Contemporary Slavery and Disposable People

Teaching about slavery is not complete unless we clearly identify the institution of slavery with the contemporary problems of racism and slavery. Unfortunately, contemporary slavery is not only alive and well throughout the world, but it is also something that we as educators rarely discuss with our students. So, today we are going to spend a bit of time talking about slavery in the world today and how it is - just like the slavery of the pre-Civil War south - intimately tied to the world economy.

• 27 million people are estimated to be slaves in the 21st Century.
• So today we are not only going to learn that slavery is still operational in the world, we are also going to explore the following:
  • How the old slavery of Southern Plantation days differs from the new slavery today.
  • How the old slavery and modern slavery are similar.
  • How we transitioned from the old slavery to the new slavery.
  • What the contemporary experts say about the current conditions of the new slavery.
  • What we can do to combat slavery.

How the old slavery of Southern Plantation days differs from the new slavery today. The chart below shows the differences between these two systems.

How the old slavery and modern slavery are similar.

• Economic profit was/is the primary motivation for enslavement.
• Paid workers could not/cannot compete with unpaid slave labor; slave labor anywhere threatens real jobs everywhere.
• Slaves were/are denied education and social, economic, and political opportunities to learn their rights and how to gain their freedom.
• Most slaves were/are used in simple, non-technological work - especially agriculture.
• Emancipation was/is a process, not an event; freeing slaves requires giving them access to economic and political power and educating them about how to use such power.

How we transitioned from the old slavery to the new slavery.

In the United States, slavery was technically ended with the passage of the 13th amendment. However, a type of economic slavery existed for decades after the end of the Civil War. To fully understand the widespread dimensions of this type of economic slavery, see the outstanding video, Slavery by Another Name at http://video.pbs.org/video/2176766758/

In other parts of the world, as well as in the United States, at least three factors arose in the late 20th Century that encouraged the transition from the old slavery to the new:

• The population explosion after WWII flooded labor markets with millions of poor, vulnerable people - especially children - with no economic opportunities.
• Rapid social and economic changes in "developing countries" brought immense wealth to the elite and crushing poverty to the majority of people. Most important among these changes was the mechanization and industrialization of agriculture which diminished the economic options for those who lost their land.
• Opportunities for huge profits erased many traditional social rules and bonds of responsibility and encouraged the growth of greed, violence and government corruption.

What contemporary experts say about the current conditions of the new slavery. While many people in the world today have unearthed the tragedy of contemporary slavery, the one of the leading experts is Dr. Kevin Bales, Director of Free the Slaves in Washington, D.C. and Sociology Professor at the University of Surrey Roehampton in England. Not only has Bales committed himself to researching the current conditions of slavery for the past two decades, he has traveled around the world interviewing slaves and slaveholders. In his book, Disposable People which has gone through several editions since its first printing in 1999, he emphasizes several important facts about modern slavery.

1. While is hard to determine just how many slaves there are in the world because we must rely upon victim reports, research and travels throughout the world estimate the number at 27 million. There are slaves in almost every country in the world, including the U.S.
2. Slaves currently provide a vast, illegal workforce that supports the global economy upon which we all depend.   
3. Because slavery is a highly profitable business, most contemporary slavery is possible because at all levels of government, officials turn a blind eye to the crime of slavery.  While law enforcers do not directly enslave people; instead, they provide a system of protection that is based upon their own economic gain through bribery.
4. There are three major types of slavery operating in today’s world – all of which are tied to economic gain: debt bondage or bonded labor; chattel slavery; and contract slavery.
   • Bonded labor or debt bondage occurs when people give themselves into slavery as security against a loan or when they inherit a debt from a relative.  The length of time or nature of the service are not defined and the debt can be passed down to children.  The slaveholder has complete control over the laborer. This is the most common form of slavery in the world - between 10 and 15 million enslaved – and occurs in India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Nepal.
   • Chattel slavery, the closest to old slavery, occurs when a person is captured, born, or sold into permanent servitude and ownership might be asserted.  This is a very small proportion of slaves in the modern world and is most often found in north and west Africa.
   • Contract slavery occurs when a contract is used as an enticement to trick an individual into slavery, as well as a way to make it look legitimate.  The contract worker is really a slave who is threatened by violence, lacks any freedom of movement, and is paid little or nothing.  This is the second most common form and the most rapidly growing form of slavery today.  It is most often found in Southeast Asia, Brazil, some Arab states, and some part of the Indian subcontinent.
5. Today's slaves are disposable people.
   • In 1850, the average slave in the American South cost the equivalent of $40,000-$80,000 in today's money; today a slave costs between $100-$500.
   • In 1850 it was difficult to capture a slave and then transport them to the western hemisphere. Today, millions of economically and socially vulnerable people around the world are potential slaves who do not need to be captured or transported.
   • This ready supply makes today's slave cheaper than they ever before. As Kevin Bales writes on his website:
     • "Since they are so cheap, slaves are today are not considered a major investment worth maintaining. If slaves get sick, are injured, outlive their usefulness, or become troublesome to the slaveholder, they are dumped or killed. For most slave holders, actually legally 'owning' the slave is an inconvenience since they already exert total control over the individuals labor and profits. Who needs a legal document that could at some point be used against the slave holder? Today the slave holder cares more about these high profits than whether the holder and slave are of different ethnic backgrounds; in New Slavery, profit trumps skin color. Finally, new slavery is directly connected to the global economy. As in the past, most slaves are forced to work in agriculture, mining, and prostitution. From these sectors, their exploited labor flows into the global economy, and into our lives."
6. Since slavery feeds directly into the global economy, it is important to understand that slavery flows into our homes through the products we buy and the investments we make. As Bales tells us,
   • "Slaves harvest cocoa in the Ivory Coast, make charcoal used to produce steel in Brazil, weave carpets in India - the list goes on. These products reach our stores and our homes ... In addition, there may be people held in slavery in your community. Slavery happens in nearly every country in the world, and the US and Europe are not immune. Research that Free the Slaves conducted with the University of California, Berkeley found documented cases of slavery and human trafficking in more than 90 cities across the United States."

