The Student Movement for International Relief (SMIR) hosted a panel of abolitionists Wednesday night,in the second speech of as many weeks addressing issues facing Africa. Two weeks after thebroadcast of Nelson Mandela, the panel discussed the persistence of slavery in the world.
Malouma Messoud, born and raised in a family of slaves, spoke alongside Abdel Nasser Ould Yessa, a former slave owner. Together they started the organization, S.O.S. Slaves, an abolitionist group in Mauritania. Also on the panel were moderator Jessie Sage, Director of the Freedom Action Network, and Moctar Cheine, the S.O.S. Slaves representative in North America and a former slave-owner himself. Together the speakers conveyed the situation of slavery in Mauritania and told of their own experiences as well.
Sage explained that slavery began in Mauritania around 1000 A.D., when the Arab and Berber tribes sought to Islamize the Africans. When the Africans resisted, they were enslaved. A system exists now by which Arab Muslims -- the bidanes -- own black Muslim slaves, the haratines.
He added, "The situation is even more complex because the Mauritanian government has banned slavery, but allowed it to exist. They don't want to change the way of life they've maintained for over a millennium."
"I decided I would not go back to a life of slavery. I was going to be free," Messoud told a small group of about 30 people. "I'm free now and I need to free others."
She continued, "I was made to do all the housework that slave girls do. I could not refuse anything because I was told by my family that I was born to serve my master." The difficulty of escaping from slavery was heightened for Messoud because her master was a prominent religious leader in the area, and it was told to her for generations that her proper place was as a slave.
Yessa said in a past interview with SOS, "We didn't learn this history in school; we simply grew up within this social hierarchy and lived it. Slaves believe that if they do not obey their masters, they will not go to paradise. They are raised in a social and religious system that everyday reinforces this idea. In society, a slave needs a master to protect him or her: to bring them to the hospital, to bring kids to school, to represent them in court. Slaves cannot revolt because they would lose everything."
Yessa continued, "You get to a point in your life where you cannot live without slaves." Yessa received his first slave at the age of seven and assumed that slavery existed in the rest of the world. It was not until he entered the French library where his viewpoint started to change.
"I started reading cartoon books. I thought it was very strange that there were no slaves in the books. Then I came upon the French Revolution's "Declaration of the Rights of Man,' where the first line says, "All men are born free and equal.' ... It was like a punch in the stomach."
Following the presentation, the floor was opened up to questions, where discussions arose over the issues of apartheid, racism and Islam in relation to slavery, in which some speakers disagreed even amongst themselves. Yet all the speakers emphasized the need for student involvement in the awareness of slavery.
"Slave masters depend on your silence," Sage said. "[The abolitionists and slaves] deserve the American public's support."
"Most people in America think slavery doesn't exist anymore, that it ended in 1865 after the Civil War," said Robbie Whelan, SMIR member and coordinator of the event. "There is hardly any government regulation in much of Africa, and people should know that."
The event was organized in conjunction with the American Anti-Slavery Group (AASG), which seeks to abolish slavery worldwide. The group specifically targets countries where slavery is an established institution, but also addresses domestic infractions in certain regions of the U.S. as well.
In addition to their grassroots efforts, the AASG works in cooperation with SOS Slavery, which specifically addresses Mauritanian slavery. Yessa is the Foreign Secretary of SOS, and works out of exile in Paris because the Mauritanian government has outlawed the existence of the group.
Following SOS's high-profile release of its annual report on international slavery, Yessa and several members of SOS and the AASG embarked on a rigorous U.S. tour to promote awareness about the issue. They specifically targeted a group of sites with notably high levels of interest -- a group which SOS and the AASG felt Hopkins belongs to.
Sage, who also serves as the Associate Director of the AASG, said of the tour, "It's particularly important because this is a widely untold story, and here you have really courageous activists who have been suppressed by their government and haven't even really been heard enough by the human rights community."
Sage added, "I believe that American college students have enormous power to help people in the worst of circumstances, and I don't think they realize that they have that power. If we can rally support from this constituency, we can make great changes."
Whelan said, "Mr. Sage is a great guy because he began working with the AASG as soon as he left college in 1998. He proves that college students are more powerful than many people think, which is part of SMIR's mission."
SMIR President Saul Garlick, himself of South African birth, founded the group two years ago while still in high school. Since that time, SMIR has expanded to several other college campuses, and now has branches across the country.
Aside from extensive fundraising for the improvement of educational facilities and the construction of the Mashlati School in Africa, SMIR also organizes an annual trip to South Africa for Hopkins students.
"The existence of groups like SMIR is crucial on two levels. On one hand, it's clear that spreading awareness about problems in Africa is very important. But its also necessary to show people how empowering it can be to affect change like this and see the immediate results of your efforts," commented Garlick.
