Beijing officials have ordered the Chinese press and TV networks to stop reporting on the issue, I couldn’t help but wonder what implications this has for workers at Chinese businesses that are expanding so rapidly across sub-Saharan Africa. Of course it would be ridiculous and xenophobic to even suggest that the type of behavior uncovered in Shanxi province is widespread and is practiced by Chinese businesses working abroad, but if you do a Google search on Chinese slavery you do come up with a lot of stuff. For example, I didn’t know that slavery has been a problem in China dating back to the Shang Dynasty (18th-12th Century B.C.).

My regular readers know all too well that I have serious doubts about the Beijing government’s ‘good intentions’ toward African people as the world looks on in awe at China’s massive investments in African oil, gas, and minerals, no-strings-attached government sponsored loans to cash-strapped African governments in return for huge no-bid public infrastructure contracts and door-wide-open policies for cheap Chinese imports and labor. But for a change I am not going to go down that path and instead will point readers to the objective, independent, and transparent reporting on the subject by respected international journalists and news editors. Let’s start with the Germans.

In the weeks preceding the 2007 G8 Summit at Heiligendamm, Germany the EU finance ministers and Germany’s Chancellor Angela Merkel ‘voiced deep concern’ over some $20 billion dollars in loans promised by the Beijing regime to key African nations in the wake of the May 2007 African Development Bank meeting in Shanghai. In a statement made at the Potsdam meeting of G8 finance ministers Germany’s Peer Steinbruck said, “…China is willing to re-launch what we are trying to break, with our debt relief.”

How do the Germans feel about China’s aggressive push into the African continent? There has been some limited TV news and press coverage on the subject recently in light of the German Chancellor’s intense focus on helping to reduce poverty in Africa by forcing fellow G8 leaders to live up to their promises made at the 2005 G8 Summit, by increasing Germany’s direct foreign aid and development to African nations, and by encouraging German business leaders and entrepreneurs to invest more in Africa. During a pre-summit conference, the African Partnership Forum in Berlin, attended by some key African and European political and business figures, Merkel stated in a report by Germany’s Deutsche Welle news service:

German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf and Danish Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen opened the Africa Partnership Forum in Berlin on Tuesday.

The two-day meeting is looking at how the G8 can help the world's poorest continent. It will "make recommendations for the preparations for the G8 and African Union summits," the German government said.
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On Monday, the chancellor had met with German business leaders in Berlin and urged them to invest more in Africa.

"Whoever accepts Africa as an investment location today will reap the rewards tomorrow," Merkel told the group of high-ranking managers, including the chief executives of automaker Volkswagen and telecommunications giant Deutsche Telekom. The meeting was also attended by representatives from medium-sized businesses, trade groups and international organizations.

"Africa is a continent with an unbelievable development potential," Merkel said.

The meeting at the chancellery discussed investment opportunities in Africa, as well as good governance and ways to integrate the continent in the global economy. Merkel said she and business leaders agreed that political efforts to improve government in Africa should be coordinated with economic activities.
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In a parallel meeting, the German World Bank Forum opened in Berlin on Monday. German Development Minister Heidemarie Wieczorek-Zeul said that Africa received only two percent of worldwide direct investment at present.

"That is not enough," Wieczorek-Zeul said. "Germany and the G8 are supporting reform-minded Africa countries through a partnership for development aimed at creating the basis for an increase in sustainable investment: good governance, an adequate infrastructure and combating corruption."

The two-day World Bank Forum is hosted by the German Development Ministry and the World Bank.

Read more at Deutsche Welle Germany’s Chancellor...Urges Investment in Africa 22.05.2007

Germany’s Der Speigel magazine, a highly respected news source in Germany and across Europe, published a pre-G8 Summit special report on China in Africa titlted ‘The Age of the Dragon: China’s Conquest of Africa’ by Andreas Lorenz and Thilo Thielke.

The China Digital Times (Univ. of California - Berkeley) picked up on the May 30th feature at Spiegel International (Der Spiegel’s English language edition) right away. The CDT (China Digital Times) also has a great podcast interview with Der Spiegel’s former Beijing correspondent Andreas Lorenz that you won’t want to miss titled ‘Andreas Lorenz on Germany’s late China-phobia’.

Update June 20th:
Looks as if the PR of China is grabbing headlines over in the U.K. too! The Aegis Trust has just launched a Sudan Divestment Campaign focused on major U.K. retirement funds, Barclays bank, U.K. companies, and (get this) the Church of England's massive investments (100's of millions of British Pounds Sterling) in Sudanese oil projects and China's state-owned oil and chemical companies. More on the Guardian newspaper article and the Comment is Free blog post by Aegis Trust executive director John Smith can be found at the end of this post.

Plus, Eric Jon Magnuson of the Sudan: the Passion of the Present blog has published an article about the growing debate in the U.S.A. and Europe to boycott the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing (aka The Genocide Games). The Related Articles section at the end of this post includes links to press releases, news articles, and video about how German businesses are working in partnership with Chinese companies and the Government of Sudan (GoS) on oil and transport (railway) projects. The researchers at Der Spiegel and Spiegel International online failed to spot that little morsel for their article, and fellow blog authors here in Germany have ignored this little factoid in their posts about the G8 Summit 2007 and/or have chosen to remain selectively ignorant of these facts.

