Thanks for your addition to this grim reminder of slavery  . Almost all of us  in the world are really guilty  in many ways. We see this injustice and sometimes because we can't do much to change it so we simply keep quiet. It is wrong and keeping it alive by inaction is what we should all challenge by prayer, taking steps to stop the hatred and violence, by teaching and practicing tolerance in all aspects of life(,business ,religion,schools  ,governments etc) No one expects miracles but we must start one step att a time by speaking out when we see this form of injustice or any related one.

Have  a good day

Habib

>From: Asbjørn Nordam <[log in to unmask]> >Reply-To: The Gambia and related-issues mailing list <[log in to unmask]> >To: [log in to unmask] >Subject: Re: slavery , tolerance - Excerpt from Islam's Black Slaves: >Date: Sat, 23 Mar 2002 22:34:54 +0100 > >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. It´s >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 it´s 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 it´s 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. I´m 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 > >~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ > >To unsubscribe/subscribe or view archives of postings, go to the Gambia-L Web interface >at: http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/archives/gambia-l.html >To contact the List Management, please send an e-mail to: >[log in to unmask] > >~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~