Sharing Destiny: The Forgotten Slaves of Mauritania
Open Access
- Author:
- Kraft, Sebastien
- Area of Honors:
- Journalism
- Degree:
- Bachelor of Arts
- Document Type:
- Thesis
- Thesis Supervisors:
- Maura Shea, Thesis Supervisor
Russell Frank, Thesis Honors Advisor - Keywords:
- Documentary
Africa
Democracy
Slavery
Politics
Mauritania
Freedom
Ethnicity
Struggle
Caste System - Abstract:
- In 2008, African human rights leader Biram Dah Abeid (referred to as “Biram” throughout the remainder of this document) founded the Initiative for the Resurgence of the Abolitionist Movement (IRA) in his native country of Mauritania, which was the last country in the world to abolish slavery in 1981. Nonetheless, thousands of Black Mauritanians have been either exiled, dispossessed of their lands, or forced into servitude due to weak laws and rare criminal prosecution for slavery. Four years later, in 2012, Biram was put on death row for speaking out against the existing regime. In 2013, having been freed thanks to international pressure, he received the United Nations Prize in the Field of Human Rights, and in 2016 he accepted the State Department’s Award for Achievements in the Fight Against Human Trafficking. In 2019, Biram finished second in Mauritania’s presidential election, and concerns remain about the election’s legitimacy. Now, Biram is poised to succeed in his lifelong battle to end slavery once and for all, both in Mauritania and West Africa more broadly. Moreover, he may win the Mauritanian presidency in 2024, marking an unprecedented rise to power for a Black Mauritanian amidst ongoing Arab rule and ethnic dominance. However, this paper (i.e., the diary entries included below) and its accompanying documentary film will largely avoid politics in favor of a narrower focus on the humanitarian and ethnic implications of Mauritania’s ongoing caste system, which Biram seeks to alter from within. Regardless of what may transpire in the coming years as Mauritania heads into its June 2024 election, Biram’s efforts as the founder of IRA continue to profoundly shape Mauritanian society in pursuit of ethnic harmony. In June 2021, I met with Biram and filmed several interviews with him and his fellow Mauritanians on location in Dakar, Senegal. Their stories and insight were personal, powerful, intimate, and at once gripping but also harrowing due to the Arab-on-Black killings and human rights abuses that have lingered in Mauritania for several decades (70,000 Black Mauritanian citizens were exiled in 1989). As mentioned, Mauritania was the last country in the world to outlaw slavery in 1981, and despite this official proclamation, the practice persists there to this day. Biram is on a mission to unite Mauritania’s various castes and ethnicities, and his endeavors are slowly coming to fruition. In tandem with my new short documentary, "Sharing Destiny: The Forgotten Slaves of Mauritania" – SEE ADDITIONAL FILE UPLOAD – I present this document as my Honors Thesis for the Schreyer Honors College at Penn State University.