We are obviously not putting the current genocide in Gaza and the Arab slavery of the Zanj in the same bag. Its really two different issues we are trying to underline here. Why are you guys both of you "judging" forming an opinion of our criticism of Arab slavery and/or anti Blackness as an "indication" of blaming them for this ongoing genocide in Gaza???? This is total madness and it is blowing my mind!!! What if someone during the holocaust of Jews in Germany said Jews have participated in the Atlantic slave trade, will this make it "untrue" historically speaking? Or will it make it as someone who seeks the holocaust to keep going? Or Both?
LOL,
and yes Mr GM as for you being here on this board before my presence is so true, I remember you telling me that Blacks in the Arab world were not necessarily brought to those lands as slaves and that they are natives, and my answer to you was YES, true, and I've added to our conversation the fact that some Blacks moved up freely to North Africa and the Middle-east and settled there, they even went as far as India as free people. I've also said to you that whether Blacks are natives or not to the Arab world in both cases their enslavement in these regions was inevitable just because they were Blacks. Only until the Muslim Prophet Muhammed came alone that Blacks have started to be free after 1000 year or so of slavery.
Further Mr GM and Mr Maestro, Les didn't make this up, Arab Eurocentrism EXIST, it also describes the "internal" Eurocentric ideas present within Arab intellectuals, who may adopt Western frameworks or value systems to define modernity or progress for the region. Arabs have internalized Eurocentric notions of "civilization" and modernity, which can influence their understanding of history and scholarship within the Arab world. Arabs are well aware that they are considered "WHITE" in America. Even the term "Middle East," for instance, is considered Eurocentric because it defines the region's location relative to Europe, rather than its actual geographical position. NOW PLEASE DON'T MIX THIS UP WITH THE ONGOING GENOCIDE IN GAZA, IT HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH IT. Thanks and God bless.
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It's just totally disheartening, more so from Les than of Mr TheOne...(I get where TheOne is coming from. lol)
"the Palestinian collective is too often aligned with the Eurocentric zeitgeist."
First off, that statement is hardly correct as it relates to modern Palestinian existence. And even if there's some truth to it, how is that different from the "Eurocentric zeitgeist" currently plaguing some African states & leaders? There are still some Black scholars who'd deny any black presence in ancient Egypt. At one time Prof. Henry Louis Gates Jr. was one of them.
Secondly, even if there's such a European zeitgeist among Palestinians, how is that relevant to a people going through a genocide with survivors being driven off their land AS WE SPEAK? What am I missing here?!!!
Let me once again remind folks of Ta-Nehisi Coates' latest book, The Message, in which he details Palestinian suffering and puts it in the Black American experience context.
Bear in mind, Ta-Nehisi's father published & sold at his bookstore most of the Afrocentric books on Egypt, Kemetic history, and ancient African civilizations around the globe. In his biography, Ta-Nehisi Coates describes how he devoured those books so one cannot accuse him of being ignorant of the "Eurocentric zeitgeist".
I'm just like in a state of shock!
LOL.. and don't worry Mr TheOne, I know you're out there laughing at this, but I promise i'll get you and chop off your mischievous head. Gosh!
