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an essay about modern slavery
SLAVERY LITERATURE REVIEW
an essay about modern slavery
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Modern Slavery: Investigating a Monstrosity
Rubbing the vintage lamp that you bought on eBay will not give you a genie who in his thunderous voice would echo, ‘Master, your wish is my command!’ And thereby become your slave. But just because you are not a character from Arabian Nights or do not live in the era of trans-Atlantic slavery does not mean that you have missed the chance to own a slave. In fact living in twenty first century has made it much easier and affordable for you to own a slave.
The mention of the word slavery brings to the modern mind images of black people chained and brought to America in ships; the images associated to a kind of slavery that existed before 1865 mostly in South America. But the truth is that slavery is as ancient as human civilisation. It has existed in almost every culture and it exists till date.
This year’s Oscar Awards provided me the stimulus to write this paper, when Steve McQueen, director of the critically acclaimed movie 12 Years a Slave declared, ‘I am dedicating this award to all the people who have endured slavery and the 21 million people who still suffer slavery today.’ ‘Everyone deserves not just to survive, but to live,’ he said. ‘This is the most important legacy of Solomon Northup.’
The aim of this term paper is to familiarise readers with the phenomena of ‘Modern Slavery’ and expose the heinous face of contemporary slavery.
What is Modern Slavery?
Modern day slavery according to Dr Kevin Bales has various meanings. There are definitions provided by international conventions and those that exist in people’s mind but the term ‘slave’ can be interpreted differently in different languages.
Dr Bales suggests that slavery has been ‘packaged’ differently at different points...
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...tors that are made with Coltan. 64% of Coltan reserves are located in Congo where child labourers work for endless tiring hours. The chocolates and coffee that you enjoy are brought to your table by estimated 200,000 child slaves working in Ivory Coast alone, harvesting 40% of the world's cocoa beans.
Justin Dillon, one time musician and abolitionist who on the behest of U.S state developed Slavery footprints in 2011 works. His headquarters situated in oklahoma to eradicate slavery from some of the brands that we love. Akin to Dillon there are various abolitionists and human right activist who try and eradicate slavery.
But the very existence of modern-day slavery is an anti-thesis to the codes of humanity. It is a black spot on the face of our existence which has with the passage of time only expanded and consumed in its dark shadow millions of innocent lives.
Before the Atlantic Slave Trade, most slaves were acquired through capturing soldiers and citizens following a military skirmage, and were not viewed as the lowest class of citizens. This was present throughout the world, and was common in every society. Following their capture, the enslaved would then be assimilated into the society, and eventually obtain freedom. Slaves at the time were viewed as members of the community, only in a slightly lower class. In the Islamic culture, the capturing of slaves from warfare was only permissible due to the chances of rebellion following their release immediately after the battle ensued. Therefore, the captured would be treated as guests in the house until their release at the appropriate time. In the Islamic World, prior and following their release, slaves could establish their own families and businesses, and even had the chances of gaining high political and military positions. In 15th century Russia, slaves were treated as property rather than guests, but were obtained through unpaid debts and warfare, and given a brief period of the year in which they were able to act freely as if they were true freemen. Beginning in a time where ...
In the early 1800’s, the United States’ culture of slavery was fostered for a lifespan of forcible enslavement. For all Slaves, this was the normality which was callously endured. In his work, Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, “An American Slave,” Frederick Douglass argues and exemplifies that his fate was destined outside of the walls of slavery.
For most American’s especially African Americans, the abolition of slavery in 1865 was a significant point in history, but for African Americans, although slavery was abolished it gave root for a new form of slavery that showed to be equally as terrorizing for blacks. In the novel Slavery by Another Name, by Douglas Blackmon he examines the reconstruction era, which provided a form of coerced labor in a convict leasing system, where many African Americans were convicted on triumphed up charges for decades.
