“ "Eight hundred," says
the auctioneer. " 900 ... 1,000 ... 1,100 ..." Sold. For 1,200 Libyan
dinars -- the equivalent of
$800.”1 Recently,
CNN came out with a report about the Libya Slave trade, revealing the terror
and inhumanity of the casual selling of human lives happening this year. This past month. Right now.
Migrants fleeing or for some other reason leaving their home country
pass through Libya in an attempt to make it to Europe, are kidnapped, tricked,
smuggled into Libya and then beaten, mutilated, raped, sold… sound
familiar?
There is also conversation
surrounding the United States’ and NATO’s responsibility in Libya’s
turmoil. In 2011, the United States
entered Libya in an attempt to help its citizens and rid them of their
threatening dictator, Muammar Gaddafi.
However, there were no rebuilding efforts made in the wake of the death
and removal of the dictator, seemingly throwing the already unstable nation
into further unrest, epitomizing in the open bidding and selling of human
lives. An understandable first reaction
would be anger and judgment at the carelessness of those involved in taking
down the government in Libya and not following through with reconstruction
needs of the country. But this is not
the first time that something like this has happened.
This might not sound as familiar, but this
series of events makes me think of other times that the United States has gone
in to help and leaves after taking the first step (taking out the bad guy), not only
in to countries but also our own. I
can’t help but compare this kind of recklessness to the same kind of hasty
“fixing” of slavery in the United States.
The Emancipation Proclamation freed black people from the status of
slaves in 1863, and we are still today trying to convince people to continue to
contribute to constructing society to be free for black people. Rebuilding still has not been completed here for the African Americans. We as a nation are not the best at finishing
what we have started, I think. Perhaps
because there is a “white savior” mentality that has been passed down: there is
a belief, practice seems to say, that we are only responsible for saving from
the immediate, urgent villain and not for the ultimate healing of pain or
suffering.
I guess this could come back to what
we all have been saying, the importance of education, good and true education
so that people can have knowledge of history.
I wonder if we were better educated on the entirety of the history of
the United States – actions taken, ideologies believed, mistakes made,
consequences borne – would we be less likely to make these same
mistakes?
1. “Libya Slave Trade.” CNN. Accessed December 1, 2017. http://www.cnn.com/specials/africa/libya-slave-auctions.
WC:436
Pledged: Katie Imperial
The situation in Libya is heart breaking and definitely reminiscent of broken solutions for slavery in America's past. I think this is a question of structure versus culture. Would government action do more than widespread cultural change could? When we are discussing solutions to overcoming the consequences of slavery in American, and in Libya, we often talk about structural change (i.e. news laws, policy, education systems) as being able to change culture. I think in some instances this is necessary, but when we are discussing disparities as pertinent and long-lasting as the impact of slavery there is more to be done than structural change. A cultural change is necessary for the success of any structural changes -- a true change in the way we think about race and power dynamics should be the start to this solution. I'm not sure in what way this should manifest, but I do believe issues like these require culture to change structure.
ReplyDeleteI really like your point about the US not being good at finishing what we started. This definitely applies to the situation in Libya, but can be said for many of the instances of US intervention in other countries. Even in our own country, we are quick to point out errors of the past, but refuse to see the continuation of the problem in contemporary manifestations. Though we no longer allow slavery, echoes of its impacts are everywhere and the systematic oppression of people of color could be seen as its own form of slavery.
ReplyDeleteThis is very interesting to me because the united states never seem to care unless they are being affected in some way, and how we are somewhat letting this happen around us and its not really talked about as much. I learned about these things on social media then i had to do more research to see what was going on and why this was being done and allowed to happen. It seems as if America gets complacent with the change we currently have but its not enough to stop and just be finished.
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