The Global South voted for a UN General Assembly resolution condemning the slave trade as “the gravest crime against humanity”. Europe abstained. The US, Israel, and Argentina voted against it.
When Hitler perpetrated Holocaust on Slavs, Jews, Roma - It was absolutely legal. He was not breaking any law.
So did Nuremberg persecute Nazis wrongly and does the statement “no duty to provide reparation for historical acts that were not, at the time those acts were committed, violations of international law” apply to Holocaust? And if not, how come it should apply to slavery which is not even a thing of the past? The resolution clearly says: "enduring consequences that continue to structure the lives of all people through racialized regimes of labour, property and capital." - so are the States who voted against, thus demanding that these consequences should continue because slavery was legal back then?
Mass murder, gas chambers etc, were never legal, no.
Nations turn lawless, as in the law and the constitution are flouted by those who are tasked with ensuring they are followed. Look at the US where the govt is violating its own constitution to persecute immigrants. Not onøy just now but also since the Obama years and through Biden too.
Check out German Nuremberg Laws. Check out that lynching was not a crime in the US up until 2019. Slavery was legal in the US. Human zoos were legal. Concentration camps in Europe and internment camps in the US were all legal.
You should read The State Of Exception and The Dual State. The LAWS made the Constitution obsolete.
Whatever your opinion is. That is why the whole State was prosecuted and the whole government apparatus was condemned. Not "law violations". Same in Israel today. The whole State and the whole legal system must be prosecuted.
The US during slavery was not violating any laws either. The law in the US included slavery.
I am astonished that you do not see that American Constitution has always been a performance. A sham. Smoke screen, obfuscating inhumane laws. Jim Crow was legal. Slavery was legal. Jailing people for mixed marriage was legal until recently. Lynching was legal until 2019.
That is why the UN is a sham, too. It is a performance that cannot do anything against States that have anti-human laws.
Show me the German pre-nazi law that states it was legal to gas people to death for no crime and no offence. That law doesnt exist.
You can only be referring to a lawless state of affairs when fascists had usurped the state, removed all control mechanism. and were writing themselves blank cheques. That's lawlessness.
Again refer to the US today where a group of people have taken over the executuve branch, are ignoring the constitution, ignoring the legislature, writing themselves blank cheques in the form of unconstitutional executive orders. And asking the judiciary if they have any army that can enforce their judgements. Lawlessness.
Besides your Zionist-laced obsession with "gas chambers", here is the law that made concentration camps and death camps legal: Malicious Practices Act
Main article: Malicious Practices Act 1933
The Malicious Practices Act (Verordnung zur Abwehr heimtückischer Diskreditierung der nationalen Regierung) was passed on 20 March 1933 and was one of the first decrees passed by the Nazis to ensure that any enemies of the state were punished by either being sent to concentration camps or executed. The act allowed people deemed to be social outcasts such as Jews, homosexuals and political opponents to be punished by the law. ------ and many other Nazi laws listed here, for your education. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Law_of_Nazi_Germany
Ypu're not reading what I wrote. And you're not reading what link you posted:
"....After the Reichstag Fire Decree, the Enabling Act of 1933 amended the Weimar Constitution to allow Hitler and his government to enact laws (even laws violating the constitution) without going through the Reichstag...."
A textbook example of what I decribed ss "lawless".
You cannot have a conversation if you refuse to pay attention to what is said to you, before responding.
It's tantamount to the Nazis saying, "I was only doing my job", when America claims slavery was once legal. That which is legal can still be morally reprehensible. Nations can still be responsible for crimes against humanity regardless of corrupt laws.
Thank you, Ben! That map fairly well represents which nations are (still) on the wrong side of history (the red and yellow), especially the yellow, with its historical connotations. This precedent for "“suggestions of a retroactive application of international rules which was non-existent at the time and claims for reparations, which is incompatible with established principles of international law” is a convenient prelude for also dismissing reparations from rich to developing countries regarding historical loading of the atmosphere with CO2. The rich countries got rich FROM using slaves and from burning carbon fuels.
