11-30-2017, 11:31 PM
*** 1-Dec-17 World View -- European-African summit calls for end to slavery auctions in Libya
This morning's key headlines from GenerationalDynamics.com
****
**** European-African summit calls for end to slavery auctions in Libya
****
![[Image: g171130b.jpg]](http://Media.GenerationalDynamics.com/ww2010/g171130b.jpg)
Guinea's President Alpha Conde, front row left, speaks with Ivory Coast President Alassane Ouattara, front row middle, and African Union Commission chairman Moussa Faki, front row center, during group photo on Wednesday at AU-EU Summit. (AP)
The surreptitiously obtained CNN video that we reported two weeks ago
that portrayed slave auctions in
Libya have continued to have political repercussions in Europe and
Africa, with political leaders expressing how shocked, shocked they
are that these auctions are still going on after they had supposedly
ended in the 1800s with the abolition of slavery in many countries
around the world.
CNN obtained the video using concealed cameras at a slave auction just
outside Tripoli, the capital city of Libya. In one case, the
auctioneer says, "Does anybody need a digger? This is a digger, a big
strong man, he'll dig. What am I bid, what am I bid?" The man is
auctioned off for $400-800.
The video about the slave trade and slave auctions triggered large
sometimes violent protests in front of Libya's embassy in Paris.
As it happens, an African Union - European Union (AU-EU) summit was
already scheduled to take place in Côte d'Ivoire on November 29-30.
The summit brought together more than 80 leaders from countries on
both continents to discuss such subjects as investments in Africa,
trade, and provided humanitarian aid, with a particular emphasis on
investing in youth.
However, the intended agenda was hijacked by the slave trade issue.
It's estimated that 400,000 to 700,000 migrants are trapped in Libya,
having travelled there in the hope of reaching Europe. Instead,
they've been put into refugee camps, in compliance with an agreement
that Italy made with many Libyan warlords and governments to prevent
them from traveling to Europe. But the refugee camps have been filled
to overflowing, and the excess tens or hundreds of thousands of
migrants and refugees are being auctioned off as slaves.
Nigeria's president Muhammadu Buhari said, "Some Nigerians were sold
like goats for a few dollars in Libya."
One migrant from Cameroon, Chancelier Deuda, said:
<QUOTE>"Libya is a country at war, despite the semblance of
peace. A black person is seen as merchandise, he is sold like
chicken. Migrants on their way to Libya are kidnapped. They are
kidnapped when they are walking and sold for as little as 300
Libyan Dinars (216 USD)."<END QUOTE>
Another Cameroonian migrant, Emile Monkam, said:
<QUOTE>"Do not take the Libyan route, it’s not a good idea
and you definitely won’t like what you will find. You will meet
people who, I don’t even know how to qualify them, but those Arabs
– and I am speaking from experience since I have in different
parts of Maghreb region, but those Arabs are not people who should
live on earth."<END QUOTE>
German Chancellor Angela Merkel said:
<QUOTE>"It’s very important that we simply support Africans
to put a stop to illegal migration, so people don’t have to either
suffer in horrible camps in Libya or are even being
traded."<END QUOTE>
Ghana's president Nana Akufo-Addo said:
<QUOTE>"The current slave auctions of Africans in Libya are
not only gross and scandalous abuses of human rights, but are also
mockeries of the alleged solidarity of African nations grouped in
the African Union (AU), of which Libya is a member.
I continue to be puzzled as to the vehemence with which so-called
social democrats oppose or attempt to undermine measures designed
to address poverty. Their demagoguery and opportunism will always
be exposed."<END QUOTE>
The outrage expressed by these African leaders is pretty phony, since
the slave auctions had been reported for a long time. The CNN video,
however, triggered the large anti-slavery protests, especially in
Paris.
The outrage also raises the usual questions that are asked at times
like this: Why is Africa blaming Europe for slavery in Africa? Why
can't Africa solve this problem on its own? Why is more Western aid
always demanded, when decades of Western aid hasn't helped in the
past? European Council and RFI and Daily Post (Nigeria) and NY Daily News and Africa News
****
**** AU-EU Summit creates task force to solve the slave trade problem
****
After expressing universal outrage about the slave trade and slave
auctions, the national leaders proceeded to offer a "solution" which
has no chance of doing anything to solve the problem.
The objective of the AU-EU summit agreement is that all
400,000-700,000 migrants that are trapped in Libya are to be sent back
to their countries of origin.
So, for example, 3,800 migrants in just one of the dozens of camps in
Tripoli alone will be sent back to their home countries immediately --
assuming that their home countries will take them. Some 250 migrants
from Cameroon have already been returned home.
As for the other hundreds of thousands of migrants trapped in Libya, a
task force will be formed, with members from the EU, the AU, and the
United Nations. The task force will aim to:
It's obvious that this task force will do little more than hold
meetings and express outrage. With 400,000-700,000 migrants trapped
in Libya, the slave trade and slave auctions will continue as before.
