Why We Can't Ignore Libya, Enslavement and the Damages of US Intervention

In November, CNN released footage of Africans being sold into slavery at an auction in Libya, shocking and angering many around the world. The outlet reported witnessing "a dozen men being sold like commodities -- some auctioned off for as little as $400." However, though the auction has been portrayed as part of a recent phenomenon, the disaster that is enslavement is not new at all, even in the modern world. Though the conditions that enable such markets have grown increasingly bad in Libya amid instability after a US-backed NATO intervention, the enslavement of Africans -- particularly in the Middle East and North Africa -- has gone on for much longer than some care to remember.  Read more.