1. en-ashram-N/G
2. 03-07-2019
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In his famous book “Roots”, great writer Alex Haley mentioned that in the eighth night ( night after the day fall of naming day  ) after the birth of their new born son named Kunta Kinte, Omoro took out his son under the moon and stars. He took him alone and walked to the edge of the village, lifted little Kunta up with his face to the heavens, and said, “Fend Kiling dorong leh warrata ka iteh tee” ( Behold—the only thing greater than yourself ).

Though, in this article it is not my purpose to discuss the naming culture in a small village named Juffure of a West African country Gambia, or it's just Mr. Haley's improvisation for the sake of giving the story a heart touching feeling. I also have no intention to dig in depth whether Mr. Haley, truly was the 7th generation descendant of that great Kunta Kinte ( as he claimed ) . The objective of this article rather a try to look back our journey towards civilization and all important humanity. Historically it is true that, in the 1700's, young men like Kunta Kinte or someone like him ( and thousands and thousands like him ) used to be captured by the slave traders' net or by other means like an animal in their home territory. Once they were caught, they were dumped into ships which were bound to sail back towards the so called civilized western world. These human slaves ( or human animal..! ) were then sold to the slave trade market. I assume most of us, we know this story now. In Mr. Haley's Roots, Kunta Kinte was one of these ill fated strong young men. After being sold to one of American slave traders, obviously everything of Kunta's life had been changed except his skin colour. He was even renamed to “Toby”. He tried to escape from enslavement 4 times but each time he got caught. In his final attempt, he was given condition that either he will be castrated or will have his foot cut off. And he choose the second of the two punishments, meaning he would never be able to escape again! In a nut shell that's Mr. Haley's Roots story. That's one of the tiny picture of horrific slave trade story.. One of the darkest tale of human civilization..!!

Slavery that is highlighted in Roots, first started by Portuguese traders sometime in mid 15th century, though the history of slavery goes back much further in time. In Ancient Egypt the slaves used to be buried alive with their dead Pharaoh king with a belief that masters still will need their service in next life. Like what we had  Satidaha System in our culture. Where widows were burned to death alive with her dead husband..! In Islam,  we know that Belal ( Muslims remember him for his magnificent voice for Azan ) was a slave. Prophet Muhammed advised to behave very generously with the slaves like a family member, if possible make them free ( what he did for Belal ) but did not pass any Islamic law to abolish the slavery completely. In America, law against slavery first came in 1865 when President Abraham Lincoln in his famous speech of  Gettysburg Address  ( 1863 ) brought this issue and started working to abolish it. Since then, we travelled quite a  long path but still there is a legitimate question, has the slavery system really disappeared from our world? Almost 1400 hundred years before, in his last speech at the field of Arafa, Prophet Muhammed clearly mentioned about equality of human race irrespective of geographical position, colour or race. Have we been able to establish his sermon in our heart? Picture in Middle East and all other corners of the world clearly dictates the answer is no.

Yes, we have achieved a bit but certainly it is not even close, where we wanted to be. Looks like humanity is having a ride in a swing. We made laws, declared different days to celebrate world wide to uphold the humanity. But the truth is, it does not work. Rather it turns out to be another occasion for business men to make some capital gain! Why..??

It is almost impossible to talk about humanity keeping aside the factors of money, power politics and religion. So, to find the answer, in first phase, we have to admit two simple truths. First, since the dawn of civilization and to date all the laws, rules and organizations that have been established in the society were made by the privileged and powerful class. Secondly, since the under privileged and poor class had no role to play in making these laws and organizations, in reality, these are not so much to salvage this class as it is to protect the interest of elites and to make this world a preferred harbor place of their choice and obviously for them. I will not be surprised if etiquetted and so called civilized world find it as a sinister idea. Does not matter. It is what it is and it is the truth. Not hard to bring hundreds of examples but at this moment like to mention that, name of UN Organization should come to the top of the list. In most cases it seems that this organization is just for stamping the evil works of mighty devils. Though in very seldom cases it tries to avoid war ( like Iraq war ) but reality is, it’s completely useless when it goes against western allies greedy and selfish wishes. Well, it’s true that the UN works to support and provide humanitarian aids to war-torn areas, but still where and when they will move forward with aids also completely depend on the green signal of western block. First thing first, to remind us that most of these crisis in present and past world is man-made. These are and were created by the powerful and their puppets to quench their devilish desire and interests. Keep in mind that this powerful class will never destroy or kill their lower domains completely. They need them to be alive to serve their interest. Otherwise their comforts will be in jeopardy. It’s just the modest form of that Pharaoh slavery system. A dirty game to keep their pocket and power healthy. UN is the bigger model which prototypes the smaller model of any individual community on earth surface. To be continued…

Farid Talukder
Toronto, Canada. 

1. en-ashram-N/G
2. 03-07-2019
4. Tweet