DITTO!!Ginny. Ethnic strife and hatred predated religion. So, the basic
reason for enslavement-use a lesser human to subsidize your absolute
comfort-still remains. Pre-religion and law, it was achieved by war.
Religion now seems more politically correct and less costly in terms of
lives lost.

Cheers!!


>From: Ginny Quick <[log in to unmask]>
>Reply-To: The Gambia and related-issues mailing list
><[log in to unmask]>
>To: [log in to unmask]
>Subject: Re: SILENT TERROR- SLAVERY IN MAURITANIA
>Date: Sun, 22 Oct 2000 17:45:13 -0500
>
>Hello, I have heard of Samuel Cotton before.  A couple of years ago, he was
>on a talk show, but I can't remember which one it was.  It was really late
>at night, and I was trying to go to sleep anyway.
>It is unfortunate taht according to the summary of the book, religion is
>used as a way of enslaving black Africans.  Especially since, from what I
>have read, the Qur'an clearly states that all people are equal.  Thus it is
>unfortunate that people would use Islam to justify the continued practice
>of slavery.  However, on second thought, in America, Christianity was also
>used in this way.
>      It just seems to me that a minority of people are trying to justify
>their continued oppression of a majority of people by any way they can.
>Ginny
>
>   ----- Original Message -----
>   From: fatou sowe
>   To: [log in to unmask]
>   Sent: Sunday, October 22, 2000 3:15 PM
>   Subject: SILENT TERROR- SLAVERY IN MAURITANIA
>
>
>         Silent Terror: A Journey into Contemporary African Slavery by
>Samuel Cotton
>
>         $15.95     ISBN 0-86316-259-2,        240pp, 6 x 9
>
>         Published by Writers and Readers Publishing, Harlem River Press
>
>         Orders will deliver within 10-14 days.
>
>
>
>
>
>          SILENT TERROR is the disturbing story of a black American's
>journey into the horrors of modern-day slavery in Africa. The author's
>odyssey takes him from New York to the Islamic Republic of Mauritania,
>where he comes face to face with the Arab-Berbers' centuries-old practice
>of enslaving black Africans. Samuel Cotton's research exposes this heinous
>practice while documenting and analyzing the hatred that the Arab minority
>holds for blacks, both slave and free, in a country where everyone is
>Muslim.
>
>         Cotton takes the reader into the life of oppressed Africans and
>provides critical insights into the use of religion and language to
>successfully enslave blacks. He also shows the process by which Arab
>masters produce docile slaves. The narratives he recorded from those who
>escaped reveal the capacity for hope and courage. Interviews with former
>slaves who have become abolitionist leaders show the path from bondage to
>freedom and offer the hope that this grim practice will one day be a relic
>of the past. Silent Terror examines why African nations have been silent on
>this subject and the role that neocolonialism plays in continuing an
>unspeakable practice.
>
>         This book is also a personal narrative. The author shares the
>impact of coming to grips with his African past and identity and his
>internal and external struggles to bring the issue of slavery to the
>American public. He sheds light on the growth of a modern-day abolitionist
>movement aimed at destroying the remaining strongholds of slavery and
>details the difficulty of getting the Black Muslim community to confront
>the idea of slavery in the Islamic world and to get black people in general
>to deal with this painful reality.
>
>
>
>

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