Pirate Utopias

From the 16^th to the 19^th centuries, Moslem corsairs from the Barbary Coast ravaged European shipping and enslaved thousands of unlucky captives. During this same period, thousands more Europeans converted to Islam and joined the pirate holy war. Were these men (and women) the scum of the seas, apostates, traitors – “Renegadoes”? Or did they abandon and betray Christendom as a praxis of social resistance? (Autonomedia)