23rd
African mercenaries from where in Africa? Isn’t in Libya in Africa, after all? So why are we treating these Africans as if they’re from a different place than Libyans? I’m guessing because they’re from sub-Saharan Africa, meaning they are black. (i’ll post a link to an article that discusses this.)
and this isn’t to call anyone out, but i think it’s important to note the erasure of Africa in the coverage of the protests, the clinging to colonial understanding of nation and place (“the middle east,” who came up with that one?), and the erasure of black Africans from this narrative - notice how there has been no coverage, from any news source that i have seen, on the conditions of African immigrants within Egypt, Libya etc., esp those from sub-Saharan Africa. Egypt for one has had some serious problems with racism, usually directed at Sudanese immigrants or what they assume to be Sudanese immigrants (two of my friends in college, both dark-skinned African American women, studied abroad in egypt and were forced to leave before the semester was up due to the amount of harassment they experienced - folks calling them prostitutes, asking them how much from passing cars, walking up to them and spitting on them).
yes yes yes. both egypt and libya are well known for shooting immigrants (read: black africans) as they try to cross through the desert.
and the sexual/racial harrassment of dark skin black women in cairo is constant. just relentless.
and there are plenty of black egyptians. i mean southern egypt is known as nubia, it is so visually obvious (when one is here) that egypt is african that it kind of boggles my mind how folks refuse to acknowledge it.
Al Jazeera article on how the international media is focusing on the “Arab world” and ignoring (sub-Saharan) Africa. Some of the consequences of this are discussed in the CSMonitor article, African leaders move to squash dissent before it can form:
Government crackdowns could end up being the decisive factor in stopping sub-Saharan African protest movements before they really get off the ground. Northern Sudan’s repression appears to have stymied protesters there for the most part. And the words of an Ethiopian opposition member that Eskinder interviewed are revealing as to the political realities there:
Could the legal Ethiopian opposition leaders try to replicate what the legal opposition triggered in Egypt? “No,” firmly answered an opposition official I queried. “There will be a massacre, and it will also be the end of us,” he said. I could have been mistaken, but I thought I had sensed alarm in his tone.
There is another important issue also: If government repression did occur, would media outlets cover it? Given how little coverage Gabon has received in comparison with Arab countries, I think it unlikely that international media would devote substantial attention to a short – but merciless – crackdown in a country like Ethiopia. Some people paid attention in 2005, of course, but not on the scale that we’re seeing with Egypt and elsewhere.
Also, a blogpost on how Gaddafi tried to form a power base using sub-Saharan Africa, which also discusses sub-Saharan migrant workers:
What really worries me is that preexisting prejudices against Blacks in Libya, given the long history of the Trans-Saharan Slave Trade, will erupt in violence against innocent Sub-Saharan African Migrant Workers in Libya who already face discrimination and harassment. In 2000, violence against Sub-Saharan African Migrant Workers by Libyan Citizens left allegedly 135 people dead. an interviewwith the LA Times in 2000, one Ghanaian migrant worker had this to say about Gaddafi and the Libyan people:
“President Kadafi has a good idea, but his people don’t like blacks, and they don’t think they are Africans because of their skin color,” said Kwame Amponsah, 22. He spent three months in Libya before fleeing in October, returning to Ghana’s poor southwestern agricultural Brong-Ahafo region. As many as 80% of the nation’s returnees hail from this area, according to authorities.
Currently, the number of Sub-Saharan African Migrant Workers living in Libya is estimated at over 1 million (Libya has a population of over 6 million). They often work in sectors such as construction and agriculture.
I pray for the freedom of Libya’s people and the safety and security of the migrant workers living there.
(last two links via eccentricyoruba on twitter)
(Source: thearabspringrevolutions)