We're seeing massive refugee flows all around the world, with hundreds
of thousands or millions of refugees in each of Libya, Democratic
Republic of Congo (DRC), South Sudan, Syria, Burma (Myanmar) -- just
to name the places that I've recently written articles about. These
huge refugee flows are destabilizing entire regions, depleting
resources and triggering xenophobia and violence. This is one more
factor that's leading to World War III, just as similar massive
refugee flows in the 1930s led to World War II. AP and
Bloomberg and RFI
Related Articles
****
**** China drives thousands of Beijing migrants out into the winter cold
****
![[Image: g171130c.jpg]](http://Media.GenerationalDynamics.com/ww2010/g171130c.jpg)
A migrant family is leaving Beijing under a government-mandated evacuation. They had 15 mins to clear all their belongings. Behind them is a big banner saying the great 'Xi Jinping new era'. (Twitter)
With huge migrant flows destabilizing many parts of the world, it's
interesting that a related story is going on in China's capital,
Beijing.
After a shantytown fire on November 18 killed 19 people, the Chinese
Communist Party (CCP) is using the fire as an opportunity to evict
thousands of Beijing migrants from their homes, and to demolish their
homes.
Many of these people have lived in these homes for 10-20 years. They
migrated to Beijing years ago, and they were laborers who built
Beijing into the huge metropolis that it is today.
The evictions are being called "cruel" even among the usually obedient
and compliant Chinese, because they're given only a few hours or a
couple of days to collect their belongings and move somewhere else --
and for most there's really nowhere else to go to escape the winter
cold.
"Once I built a tower to the sun, bricks and mortar and lime. Once I
built a tower, now it's done. Brother can you spare a dime?" (Rudy
Vallee song from 1931.) Shanghaiist and South China Morning Post and Global Times (Beijing) and YouTube
KEYS: Generational Dynamics, AU-EU Summit, African Union, CNN,
Nigeria, Muhammadu Buhari,
Cameroon, Chancelier Deuda, Emile Monkam,
Germany, Angela Merkel, Ghana, Nana Akufo-Addo,
China, Beijing
Permanent web link to this article
Receive daily World View columns by e-mail
Contribute to Generational Dynamics via PayPal
John J. Xenakis
100 Memorial Drive Apt 8-13A
Cambridge, MA 02142
Phone: 617-864-0010
E-mail: john@GenerationalDynamics.com
Web site: http://www.GenerationalDynamics.com
Forum: http://www.gdxforum.com/forum
Subscribe to World View: http://generationaldynamics.com/subscribe
This morning's key headlines from GenerationalDynamics.com
- European-African summit calls for end to slavery auctions in Libya
- AU-EU Summit creates task force to solve the slave trade problem
- China drives thousands of Beijing migrants out into the winter cold
****
**** European-African summit calls for end to slavery auctions in Libya
****
Guinea's President Alpha Conde, front row left, speaks with Ivory Coast President Alassane Ouattara, front row middle, and African Union Commission chairman Moussa Faki, front row center, during group photo on Wednesday at AU-EU Summit. (AP)
The surreptitiously obtained CNN video that we reported two weeks ago
that portrayed slave auctions in
Libya have continued to have political repercussions in Europe and
Africa, with political leaders expressing how shocked, shocked they
are that these auctions are still going on after they had supposedly
ended in the 1800s with the abolition of slavery in many countries
around the world.
CNN obtained the video using concealed cameras at a slave auction just
outside Tripoli, the capital city of Libya. In one case, the
auctioneer says, "Does anybody need a digger? This is a digger, a big
strong man, he'll dig. What am I bid, what am I bid?" The man is
auctioned off for $400-800.
The video about the slave trade and slave auctions triggered large
sometimes violent protests in front of Libya's embassy in Paris.
As it happens, an African Union - European Union (AU-EU) summit was
already scheduled to take place in Côte d'Ivoire on November 29-30.
The summit brought together more than 80 leaders from countries on
both continents to discuss such subjects as investments in Africa,
trade, and provided humanitarian aid, with a particular emphasis on
investing in youth.
However, the intended agenda was hijacked by the slave trade issue.
It's estimated that 400,000 to 700,000 migrants are trapped in Libya,
having travelled there in the hope of reaching Europe. Instead,
they've been put into refugee camps, in compliance with an agreement
that Italy made with many Libyan warlords and governments to prevent
them from traveling to Europe. But the refugee camps have been filled
to overflowing, and the excess tens or hundreds of thousands of
migrants and refugees are being auctioned off as slaves.
Nigeria's president Muhammadu Buhari said, "Some Nigerians were sold
like goats for a few dollars in Libya."
One migrant from Cameroon, Chancelier Deuda, said:
<QUOTE>"Libya is a country at war, despite the semblance of
peace. A black person is seen as merchandise, he is sold like
chicken. Migrants on their way to Libya are kidnapped. They are
kidnapped when they are walking and sold for as little as 300
Libyan Dinars (216 USD)."<END QUOTE>
Another Cameroonian migrant, Emile Monkam, said:
<QUOTE>"Do not take the Libyan route, it’s not a good idea
and you definitely won’t like what you will find. You will meet
people who, I don’t even know how to qualify them, but those Arabs
– and I am speaking from experience since I have in different
parts of Maghreb region, but those Arabs are not people who should
live on earth."<END QUOTE>
German Chancellor Angela Merkel said:
<QUOTE>"It’s very important that we simply support Africans
to put a stop to illegal migration, so people don’t have to either
suffer in horrible camps in Libya or are even being
traded."<END QUOTE>
Ghana's president Nana Akufo-Addo said:
<QUOTE>"The current slave auctions of Africans in Libya are
not only gross and scandalous abuses of human rights, but are also
mockeries of the alleged solidarity of African nations grouped in
the African Union (AU), of which Libya is a member.
