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Elder Lister
Several people were severely injured after a group attacked an independence day festival in Mali on September 28, 2021, the latest incidence of violence related to “descent-based slavery”
A group of people celebrating Mali’s Independence Day were brutally attacked, bound hand and foot and publicly humiliated in the western Malian region of Kayes on September 28. The attack reveals the ongoing impacts of “descent-based slavery”, a form of discrimination that has persisted in the West African country, long after forced labour and servitude were abolished.
Videos shared online show a harrowing sequence of events: What began as merriment and dancing degraded into a bloody scene of humiliation as a group of people who consider themselves “nobles” attacked an Independence Day party held by people in the so-called “slave” class. The attack took place on September 28 in the village of Souroubiré, in western Mali, where traditional social castes are still the norm. Slavery was banned in Mali in 1905, but the descendants of former slaves are still labelled as such, with children inheriting “slave” status from their mothers.
Those in the slave caste are regularly deprived of rights and humiliated, and during festivals are sometimes expected to slaughter animals and cook for the nobles. The ones who fight back against the slave designation are regularly the target of violent attacks. This is what happened in Souroubiré, when members of an anti-slavery association, the Association Against Domination and Slavery (ACDE), gathered to hold an Independence Day celebration. Twelve people were severely injured in the attack, and one of them died of his injuries several days later, according to ACDE.
A caste-based society
Although the noble class does not have legal ownership of the slaves, discrimination and abuse still persist. Those who bear the title of “slave” are not allowed to marry someone from another caste, can’t hold leadership positions and often live segregated from the other classes.
There have been twice as many people injured in slavery-related attacks in 2021 compared with 2020, according to the UN. Between January and July 2021, 62 people were injured in similar attacks. In May 2021, a hundred people, more than half of them children, had to flee their village after refusing to be called slaves. In July, 12 people were injured after people wielding guns and machetes attacked people from the slave class to prevent them from working in their fields. These violent attacks have prevented the slave caste and anti-slavery associations from rising up against the nobles.
Despite formal slavery being abolished in 1905, there are no current laws that ban the discriminatory practice of descent-based slavery. Anti-slavery associations such as ACDE are calling on authorities to enact a law forbidding the practice.
‘Slaves won’t have a party in our village’: Attack reveals Mali's brutal, ongoing caste system
A group of people celebrating Mali’s Independence Day were brutally attacked, bound hand and foot and publicly humiliated in the western Malian region of Kayes on September 28. The attack reveals the…
observers.france24.com
