Slavery in the Ottoman Empire

Why do people enslave one another? It seems that throughout history there is this reoccurring circumstance of people capturing each other forcing them to live a life of slavery. The psychological reasoning for this could be human’s innate desire to be above other groups of humans, but if we know this is wrong why does it continue literally from almost the beginning of civilization.
Slavery seems to be one of the basic steps in the beginning of most civilizations. The Ottoman Empire was no exception to this hypothesis. The difference though between slavery in the Ottoman Empire and the slavery that occurred in American history is how these people were captured. Originally, people who were enslaved were prisoners of war that were taken by the Muslim militaries. Interestingly, according to Islamic Law, slavery is not really frowned upon. It is encouraged to set slaves free but there is no real requirement or disapproval of it. The only thing that was strictly prohibited by Islamic Law was the enslavement of one’s fellow Muslim. Under absolutely no circumstance, not war, not rebellion, could one Muslim enslave another Muslim. In the Ottoman Empire, there was no one group of enslaved people but many. Whites, Ethiopians and Blacks were all used as slaves. As time went on, there were slaves being brought into the Empire from all areas of Europe and Africa. At this point, the type of slave in highest demand was women, preferable from Africa. These women had one main purpose and that was to become domestic help for the upper classes.
The slave system of the Ottoman Empire is very interesting. As an American it is hard to understand how slaves can be from more than one origin. Also the mere fact that slaves could actually build themselves up in society and obtain high ranking positions in the government is astonishing. Doesn’t that go against the entire basis of what slavery is?

Class Video

The video watched in the first class about the Palestinian Israeli conflict was really interesting to me. This video had clear bias towards Palestine which is something truly unheard of in the American media. Never have I ever seen anything that was actually anti-Israel. The portrayal of Israel in the American media is that of the victim and while that is common knowledge it isn’t really something I think the American people look further into. Showing the clips of how political rhetoric is used to depict the victimization of Israel was eye opening. For example, when the narrator was talking about the settlements that Israel has put up in Palestinian land and calling the attacks on this land attacks on neighborhoods was shocking. This “hidden occupation” as it was called in the video is a clever way of making the Palestinians look like they are just going to random neighborhoods and setting off bombs.
It was also eye opening to hear about how the Palestinian people are treated and how according to this video the atrocities against the Palestinian people are completely inhumane. The fact that these people have lived in occupied land for thirty five years is incredible in itself, but the reality that they live under very harsh military rule and have been stripped of many civil liberties is disturbing. Most disturbing of all that was talked about would be the inability of even ambulances to get through the guarded streets to get to the hospitals, even if there are pregnant women that are in serious need of medical attention. And the 60% unemployment rate? No wonder that region is in such serious trouble and to an extent where people are acting out in such anger and hostility.
With all of the controversy surrounding this situation not only in the region but all over the world, it is hard to imagine a resolution anytime soon. The media likes to pretend that America is neutral in this situation when in reality it is clear that the United States is Israel’s number one alliance. The talks of peace and supposed begging of America to take a side is all political propaganda to gain support from the American population. Ideally the land should be split up between the two groups as best as possible. Clearly at this point the land cannot and should not be taken away from the Israeli’s so no final decision will be completely fair for Palestine but there should be some sort of equal distribution. Regardless of the “peaceful” outcome to this situation, neither side will ever be happy and resentment is going to be a problem for a very long time.