“It is forbidden you to trade in slaves, be they men or women. It is not for him who is himself a servant to buy another of God's servants, and this hath been prohibited in His Holy Tablet. Thus, by His mercy, hath the commandment been recorded by the Pen of justice. Let no man exalt himself above another; all are but bondslaves before the Lord, and all exemplify the truth that there is none other God but Him.” (p. 45, x72)
Why prohibit slavery at a time when it had already been abolished throughout the world? Or at least so I thought. Upon further study, however, I learned that in 1860, around the time that Bahá’u’lláh was beginning His divinely-inspired Mission, an estimated four million slaves were held in the United States alone. Most countries of the world only passed anti-slavery legislation during the 19th century, and the rest during the 20th Century. It was not until 1948 that the United Nations adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, by which “No one shall be held in slavery or servitude; slavery and the slave trade shall be prohibited in all their forms.”
Slavery in Mauritania:
However, even the worst forms of slavery have still not been eliminated throughout the world. The last country to abolish it––at least officially––was Mauritania in 1981, although it was neither criminalized nor punishable until 2007. Even today, an estimated 10% to 20% of its population still lives in slavery, and the government seems more eager to silence all talk of the problem than to actually solve it. At this writing only one slave owner had been successfully prosecuted. “This slavery has a deep cultural acceptance,” writes Kevin Bales in his book Disposable People: New Slavery in the Global Economy. “Many people in Mauritania see it as a natural and normal part of life, not as an aberration or even a real problem; instead, it is the right and ancient order of things.”
Recently, however, it has come into the limelight, largely through the work of CNN journalists John Sutter and Edythe McNamee. They traveled to Mauritania in December 2011 and reported on the situation in a tremendously challenging article titled “Slavery’s Last Stronghold”. What they found is a living example of Antonio Gramsci’s “cultural hegemony”. Hegemony originally meant the territory that a king controlled by force, but that did not actually belong to him. Cultural hegemony means that one social class dominates others, not through force, but rather by manipulating their perceptions, beliefs, values, and worldviews in such a way that the others voluntarily accept that domination as if it were not only normal and acceptable––the natural order of the universe––but also in their own best interests.
The hegemony of slavery is so powerful in Mauritania that the reporters met people “who never knew freedom existed”. Slaves just came with the territory, like the plants and animals. One slave owner candidly told them, “We don’t pay them… They are part of the land.” When prodded for more, he said, “Pay them for what? They just farm!” According to the report, “For many slaves, the idea of being owned by another person and treated as a piece of livestock is normal – and has been for centuries.” Many slaves in Mauritania do not seem to know that they are slaves, or to have questioned their situation. “When I was with them, I thought they were family,” said one slave woman. “But when they began to beat me and they did not beat their other sons and daughters, I realized something was wrong.”
Many masters also seem to be under the sway of the cultural hegemony of slavery. One ex-slave owner explained his behavior towards his bondsman, “This was actually quite innocent because, for us, slavery was really a natural state. One must really have in mind that when one is born into a certain environment, it is considered the right one – just and fair.” It was only when he started reading about other countries that he began to question these inborn assumptions. The phrase “Men are born and remain free and equal in rights” finally forced him to ask himself whether it was the books that were lying, or his own culture that was at fault.
Social pressure to think and act in accordance with the cultural hegemony of slavery comes from all quarters. Both secular and religious authorities cooperate to convince the slaves and the entire population that “their natural place in society is serving their masters”. After all, does not the Jewish Pentateuch condone slavery? Does the Christian Bible not say, “Slaves, be obedient to those who are your earthly masters, with fear and trembling, in singleness of heart, as to Christ” (Ephesians 6:5)? And does not the Qur'án contain detailed instructions regarding the relationship between slave and master? Even other slaves pitch in to keep each other down. One ex-slave stated that the situation is so deeply engrained in Mauritanian culture that “If a slave becomes free, others will judge him as evil. The society he belongs to does not accept, nor forgive him for being free.”
Mental Shackles:
The mental chains of this hegemony of slavery are so strong and binding that iron restraints are only needed for prisoners and new slaves who have not yet accepted their place. “But the multi-generation slave,” according to the CNN report, “the slave descending from many generations, he is a slave even in his own head. And he is totally submissive. He is ready to sacrifice himself, even, for his master. And, unfortunately, it’s this type of slavery that we have today.” Of two slave women––a mother and daughter––the report states that “Only after they each suffered something unimaginable were they able to break slavery's mental shackles and seek their freedom.” “In Mauritania,” they concluded, “the shackles of slavery are mental as well as physical… For a slave to be free, she first must break the shackles in her mind.”
