Finding Kin: A History of African Organization in the MENA
In the era of the BLM movement, a fascination in the seemingly “new” formations of political organizing of African descended people in the Middle East has cropped up in many media outlets. After much historical erasure, pieces have emerged in numerous languages from Iran to the Balkans. However, there is nothing new about these groups. Under the catalyst of BLM, it may seem like these associations have recently harried to mobilization; yet these collectives have coalesced for centuries. Though modern parties share some tenants of BLM across the Atlantic, there are local variances in Western Asia and North Africa.
It is important to note that though there is a common view of Black/African people in the Middle East as imported persons, these groups have lived in the regions for millennia. For those residing in nations adjacent to Africa, they have freely migrated for pastoral, pilgrimage, or trade. It is therefore difficult to acutely delineate those who are slave-descended and those whose ancestors have lived in continuum (for example Yemen or Saudi Arabia). The possible affiliation as indigenous is therefore an important dialectic for this conversation.
Spirits and Salvation
Around the eastern Mediterranean, groups of enslaved and free Africans would gather for spiritual practices known as Zar and/or Bori. It is difficult to condense such a deep and multilayer praxis, however, I will briefly skim over some components. Combining Sufism and African indigenous practices, Zar/Bori utilizes dance, music, possession, medicines, prayer, and congregation to alleviate woes both physical and spiritual. As it is known in Southern Iran, Zar is associated with wind spirits that emanate from across the Indian Ocean in East Africa, connecting the two continents. In Turkey, spirit possession and dance were major features. Women were the guides of these lodges and leaders of religious processions such as the Calf Festival (Dana Bayramı) in Anatolia. Titled Kolbashi and Godiyas, they headed their own groups who met not just for spiritual communion but also to organize against oppression. Here they petitioned judges against false enslavement, advertised in newspapers for work, and advocated for African slave women. So successful were they that they were banished from Istanbul twice. Hakan Erdem provides one of the most fascinating accounts of an enslaved African girl who set fire to her owner’s house with the possible help of fellow African women who were members of the Zar/Bori syndicate. Whether she was seeking justice against her captors is unknown, however, what is clear is the network around her in Sinop. In Tunis, the Stambuli’s were a similar group that used music, Zhikir/Dhikar, and dance to escape harsh realities and bond with displaced kin. In Iran, African slaves would “swarm” the houses of slave owners, creating a racket and threatening violence against masters who beat their slaves. Women such as Naneh Hajji set up houses to assist manumitted African women and hide runaways. In Egypt, these Zar groups are still practicing today, as explored most recently by Zeina Dowider in a fascinating podcast for Kerning Cultures. Women, therefore, provided the practicalities of freedom, but also preserved a collective African memory that is still valued today.
Regiments of power and profession
The most infamous example of collective African power is the Zanj Rebellion of 1869-1883. Zanji was a commonly used ethnic signifier for those of East African Origin (as they left the port of Zanzibar) however I have also seen Zanj given the meaning of “rust-colored” to indicate skin color in Farsi (and Zenç in Turkish) - though this is greatly disputed. Bantu speaking slaves rebelled against their owners in Basra and Southern Iraq. Forced to drain salt marshes, these men quickly implemented guerilla-style warfare before establishing statecraft such as coin minting. Sadly this state did not last long but its existence provides an incredible example of political power wielded by the formerly bonded.
In a rarely cited example of African presence in West Asia, we are provided a remarkable glimpse of life by travellers and anthropological accounts that speak of African villages in Abkhazia (present-day Georgia). Survivors of a shipwreck on the Black Sea coast managed to clamber to land and avoid re-enslavement. Though these communities do not exist today their villages still carry the names of places in Ethiopia. There is less tangible evidence of Africans in Crete in the modern era, however, their villages were written about profusely by locals and interlopers. These highly organized groups lived at the periphery of urban areas on the Island. Relegated out of sight, this primarily Greek-speaking group struck up their own livelihoods, notable in chickpea production. In what can roundly be seen as guilds, they followed similar instances where formerly enslaved Africans developed a skill set and worked together on collective tradecraft.
