Videos > The Arab Slave Trade: Why Aren’t We Talking About It? The Arab Slave Trade: Why Aren’t We Talking About It? Jerusalem Center for Security and Foreign Affairs 930 views • 5 comments 2 weeks ago • 1:42 min
Transcript [00:00] people who look like me were not really [00:02] indigenous uh to the region. We are a [00:03] byproduct of the Arab/Muslim slave [00:07] trade. I mean, it's a it's a a slavery [00:09] that lasted for what 1,300 years, right? [00:13] I mean, historians debate whether it was [00:15] 8 million, whether it 10 million or [00:17] whether even it was 18 million. Um but [00:20] let let's let's say let's be moderate [00:22] and conservative and say okay 10 million [00:24] 8 million between 8 to 10 million people [00:26] uh who were brought who were sold during [00:28] uh the Arab rule in the Levant uh during [00:30] the Turkish rule in the Levant the [00:32] Ottoman um and pretty much were used for [00:36] warfare who were used for agriculture [00:38] were used for domestic affairs I mean I [00:40] don't know if this will fly on YouTube [00:41] but the men were castrated the women [00:44] were used mainly as uh as as sex slaves [00:47] um [00:48] >> in household and harams for rich [00:50] Islamist and Arab individuals in in in [00:53] the region but it still exists in in [00:55] some places in the Middle East in the [00:56] region until today. I mean if you look [00:58] at uh Libya today there's still markets [01:01] of of people individuals who are being [01:03] sold and also I I read an article about [01:05] the Tunisian authorities also being [01:07] involved into it into some aspect Yemen [01:10] for example like you know Ethiopian [01:12] people were living or migrated and moved [01:14] to Yemen been sold to slavery also [01:16] Somali migration towards uh Israel I [01:19] think uh a lot of them were moving [01:21] through Senai through Egypt and many of [01:23] them were sold into slavery because of [01:24] that were kidnapped whereas the [01:26] acknowledgement for the things that your [01:27] ancestors, people who look like you, [01:29] enslaved people who look like me in the [01:31] region for 1,300 years. What when are we [01:34] going to talk about this? It's not like [01:36] I want reparations, but I want to let's [01:38] let's first acknowledge the problem that [01:39] happened so that we can move forward.
“When are we going to talk about this?”
Tamer Masudin, an Arab, Muslim, Bedouin, and Zionist, discusses the history of the Arab slave trade, the legacy of slavery in the Middle East, and why he believes historical acknowledgment is essential to moving forward.
In this clip from East to West, hosted by Sarah Martinez Amir, Tamer reflects on a painful chapter of regional history and its relevance today.
Watch the full conversation at the Jerusalem Center for Security and Foreign Affairs (JCFA).
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