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Politics : Sharks in the Septic Tank -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: The Philosopher who wrote (10717)	4/8/2001 8:10:36 AM
From: Lane3	Respond to of 82486

Maybe others here have that information. I sure hope not because I feel no calling to personally solve any problems in Sudan. I know nothing at all about Sudan. You might as well have asked me how to fix the transmission on your car or to translate the Dead Sea Scrolls. Obviously a considerable understanding of the history and culture of Sudan and the particulars of the slaves in question would be required prior to venturing any opinion on the subject. Karen

To: The Philosopher who wrote (10717)	4/9/2001 12:44:27 AM
From: E	Respond to of 82486

Christopher, because i'm active in Amnesty International, i know there's a lot of material out there on slavery in Sudan. I just started a google search. I was so instantly depressed that I really can't do what I was going to -- demonstrate what should be obvious, slaves aren't free to complain. And in the Sudan, anyone discussing the subject of slavery is subject to severe punishment (including possible torture or death) under the National Security Laws. If those outside of the Sudan don't care, then these poor people are lost. Here's something: These excerpts are statements of a black American involved in the (controversial) slave-redemption effort. "Several years ago, I became aware of the existence of 21st-century slave trade in Sudan and a modern abolitionist organization, The Anti-Slavery Group...I explored every aspect of slavery in Africa’s largest country. Nothing prepared me for what my eyes saw, my ears heard, my hands felt and my soul embraced... Members of the Christian Solidarity International group and I, on a trip earlier this month to Sudan, redeemed some 4,435 slaves, mostly women and children. After trekking through heat, mud flies and mosquitoes, I saw a scene that was directly out of the TV miniseries "Roots," except it was real. It was as if someone had placed me in a time machine and sent me back 400 years to the African slave trade, but it was today. It was surreal. Hundreds, thousands of human souls, black, dirty, sick and hungry, in scorching sun, waited under the branches of a huge tree to be free. Many had walked for 10 days or more... A 13-year-old boy, Yak Kenyang Adeiu, had all his fingers cut off by his slave master. Mawien Aher Bol had his finger cut off by his master because he lost a goat. Angot Wol Angra was attacked by her master's brother with a knife when she lost a goat. Arek Kiir had her throat cut and her chest burned because she refused to give up her infant to a slave master. Agom Bol Akuei and her children were forced to carry a heavy load of salt, looted by slave traders. She collapsed under the weight, and the load of salt crushed her jaw. She received no medical attention. Garang Deng Yel and Athian Athian Athian had their arms chopped off with an ax by slave owners when they went north to try to rescue their enslaved wives and children. A woman who walked with a severe limp recounted to me how she had been gang-raped by her master and 10 others. When she resisted, the men violently forced her legs apart, dislocating one of her hips from the joint. These images will be with me for the rest of my life. I promised each of them and CSI that I would return to the United States and the African-American leadership and do all within my power to end slavery in Sudan. I am not here today to speak out against the people of Sudan. I am here to speak out against the systematic institution of slavery in a country that seeks to be elevated to a position of international power and prestige while it wallows in the depths of human misery. I am here today because my heart is with the slaves of Sudan. I am here today to issue a wake-up call to the black community and the U.S. government to the travesty of slavery in Sudan and to demand an end to this evil. If we, in the black community, demand liberty for ourselves, we must be prepared to demand it for our neighbors... Beginning today we will form a modern abolitionist movement.... ...Finally, let me invoke the words of America’s greatest abolitionist, Frederick Douglass: " Slavery is the common enemy of all mankind. The slave is part of the human family. Slavery is a system of such gigantic evil that no one nation is equal to its removal. It requires the humanity of all of us and the morality of the world to remove it." " newsmax.com

To: The Philosopher who wrote (10717)	4/9/2001 12:48:13 AM
From: E	Respond to of 82486

Another item before i go to bed. Excerpts. "Human Rights Watch has long denounced the contemporary form of slavery practiced in Sudan in the context of the fifteen-year civil war. This practice is conducted almost entirely by government-backed and armed militia of the Baggara tribe in western Sudan, and it is directed mostly at the civilian Dinka population of the southern region of Bahr El Ghazal. Thus the tribal militia, often operating with government troops and usually transported into Bahr El Ghazal by military train, raids with impunity civilian Dinka villages, looting cattle and food as well as abducting women and children for use as domestic slaves and sometimes as "wives" or concubines.... ...The abducted children and women often lead lives of extreme deprivation and cruelty at the hands of their masters. Many are physically and sexually abused, and forced to live at a standard well below that of their captors (sleeping on the floor, minimum food, no chance for education). Beatings for "disobedience" are common. They are denied their ethnic heritage, language, religion, and identity.... " hrw.org