Great comment, also don't forget the IMF and World Bank lending rates, 1% for white supremacy 'developed' countries and 10% interest for developing sh*t hole countries after colonialism stripped them for centuries already.
If ever there has been a modern crime, that would be it.
Yes, economic slavery, one of many ways to create failed states. IMF and WB are U.S. creations, which, along with the petrodollar, serve to funnel (extract) the world's savings and/or tributes to fund the supposed wealthiest economy on the planet, which happens to be hollowed out, producing nothing productive, just selling flowers, insurance and pizza to each other.
I'm not surprised by this. The hypocrisy of the West paying slave owners reparations and demanding Haiti to pay reparations for colonialism for 150 years (France), while denying any responsibility for paying us reparations, like not even an apology. And Israel voting against reparations when they themselves have been receiving reparations for the holocaust...
The west's (and in particular the UK's) appeal to 'international law' is truly cynical given their unwavering support for Israel and the US. Clearly "might makes right", which they may find doesn't work in their favour soon
Well, this is hardly surprising, and thanks for reporting it. In the Collective West's warped mentality, slavery may be brutal and morally reprehensible a relic of human historica cruelty. But it wasn't written down, so the Western countries that practiced it cannot be held accountable. This is the same attitude whereby the Nato countries 'promised' not to expand to Russia's borders, but since it wasn't written down...Get out of jail free.
The problem is the tide of history has turned. As the West loses its ability to lie, cheat, steal, exploit and kill at will, it assumes there is no accountability. It is finding out now that one way or another it will be held accountable. Without the ability to parasitize the planet, it will sink back to its historical marginalization.
Yes, I think your assessment is correct, Eric - However, the civilian population cannot wait for colonial laws to be phased out through evolution. The price of mere observation is too high; political decision-makers must be punished right now and brought to justice as quickly as possible, as an example and a warning to other countries. Thank you for your time to comment on this.
I am going to say a very unpopular thing here. A lot of people have been made into slaves over the eons. Egyptian slaves, Roman slaves, Irish slaves, slavery was common place in the world.
There is unfortunately something that is never mentioned, and that is that the slaves from Africa weren't hunted by sailors that went inland and caught people against their will.
Africans caught their fellow Africans and brought them to the shore to the sailors that loaded them.
So, blame away.
I'm not saying it's right, or has to carry on - I don't think slavery is/was/will be the answer.
What I do see is a whole bunch of victim mentality being dragged up from the past to justify racial divide.
If you want to be polarized on a debate about who enslaved who and who must pay for what, my recommendation is to get on with life.
Don't waste time on the past, it is not going to change your present circumstance at all - you're just who you are.
Just like me you didn't chose your sex, race, social standing, name - you were born like that and given a name. Taking responsibilty for your choices and understanding that if push comes to shove you really have no rights, only priviliges.
Personally, having lived through an militaristic ideological politically polarized upheaval of note, and the 30 years “rectifying” political ideology of yet another bunch of crooked politicians...
…I have come to deduct that the person who shakes off the past, concentrates on personal relationships in the present has a better chance of having a fulfilling life - I see that in my fellow countrymen. Some stand in love, and others are still mired and shackled by their hate, or guilt of a system that has nothing to do with interacting with people on a personal level.
Every single political system this country has had, whether the Dutch, English, Afrikaner and now mostly Xhosa - has every single time been ruinous to ALL the people.
Same goes for the world. It's a trick, get people to concentrate on the past, whilst you pass current horrible laws to divide and conquer even more.
I believe one has to take responsibility for your own actions.
If I didn't partake in slavery myself, then why should I carry the blame for a wide spread phenomenon of the past, that was practised widely across the world.
