The United States is home to about 60,000 people who can fairly be called modern versions of slaves, according to a new Global Slavery Index <http://www.globalslaveryindex.org/report/> released last month by the Walk Free Foundation, which fights human trafficking. These modern slaves aren’t sold in chains in public auctions, so it’s not exactly the same as 19th-century slavery. Those counted today include illegal immigrants forced to work without pay under threat of violence and teenage girls coerced to sell sex and hand all the money to their pimps.
There are, of course, many more ambiguities today than in the 1850s about how to count slaves, but the slavery index finds almost 30 million people enduring modern slavery. More are in India than in any other country, and in some countries, such as Mauritania, children are still born into slavery. Who are these modern American slaves? One survivor I met last month in New Orleans, Clemmie Greenlee <http://www.nola.com/crime/index.ssf/2013/02/former_sex_trafficking_victim.html>, had her life taken over by a pimp at age 12. She said she spent years having sex with up to 50 men a day. On average, she was beaten 10 times a month, for not meeting her daily quota or other offenses. Why didn’t she run away? Because, she says, of a mix of fear, Stockholm syndrome, emotional manipulation by pimps, hopelessness fueled by drug addiction and distrust of the authorities. Eventually, Greenlee was able to escape that life, and she now runs a residential program called Eden House <http://edenhousenola.org/> to help other women start over. An African-American, she says that what trafficked women endure is absolutely an echo of what her ancestors endured on plantations. “If you’re putting a whip on my back because I’m not picking enough cotton, or if you’re beating me because I’m not earning my quota, it’s the same thing,” she said. “It’s slavery.” Slavery isn’t as formal or as widespread in the United States today as it was in the 1850s, of course, but it’s still easy to find. Go to backpage.com, the leading website for prostitution advertising and search for your hometown. Some of the women selling sex there are adults voluntarily in the business, but many are women or girls under the control of pimps <http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/18/opinion/sunday/kristof-where-pimps-peddle-their-goods.html> who take every penny they earn, brand them with tattoos and beat them if they don’t earn enough. Yet, in the United States, we typically arrest the victims rather than the pimps or the johns. Rectifying that would be a step toward modern emancipation. The slavery index is the work of Andrew Forrest <http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/24/business/worldbusiness/24iht-rtrspot25.1.10331119.html>, an Australian billionaire who was awakened to the issue after his 15-year-old daughter, Grace, worked in an orphanage in Nepal. Grace later revisited the orphanage with her parents to check in on old friends — who were no longer there. They had, it turned out, been sold to brothels abroad. After returning to Australia, Forrest ordered a review of his mining company’s supply chains to make sure that there was no forced labor. He promptly found that some overseas laborers had had their passports confiscated and had gone unpaid for years. “With slavery experienced by my family and in my business, it was everywhere if you looked,” he recalls, and he began a campaign against modern slavery. Maybe we can find inspiration today not just from “12 Years a Slave,” but also from the anti-slavery movement that began in Britain in the 1780s. It was one of the first great human rights campaigns in the world. People then simply accepted slavery. The Bible encouraged slaves to be obedient, the Church of England owned a major slave plantation <http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/centralamericaandthecaribbean/barbados/1510213/Churchs-slavery-apology-is-not-enough.html> in Barbados and Thomas Jefferson advocated powerfully for human freedom except where slaves were involved. That British abolitionist movement, pioneered by Quakers and led by Thomas Clarkson and William Wilberforce, with help from a former slave named Olaudah Equiano <http://docsouth.unc.edu/neh/equiano1/summary.html>, caught fire and changed the world. Some 390,000 people, more people than were then eligible to vote in Britain, signed petitions against slavery. Hundreds of thousands of people boycotted sugar made with slave labor. It’s a story movingly told by Adam Hochschild in his superb book “Bury the Chains <http://www.nytimes.com/2005/01/09/books/review/09COVERRO.html>.” The abolitionists succeeded in ending the trans-Atlantic slave trade, but their work is