So let’s dig right in by examining a few choice excerpts from the Spiegel article on China in Africa and see if it holds up to heated debate in "the Sphere".


THE AGE OF THE DRAGON
China's Conquest of Africa
by Andreas Lorenz and Thilo Thielke - translated from the German by Christopher Sultan
May 30, 2007

China is conquering Africa as it becomes the preferred trading partner of the continent's dictators. Beijing is buying up Africa's abundant natural resources and providing it with needed cash and cheaply produced consumer goods in return.


Thomas Mumba was a devout young man. He spent his free time studying the Holy Scriptures and directing the church choir at the United Church of Zambia in his hometown of Chambeshi. Mumba, a bachelor, was also committed to abstinence -- from beer and from sex before marriage. A larger-than-life depiction of Jesus Christ surrounded by a herd of sheep still hangs in his room. The poster is pure "Made in China" kitsch, like most things here in the Zambian copper belt, located more than a six hours' drive north of the capital Lusaka.

Mumba, a shy, slight young man, bought the Chinese-made religious image at a local market and hung it up at home. It was cheap, cheaper than goods from Europe, at any rate. Mumba's Chinese Jesus cost him 4,000 kwacha, or about 75 cents. "It was his first encounter with the evil empire," says Thomas's mother Justina Mulumba, two years after the accident that would change her entire life.

Thomas Mumba died on April 20, 2005 when an explosives depot blew up in the Chambeshi copper mine. He had just turned 23 and had been working in the mine for two years. To this day, no one knows how many people died that day, because the mine's Chinese owners attempted to cover up what they knew about the accident. Besides, they had kept no records of who was working near the explosion site on the day of the accident.

According to the memorial plaque, there were 46 victims, but it could just as easily have been 50 or 60. Only fragments of the remains of most of the dead were recovered. Mukuka Chilufya, the engineer who managed the rescue team, says that his men filled 49 sacks with body parts that day. The Chinese have deflected all inquiries about the explosion.

Justina Mulumba wears a mint-green dress as she kneels at her son's grave, whispering almost inaudibly: "Forgive them, Lord, for they know not what they do." The cemetery is by the side of the road, only a short distance from the plant gates. Chinese trucks drive by, churning up the dry African soil and briefly coating the entire cemetery in a cloud of red dust.

The drivers are in a hurry to get their trucks, filled with copper, to the port of Durban on the Indian Ocean, where the copper will be loaded onto ships bound for China. Mumba wasn't the only one whose fate was sealed by copper. All of Zambia depends on copper, which is by far this southern African country's most important export, well ahead of cobalt. Copper accounts for more than half of all its export revenues.
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Feeding China's Hunger for Raw Materials

In the early 1990s, Zambia abandoned its socialist planned economy, Kaunda withdrew from politics and the ongoing slump in copper prices precipitated an economic crisis. In the late 1990s, when then-president Frederick Chiluba felt compelled to give in to pressure from the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund to privatize the unproductive, unprofitable state-owned mines, the price of a ton of copper was barely $900.

At the time, no one in Africa -- or, for that matter, in New York, London or Geneva -- foresaw India's and China's rise as economic powers, or the attendant thirst for resources. When rising demand suddenly drove up copper prices to previously unanticipated levels, it was yet another stroke of bad luck for poor Zambia that the country had already sold off much of its copper-mining rights to the Australians, Canadians, Indians and Chinese.

A ton of copper costs $8,000 today. Zambian mines are currently producing 500,000 tons a year, a number that could soon increase to 700,000. This is good for the foreign mine owners, but the Zambians see next to nothing of the profits.
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Sata captured more than 29 percent of the vote in the September 2006 presidential election, while the winner in that race, current President Levy Mwanawasa, claimed 43 percent. But Sata believes that the election was rigged. According to opinion polls, he was initially clearly in the lead in the capital and in the copper belt. But when the tide turned in favor of the incumbent, Sata cried election fraud and violence erupted in the streets of Lusaka for several days.

If there is one issue which Sata uses to mobilize the masses, it is the Chinese. He has warned voters that they plan to export their dictatorship to Africa, colonize the continent and introduce large-scale exploitation. Unlike Western investors, says Sata, the Chinese have little interest in the Africans' well-being.

The politician quickly talks himself into a rage. Chinese have little interest in human rights, he says. They are only interested in exploiting Africa's natural resources, which they have carted off using their own workers and equipment, and without having paid a single kwacha in taxes. Sata sums up his position as follows: "We want the Chinese to leave and the old colonial rulers to return. They exploited our natural resources too, but at least they took care of us. They built schools, taught us their language and brought us the British civilization."

A majority of Zambians likely agree with Sata. On his recent and third trip to Africa, Chinese President Hu Jintao canceled his planned visit to the Zambian copper belt at the last minute, fearing demonstrations by disgruntled workers and the resulting embarrassing TV images. Only last year, protestors in Chambeshi were injured when police fired into their midst.

