ENGLISH
Dear friends,
Inspired by a passage in the magnificent book by Rampini (Grazie Occidente! [West]), where the “woke" are criticized for condemning only the Western slave trade while remaining silent on the Arab one that preceded it by centuries, I decided to look at a site dedicated to the topic:
https://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tratta_araba_degli_schiavi [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_slavery_in_the_Muslim_world]. [https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comercio_árabe_de_esclavos].
The article is well-constructed, well-documented, and convincing in every detail. I recommend reading it, even for those of you who are already familiar with the topic and know more about it than I did until recently.
I was astonished by some hugely significant facts:
The Arab-Muslim slave trade, primarily aimed at exploiting human beings in Africa but also in the Byzantine Empire and Europe, lasted approximately 13 centuries (from the 7th to the 19th century) and, in some cases, still continues. (The Western, or "Atlantic," trade lasted from the 17th to the 19th century...).
The Arab-Muslim trade affected about 17 million people. (The Atlantic trade affected approximately 12 million people, according to the highest estimates).
In the Arab world, the abolition of the slave trade was not due to an indigenous abolitionist movement (i.e., Arab or Muslim), but to external diplomatic and military pressures from major Western imperialist and colonial powers. (This fact could cause a mid-level "woke" person to have a heart attack). Christian missions (both Catholic and Protestant), which were primarily Western, also played a partially abolitionist role.
The Arab-Muslim slave trade and slavery continued on a much smaller scale until the 20th century due to the cautious and tolerant stance of the colonial powers towards the Arab elites, who sought to benefit from the economic advantages of slavery for as long as they could. (A separate discussion would be needed for the slavery practiced by the Ottoman Empire.)
The enormous economic benefits of the Arab-Muslim slave trade were among the significant reasons for the lack of industrial and modern development in these countries. I quote from Wikipedia:
«The trade also had consequences within the Arab world: after initial strong growth (coinciding with the Islamic Golden Age), the economy of Arab countries relied on slavery and did not activate those transformations that would have led other countries to the Industrial Revolution despite the large profits generated by the trade (British historian Arnold J. Toynbee estimated them at 20% of the invested capital, roughly double the profits generated in Europe by the Atlantic Trade). The great availability of slave labor did not stimulate the search for automation processes, and the industrial machines spreading in Europe from the 18th century onward did not spark interest in the Arab world».
If any of you find mention of this phenomenon among the explanations for the cultural and economic backwardness of the Muslim world in the much-praised Orientalism by Edward Said, please let me know.
Unlike the West during the era of slavery, there is no abolitionist or anti-slavery literature in the Arab-Muslim world for the centuries in which the trade was practiced. And perhaps this is the most dramatic and significant fact, enough on its own to dismantle the web of falsifications or sheer ignorance characterizing the woke world.
I again recommend reading the Wikipedia article, and if anyone is inclined to write an article for Utopia rossa/Red Utopia, it will be warmly welcomed. This brief reflection of mine can also circulate freely and perhaps be translated into other languages (starting with Arabic or Turkish...).
