The untold story of the Sumalian “pirates”
January 7th, 2009
This is a fascinating insight into what our media call modern-day pirates in the Somalian seas.
Pirates have never been quite who we think they are. In the “golden age of piracy” – from 1650 to 1730 – the idea of the pirate as the senseless, savage Bluebeard that lingers today was created by the British government in a great propaganda heave.
And then
They mutinied – and created a different way of working on the seas. Once they had a ship, the pirates elected their captains, and made all their decisions collectively, without torture. They shared their bounty out in what Rediker calls “one of the most egalitarian plans for the disposition of resources to be found anywhere in the eighteenth century”.
It’s written by Johann Hari and was publish in the Independent on-line magazine. Read the full commentary here.
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