Thousands of workers felt they had been conned out of their wages and had staged a protest march in front of the local mine. These demonstrations have become almost a ritual in Chinese-owned mines. The Chinese pay wages of only $30 a month, less than the Indians and substantially less than the salaries paid by the Canadians and Australians.

While Zambians may have long considered Western capitalism barbaric, it now seems practically idyllic compared to the supercharged Chinese version. "At least Western capitalism has a human face," says Sata, "the Chinese are only out to exploit us." Indeed, the Chinese are currently toying with the idea of establishing two Special Economic Zones within Zambian borders. "Then they will have their state within a state," Sata believes, "and will truly be able to do as they please."

'The Silent Invasion'

It is especially irksome to many Zambians that the Chinese have created relatively few jobs in the country. According to Sata, there are already 80,000 Chinese in Zambia, "former prisoners who are housed in labor camps and mine the copper." The metal is shipped to China in the form of copper ore and processed there. Even the machinery comes from China. The Zambian government allows it to be brought in without imposing any duties. The Chinese workers don't even leave their camps for lunch or to drink beer, says Sata, who calls them "a strange people."

Resentment over the behavior of the Chinese is also smoldering elsewhere in Africa. China's involvement in the continent creates few jobs, says political scientist Alfredo Tjiurimo Hengari. Instead, he says, "we solve China's problems by giving Chinese workers jobs in our backyard."

According to Hengari, who teaches at the Sorbonne in Paris, Africa is the only continent on which Chinese companies "apply for government contracts, get them and then import Chinese workers." Kenyan monthly magazine New People calls it a "silent invasion." Even South African President Thabo Mbeki, whose country maintains close ties to China, has warned that Africa threatens to become an "economic colony" of China.

Read more of China's Conquest of Africa at Spiegel International Online.


Related articles and online resources (last updated July 5, 2007):

BBC News ( the BBC expands on the China in Zambia mining ripoff)
Zambia's miners see 'little reward', 07/04/07
China's hunger for African minerals, 07/03/07

Finance & Development - a quarterly magazine of the IMF, June 2007 Vol. 44 Nr. 2
(HT re: these new articles goes to Pablo of the World Bank's PSD Blog)
Getting Together: the new partnership between China and Africa for aid and trade by Ulrich Jacoby
Connecting Africa and Asia by Harry G. Broadman
Making Remittances Work for Africa by Sanjeev Gupta, Catherine Patillo, Smita Wagh

AfricaBeat by Jennifer Brea
Can China offer Africa an alternative path for development?, 05/28/07

Danwei (media, advertising, and life in China)
China and Africa: the hypocrisy of the West by Jeremy Goldkorn, 05/28/07

Comment is Free (The Guardian newspaper blog)
Funding Genocide by James Smith (AEGIS Trust U.K.), 06/19/07
China’s lessons for the World Bank by Dr. Jeremy Sachs, 05/24/07

The Guardian Online (UK)
British Investors Urged to Quit Sudan, 06/19/07
(Aegis Trust publishes first dossier detailing U.K. investments linked to the Khartoum regime and launches the U.K. Sudan-China Divestment Campaign)

Sudan - Passion of the Present
Darfur Crisis Sparks Louder Cries for 2008 Olympics Boycott, 06/19/07

China Digital Times (University of California – Berkeley)
Andreas Lorenz on Germany’s late China-phobia, 05/20/06
China’s Conquest of Africa, 05/30/07
Children Slaves, Shanxi, China Video, 06/18/07

The Peking Duck (Taipei, Taiwan)
China’s approach to developing countries way better than the World Bank’s, 05/25/07

DW-World, Deutsche Welle
Germany’s Chancellor Merkel urges investment in Africa, 05/22/07
(Note: see the DW-World video 'German Oil Pumps and Pipelines in Sudan' which features a 10 million Euro export of heavy equipment by Bornemann Pumps from Hanover, Germany. Also see Dornier Consulting and the Sudan Railway Project)

BusinessWeek
Hitting Sudan in the Pocketbook, 05/02/07

International Herald Tribune
Siemens sets timetable to pullout of Sudan, 01/27/07
Some U.S. states move to bar investments linked to Sudan, 02/21/06

Business & Human Rights Resource Center
Siemens to pull business out of Sudan, 01/22/07
Archive on Siemens, Warren Buffet’s Berkshire Hathaway, Fidelity Investments

Bloomberg.com
Buffet can follow Harvard, ABB lead on Sudan, 01/29/07

Newscloud
Siemens and the moral high ground, 01/22/07

Sudan Tribune
Siemens, Mobitel Sudan sign Euro 20 million deal, 08/09/06

Atlantic Review
Oympics 2008: Only Americans remind China of its resonsibility for Darfur, 06/20/07
Sudan Divestment Campaign against Siemens and others gets stronger, 07/21/06


Technorati tags: Africa China business politics Sudan Darfur genocide human rights Germany G8 Summit G8 development economics poverty economics developing world Global Voices