Book Description

The author looks at relations between Africans and Arabs from a historical and contemporary perspective. Tensions and hostilities in relations between the two partly fuelled by enslavement of Africans in Arab North Africa and in the Middle East today, the mistreatment of African workers in Arab countries as well as racism directed against them in the Arab world are some of the subjects covered in the book. Modern-day slavery is one of the most disturbing aspects of relations between Africans and Arabs. Documented cases of Africans sold at slave markets in Arab countries such as Libya and Algeria are some of the subjects addressed by the author. Racism is one of the biggest problems Africans face in Arab countries. Some of the biggest victims are housemaids who are tortured, brutalised, raped and even killed by their employers, working as slaves for 18 to 20 hours every day, are grossly underpaid and very often are not paid at all. Some of them even commit suicide because of the physical and emotional abuse they suffer. The author has documented some cases in his book. The plight of African migrants in North Africa, racism against them and against black people born and brought up in Arab countries, the perception and image of black people in Arab countries, modern-day slavery as an accepted way of life in Arab countries, what black visitors experience when they visit Arab countries, questions of identity – Arab versus African, why many Arabs of North Africa say they are not Africans, what needs to be done to address the asymmetrical relationship between Africans and Arabs, are some of the other subjects addressed as well. The author also contends that there is an imperative need for black African countries to be more self-reliant instead of depending on Arab countries to employ a large number of unemployed Africans under conditions which amount to slavery simply because their governments at home have failed to provide employment opportunities for them. The book is also a “blueprint” for Africa's redemption and how black African countries can address the problem of racism their people are subjected to, when they work in Arab countries of North Africa and in the Middle East, and explains why there has been some reluctance by African leaders to confront the problem even when the whole world knows black people are bought and sold like cattle and goats in Arab countries to work as slaves. The author contends that the final solution has to come from Black Africa, not from the Arab world. Among the strongest advocates of subcontinental Pan-Africanism - excluding Arab countries in North Africa - were presidents Kamuzu Banda and Leopold Sedar Senghor, Nigeria's vice president Obafemi Awolowo, and Anthony Enahoro, Nigeria's minister of information. Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni has articulated the same position. And as former Tanzanian president, Julius Nyerere, Nyerere stated: "Because of the imperatives of geography and history and religion and language, North Africa is part of the Middle East.....Africa south of the Sahara is isolated....Africa south of the Sahara is on its own.....Therefore, to develop, it will have to depend upon its own resources basically. Internal resources, nationally; and Africa will have to depend upon Africa. The leadership of the future will have to devise, try to carry out policies of maximum national self-reliance and maximum collective self-reliance. They have no other choice.”