Modern Slavery

"an ancient scourge that has never really gone away."

I saw a programe on tv recently regarding the fight against modern slavery. I believe it was Ken Bales of Anti-Slavery International who was on it. It talked about the various forms of slavery that exist today, for example, for example bonded servitude, sexual slavery, and trafficking, and the fight against it.

Very interesting. It made the point that slaves today are actually treated worsethan ever before in history, because slaves are not as valuable as they were in the past.

One of the statements made was to the effect of "we are working to end in this generation a crime against humanity that has existed for the last 5,000 years."

So I wonder: Even if we do manage to eradicate slavery "in this generation"--does that mean it won't pop up again? Do these activists really believe that history doesn't repeat itself? Is slavery an inevitable part of the human experience?

Here's a good site on this: http://www.freetheslaves.net/NETCOMMUNITY/Page.aspx?pid=183&srcid=-2

Here's one I've been pondering:
I think there is a problem here in NM with people taking advantage of illegal aliens. There is money promised for work and either they don't get paid, their wage gets cut by pay day, or they work for less than minimum wage. Not always the case...but it's frequent enough to be alarmed about.

Don't get me wrong....I don't like the fact that people have chosen to illegally enter this country and then demand rights....I don't want to turn this thread into a war either.......I'm liberal about a lot of things...but it bothers me because I've seen some protests and I don't think they have rights here to protest. (and fly the mexican flag not in solidarity btw)

But I do think that the use of illegals to do heavy work at low and sometimes wages that aren't delivered as promised is a form of modern slavery.

You may very well have a point. However, low wages and poor working conditions aren't, in themselves, signs of slavery. It's only when you have no choice, and can't walk away from it.

What is slavery?

Common characteristics distinguish slavery from other human rights violations. A slave is:

* forced to work -- through mental or physical threat;

* owned or controlled by an 'employer', usually through mental or physical abuse or threatened abuse;

* dehumanised, treated as a commodity or bought and sold as 'property';

* physically constrained or has restrictions placed on his/her freedom of movement.

Cloud;393741 wrote:

You may very well have a point. However, low wages and poor working conditions aren't, in themselves, signs of slavery. It's only when you have no choice, and can't walk away from it.

What is slavery?

Common characteristics distinguish slavery from other human rights violations. A slave is:

* forced to work -- through mental or physical threat;

* owned or controlled by an 'employer', usually through mental or physical abuse or threatened abuse;

* dehumanised, treated as a commodity or bought and sold as 'property';

* physically constrained or has restrictions placed on his/her freedom of movement.

Well if you work all day and have no idea if you are going to get paid or not because you can not litigate or persue that kind of action.......I don't know....I don't think they have much choice in whether they work or not either... I'm just going to go look up slavery........

There will always be people who like being overlords. Slavery will never be erradicated. It's an ongoing struggle that will last through the ages unless something miraculous happens to human nature.

From the beginning of man to the end.

Cloud;393721 wrote:

So I wonder: Even if we do manage to eradicate slavery "in this generation"--does that mean it won't pop up again? Do these activists really believe that history doesn't repeat itself? Is slavery an inevitable part of the human experience?

Slavery is the most efficient way to produce goods that require human services with the lowest cost so as long as we live in a system that favors low-cost production or we switch entirely to machines, it is an idea that can never become extinct, only withheld.

But even though we may never be able to eradicate slavery it can still be worth the energy if we can save people from it. It is like the "stop hunger" sites, no rational person thinks that we can stop starvation but if we can feed a certain amount of people, it is still worth it.

My professor told me about that one company in Georgia that picked up a bunch of illegals for a day to work at their vineyard. After the day's work was completed the big corporation called the cops saying "there's a bunch of illegals on my property (doing my work....) get them off and send them back!" Sure enough the popo hauled them off and shipped them back to the border and the company got the day's work done for $free.99, placing them higher than the law.
Disgusting.

We will need more info on "that one company in Georgia", if you please. Ask the prof, it's important.

Yessir

Slavery will continue... they're called husbands.

Can we link this to the "pony play" thread?

Company in Georgia: now that is innovative cost-cutting business practice at its finest ... &%$#ing white-collar criminals ...

xo has it backwards......

Don't we still give brides away at weddings? (symbol of property exchange)


Snippy~
* dehumanised, treated as a commodity or bought and sold as 'property';

I think that we should bring back indentured servitude, as a means of clearing debt. Let's say you're a skilled worker of some kind ... programmer, lathe operator, whatever. You have $30K in unsecured debt that you're not having any success paying off. Company X buys your debt, and your services. You have a negotiated pay rate, with some established amount per check going towards your debt, worker keeps the remainder. You are contracted to work for the company until your debt is paid off. If you wish to continue to work for the company at the end of your indenture, the $$ that were going to the debt, now get paid to you instead.

I guess this would be for people with enough self-discipline to sustain employment, but not enough to get themselves out of debt.

Hey!! I missed you wolf!!!
Maybe I'll have better aim next time...

lol!!
She always adds that extra crazy I need in my life.....

:)
I got that from a bumper sticker, I admit, but it applies.

very sweet of you, cicero.

I finally have a moving date, still struggling to get my stuff into boxes.

My company does the indentured servitude bit, kinda.

If we train you from square one, you are indebted for $10,000. We will give you a job at a given pay rate and you must work at it for two years. If you complete the two years, the debt is cleared. If you work one year and 364 days, then quit, you owe the whole debt.

The pay rate is the same as a driver who trained elsewhere gets.

I make sure the people who want to be like me understand this. Two so far have gone for the brass ring. Time will tell if they stay or not.

Brian

There is a law firm here in DC that pays its employees poorly, but dangles a HUGE bonus in front of them when they finish the fiscal year. They have a reputation of forcing their people to work unusually long hours. A real sweatshop.

If you believe the stories, each year, the day after the bonuses go out, they get resignations from something like 10%-20% of their employees. Seems like a pretty crazy business model. Instead of having people come and go throughout the year, they have a massive turnover all at once.

maybe they figure they can plan for that sort of thing based on previous years? Sounds like it'd work on the face of it, although I'm sure there's a lot more to it.