From the middle passage to the Mediterranean passage (op-ed)

The middle passage was the transport of millions of African slaves across the ocean to the Americas during the transatlantic slave trade. It’s estimated that 15 percent of Africans died during the voyage and other sources say even more died in Africa while being carted to the ships. History records these horrific events between the 16^th and 19^th centuries, but there’s a horrible reversal of history in the 21^st century and it centers around the Mediterranean passage.

In April of 2015 Newsweek asked: Why are so many migrants crossing the Mediterranean? (These migrants were people fleeing war and human rights abuses from Syria, Eritrea, Somalia, and Libya. Libya was also the point of departure.) Newsweek stated this scale of mass migration hasn’t been seen since the aftermath of the Vietnam War, when more than 1 million Vietnamese refugees were resettled in western countries. Between January and April of 2015 36,390 migrants entered Europe by means of high risk boating across the Mediterranean Sea, and in April -- alone -- 1,200 migrants drowned during the Mediterranean passage.

 

Now, in July of 2015 I wrote an op-ed called: The M-word and the Mediterranean risk. The M-word didn’t replace migrant. I was referring to a Hebrew word that meant infiltrator. (The word was used to describe illegal border crossers from Africa into Israel.) At that time Israel was heavily criticized for “kicking out Africans”. The facts were Israel granted temporary asylum to people fleeing ethnic cleansing in Sudan and forced conscription in Eritrea.

But over a short period of time the Israeli authorities discovered most of the asylum seekers weren’t Sudanese or Eritrean refugees. They were labor migrants, meaning people from all over Africa trying to escape poverty. This created a national security problem for Israel. So to stop the influx of “M-words” the Israeli authorities cracked down. The Israeli government believed that only tough legislation would discourage labor migrants from entering Israel, and the Israeli government said, “The state of Israel will not be the solution to the social ills of Africa.”

Then I wrote the real tragedy was that most of the labor migrants didn’t want to return to Africa. (I mean anywhere on the continent.) And if they couldn't find asylum in Israel, they would risk their lives crossing the Mediterranean Sea to reach Europe. The International Organization for Migration estimated 30,000 people from the African continent would drown in the Mediterranean unless the European Union established effective search and rescue services.

The European Union rescued thousands.

But in each of the last three years 150,000 people have made the dangerous Mediterranean passage from Libya to Europe, and during each of the last three years 3,000 refugees drowned in the sea. At first the European governments reacted to this humanitarian crisis with compassion, but due to political backlash from their constituents the European Union has cracked down on boats smuggling refugees and migrants to Europe.

After the European crack down on the Mediterranean passage Time magazine reported 400,000 to almost 1 million people are now “bottled up in Libya, detention centers are overran and there are mounting reports of robbery, rape, and murder among migrants … Conditions in the centers have been described as -- horrific -- and among other abuses, migrants are vulnerable to being sold off as laborers in slave auctions. (Libya has been in a state of lawlessness since the fall of Muammar Gaddafi in 2011.)

The historical reversal is during the times of the middle passage the Africans were taken from their continent, brought across the ocean against their will, and sold into slavery by the Europeans. Today, African migrants are willing to risk drowning to reach Europe, but since the Mediterranean passage was cut off the migrants are trapped in Africa and sold as slaves.

First published in the New Pittsburgh Courier 12/6/17