To: The Philosopher who wrote (10717)	4/9/2001 12:52:44 AM
From: E	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 82486

More... "Slavery Widespread in Sudan, Bishop Charges Western Nations Condone Human Rights Outrages EL OBEID, Sudan (CWNews.com) -- The Catholic Church in Sudan is fighting the practice of slavery by buying children away from their captors, an exiled bishop has revealed. Bishop Macram Max Gassis of El Obeid estimated that 3,000 young boys and girls have been forced into slavery already this year. "The adolescent girls serve as concubines or 'pleasure instruments' for Muslim militia and the armed forces," the bishop said. "The boys are sent to so-called 'peace camps'-- military training camps where they are instructed in fighting and Islam." Bishop Gassis, whose report was made public by the Vatican news agency Fides, said that he has been branded an enemy of the Khartoum regime because of his public condemnation of slavery. He now lives and works only in the southern regions of Sudan, which are controlled by rebel forces. Bishop Gassis also condemned Western governments for their failure to act against the human-rights violations of the Sudan regime. "The West worships the golden calf," he said, explaining: "Sudan has oil and the West is afraid of damaging its own interests." " Daily News Brief from Catholic World News for July 13, 1998 Copyright 1998 Domus Enterprises domini.org

To: The Philosopher who wrote (10717)	4/9/2001 1:06:03 AM
From: E	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 82486

This piece by Nat Hentoff includes testimony of a former Sudanese slave. Excerpts. Nat Hentoff Two Million Have Been Killed 'She Was 12. They Shot Her.' Francis Bok escaped after being a slave in Sudan for 10 years. On May 23, he testified before a congressional committee in Washington: "When I was seven years old, my mother sent me to the market to sell some of our eggs and beans. I was there . . . When they came. Hundreds of arabs on horse, camel, and on foot stormed the place. They shot people in the head. They hacked off heads with swords. They captured the children. I was caught. They stuffed me in a big basket tied to a donkey and they took many of us north. "Along the way, a 12-year-old girl would not stop crying. She had seen her parents killed. They could not get her to stop crying. So they took her out of the basket and shot her in the head. Her younger sister cried out. So they cut her foot off. . . . "I came here today to say to President Clinton: You must help us. Why are you silent? This is a country that freed its slaves. But my people are still in bondage." ...The president is a devout churchgoer. We have seen him often on television, a Bible in his hand, the other entwined with that of his wife, who has also been silent on massive slavery in Sudan. Will someone in the national, New York City, or New York State press corps ask her about it?... Singleton is a good friend of Jesse ... But so far, this pastor, who actually lives the Sermon on the Mount, has been unable to get the Reverend Jackson to break his silence on the horrors inflicted on black Christians, animists, and the Muslims in the southern Sudan who will not swear fealty to the National Islamic Front in the north. ...Why are these rampant atrocities not on the evening news, the Sunday talk shows, and on newspaper editorial and news pages? Why are most of the liberal Democrats in Congress and elsewhere silent? In New York, Congressman Gregory Meeks has joined the abolitionists, but where are Jerrold Nadler, Charlie Rangel, et al.? Why are Hillary and Rick Lazio not asked whether they support slavery in Sudan, and if they don't, what the hell are they doing about it? Francis Bok's slave narrative continues: "I was given as a slave . . . . When I came into my master's house, Giema called the whole family to meet me. They all had sticks. They all beat me and they laughed and called me 'Abid, abid.' Slave, slave. "I escaped twice, and was caught. They said they would kill me if I tried again. But I could not stay there. I prayed. Every day. And I ran away. "I also came here today [to Congress] to call on all Americans of goodwill, especially my black brothers and sisters whose ancestors suffered as slaves. You must help us. The world has turned its back on us. But you must reach out your arms to us. We are your brothers and your sisters. They are killing us." Is anybody reading this—black, white, Jewish, Christian, Muslim—listening?" villagevoice.com