What we can do to combat slavery.

Most researchers and experts believe that we can end slavery in our lifetime. What a great message to give to our students. This is what is needed:

• Businesses must clean up their supply chains and consumers must demand slavery-free products.
  • One of the ways we can help is to shop at suppy chains that have anti-slavery policies. Costco is a leading example.
• Governments and international institutions must toughen enforcement and fund anti-slavery work throughout the world.
• Activists and advocates must educate the vulnerable about their rights and empower those in slavery to take a stand for freedom.
• Educators can teach their students about contemporary slavery and encourage them to do something about it.

We must all take a stand by getting educated, getting activated, participating in anti-slavery efforts, and spreading the word about contemporary slavery. So, how do we put our students to work on this. Below are two big steps to getting started:

1. Help your students understand their slavery footprint by going to the website http://slaveryfootprint.org/. After running your students through the excellent introduction, "Slaves work for me?", each student can then take their own slavery footprint that helps them determine how their everyday lives, everyday consumer choices, and everyday uses of food contributes to slavery.
2. Create a classroom assignment in which your students learn more about modern slavery. Use the list below to get them started. Once they are educated, have them develop ideas about how they as individuals and as a student community can combat slavery.
   • American Anti-Slavery Group http://www.iabolish.org.  AASG works to abolish modern-day slavery and provide support and empowerment to survivors.  Its  programs are geared toward promoting awareness, engaging in advocacy and activism, and providing direct aid for victims. 
   • Breaking the Silence Education Project http://old.antislavery.org/breakingthesilence/educationproject.shtml . The project seeks to increase awareness of the Transatlantic Slave Trade, its causes and its consequences which include the immense contributions made by Africa to the social, cultural and economic development of the Americas, the Caribbean and Europe, and to help eliminate modern forms of slavery and racism.  Website includes lesson plans, maps, and student activities.
   • Disposable People: New Slavery in the Global Economy by Kevin Bales http://books.google.com/books?id=P9ZhnLljWssC&dq=disposable+people&printsec=frontcover&source=bn&hl=en&ei=CkqYSurfG47eMb7TqaMF&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=4#v=onepage&q=&f=false .  This site includes the preface to the new edition of the book, as well as the first chapter entitled, “The New Slavery.”
   • Free the Slaves Interactive Map http://www.freetheslaves.net/Page.aspx?pid=375  This map allows you to click on regions of the world and  learn more about the countries that are mainly receivers of slave labor and products and those in which slave labor is used internally as well as exported to other countries.
   • Free the Slaves Video, “Slavery 101” http://www.freetheslaves.net/Page.aspx?pid=348.  Scroll down half way through this site to find the excellent 12 minute video clip on modern slavery. 
   • Kevin Bales on Ted Talks, "How to Combat Modern Slavery" at http://www.ted.com/talks/kevin_bales_how_to_combat_modern_slavery?language=en
   • Not for Sale http://www.notforsalecampaign.org/  The Not for Sale campaign equips and mobilizes abolitionist activists to use innovative solutions to re-abolish slavery in their own backyards and across the globe.  On the main page in the right hand column are three videos that explain the work of modern day abolitionists.
   • Recovered Histories http://www.recoveredhistories.org/  This site includes the narratives of the enslaved, enslavers, slave ship surgeons, abolitionists, parliamentarians, clergy, planters and rebels.
   • RugMark India Foundation  http://www.rugmarkindia.org/Rugmark/index.htm RugMark is a nonprofit organization devoted to building schools, programs and opportunities that give children back their childhoods by ending child labor in the handmade carpet industry in South Asia.  This site includes stories from children rescued from slavery who are now attending school and learning to cope with freedom.