On the way to freedom, Niger's slaves stuck in limbo

[dArKeR]

More than 7,000 slaves owned by Arissal Ag Amdague, a Tuareg tribal chief, were due to be released at a desert ceremony last Saturday in the village of In Atès, 175 miles northwest of Niger's capital, Niamey.

A new law that came into effect last year was supposed to finally punish masters, who had long held slaves with little hassle from the government. Anti-Slavery International, the world's oldest human rights group, billed the event as unlike anything seen since the abolition of the transatlantic slave trade.

Instead, no one was freed.

Despite the government's positive move to announce the new law and its willingness to apply it, it sent out mixed messages later by saying slavery no longer exists in Niger. This contradicts eyewitness reports from international and local rights groups, and a signed statement from Chief Arissal promising to free his "enslaved people," a copy of which Anti-Slavery International has in its possession.

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=2358&ncid=2358&e=1&u=/csm/20050310/ts_csm/oslavepix_1

According to Anti-Slavery International it seems Saddam didn't have any slaves but Republican Christians murdered thousands of men, women and children to FREE the people of Iraq and NOT Niger.

[Dogmudgeon]

1. These are two different issues

Two different types of evil.

Anti-Slavery International counts people considered as slaves to owners, not subjects of a slave-state. Saddam held no slaves, even though Iraq was a brutal dictatorship.

As absurd as it may sound, there's a useful rationale behind counting slaves that way. ASI has provided strong legal and political support for local activists fighting against slavery and slaveholders. And they aren't ignorant of other forms of evil, either -- they are holding up their own end of the struggle for justice. I'm afraid it will take many specialized movements to start to push back the advance of tyranny.

--p!

[w4rma]

2. You don't honestly believe the global corporatists are out to "free"

the Iraqis do you? It's no coincidence that Iraq is sitting on top of some of the worlds biggest oil reserves and that countries who aren't sitting on top of oil reserves but are living under dictatorships have gotten zero attention.