I live here on the southern tip of Africa, I have been labeled and classified and sanctioned by Europe and the USA, and told so many times I have to take responsibility for Apartheid, yet, I am not a racist, wasn't brought up to be one, and I get along with all my fellow countrymen and the immigrants from Zimbabwe, Malawi, Congo etc just fine.
It looks like 30 years later, the same bunch that were labelling us because some politician told them to hate South Africa, are struggling to come to terms with their very own racism.
The argument that immigrants came to Europe whilst my family came to Africa doesn't hold - racism is racism, like slavery.
My point is this. If you moan about things of the past, then blame your own ancestors for not being advanced enough for fighting or subdueing enslaving, exterminating their enemy.
Don't go blame the current population for the sins of their fathers.
Whining and wanting money ie. reparations, is victim mentality and lazy and is unfortunately why Africa got colonised in the first place.
Nobody 600 years ago prevented some, or many African nations from taking over the world. There were no rules, it was a free for all.
The same applies to many African states at the moment. Big corporations/mining mafia are fleecing Africa of its riches because the leaders are willing to throw their very own people under the bus for a couple of million dollars.
It's time the African continent takes responsibility for its own actions and stops blaming the past, and it's also time the Europeans and Americans stop being so racist toward immigrants.
I'm not sitting on a fence. Think for yourself, question authority, especially politicians bringing up dead horses to flog for a bit more guilt and money.
"The West" = Eurocolonial alliance that perpetrated transnational plantation slavery.
So the perpetrators have not repented. But no surprise there, Marco Rubio's infamous Munich speech said it already...and was applauded by the Eurocolonial gang.
The refusal of the Europeans to admit it is especially egregious as these are the countries in which any disputing of the fascist nazi abuse of jews of punishable by inprisonment. But you are there free to deny all facts of their centuries long crimes against humanity - for profit, in true fascist manner - that they perpetrated on like half of the planet. No surprise there either: by now we know that the zionist fascists control them and these days together they carry forward their proud traditions of fascism abd colonialism, as Rubio stated...
If we (the world's population) needed proof, this is it. And as I have explained repeatedly, the UN system administration cannot be trusted; individual humanitarian units and external staff, perhaps. Anyone who strives for a just world should internalize this vote. The US-Israel-Argentina coalition (as a government) is our enemy.
Many people don't know but a lot of nazis migrated to Argentina after WWII, lots of zionists there too, that is a big issue in the society: their arrogance, racism and acting as superiors in Latin America, besides been one of the poorest countries in the South America due to greedy/corruption and bad administrations.
Thank you so much for your comment and the very important additional information, Rose! I'm German and a journalist, and my mother's family was in the Resistance during both World Wars, including against the Nazi - we lost many family members back then. Therefore, I appreciate your observation and confirm it: There is a documented list of questionable emigrants after the war, and this also applies to Brazil and Cuba. And yes, I agree that the descendants of many criminals from that era of high fascism influence the politics of the region today.
Susan when I was only 20yo I worked for an account auditor from German for almost two years and I was his personal secretary and while filling personal documents for his travels I discovered that he was a German soldier that fled to Brazil to escape persecution! I dislike that SOB badly as a boss but after that I couldn’t standing work for him! So, yes you are right many Nazis escaped to South America!!!
The UN system didn't work any longer and can't be trusted because is controlled by the same countries that are the major exploiters of capitalism labor, favoring Gen#cida and creating chaos and wars in the world.
I really like how you structured it. However, I have problems with the headline. The headline is very deceiving. There is a lot more nuance in the story than just simply refusing to condemn slavery. I would consider your headline misleading.
When Hitler perpetrated Holocaust on Slavs, Jews, Roma - It was absolutely legal. He was not breaking any law.
So did Nuremberg persecute Nazis wrongly and does the statement “no duty to provide reparation for historical acts that were not, at the time those acts were committed, violations of international law” apply to Holocaust? And if not, how come it should apply to slavery which is not even a thing of the past? The resolution clearly says: "enduring consequences that continue to structure the lives of all people through racialized regimes of labour, property and capital." - so are the States who voted against, thus demanding that these consequences should continue because slavery was legal back then?