not finished. I fear that a century from now, someone may put together a movie about slavery in 2013, leading our descendants to shake their heads and ask of us: What were they thinking? A version of this op-ed appears in print on November 7, 2013, on page A33 of the New York edition with the headline: Slavery Isn’t A Thing Of the Past. On Tuesday, December 9, 2014 3:29:03 PM UTC-6, KeithInTampa wrote: > > This report is gathered from a person and a web site labeled: "Mohamed > Jehan Khan" and can be found here: > > https://mohammedjehankhan.wordpress.com/2014/10/ > > As one can see, this is an "Anti-Israeli/Anti-Jew/Anti > American/Anti-Western Culture/Pro-Fascist" web site. > > (Not surprising, considering the source and who supplied this to the Group) > > The actual article from "Mo" can be found here: > > > https://mohammedjehankhan.wordpress.com/2014/10/18/sex-slavery-and-sex-trade-in-israel-the-only-democracy-in-the-middle-east/ > > The actual Global Slavery Index, which I have attached, differs starkly > from the report by Mohammed. First, Israel is listed as 112 out of 160 > Nation-States, (the United States is listed at 132) and the reasoning for > both Israel's and the United States' listing as being as high as they both > are, is because both Nations are transportation hubs purportedly for the > slave trade. *See* Appendix "A" > > Although I don't necessarily question the results for many of the Third > World and Fourth World Nation-States, (and different standards are utilized > for these Nations as compared to Western Europe the U.S. and Israel); > Israel, the U.S. and Western Europe are all considered very low and "The > Best" as far as slavery, or the potential to be enslaved goes. > > This is just another far left extremist, secularist, and hate filled > attempt at attacking Western Culture. As we've heard on many occasions: > "Know Your Enemy". > > > > On Tue, Dec 9, 2014 at 9:04 AM, plainolamerican <[email protected] > <javascript:>> wrote: > >> Israel has as many as 8,500 slaves, according to a new comprehensive >> study of worldwide slavery. Israel placed 111 out of 162 slave-holding >> countries in the Global Slavery Index 2013 >> <http://d3mj66ag90b5fy.cloudfront.net/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/GlobalSlaveryIndex_2013_Download_WEB1.pdf>, >> >> recently published by the Australian Walk Free Foundation. Mauritania was >> found to have the most serious slavery problem. >> >> According to the study, the first-ever country-by-country survey of its >> kind, Israel has 7,700 to 8,500 slaves. Still, Israel ranked well relative >> to the lower standards in the Middle East, though Lebanon, Tunisia, and >> Egypt scored better than the Jewish state. >> >> The Palestinian Authority and the Hamas-run Gaza Strip were not covered >> by the survey. >> >> Israel did place well in the study’s examination of the risk of >> enslavement. The survey measured five factors to determine the policies >> adopted by the country to combat slavery, human rights, human and economic >> development, political stability, and women’s rights. Israel was the only >> Middle Eastern country to enjoy a low risk-of-slavery ranking, but still >> ranked much lower than European states. >> >> The study claimed that “foreign workers make 40-90 percent of the >> populations of Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Israel, the United Arab Emirates and >> Kuwait.” However, in Israel there are 300,000 foreign workers out of a >> total population of 8 million. The Walk Free Foundation could not be >> reached for clarification by the time of publication. >> >> The trend in Israel is driven by the sex trade and the human trafficking >> that comes with it. There are 15,000 prostitutes in Israel, Rebecca Hughes >> from ATZUM’s Task Force on Human Trafficking wrote in The Times of Israel >> <http://blogs.timesofisrael.com/hookers-in-the-holy-land-an-uncomfortable-history-in-israel/>, >> >> entering the profession at an average age of 14. >> >> “By the 1990’s Israel was established as a destination country for >> trafficking, and international sex trafficking victims had replaced the >> local market,” Hughes wrote. “Israel’s flesh trade was booming and making >> between half a billion to three quarters of a billion dollars a year. It >> was a particularly desirable market for traffickers because the purchase of >> sexual services was, and still is, legal in Israel. ” >> >> “Throughout the 1990’s traffickers acted with impunity and, according to >> the Hotline for Migrant Workers, smuggled 3,000 women annually into >> Israel,” she added. >> >> The deteriorating situation led the US State Department to rank Israel as >> a Tier 3 nation in its Trafficking in Persons report, the lowest