Moder Slavery

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Modern slavery

Slavery is defined as the state of being under the control of another person. Slavery was a great stain in our history and was abolished in 1865, but however it still exists to this day. Actually the slave trade today is stronger and larger than it ever was. There are over 30 million slaves all over the world today. It is an insult to humanity that slavery is still allowed to exist in the 21 century, but there are many complex and deep reasons why it does. In some cultures it simply a matter of tradition. That there have always been slaves in their heritage and they can’t imagine life without them. For example some families have been working in bondage for many generations and don’t know of any life other than as a slave. Also in some countries slavery is an important part of the economy and without it the country will fall. For ex. In India there are many cases of even the government using slave labour for certain projects to save costs and money. Also for as long as there is wealthy people with money who want slaves, and families full of poverty with no way to break the cycle there will continue to be slaves. It is easy for men to go into areas of extreme poverty and to pay or even kidnap young children. The final and the most and most important reason that slavery has continued to exist is because very little is being done to stop it. Even though it is so clear, and obvious it is happening all around to world not just in the poorer countries but also Britain, France and even the U.S.A.it is not being made into a well known issue and most people wouldn’t believe the level of slavery that still goes on today. However there are no new bills or legislature or force being put forth to stop it and until action is taken the slave trade will continue to exist as a sick but prosperous industry.

As hard as it is to admit, slavery was once a tradition in almost every culture. During the days of the African slave trade almost every single family in the Americas and Europe had had at least one slave. However in 1865 that all changed, since slavery had become outlawed. Slave ships were being arrested and not allowed passage, all old slaved were being set free and given rights, or at least everyone thought that was what was happening. What was really happening was that “black” slaves were being set free and given rights. But other slaves who had been in slavery before the African slave trade continued to be enslaved and actually in some cases even more became enslaved since it was being harder to attain African slaves. There were hardly any slaves freed in Asian countries like India, Pakistan or in the Orient and to this day slave labour is used as a common practice in these countries where it is seen as the norm and not as something illegal or wrong. For example many rural farms in India are run by slaves. This is because of the caste system which classified the people very long ago to which people could own the farms and which people had to do all the work. Also in some cases there is the issue of bondage, where a father might have taken a loan from a wealthy landlord. But the land lord puts in a condition that the father and his family have to work for him until the loan is paid off. However if the father and his family could pay off the loan by working that wouldn’t be so bad, but that is not the deal. The actual condition is that the family has to keep working for that land lord for free, but also pay back the actually money that they borrowed with the interest in some cases. This now puts them in an impossible situation where they have to work all day for free, but still pay back the land lord with actual cash. And because of this there have been generations of bonded slaves where this is all they’ve ever known so they don’t even try to fight it. And other people grow up seeing them as slaves so they don’t try to change it and it becomes the norm and part of there tradition. That is why even to this day when you go to India and other Asian countries every house hold usually has a “domestic servant” but they don’t really get paid, and don’t get human rights but thanks to the title are seen as ok and part of society.

As wrong as it may sound, and how morally wrong it may be our and many other economies use to be dependent on slave labour and some still are today. In the U.S.A. in the 1960’s the only way that some of the farms ran were through slave labour where the slaves would work the fields and do chores, and without them it was impossible to do all the work. The same is true for some countries today, look at China and India. They are the two fastest growing economies in the world and they both are heavily infested with slave labour. Throughout rural China and India many places still don’t have modern farm equipment like tractors or watering system or even electricity. And the only way to make these farms run is to use mass amounts of slave labour. To think about it economically why would a land lord hire real help who he would have to pay a healthy amount, who would not work as long or as hard, and who could go on strike and make demands about working conditions where as a slave will work for free, work hard and not complain about anything. Also in countries like Thailand slavery is almost used as a tourism quality. Specifically sex slaves who’s family sell them for a few dollars. Now we here think how can a family sell their children into that life, but they do this so than the other 5 kids in the family have a chance to make it. Now because of the sex trade Thailand’s tourism industry has been steadily increasing and if Thailand enforced it’s sex slave laws they would lose major money and that is something nobody is willing to give up. Another industry built on slave labour is the recent diamond industry. Thanks to the movie Blood Diamond people are becoming more aware of what the little diamond on there earring’s and rings cost’s slaves in countries like Sierra Leon and the Congo. Where they are abducted from their homes and forced to work in diamond minds all day with almost inhabitable living conditions in the burning heat all day. And when the U.S. is one of the highest importers if diamonds than why would they really try to stop slavery, when they can just keep getting what they want.

Money is something that seems