Mass murder, gas chambers etc, were never legal, no.
Nations turn lawless, as in the law and the constitution are flouted by those who are tasked with ensuring they are followed. Look at the US where the govt is violating its own constitution to persecute immigrants. Not onøy just now but also since the Obama years and through Biden too.
Check out German Nuremberg Laws. Check out that lynching was not a crime in the US up until 2019. Slavery was legal in the US. Human zoos were legal. Concentration camps in Europe and internment camps in the US were all legal.
You confuse legal with human morality.
You should read The State Of Exception and The Dual State. The LAWS made the Constitution obsolete.
Whatever your opinion is. That is why the whole State was prosecuted and the whole government apparatus was condemned. Not "law violations". Same in Israel today. The whole State and the whole legal system must be prosecuted.
The US during slavery was not violating any laws either. The law in the US included slavery.
I am astonished that you do not see that American Constitution has always been a performance. A sham. Smoke screen, obfuscating inhumane laws. Jim Crow was legal. Slavery was legal. Jailing people for mixed marriage was legal until recently. Lynching was legal until 2019.
That is why the UN is a sham, too. It is a performance that cannot do anything against States that have anti-human laws.
Show me the German pre-nazi law that states it was legal to gas people to death for no crime and no offence. That law doesnt exist.
You can only be referring to a lawless state of affairs when fascists had usurped the state, removed all control mechanism. and were writing themselves blank cheques. That's lawlessness.
Again refer to the US today where a group of people have taken over the executuve branch, are ignoring the constitution, ignoring the legislature, writing themselves blank cheques in the form of unconstitutional executive orders. And asking the judiciary if they have any army that can enforce their judgements. Lawlessness.
Besides your Zionist-laced obsession with "gas chambers", here is the law that made concentration camps and death camps legal: Malicious Practices Act
Main article: Malicious Practices Act 1933
The Malicious Practices Act (Verordnung zur Abwehr heimtückischer Diskreditierung der nationalen Regierung) was passed on 20 March 1933 and was one of the first decrees passed by the Nazis to ensure that any enemies of the state were punished by either being sent to concentration camps or executed. The act allowed people deemed to be social outcasts such as Jews, homosexuals and political opponents to be punished by the law. ------ and many other Nazi laws listed here, for your education. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Law_of_Nazi_Germany
Ypu're not reading what I wrote. And you're not reading what link you posted:
"....After the Reichstag Fire Decree, the Enabling Act of 1933 amended the Weimar Constitution to allow Hitler and his government to enact laws (even laws violating the constitution) without going through the Reichstag...."
A textbook example of what I decribed ss "lawless".
You cannot have a conversation if you refuse to pay attention to what is said to you, before responding.
It's tantamount to the Nazis saying, "I was only doing my job", when America claims slavery was once legal. That which is legal can still be morally reprehensible. Nations can still be responsible for crimes against humanity regardless of corrupt laws.
Thank you, Ben! That map fairly well represents which nations are (still) on the wrong side of history (the red and yellow), especially the yellow, with its historical connotations. This precedent for "“suggestions of a retroactive application of international rules which was non-existent at the time and claims for reparations, which is incompatible with established principles of international law” is a convenient prelude for also dismissing reparations from rich to developing countries regarding historical loading of the atmosphere with CO2. The rich countries got rich FROM using slaves and from burning carbon fuels.
Great comment, also don't forget the IMF and World Bank lending rates, 1% for white supremacy 'developed' countries and 10% interest for developing sh*t hole countries after colonialism stripped them for centuries already.
If ever there has been a modern crime, that would be it.
Slavery dwindles in comparison.