In Jerusalem, African Palestinians are able to trace their roots to specific forefathers from Chad, Niger, Senegal, and Sudan. Among traders and pilgrims who made a stop to Al Aqsa on their way to Hajez or Damascus, some travellers paused and built livelihoods in Jerusalem. There is also a legacy that during British Occupation, African infantry employed by British Occupying forces returning to Sudan and other Central African locations would persuade family and friends to migrate to Jerusalem. Though we know that their presence in Palestine dates to antiquity, under the Ayyubids, African slave soldiers were mobilized from Syria to Jerusalem, which is where their first posting as the guardians of Al Aqsa begins (Salahuddin also sent African corps to Mecca and Medina for these same purposes). Another origin story tells of an assassination attempt against a local dignitary which was foiled by an African bystander. So impressed was this dignitary that he enlisted the man as a guard of Al Aqsa and invited others from his cultural background to stand guard. A building that was formerly a prison stood as the headquarters and cultural centre of African Palestinians, and the community still lives around this area (Hai Al Afaarika) today. Ali Jiddeh, the leader in Jerusalem, is most active in creating transnational bonds and has initiated tours and talks to bring together different groups of the African Diaspora from this same prison.
After Bondage
One of the most fascinating accounts of organization is that of the eunuchs. Eunuchs (referred to after this as castrated men or Aga) had their genitals removed between the ages of 8 to 12. They were then traded to elite households to act as conduits between feminine and masculine spaces, however their other roles expanded beyond these parameters. Primarily captured from Caucuses, the Balkans, Central and East Africa; during the 19th century the trading of “white” castrated men decreased significantly, insomuch as castrated men became associated with Africans in the Ottoman and Qajar empires. As enslaved peoples some achieved remarkable privileges, such as incomes, land, and titles. They existed in a paradox that restricted their freedom but yet granted certain elevations.
If these Agas were able to retire without becoming too embroiled by palace intrigue in Istanbul, they were reassigned to Cairo before migrating to Medina (or vice versa). They were custodians of great waqafs in both Cities: custodians of the Prophet's tomb in Medina and guardians of the Haram Sharif in Mecca. Away from prying eyes in retirement, they were able to exercise greater control and organize between themselves. Here they form networks of friendship with others of their background. Congregating in Cairo’s Birkat Al-Fil, a street was named after these migrants from Istanbul. When local soldiers demanded they march to Ethiopia to subdue their fellow countrymen, these elderly eunuchs took to streets to protest such indignations. In Mecca and Medina, similar neighbourhoods sprung up at the entrances to Holy places; where these men would then begin a new chapter in their lives by marrying and pursuing their own interests. When the Ottoman Empire collapsed, the Sultan’s African slaves who would retire to Cairo or the Hejaz remained in Istanbul and created a mutual aid cooperation to assist ailing and unemployed Africans. Less is known about the later lives of these Agas in the Qajar sphere, where they kept closer to the imperial Palaces in later life.
Lineage of Liberation
To locate Black Lives Matter as the catalyst in the region underwrites generations of African self-organization in the MENA region. What is striking about these flashpoints of history is that countries are confronted with their own hypocrisy in denouncing brutality against African Americans whilst disenfranchising their own black population. This same confrontation with the hypocrisy, international solidarity, and advocacy for local justice has led all people onto the streets in recent months, but must be seen in a broad context of historic black resistance.
Women feature prominently across the region as they did in centuries past. Maryam Abu Khaled, Lama El Amine, and Maha Abdelhamid are just a few names that have taken to social media to address systematic oppression. The courageous women fighting the Kafala system in Beirut have self-organized in the face of failure by their own consulates and the Lebanese government. The bridge between individuals and groups has led to the proliferation of intrepid Instagram accounts and Twitter handles, making these transnational connections closer than ever. There are important and unique lineages in anti-blackness that must be differentiated across the globe, from America to Brazil to Tunisia to Iran- these struggles cannot be uniformly surmised. Yet the power of the Black Lives Matter movement can be collectivized. This singular idea pinpoints this shared concern: the racial hierarchy that relegates African descended people to perpetual repression.
Anti-Blackness takes different disguises but its potency carries. In building cross-cultural alliances and dialogues across continents, BLM and local movements in the WANA are able to globally dismantle these supremacies. It is the historic legacy of free and enslaved Africans in the region, (especially women), that continue to fortify these collectives.
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