Habib,
you are right, we must try and break the cycle of hatred against each other.
Slavery has existed long before Christianity and Islam. And it is well
documented that modern slavery is gigantic, more than the trans-atlantic
trade. We can all try and go back into history and try and ask for reasons
why. Many africans, african leaders also think that the west has to
compensate what was taken under many hundreds years of the trans atlantic
slave trade.
I have said it before on Gambia-L that even my danish countrymen in the name
of Christ were involved in the trade Ghana - Carribien - Copenhagen. Itīs
well documented in our history.
The old romans long before christianity held slaves, mostly as membesr of
the family, but without the rights as a roman citizen. The hundreds of years
when half of todays western Europe was part of the Osman-kingdom, the
turkish went on tour every year, and in every town and small village
specially in the parts which is Balkan, they picked up 5 to 10 teen-age
boys aged 12-15, who were brought up to serve in the army, the household, or
sold to the arabs as slaves. Over the years it was many hundred of thousands
young boys who was brutally taken from their families and never returned.
Powerty, greed, tradition, disrespect for other people keeps the
"trafficking" (UN-term for most of what is slavery) up and going today.
In Africa you have the old traditional slave-markets as we have seen then in
the films on the american slave-trade. UN tells in reports that those
traditional slave markets is open in todays Mauretania and Sudan, where
humans are sold like animals for the highest bid.
In parts of Asia, Africa and South America we can according to UN find
millions of children, who are kidnapped or sold by parents/realitives to
work as slaves in the industry, the plantations, the mines. They are paid
nothing, they work from sunrise to sunset, get no medical care, no
education, locked up at night, some even raped or work in the sex-industry.
And itīs all because of greed, or poverty, which we in the west has some
influence on.
There are also hundred of thousand children 8-15 years old who are serving
as soldiers, sex slaves in wars.
Parts of the world have traditional slaves, hard working all life in the
mines or industries paid nothing.
UN reports say that more than 20 million people are kept as debt-slaves.
They have debts and have to serve until the master finds the debt paid. That
is common in the West, - USA, Europe, but also in South America.
Then you have the sex-slaves f.in. here in West-Europe brothels. Girls and
Women trapped by gangsters back home in Russia/Baltic countries etc.,
looking for a job in the west, and when inside they are ribbed all their
papers and can not contact authorities.
Looking into slavery we also got to look on the fact that we let millions of
people in the "third world" die every year.
And also that most part of so called terrorism and immigrant finding their
way to the rich west could be changed if we wanted to. Denmark has for
nearly 20 years spend 1% of the BNP on projects in developing countries,
over the yeras with different focus and results. USA has not even put 0,1%
of itīs BNP into that kettle. Germany is not up to 0,3 % even the EU for
years has decided that the countries should follow the UN recommendation of
giving 0,7% BNP.
If those countries (USA, Germany etc.) did spend 0,7% of the BNP, that would
increase the total sum with more than 2 billion $ per year. Only half of
that money could give more than 2,5 billion poor people access to basic
medical care every year.
The money we in the west invest in reducing CO2 emission every year, spend
otherwise it could the first year give all people in Africa access to clean
water supply, next year we could do the same in South America, than in Asia
the third year, and what should we spend the money on the fourth, the fifth,
etc...??
Instead we want to build the most advanced military systems, nuclear, or the
shield, and we spend a lots of money into wars. I wonder what it costs us to
fight the "war against terrorism" .
I could continue like this. But I got to stop. Iīm going into the last week
up to Easter, the most important week for a christian. It is very demanding,
but it also give me time to contemplate, think of my life as a christian in
a world wide perspective.
Regards from
Asbjørn Nordam
on 22/03/02 17:24, Habib Ghanim at [log in to unmask] wrote:
Thanks brothers Yus and Fye,
Our sentiments and blanket statements can be dangerous because the cycle of
hate continues without abait.
I tell you both this also from other personal experiences not because of
my Arab origin but from our very own African bothers in Gambia who call All
Nigerians Crooks and drug dealers which is far from the truth just because
there are some example of Nigerian drug dealers that they know . My wife is
from Nigeria and I know that some of the best Africans that have contributed
to the advancement of the continent are Nigerians.
I wish we all would take into consideration the younger generation that also
listen to us. If they hear us preaching hate they will live with hate and
it will go down for generations . The typical example we see now is The
Palestinian/Israeli /Arab /Jewish conflict. Both sides tell their children
How evil the others are without letting them know the causes of the
animosity and how to resolve the problems peacefully. Thus the endless cycle
of violence
Well , I spoke too much. Best regards for now
Habib
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