SoylentNews is people
SoylentNews
When we think of slavery, many of us think of historical or so-called "traditional forms" of slavery – and of the 12m people ripped from their West African homes and shipped across the Atlantic for a lifetime in the plantations of the Americas.
But slavery is not just something that happened in the past –- the modern day estimate for the number of men, women and children forced into labour worldwide exceeds 40m. Today's global slave trade is so lucrative that it nets traffickers more than US$150 billion each year.
The article asserts that much of today's slavery is being driven by the demand for electronic goods.
[Edit: fixed ILO links]
This discussion has been archived.
No new comments can be posted.
Slavery Was Never Abolished – It Affects Millions, and You May Be Funding It
|
Log In/Create an Account
| Top
| 102 comments
| Search Discussion
The Fine Print: The following comments are owned by whoever posted them. We are not responsible for them in any way.
spagmumps, n.:
Any of the millions of Styrofoam wads that accompany mail-order items.
-- "Sniglets", Rich Hall & Friends
(Score: 1, Disagree) by Freeman on Friday October 19 2018, @04:41PM (7 children)
You call Drug Use, Gambling, and Prostitution Normal / Victimless human pursuits, but I don't think you understand the meaning of Victimless. Each of those pursuits do have victims. They just tend to be the children/family of the gambling addict, or the drug addict, or the children that are pushed into Prostitution. Perhaps, some of that would be negated by legalizing certain things, but none of those pursuits can claim to be victimless.
Joshua 1:9 "Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee"
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Friday October 19 2018, @04:51PM
!= drug addict
And which drugs are you even talking about? SSRIs? Warfarin? Statins? Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs? Epipens?
!= gambling addict
You sound like you're addicted to moralizing.
(Score: 5, Insightful) by khallow on Friday October 19 2018, @05:08PM
Sigh.
That would be wrong. In the first two situations, they are harmed by the behavior of the addict of whatever. In the second case, that's highly illegal, even if (or rather when) one legalizes prostitution.
Then we get to the enforcement of laws against these activities. Once again, we see evidence of the lack of victimhood with far more harm created by law enforcement and incarceration than by the alleged crimes themselves.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by sjames on Friday October 19 2018, @05:24PM
And then, rather than address the underlying problems, we further victimize the family through non constructive incarceration of the addict. And instead of teaching them that working steadily carries rewards, we prove to them that it's just exploitation.
(Score: 5, Insightful) by fyngyrz on Friday October 19 2018, @06:23PM
On the contrary.
Drug use: someone who smokes a joint "harms" other people just as much a someone who drinks a beer. However, the pot smoker can be fined, imprisoned and enslaved for their action. The victim here is the pot smoker, and their family — and the state creates the victims. Without the law, there would be no victims.
Gambling: the person who throws $1 into a bet for/against some legislatively-forbidden outcome "harms" other people just as much as someone who buys a $1 lottery ticket. However, the former can be fined, imprisoned and enslaved for their action. The victim here is the former bettor, and their family — and the state creates the victims. Without the law, there would be no victims.
Prostitution: The person who pays $100 and receives a blow job from a willing, informed provider, "harms" other people just as much as a person who puts out $100 for dinner and receives a blow job (and, to be fair, dinner.) However, the former can be fined, imprisoned and enslaved for their action. The victim here is the former recipient of the sexual activity, and their family — and the state creates the victims. Without the law, there would be no victims.
In all three cases, by moving these activities to the black market, the participants are prevented from accessing remedies when one of the parties does something nonconsensual.
Where legislation is appropriate — people being forced into such life choices — it already exists, as it should. However, in no case is slavery any kind of appropriate remedy. All that does is teach the incarcerated that human life is the lowest possible value coin, but coin it is. If you have a complaint against people being enslaved, you should stop supporting laws that encourage it and teach it to others.
Any sane definition of liberty is based firmly upon the idea of informed, consensual/personal choice. As soon as you step on that idea, you're well off into the land of the oppressor.
You don't like some personal choice? That's perfectly okay. Don't make that choice. You don't like that someone else making such a choice? Feel free to complain, and feel free to provide as much information about why you think some other choice would be better.
But as soon as you try to force them to make personal choices your way, you've stepped well over the line. You have no right to do so, even if, by some abject exercise in malfuckery, society has given you or your legal system the power to do so, as is definitely the exact circumstance with various kinds of "sin" legislation. The other person's freedom to choose is far more important than any imaginary right you might think you have to not be offended.
(Score: 2, Insightful) by khallow on Saturday October 20 2018, @07:42AM
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday October 20 2018, @06:03PM
oh fuck you! in this goddamned country the state has no business being involved in "fixing" bad family budgets due to poor life choices. it's all you government "fixes" that caused the black markets and crime to begin with.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday October 27 2018, @12:12AM
Not being able to get jobs as 'child labor' because their grades are too low to qualify for a job waiver, jobs are unwilling to hire teens for jobs, and the welfare system isn't providing enough for them or their parents to fund their basic needs and ensure their education.
I actually had a friend whose sister got into prostitution. She did it because her mom was a diabetic native american who had foot ulcers, could only work during her 'good times', only got like 800/mo in assistance from the government, and had been thrown out by her tribe because her baby daddy wasn't a tribe member. The dad ended up being a deadbeat who abandoned them too.
I've heard a number of stories since that sound very similar. Not economically enfranchising the poor is the most common cause of prosititution. And if you REALLY wanted to cut down on exploitation you wouldn't arrest the prostitutes, only the pimps or parents, and allow independent sex workers to continue in the business free of harassment. If they like/want to continue doing it because it pays the bills, provides them job satisfaction, or helps free up hours they would otherwise be slaving in a dead end job, more power to them. It isn't a line of work I would support or enter myself, but freedom requires looking beyond yourself and seeing what benefits things you find distasteful provide for others.