ranking. >> Tier 3 nations faced potential economic sanctions. The report was a wake-up >> call for Israel’s government, which passed a comprehensive anti-trafficking >> law, and was upgraded to a Tier 1 state. >> >> According to the index, there are nearly 30 million people trapped in >> slavery around the world. >> >> The study defined slavery as “the possession and control of a person in >> such a way as to significantly deprive that person of his or her individual >> liberty, with the intent of exploiting that person through their use, >> management, profit, transfer or disposal. Usually this exercise will be >> achieved through means such as violence or threats of violence, deception >> and/or coercion.” >> >> It relied on secondary sources for its study, especially reports from >> media, NGOs, and governments. It also used local surveys and interviews. >> >> In absolute numbers, India led the list with up to 14.7 million slaves, >> followed by China and Pakistan. Mauritania, with 3.8 million inhabitants >> and over 150,000 slaves, had the highest prevalence of slavery. >> >> Ireland, Iceland, and the UK enjoy the lowest prevalence of slavery, the >> survey said. >> >> The Walk Free Foundation is a nonprofit that seeks to end modern slavery, >> according to its website. The organization was founded in May 2012 by >> Australian metal magnate Andrew Forrest, who first became aware of the >> problem when his teen-aged daughter worked alongside slaves at a Nepalese >> orphanage. >> >> Read more: Thousands of slaves in Israel, global study finds | The Times >> of Israel >> <http://www.timesofisrael.com/thousands-of-slaves-in-israel-global-study-finds/#ixzz3LPRKkGEY> >> >> http://www.timesofisrael.com/thousands-of-slaves-in-israel-global-study-finds/#ixzz3LPRKkGEY >> >> Follow us: @timesofisrael on Twitter >> <http://ec.tynt.com/b/rw?id=dQLttcC2Wr45Q7acwqm_6r&u=timesofisrael> | >> timesofisrael >> on Facebook >> <http://ec.tynt.com/b/rf?id=dQLttcC2Wr45Q7acwqm_6r&u=timesofisrael> >> >> >> On Tuesday, December 9, 2014 7:00:07 AM UTC-6, Travis wrote: >>> >>> >>> >>> BareNakedIslam posted: "The Research and Fatwa Department of the >>> Islamic State (ISIS) has released a pamphlet with 'Questions and Answers on >>> Taking Captives and Slaves.' MEMRI It was presumably released in response >>> to the uproar caused by the many reports this summer that ISIS" >>> >>> New post on *BARE NAKED ISLAM* >>> <http://www.barenakedislam.com/?author=1> Islamic State (ISIS) >>> releases a Guide to Buying and Selling Female Slaves >>> <http://www.barenakedislam.com/2014/12/08/islamic-state-isis-releases-a-guide-to-buying-and-selling-female-slaves/> >>> by >>> BareNakedIslam <http://www.barenakedislam.com/?author=1> >>> >>> The Research and Fatwa Department of the Islamic State (ISIS) has >>> released a pamphlet with 'Questions and Answers on Taking Captives and >>> Slaves.' MEMRI It was presumably released in response to the uproar caused >>> by the many reports this summer that ISIS had taken Yazidi girls and women >>> as sex slaves. Written in the form […] >>> >>> Read more of this post >>> <http://www.barenakedislam.com/2014/12/08/islamic-state-isis-releases-a-guide-to-buying-and-selling-female-slaves/> >>> *BareNakedIslam <http://www.barenakedislam.com/?author=1>* | December >>> 8, 2014 at 11:51 pm | Categories: Children >>> <http://www.barenakedislam.com/?taxonomy=category&term=children>, Women >>> <http://www.barenakedislam.com/?taxonomy=category&term=women> | URL: >>> http://wp.me/p276zM-1a5L >>> >>> Comment >>> <http://www.barenakedislam.com/2014/12/08/islamic-state-isis-releases-a-guide-to-buying-and-selling-female-slaves/#respond> >>> >>> See all comments >>> <http://www.barenakedislam.com/2014/12/08/islamic-state-isis-releases-a-guide-to-buying-and-selling-female-slaves/#comments> >>> >>> >>> Unsubscribe >>> <https://subscribe.wordpress.com/?key=7f89380f46003915c34c2cdd2b126a38&email=bovinescatologists%40gmail.com&b=Laqg_EXoQN2Ox%26K3YHq7ElMHutrI6KS9itB7vSOFHqBX.NYt76_> >>> >>> to no longer receive posts from BARE NAKED ISLAM. >>> Change your email settings at Manage Subscriptions >>> <https://subscribe.wordpress.com/?key=7f89380f46003915c34c2cdd2b126a38&email=bovinescatologists%40gmail.com>. >>> >>> >>> >>> *Trouble clicking?* Copy and paste this URL into your browser: >>> http://www.barenakedislam.com/2014/12/08/islamic-state-isis- >>> releases-a-guide-to-buying-and-selling-female-slaves/ >>> >>> >>> >>> >>> -- >> -- >> Thanks for being part of "PoliticalForum" at Google Groups. >> For options & help see http://groups.google.com/group/PoliticalForum >> >> * Visit our other community at http://www.PoliticalForum.com/ >> * It's active and moderated. 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