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“The Veiled Genocide” Remains Unpublished in English

May 05, 2023
By Bassam Michael Madany

3 June 2021


Bassam Michael Madany


“On 22 May 2018, I published an article on this website about the Slave Trade in East Africa. It was based on “The Veiled Genocide” a book by the Senegalese scholar Tidiane N’Diaye.


Revisiting “The Veiled Genocide” - Middle East Resources (www.unashamedofthegospel.org)


To date, the book has not been translated into English from the French edition! There is a great interest in the subject, as I gather from the reports of Stat Counter, that provide me with the number of visitors to my website, and the articles they had read.


On 23 May 2018, Tidiane N’Diaye gave a passionate three-minute talk about his book on YouTube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jxc5ENT8ajg


Here is what he said:

“The trans-Sahelian and Eastern slave trade, lasted more than 13 centuries, without interruption. The Arabs raided the Black Continent, a chapter in African history that is still taboo, the slavery of black populations by the Arab world. There is no degree of horror, nor a monopoly of suffering or cruelty. But we can safely say that the Trans-Sahelian and Eastern Slave Trade was much more devastating for the African populations, than the Transatlantic Slave Trade. It is because the generalized castration that was done on the African slaves, annihilated any possibility of them leaving any descendants. This explains why today there is hardly an African presence in the Arab world. It seems that most Muslim intellectuals hesitate to approach this part of our history, a painful page that not only Arab-Muslim scholars should have opened, but African intellectuals also hesitate to deal with it. By keeping silent about a crime, it risks repeating itself.” 


In an interview on Africa Global News online journal, dated 19 June 2019, Tidiane N’Diaye referred among other matters, to the absence of an English edition of his book.


https://africaglobalnews.com/the-arab-muslim-slave-trade/


The Interviewer began, with this introduction:


“Tidiane N’Diaye is a Franco-Senegalese anthropologist, economist, and writer. He is the author of a number of publications on the history of Black Africa and the African diaspora, as well as numerous economic studies of the Institut national de la statistique et des études économiques on the French overseas departments (Guadeloupe, French Guiana, Martinique). N’Diaye’s essays on the Arab slave trade (Le génocide voilé “the veiled genocide”, Étude de la traite négrière arabo-musulmane “study of the Arab-Muslim negro slave trade”) were nominated for the Prix Renaudot in 2008.”


Tidiane N’Diaye explained “You know, despite the translation of many of my books into several languages, it seems that American publishers have little interest in what happens in the Francophone world. While ‘The Veiled Genocide’ on the Arab-Muslim slave, published by Gallimard as most of my works, although widely commented upon by newspapers, magazines and even on American English sites, no publisher of USA has acquired the rights for its translation and distribution in this country.


“Many believe that the oppressors of blacks, (i.e., Christians) have always been white. Not only is it wrong regarding the history of Black People, but especially the role played by the Muslim Arabs during the Islamization of Africa. I sincerely wish that one day, an American publisher would translate this book so that our brothers African Americans are actually aware of this reality.”


I have listened to Professor Tidiane N’Diaye’s presentations on YouTube several times,
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jxc5ENT8ajg I am impressed by his passion and sincerity. His goal has always been to give a truthful narrative of one of the most shocking events in African history. For me personally, to publish this information is a sacred duty. Having grown up in the Levant as an Eastern Christian, whose ancestors lived as Dhimmis under Islamic colonialism for centuries, I am thankful to see the publication of the “Veiled Genocide.” The humiliations and deprivations inflicted on my forefathers, pale into insignificance when compared with the sufferings of Black Africans! The least I can do for the memory of East African and Trans-Saharan captives, is to share this information, gleaned from a French book written by a trustworthy, honorable, and brave African scholar! 

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