To further illustrate this point, an ex-slave was confused when asked when he had become free: “No one ever told me I was free. I don't know what that would be like,” he said. “I guess it would be something like what I am doing now, getting paid for work.” His ex-master, who now fights for the freedom of other slaves, was unable to free his own from those mental chains. “He’s my slave," he lamented, "He’d say nothing different even today… The only difference is that now he gets a salary.” He found that the main challenge was proving to both slaves and owners that slavery existed, even before trying to convince them that it was wrong. “If we fail to convince a maximum number... that it is wrong, slavery will not go away.”
Bahá'u'lláh Freed His Father's Slaves:
Baha'u'llah's abolition of slavery was perhaps the first in the history of the world's religions. However, His work to free slaves began some 33 or 34 years earlier. In a communication dated March 03, 2014, Neysan Muhajir explains that Baha'u'llah's father, Mirza Buzurg, was a vizier to the Shah's twelfth son, then later appointed governor of the province of Luristan in Persia (now Iran). When Mirza Buzurg died in 1839, he owned a number of slaves, which was a common thing throughout Persia in the 19th century, as elsewhere in the world, including America. Baha'u'llah Himself had never purchased nor owned slaves, but probably inherited those of his father, as they were considered property that would be passed from father to son. However, spurred by His strong disapproval of slavery, Baha'u'llah set His father's slaves free upon the death of Mirza Buzurg. In the 1830's, an action like this was unheard of, especially in Persia.
According to His own autobiographical account, a slave stood before Baha'u'llah, asking him to be set free. Baha'u'llah granted his wish, but did so in a most extraordinary way, in dignified humility, clearly showing that both the slave and Baha'u'llah himself, as human beings, are equals in the sight of God, in the same line of reasoning that he later used when promulgating His prohibition of slavery. What follows is a provisional translation of that unpublished text by Nader Saiedi. It is of great value - both historical and spiritual - being handwritten in the form of a prayer to God:
Our own Mental Slavery:
What does all this have to do with the rest of us? We have our freedom, receive just wages for our work, enjoy our vacations, and so on. Where is the cultural hegemony in our lives? Where are the mental chains that keep us bound? I have spend the past several years of my life seeking answers to precisely these questions. And what I have found has convinced me that cultural hegemony is as alive and well in the most highly-developed democracies of the West as in the most remote reaches of Mauritania. It is not only found in the “contemporary forms of slavery” addressed by the Human Rights Council’s Special Rapporteur Gulnara Shahinian, with whom I recently had the honor of working.
It is also in the psychological manipulation of advertising that makes us want and buy things we do not need, thereby putting the masses at the beck and call of commercial interests. It is in the wide-spread belief in an innate human selfishness and greed, which leads us to condone the excesses and crass injustices of unbridled capitalist accumulation as part of the natural order of the universe. It is in the carefully cultivated fear of our neighbors and assurance of an incorrigibly aggressive and violent human nature, which impel us to accept the exorbitant war taxes and grievous loss of countless human lives by which fatten the upper echelons of the military industrial complex. It is even in the academia-supported theories regarding the inevitability of divisionism and conflict in society that seek to justify and legitimize the absurd spectacle of party politics, with its pointless campaigning and power struggles, which do not serve the people’s interests but only those of a small plutocracy. And the list goes on and on…
So let us not be too quick to criticize the people of Mauritania for what may appear from the outside to be incredibly backward and ignorant attitudes. We have our own mental shackles to shake off before we can free ourselves from what may be an even more enslaving cultural hegemony.
Bahá'u'lláh Freed His Father's Slaves:
Baha'u'llah's abolition of slavery was perhaps the first in the history of the world's religions. However, His work to free slaves began some 33 or 34 years earlier. In a communication dated March 03, 2014, Neysan Muhajir explains that Baha'u'llah's father, Mirza Buzurg, was a vizier to the Shah's twelfth son, then later appointed governor of the province of Luristan in Persia (now Iran). When Mirza Buzurg died in 1839, he owned a number of slaves, which was a common thing throughout Persia in the 19th century, as elsewhere in the world, including America. Baha'u'llah Himself had never purchased nor owned slaves, but probably inherited those of his father, as they were considered property that would be passed from father to son. However, spurred by His strong disapproval of slavery, Baha'u'llah set His father's slaves free upon the death of Mirza Buzurg. In the 1830's, an action like this was unheard of, especially in Persia.
