CLAPHAM ANTI-SLAVERY CHRISTIAN MOVEMENT, 1773-1833 AN APPROACH TO THE ERADICATION OF MODERN HUMAN TRAFFICKING IN NIGERIA
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Background of the Study
Slavery cum slave trade was a constituent part of the social system in Africa as in other parts of the world. During the old slavery era, people became slaves as a result of economic default, seizure as war captives, purchase and voluntary submission among other reasons. According to Falk (1997), “Whether in Niger Delta, in Igbo country, or in Yoruba land, slaves were the principal source of investment to indicate wealth” (p.96). More so, the possession of slaves was regarded as adding dignity to a man and enhancing his social status just as the custom of having many wives. The work on the farms and the households were basically done by slaves. The idea of slavery could be seen clearly as members of the community would readily sell the members of their own group who committed certain crimes or the members of other groups captured in war. This pattern is called domestic slavery. There was however another status in most Nigerian societies often confused with domestic slavery. This was a condition of voluntary servitude. In an era when any unprotected man or woman exposed himself to the loss of personal freedom, submitting to the protection of a powerful man amounted to an insurance against slavery or external aggression. A rare type of slavery was one connected with donating captives or local criminals to the deities. The victim was virtually ostracized. He had little social contact with the group but was not otherwise ill-treated. There was of course, the horrible possibility that the slave belonging to a god might be no more than a reserve offering to be sacrificed to the god at the appropriate time. The manner in which domestic slaves were treated varied from society to society. 2 Captives of war from other communities could be sold, used for sacrifice or could be eaten. Those who were absorbed into economic life of a family did not have a very bad time. They worked for their masters but also were subsequently given their own pieces of land. They often became so linked with the families of their masters that there was hardly any difference in the manner of their living and that of their masters. In some cases, they could marry free born women, but the prejudice against slaves was so strong as to make such marriages very rare. According to Anene (1966), “The tilling of the soil, household chores, the care of the harem and so forth, were recognized assignments for slaves” (p.95). The larger the household, the greater were his requirement for slaves, concubines and servants. In Muslim and some non-muslim communities where trade was developed, the slaves were employed as beasts of burden and even as currency.Anene (1966) maintains that: Nowhere were slaves more completely integrated into the family of the owner than among the coast communities of Nigeria. Generally, the owner puts the slaves into the house of one of his wives. These women became the mothers of the slaves and treated them as if they were their own sons. The slaves naturally still laboured under some disabilities. (p.95). In many of these communities, slaves rose to become leaders of houses and some attained authority in the general affairs of communities. Many kingdoms traced their origin to people who were first acquired as slaves. No doubt, slavery and slave trade have been an age long practice in Nigerian communities and in fact Africa and other parts of the world. However, the Nigerian internal slave trade before the Europeans came was not as cruel as the slave trade to America. Following the discovery of America, many Europeans left their own homes to settle in the New World. These European settlers started opening up rich gold and silver mines in the New World and began cultivating sugar cane, tobacco, cotton, ginger and coffee on plantations in the tropical and sub-tropical areas of North and South America and the West Indies. As the work in the 3 mines and on the plantations increased, the settlers realized that the natives of the Americans and the island were not strong enough to undertake such heavy works. Firstly, they turned to the Indians but the Indians were too weak to stand up to the rigours of the work involved. The local Indians were being wiped out through subjection to arduous plantation labour and it was out of solitude for these Indians that Bishop Las Casas petitioned the High Roman Emperor to allow the importation of negroe slaves.As captured by Afolalu (1969) “the importation of negroes from West Africa was encouraged by Las Casas. The first Bishop of Mexico thought that it would relieve the Indians whose suffering were immense and whose fate was at the danger of extermination” (p.69). The Portuguese traders had taken slaves from West Africa back to Portugal. These men were found to be very strong. Therefore, when the European adventurers, including missionaries, miners and farmers decided to look elsewhere for workers, they decided to use the people of Africa. It was said that an African slave could do as much work as four Indians. Isichei (1973) lamented the outcome of the relationship between Nigeria and Europe thus: “it was the tragedy of the coastal peoples that this new opportunities was to take the form of a trade in slaves” (p.45). There was colossal boost, moving from domestic and voluntary slavery to a wholesale traffick in human beings for sale and export. The pains and horrors of the transactions became the most iniquitous of transaction in human history. Such pains include physical torture, suffocation in slave ships, diseases, hunger and thirst, paralysis or even death. The implication of the trade in human beings to Africa can be visualized in the words of Falk(1997), “the slave trade took different forms and had different effects in various parts of the continents. It was most complex in West Africa, and its effects were most profoundly felt in Nigeria” (p.96). Through the acquisition of firearms, some of the coastal people acquired a new power. There was persistent warfare among West African States. The tribes that had long standing hostilities toward one another took the opportunities to sell members of the 4 neighbouring tribe as slaves. Wars of aggression specifically to secure slaves were promoted. African chiefs, European and Arab traders used their power for national gain without compunction for the lives lost, the families disrupted and the agony of parents who lost their children. The world was seemingly struck with blindness and failed to perceive the inhumanity of the slave trade until a group of Christian humanitarians decided to tackle this apparent injustice and human degradation with total commitment to ensure its eradication. Being aware of the ugly effects of the old slave trade on Nigeria and the concentrated, dedicated, persistent and sustained fight against the trade by the Clapham Christian movement, a reflection on the woes of the modern slavery usually referred to as ‘human trafficking’ becomes very necessary. Just as the old slave trade, the modern slavery entail transporting Nigerian youths, women and children to other lands with the aim of engaging them in slavery.The old slaves labored in plantations while today’s slaves are degraded to a more shameful and deadly activities such as prostitution, organ sale, domestic servitude, hawking, begging and drug peddling, among others. Human trafficking, child labour, kidnapping, forced labour, human right abuse, neglect, injustice, oppression and suppression and all other forms of man’s inhumanity to fellow man should bother the contemporary human right activists, humanitarians and religious practitioners in Nigeria; especially, the Christian community. If this ugly trend is not addressed properly and urgently too, more harms will be done to the nation and individuals; diseases, death, wickedness, corruption, human abuses, moral decay and bad national image will be overwhelming.
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