Slavery Still Exists? Freedom Still Exists?
Why do people ignore Slavery, when it exists? It could be mainly because slavery is not thrown in our face everyday. For me witnessing slavery first hand in my face changed my entire outlook on the world. Suburban America puts you in a bubble where you aren’t exposed deliberately to dire situations in the developing world. I do believe slavery exists in America also; it’s just not as explicit.
In developing countries slavery is everywhere; it’s so bad that it can’t be hidden.
Slavery
You go outside for a stroll in a Rickshaw, and slavery is right there watching you through a blind man’s half empty voiceful eyes—sadly, he was just begging for food, not money. The Rickshawallahs also suffer from a type of slavery. Most Rickshawallas are young men who moved from the rural areas to make money in the cities. Due to malnutrition and excessive driving of heavy loads of people…they suffer immensely and die within ten years. I also saw slavery in the markets outside: young boys running to carry your groceries home. You ask them how old they are, and they don’t even know. I can’t believe I come from such an ageless society. A world where my people, don’t even have records of their history…Isn’t that slavery? Jobless, uneducated, impoverished nations have the most slaves…
Slavery Business:
In Bangladesh Slavery is seen as a business. Much of the poor don’t have access to food, and shelter so they travel to middle class/upper middle class homes for some type of stability. 90% of these cases are women. It’s a very grim reality because they have to choose between working for food or prostitution. The men possess competitive advantage in this situation for they can seek work other areas due to their freedom. The slave/master relationship in this case is very unique. Being a silent observer and watching the relationships first hand, I learned that two emotions really exist in this world: fear and love. Begging is a business…I saw many of the beggars with broken limbs communicating with each other through body language indicating which person is giving more or less money. I also learned that the Beggars cut a percentage from their “pimps” who run the streets they should work on..
Forced Slavery: Poverty forces women to be sex slaves. The parents usually are tricked into giving their daughters away, for they think they are giving their children a better life. The Cyclon SIDR for instance took the homes of many people, leaving room for many traffickers to come in and take women…
Slavery is different today. According to Kevin Bales (an extraordinary author on Slavery) two shifts have occurred. Today the price of human beings have collapsed, which has caused people to become disposable. We live in a world of 32 billion disposable people. Freedom can benefit an economy. We can work bottom up or town down.
Kevin broke it down simply. Freedom in a poor family in India would mean just $130.00. Freedom for a poor boy in Ghana would only take $400.00…If we calculate a grand total, it would cost 10.8 Billion (Which is what American’s spend on organic food per year) The return in investment would be $21.6 billion.
Slavery is an economic crime used to make money through targeting at the poor. Do you want to live in a world of slavery? Take initiative educate yourselves!! Why don’t we care? I don’t get it…
