The new slavery. And what can be done about it.
Thu, 2007-03-22 18:18
#1
The new slavery. And what can be done about it.
Thu, 2007-03-22 18:18
#2
Ok, since I don't want to divert another thread outside the intended subject, I'll start another one here. It's not widely known but slavery has been reintroduced in Africa and to a somewhat lesser extend Asia and the Caribbean, mostly by Western owned and operated transnationals dealing in agricultural commodities. Not talking about the kind of bonded servitude thats persisted to modern times but the real whip and chain kind we read in our history books. So, now that that revelation is out of the way, what as leftists should be done about it?
Thu, 2007-03-22 19:05
#3
[url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/3985885.stm]http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi...
[url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/3652021.stm]http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi...
These are examples of what's [i]wrong[/i] with the coverage being given this now. The problem has been growing exponentially again, not because of indigeneous traditions of servitude, which Had been dying back for generations before, but because of the disruption of these countries' economies by Western corporate colonialism and the reestablishment of nineteeth century plantation systems. As Churchill once said in a moment of honesty: "just because a country is no longer a colony doesn't mean it's no lonter a colony".
Thu, 2007-03-22 19:07
#4
Any evidence, sources, links? They might help any discussion.
Edited to add: You posted your links just as I posted my question. Thanks for the links.
[ 22 March 2007: Message edited by: Martha (but not Stewart) ]
Thu, 2007-03-22 19:22
#5
I think that the answer was given in one of the comments : "Thanks to capitalism, there will always be slavery."
Thu, 2007-03-22 20:01
#6
Erik The Half Red is correct, and folks should pay attention to this issue, because as capitalism evolves into a new era of global corporate totalitarianism, slawery in various forms is sadly making a huge come-back.
It's easily as much as labour issues as it is a racism one, since it appears to be [url=http://www.foreignaffairs.org/20061101faessay85609/ethan-b-kapstein/the-... among all ethnicities and regions of the globe.[/url]
The two main forms of slavery that are spreading are various forms of [url=http://tinyurl.com/yqbppc]bonded labour[/url] and [url=http://books.nap.edu/openbook.php?record_id=10937&page=135]indentured servitude[/url] (much more than the old chattel slavery of the 19th century and, in many ways much worse).
While chattel slavery is the form most often talked about (since it is mostly a feature of the past--[url=http://www.freetheslaves.net/slavery/timeline/]although even that is apparently making somewhat of a come-back[/url]), bonded labour and indentured servitude are and have always been far more wide-spread and have remained a fairly common feature in many parts of the world--and, as the above reports show, they are on the rise.
What can be done about it? Lots, and many people are working on it:
[url=http://www.zmag.org/instructionals/econvision/id84_m.htm]Practical Socialism--democratizing the economy to fight Slavery[/url]
[url=http://www.happychild.org.uk/nvs/appeals/pak1014.htm]US Anti-Slavery Project[/url]
[url=http://www.icftu.org/list.asp?Type=ALL&Order=Date&Language=EN&STEXT=slav... Confederation of Free Trade Unions[/url]
[url=http://www.sric-south.org/]Socially Responsible Investment Coalition--anti-sweatshop/slavery campaigns[/url]
[url=http://www.labour-inspection.org/]Labour Unions Global Labour Inspection Network[/url]
[url=http://search.atomz.com/search/?sp-q=slavery&sp-a=sp1002d7b6&sp-f=ISO-88... Sustainable Development Overcoming Slavery[/url]
[ 22 March 2007: Message edited by: Steppenwolf Allende ]
Thu, 2007-03-22 20:16
#7
Thanx SA, I knew we could depend on you for more links. [img]smile.gif" border="0[/img] Onething though, [url=http://tinyurl.com/]http://tinyurl.com/[/url] is your friend too.
Thu, 2007-03-22 20:23
#8
But no, I don't think this is an issue that should be used to attack capitalism as a whole, but rather the companies and governmental officials directly involved, and the trade relations which allow it, as practically Everyone, including most conservatives and liberals, should be able to see the rank evil of this.
Mon, 2007-06-04 18:57
#9
An old thread but not something I'm going to let go. Actual slavery is something that can't be justified by anyone anymore, except through denial and lies, but decided you were right SA and better to broaden the scope a bit into all the other areas of near slavery now, makes more sense as too thin a line in too many places and don't want to make it about about one region or other. Partiocularly in already under-paid but over-priced commodities. Maybe it's been done before but onus should be placed on the mostly Western based companies contracting this out, see if other employees and consumers of these units of production are content knowing that some co-workers are working for nothing at all, being reclassified as mere property themselves. Most probably haven't a clue.
Fri, 2022-04-08 15:45
#10
Capitalism and Slavery - book review
quote:
Williams’ thesis, first published in the USA in 1944, has rightly been hailed by discerning scholars as a masterpiece. For some reason – you will have to guess - the book has not been published here in the UK before. Williams’ argument has come to be known as the ‘Decline Thesis’ because it links the decline of the slave economy in the Caribbean with its eventual abolition.
In 1944, Capitalism and Slavery provided a starting point for a new generation of students interested in the history of slavery and the civil rights of Black Americans. Written in an elegant and persuasive style, the book postulates an analysis that owes much to Marx’s writings about the origins of capitalism, and where the capital that financed the system that bears its name came from.
In short, Williams argues that the trade in slaves and the profits from the plantations on which they laboured provided the capital that funded the industrial revolution in England and Scotland, and built the great port cities connected with the ‘triangular trade’. Glasgow, Liverpool, Bristol, and London were at the northern tip of a trade triangle connecting the coast of Africa with the Caribbean and American colonies. Manufactures left Britain for the west African coast where they were traded for slaves, a human cargo that was shipped to Britain’s colonies to be traded in turn for the valuable commodities of cotton, tobacco, rum and sugar.
Sugar was the commodity that enriched investors in the City of London. The ‘sugar barons’ were renowned for preposterous wealth, and many stately homes were built and furnished through sugar wealth. The insatiable appetite for sugar in Europe exacted a terrible toll on the slaves who worked the plantations. The demand for sugar generated the demand for slaves......