Abolitionism did not find positive response in Africa as it did in Western societies and cultures.

Each time you admire the façade of the New York Public Library, you are paying homage to Western civilization.

The West has given us the liberal miracle of individual rights, individual responsibility, merit, and human satisfaction.

In the West we are free to think what we want, to read what we want, to practice our religion, to live as we choose. Liberty is codified in human rights, a magnificent Western creation but also, I believe, a universal good.

Abolitionism did not find positive response in Africa as it did in Western societies and cultures.

As Luxenberg's work has only recently been published we must await its scholarly assessment before we can pass any judgements. But if his analysis is correct then suicide bombers, or rather prospective martyrs, would do well to abandon their culture of death, and instead concentrate on getting laid 72 times in this world, unless of course they would really prefer chilled or white raisins, according to their taste, in the next.

Because of its exceptional capacity for self-criticism, the West took the initiative in abolishing slavery; the calls for abolition did not resonate even in black Africa, where rival African tribes took black prisoners to be sold as slaves in the West.