Slave or Slave driver: which are you?
Social media was thrown into turmoil weeks ago when CNN broke the news of the slave auctions in Libya where you could buy men for as little as US$400.
The outrage was immense. Marches and protests arose everywhere.
The Libyan slave trade boom should have been the focus. It apparently didn’t even start today or yesterday. It’s been an underground market for so long.
Blame was thrown like mud in a mud fight. Some blamed Obama for overthrowing Gaddafi without planning for the aftermath.
Libya has faced enough turmoil since the ousting of Muammar Gaddafi with threats from violent extremists and now slave trading. Not wage slavery, not emotional slavery, not virtual slavery but actual whips-and-chains-forced labor slavery now prevails in Libya. The kind that the Americans fought to abolish in 1865.
I wish I could rant about how Nigerians were lured to Libya with promises of a greener pasture only to find things to be the exact opposite. Who goes in search of greener pastures in Libya though? For real!
I wish I could talk about how our government should have made conditions conducive to prevent more Nigerians from expatriating (Because you know it’s their job to keep you from emigrating and it has nothing to do with your Safety needs under Maslow’s hierarchy...right!).
Anyway I can’t rant about all these things as much as I want to because in typical Nigerian fashion, I have to make everything about us...Nigeria.
When the Libyan slavery news broke, it took Nigerians only a matter of seconds to spin the news and make it about the slavery going on within our own borders.
I remember a popular celebrity posting something about “Before we talk about the Libyan slavery trade, what about the slaves we Nigerians keep in our houses?”
Is that why we are here?!!!!!!
While he made a very good point, and probably seized the opportunity to shine a light on the houseboy-housegirl situation in Nigeria which is really just slavery, he managed to take the attention away from an international issue.
Yes we know we keep slaves in Nigeria but Ermm brother it still doesn’t change the fact that our brothers and sisters are being whipped and chained in far away Libya.
This is what I think about the whole house girl/houseboy situation. Yes it is slavery when all of your househelp’s salary is paid to some uncle or Oga back in their village/country. No, it’s not slavery when your Help, a consenting adult gets paid a monthly salary. Or if they pay a percentage of their pay to a so-called agent who got them the job. Not all househelps are slaves. Some are even living as well as you and I. It all depends on the employer.
Dictionary.com defines a slave as a person who is the property of and wholly subject to another person; or a person under the domination of some influence or person. The Oxford dictionary goes further to define a slave as a person who works hard without proper remuneration.
There are so many questions to answer based on these definitions. Do you feel properly remunerated at your job? Does that make you a wage/corporate slave? Do you consider someone else (your driver, house Help, nanny, etc) as your property? Do you physically abuse these people?
This issue is bigger than our domestic slavery disguised as houseboy/housegirl situations. For the first time in a long time, Africans have united in a common cause...to end slave auctions in Libya. Several Nigerians have been returned since the news broke with many more being 'rescued'. The Nigerian unit of the International Organisation of Migration (IOM) which is a UN Migration Agency has been working tirelessly to help bring some of these Nigerians back home.
Let us allow love guide all we do.
And In doing so, do not forget Libya. We will continue to fight domestic slavery -emotional, wage virtual but let us not forget to pray and fight for Libya too.
My two cents.
The outrage was immense. Marches and protests arose everywhere.
The Libyan slave trade boom should have been the focus. It apparently didn’t even start today or yesterday. It’s been an underground market for so long.
Blame was thrown like mud in a mud fight. Some blamed Obama for overthrowing Gaddafi without planning for the aftermath.
Libya has faced enough turmoil since the ousting of Muammar Gaddafi with threats from violent extremists and now slave trading. Not wage slavery, not emotional slavery, not virtual slavery but actual whips-and-chains-forced labor slavery now prevails in Libya. The kind that the Americans fought to abolish in 1865.
I wish I could rant about how Nigerians were lured to Libya with promises of a greener pasture only to find things to be the exact opposite. Who goes in search of greener pastures in Libya though? For real!
I wish I could talk about how our government should have made conditions conducive to prevent more Nigerians from expatriating (Because you know it’s their job to keep you from emigrating and it has nothing to do with your Safety needs under Maslow’s hierarchy...right!).
Anyway I can’t rant about all these things as much as I want to because in typical Nigerian fashion, I have to make everything about us...Nigeria.
When the Libyan slavery news broke, it took Nigerians only a matter of seconds to spin the news and make it about the slavery going on within our own borders.
I remember a popular celebrity posting something about “Before we talk about the Libyan slavery trade, what about the slaves we Nigerians keep in our houses?”
Is that why we are here?!!!!!!
While he made a very good point, and probably seized the opportunity to shine a light on the houseboy-housegirl situation in Nigeria which is really just slavery, he managed to take the attention away from an international issue.
Yes we know we keep slaves in Nigeria but Ermm brother it still doesn’t change the fact that our brothers and sisters are being whipped and chained in far away Libya.
This is what I think about the whole house girl/houseboy situation. Yes it is slavery when all of your househelp’s salary is paid to some uncle or Oga back in their village/country. No, it’s not slavery when your Help, a consenting adult gets paid a monthly salary. Or if they pay a percentage of their pay to a so-called agent who got them the job. Not all househelps are slaves. Some are even living as well as you and I. It all depends on the employer.
Dictionary.com defines a slave as a person who is the property of and wholly subject to another person; or a person under the domination of some influence or person. The Oxford dictionary goes further to define a slave as a person who works hard without proper remuneration.
There are so many questions to answer based on these definitions. Do you feel properly remunerated at your job? Does that make you a wage/corporate slave? Do you consider someone else (your driver, house Help, nanny, etc) as your property? Do you physically abuse these people?
This issue is bigger than our domestic slavery disguised as houseboy/housegirl situations. For the first time in a long time, Africans have united in a common cause...to end slave auctions in Libya. Several Nigerians have been returned since the news broke with many more being 'rescued'. The Nigerian unit of the International Organisation of Migration (IOM) which is a UN Migration Agency has been working tirelessly to help bring some of these Nigerians back home.
Let us allow love guide all we do.
And In doing so, do not forget Libya. We will continue to fight domestic slavery -emotional, wage virtual but let us not forget to pray and fight for Libya too.
My two cents.
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