According to His own autobiographical account, a slave stood before Baha'u'llah, asking him to be set free. Baha'u'llah granted his wish, but did so in a most extraordinary way, in dignified humility, clearly showing that both the slave and Baha'u'llah himself, as human beings, are equals in the sight of God, in the same line of reasoning that he later used when promulgating His prohibition of slavery. What follows is a provisional translation of that unpublished text by Nader Saiedi. It is of great value - both historical and spiritual - being handwritten in the form of a prayer to God:
"Sanctified art Thou, O my God! At this moment, one slave is standing before another slave and seeks, from him, his freedom. Yet his owner, himself, is naught but a slave of Thee, a servant in Thy Threshold, and absolute nothingness before the manifestations of Thy Lordship.
"Standing before Thee, I bear witness, at this very moment, to that which Thou hast testified by Thyself for Thyself, that verily Thou art God and there is none other God but Thee.
"All the mighty kings are mere slaves before the gate of Thy grace, and all the wealthy are the essence of poverty in the shore of Thy holy dominion, and all the exalted are abject lowliness within the glorified court of Thy bounty.
"Notwithstanding this, how then can this slave claim for himself ownership of any other human being? Nay, his existence is a mere crime, graver than any sin in Thy kingdom.
"And now, O my God, since that servant hath asked from this servant his freedom, therefore, I call Thee to witness, at this moment, that I am setting him free in Thy path, liberating him in Thy name, and emancipating his neck from the chain of servitude, so that he may serve Thee in the daytime and in the night season, longing that my neck would never be relieved from the cord of Thy servitude. This verily is my most cherished desire and my supreme end."Dr. Saiedi believes that the slave referred to here was Isfandiyar, whose story Neysan Mohajer told in "The Races - Robed in Black or White: The Universal Emancipation Proclamation, Part 4" (http://bahaiteachings.org/the-races-robed-in-black-or-white). According to Abdu'l-Baha, Isfandiyar, gratefully freed from the bonds of slavery, chose to remain as Baha'u'llah's faithful servant, until 1852, when Baha'u'llah was imprisoned in Tehran's "Black Pit," and Isfandiyar's life was placed in mortal danger (see "The Universal Emancipation Proclamation: Part 1" - http://bahaiteachings.org/universal-emancipation-proclamation).
Thanks to the resourcefulness of Baha'u'llah's wife, Navvab, the Governor of Mazandaran, Mirza Yahya Khan, gave Isfandiyar shelter and protection. The Governor then engaged Isfandiyar as his head servant, placing him in charge of all the affairs of the his household - a privileged and prestigious position that Isfandiyar held for the rest of his life. As Neysan Muhajer reminds us,
"On July 1, 1839, 53 Africans from Sierra Leone - captured by Portuguese slavers - seized the Cuban schooner, Amistad, destined for a Caribbean plantation. On August 24, 1839, the Amistad was seized off Long Island, NY. Imprisoned, their case was heard by the Supreme Court in January 1841. Former President John Quincy Adams defended the Africans' right to fight to regain their freedom. In 1839, the transatlantic slave trade was illegal. But ownership of slaves was perfectly acceptable. So Baha'u'llah's 1839 liberation of Isfandiyar was well in advance of developments in the rest of the world."
Modern forms of slavery, however, are not limited to Mauritania. According to Ms. Gulnara Shahinian, the first Special Rapporteur on Contemporary Forms of Slavery, its Causes and Consequences, although traditional slavery has been abolished everywhere as a legally-permitted labor system, it has not been completely stamped out. Slavery-like practices remains a grave and persistent problem in forms such as debt bondage, serfdom, forced labor, child slavery, sexual slavery, forced or early marriages, and the sale of wives. There are even reports of slave markets.
Ms. Shahinian states that slavery-like practices are often clandestine, making it difficult to determine of the scale of contemporary slavery, let alone to uncover, punish or eliminate it. The majority of those who suffer are the poorest, most vulnerable and marginalized social groups in society. Fear, ignorance of one’s rights and the need to survive discourage them to speak out.
In order to effectively eradicate slavery in all its forms - explains the Special Rapporteur - the root causes of slavery such as poverty, social exclusion and all forms of discrimination must be addressed. In addition, we need to promote and protect the rights of all especially the most vulnerable in our society. Where human rights violations have already been committed, we are called upon to help restore the dignity of victims. (http://www.ohchr.org/en/issues/slavery/srslavery/pages/srslaveryindex.aspx)
In order to effectively eradicate slavery in all its forms - explains the Special Rapporteur - the root causes of slavery such as poverty, social exclusion and all forms of discrimination must be addressed. In addition, we need to promote and protect the rights of all especially the most vulnerable in our society. Where human rights violations have already been committed, we are called upon to help restore the dignity of victims. (http://www.ohchr.org/en/issues/slavery/srslavery/pages/srslaveryindex.aspx)
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