I continue to be puzzled as to the vehemence with which so-called
social democrats oppose or attempt to undermine measures designed
to address poverty. Their demagoguery and opportunism will always
be exposed."<END QUOTE>
The outrage expressed by these African leaders is pretty phony, since
the slave auctions had been reported for a long time. The CNN video,
however, triggered the large anti-slavery protests, especially in
Paris.
The outrage also raises the usual questions that are asked at times
like this: Why is Africa blaming Europe for slavery in Africa? Why
can't Africa solve this problem on its own? Why is more Western aid
always demanded, when decades of Western aid hasn't helped in the
past? European Council and RFI and Daily Post (Nigeria) and NY Daily News and Africa News
****
**** AU-EU Summit creates task force to solve the slave trade problem
****
After expressing universal outrage about the slave trade and slave
auctions, the national leaders proceeded to offer a "solution" which
has no chance of doing anything to solve the problem.
The objective of the AU-EU summit agreement is that all
400,000-700,000 migrants that are trapped in Libya are to be sent back
to their countries of origin.
So, for example, 3,800 migrants in just one of the dozens of camps in
Tripoli alone will be sent back to their home countries immediately --
assuming that their home countries will take them. Some 250 migrants
from Cameroon have already been returned home.
As for the other hundreds of thousands of migrants trapped in Libya, a
task force will be formed, with members from the EU, the AU, and the
United Nations. The task force will aim to:
- save and protect lives of migrants and refugees, in particular
in Libya;
- accelerate assisted voluntary returns to countries of origin;
- speed up the resettlement of those in need of international
protection.
It's obvious that this task force will do little more than hold
meetings and express outrage. With 400,000-700,000 migrants trapped
in Libya, the slave trade and slave auctions will continue as before.
We're seeing massive refugee flows all around the world, with hundreds
of thousands or millions of refugees in each of Libya, Democratic
Republic of Congo (DRC), South Sudan, Syria, Burma (Myanmar) -- just
to name the places that I've recently written articles about. These
huge refugee flows are destabilizing entire regions, depleting
resources and triggering xenophobia and violence. This is one more
factor that's leading to World War III, just as similar massive
refugee flows in the 1930s led to World War II. AP and
Bloomberg and RFI
Related Articles
- Italy is blamed for shocking increase in slave trade in Libya (22-Nov-2017)
- Italy's deals with Libya's warlords substantially reduce flow of refugees (19-Oct-2017)
- EU countries refuse to help Italy deal with massive refugee crisis (16-Jul-2017)
- Italy begs for help after 12,000 migrants arrive in four days (30-Jun-2017)
****
**** China drives thousands of Beijing migrants out into the winter cold
****
A migrant family is leaving Beijing under a government-mandated evacuation. They had 15 mins to clear all their belongings. Behind them is a big banner saying the great 'Xi Jinping new era'. (Twitter)
With huge migrant flows destabilizing many parts of the world, it's
interesting that a related story is going on in China's capital,
Beijing.
After a shantytown fire on November 18 killed 19 people, the Chinese
Communist Party (CCP) is using the fire as an opportunity to evict
thousands of Beijing migrants from their homes, and to demolish their
homes.
Many of these people have lived in these homes for 10-20 years. They
migrated to Beijing years ago, and they were laborers who built
Beijing into the huge metropolis that it is today.
The evictions are being called "cruel" even among the usually obedient
and compliant Chinese, because they're given only a few hours or a
couple of days to collect their belongings and move somewhere else --
and for most there's really nowhere else to go to escape the winter
cold.
"Once I built a tower to the sun, bricks and mortar and lime. Once I
built a tower, now it's done. Brother can you spare a dime?" (Rudy
Vallee song from 1931.) Shanghaiist and South China Morning Post and Global Times (Beijing) and YouTube
KEYS: Generational Dynamics, AU-EU Summit, African Union, CNN,
Nigeria, Muhammadu Buhari,
Cameroon, Chancelier Deuda, Emile Monkam,
Germany, Angela Merkel, Ghana, Nana Akufo-Addo,
China, Beijing
Permanent web link to this article
Receive daily World View columns by e-mail
Contribute to Generational Dynamics via PayPal
John J. Xenakis
100 Memorial Drive Apt 8-13A
Cambridge, MA 02142
Phone: 617-864-0010
E-mail: john@GenerationalDynamics.com
Web site: http://www.GenerationalDynamics.com
Forum: http://www.gdxforum.com/forum
Subscribe to World View: http://generationaldynamics.com/subscribe