Yes, economic slavery, one of many ways to create failed states. IMF and WB are U.S. creations, which, along with the petrodollar, serve to funnel (extract) the world's savings and/or tributes to fund the supposed wealthiest economy on the planet, which happens to be hollowed out, producing nothing productive, just selling flowers, insurance and pizza to each other.
I'm not surprised by this. The hypocrisy of the West paying slave owners reparations and demanding Haiti to pay reparations for colonialism for 150 years (France), while denying any responsibility for paying us reparations, like not even an apology. And Israel voting against reparations when they themselves have been receiving reparations for the holocaust...
If you need any more proof that Russia is not the enemy of humanity, here it is.
The west's (and in particular the UK's) appeal to 'international law' is truly cynical given their unwavering support for Israel and the US. Clearly "might makes right", which they may find doesn't work in their favour soon
I truly hope so.
Why is the USA allowed to vote since it's in arrears to the tune of millions of dollars in back "fees" that have remained unpaid for decades.
Well, this is hardly surprising, and thanks for reporting it. In the Collective West's warped mentality, slavery may be brutal and morally reprehensible a relic of human historica cruelty. But it wasn't written down, so the Western countries that practiced it cannot be held accountable. This is the same attitude whereby the Nato countries 'promised' not to expand to Russia's borders, but since it wasn't written down...Get out of jail free.
The problem is the tide of history has turned. As the West loses its ability to lie, cheat, steal, exploit and kill at will, it assumes there is no accountability. It is finding out now that one way or another it will be held accountable. Without the ability to parasitize the planet, it will sink back to its historical marginalization.
Yes, I think your assessment is correct, Eric - However, the civilian population cannot wait for colonial laws to be phased out through evolution. The price of mere observation is too high; political decision-makers must be punished right now and brought to justice as quickly as possible, as an example and a warning to other countries. Thank you for your time to comment on this.
Collective West = Transnational Eurocolonial Alliance
Not a good look for the West. This is yet another self-own by the US and its allies as Western hypocrisy and amorality is painted in a tricolored map.
Of course, the US and Israel vote the same and don't condemn slavery... No surprises there. Sigh!
Never let your oppressors tell you who your enemies are.
Word!
I am going to say a very unpopular thing here. A lot of people have been made into slaves over the eons. Egyptian slaves, Roman slaves, Irish slaves, slavery was common place in the world.
There is unfortunately something that is never mentioned, and that is that the slaves from Africa weren't hunted by sailors that went inland and caught people against their will.
Africans caught their fellow Africans and brought them to the shore to the sailors that loaded them.
So, blame away.
I'm not saying it's right, or has to carry on - I don't think slavery is/was/will be the answer.
What I do see is a whole bunch of victim mentality being dragged up from the past to justify racial divide.
If you want to be polarized on a debate about who enslaved who and who must pay for what, my recommendation is to get on with life.
Don't waste time on the past, it is not going to change your present circumstance at all - you're just who you are.
Just like me you didn't chose your sex, race, social standing, name - you were born like that and given a name. Taking responsibilty for your choices and understanding that if push comes to shove you really have no rights, only priviliges.
Interesting take. But for me, your view is a cop-out. We cannot sit on the fence on slavery, can we? It was wicked.
Personally, having lived through an militaristic ideological politically polarized upheaval of note, and the 30 years “rectifying” political ideology of yet another bunch of crooked politicians...
…I have come to deduct that the person who shakes off the past, concentrates on personal relationships in the present has a better chance of having a fulfilling life - I see that in my fellow countrymen. Some stand in love, and others are still mired and shackled by their hate, or guilt of a system that has nothing to do with interacting with people on a personal level.
Every single political system this country has had, whether the Dutch, English, Afrikaner and now mostly Xhosa - has every single time been ruinous to ALL the people.
Same goes for the world. It's a trick, get people to concentrate on the past, whilst you pass current horrible laws to divide and conquer even more.
It works every time.
I believe one has to take responsibility for your own actions.
If I didn't partake in slavery myself, then why should I carry the blame for a wide spread phenomenon of the past, that was practised widely across the world.
I live here on the southern tip of Africa, I have been labeled and classified and sanctioned by Europe and the USA, and told so many times I have to take responsibility for Apartheid, yet, I am not a racist, wasn't brought up to be one, and I get along with all my fellow countrymen and the immigrants from Zimbabwe, Malawi, Congo etc just fine.
It looks like 30 years later, the same bunch that were labelling us because some politician told them to hate South Africa, are struggling to come to terms with their very own racism.
The argument that immigrants came to Europe whilst my family came to Africa doesn't hold - racism is racism, like slavery.
My point is this. If you moan about things of the past, then blame your own ancestors for not being advanced enough for fighting or subdueing enslaving, exterminating their enemy.
Don't go blame the current population for the sins of their fathers.
Whining and wanting money ie. reparations, is victim mentality and lazy and is unfortunately why Africa got colonised in the first place.
Nobody 600 years ago prevented some, or many African nations from taking over the world. There were no rules, it was a free for all.
The same applies to many African states at the moment. Big corporations/mining mafia are fleecing Africa of its riches because the leaders are willing to throw their very own people under the bus for a couple of million dollars.
It's time the African continent takes responsibility for its own actions and stops blaming the past, and it's also time the Europeans and Americans stop being so racist toward immigrants.
I'm not sitting on a fence. Think for yourself, question authority, especially politicians bringing up dead horses to flog for a bit more guilt and money.
"The West" = Eurocolonial alliance that perpetrated transnational plantation slavery.
So the perpetrators have not repented. But no surprise there, Marco Rubio's infamous Munich speech said it already...and was applauded by the Eurocolonial gang.
The refusal of the Europeans to admit it is especially egregious as these are the countries in which any disputing of the fascist nazi abuse of jews of punishable by inprisonment. But you are there free to deny all facts of their centuries long crimes against humanity - for profit, in true fascist manner - that they perpetrated on like half of the planet. No surprise there either: by now we know that the zionist fascists control them and these days together they carry forward their proud traditions of fascism abd colonialism, as Rubio stated...
If we (the world's population) needed proof, this is it. And as I have explained repeatedly, the UN system administration cannot be trusted; individual humanitarian units and external staff, perhaps. Anyone who strives for a just world should internalize this vote. The US-Israel-Argentina coalition (as a government) is our enemy.
Many people don't know but a lot of nazis migrated to Argentina after WWII, lots of zionists there too, that is a big issue in the society: their arrogance, racism and acting as superiors in Latin America, besides been one of the poorest countries in the South America due to greedy/corruption and bad administrations.
Thank you so much for your comment and the very important additional information, Rose! I'm German and a journalist, and my mother's family was in the Resistance during both World Wars, including against the Nazi - we lost many family members back then. Therefore, I appreciate your observation and confirm it: There is a documented list of questionable emigrants after the war, and this also applies to Brazil and Cuba. And yes, I agree that the descendants of many criminals from that era of high fascism influence the politics of the region today.
Susan when I was only 20yo I worked for an account auditor from German for almost two years and I was his personal secretary and while filling personal documents for his travels I discovered that he was a German soldier that fled to Brazil to escape persecution! I dislike that SOB badly as a boss but after that I couldn’t standing work for him! So, yes you are right many Nazis escaped to South America!!!
The UN system didn't work any longer and can't be trusted because is controlled by the same countries that are the major exploiters of capitalism labor, favoring Gen#cida and creating chaos and wars in the world.
Great piece, Ben.
I really like how you structured it. However, I have problems with the headline. The headline is very deceiving. There is a lot more nuance in the story than just simply refusing to condemn slavery. I would consider your headline misleading.
The US, Israel and Argentina are Jew-owned and run. I hope this explains why.
😀 😃