In the non-fiction book, Disposable People, Kevin Bales informs readers that slavery still exists in our world and that it is more brutal and harsh then slavery in the past. The author states that slavery in the 1800s is different from slavery of today, and that many places around the world practices ‘new slavery’. Bales attempts to point out how prevalent ‘new slavery’ is and he does this by doing numerous case studies on different countries including Brazil, Pakistan, and even the United States. Bales also depicts what people go through in this new type of slavery and how it on the rise in terms of economic growth. Bale uses the terms old and new slavery in order to show a difference between the two types, to show how other counties like
For more than two hundred years, a certain group of people lived in misery; conditions so inhumane that the only simile that can compare to such, would be the image of a caged animal dying to live, yet whose live is perished by the awful chains that dragged him back into a dark world of torture and misfortune. Yes, I am referring to African Americans, whose beautiful heritage, one which is full of cultural beauty and extraordinary people, was stained by the privilege given to white men at one point in the history of the United States. Though slavery has been “abolished” for quite some years; or perhaps it is the ideal driven to us by our modern society and the lines that make up our constitution, there is a new kind of slavery. One which in
The author Kevin Bales ,and co-writer Ron Soodalter, discuss the issues pertaining to forced labor in “Slavery in The Land of The Free”. Free The Slaves is a non-profit organization in Washington that Bales founded to help end slavery not only in the United States, but around the world. The Abraham Lincoln Institute has the honor to have the established historian, Soodalter, serve on it’s board.The two authors also wrote a book by the name of “The Slave Next Door: Human trafficking and Slavery in America Today” (2009). One of the issues that Bales and Soodalter effectively touch on is how widespread the issue of human trafficking and slavery is in
While slavery is mentioned in nearly every textbook, in most instances it is confined to the global slave trade and 19th century America. Unlike in the prior examples, there is not a trace of modern slavery discussion in today’s textbooks, although this is not a recent development. For years I grew up believing that slavery was something that happened to black people a long time ago. Although misconceptions definitely lie within my beliefs of slavery a few centuries ago, I had no idea that it was still happening on a global scale. And it is worse today than it ever has been. Kevin Bales, author of the book Disposable People, brings to reality the fact that, “Slavery is a booming business and the number of slaves is increasing” (Bales 4). This is not a quote from someone who ate dinner alongside George Washington, this book was written not even twenty years ago. The 2011 film Nefarious: Merchant of Souls explores the most modern form of slavery: the global sex trafficking industry. Through exploring instances of this despicable crime across multiple countries around the world, the documentary ultimately boils down to a shocking point introduced by Helen Sworn, who has been working to fight child prostitution in Cambodia since 2009. As she stated, “The same abuse we think is happening in someone else’s country is happening is happening right
Anytime we hear the word “slavery”, we tend to think of the Southern United States during the Pre-Civil War era. What many people don’t know, is that this horrible act has occurred worldwide! The term “slavery” has many different definitions, and has occurred all throughout our world history. It wasn’t until the early 18th century that the thought of anti-slavery came about. Many economic, social, and technological forces have played a part in the decline of slavery around the globe.
That was when blacks could fight for their own freedom. Even though slavery was “abolished” from the United States as well as the whole world, the fields were still short many workers and machinery, which in return made most of the labor to be done by hand. These events are like the events that happened at Chesapeake Bay, when it was hard for officers to handle laborers. The events that followed have been haunting to Americas history. Due to history and events the present is still being strongly impacted by slavery, but not in terms of placing chains on the African culture, but instead presenting racist patterns (O’Connell, 2012). After researching slavery’s history extensively this paper will be a source that presents information regarding to the impact that slavery has had on past and present society as well as a detailed history of slavery. Even though slavery was “abolished” from the USA it will continue to root its ugly head into society and the psychological affects that slavery still has on contemporary
To understand the desperation of wanting to obtain freedom at any cost, it is necessary to take a look into what the conditions and lives were like of slaves. It is no secret that African-American slaves received cruel and inhumane treatment. Although she wrote of the horrific afflictions experienced by slaves, Linda Brent said, “No pen can give adequate description of the all-pervading corruption produced by slavery." The life of a slave was never a satisfactory one, but it all depended on the plantation that one lived on and the mast...
The ideas I intend to express in the following paper are in no way meant to make allowances for the practices of slavery or racism. As I begin this paper, I feel the need to remind the reader that I find slavery, in all of its forms, to be an oppressive and terrible institution. I unwaveringly believe that for centuries, including this one, the narrow-mindedness that slavery has perpetrated is one of the most terrible humiliations leveled upon our civilization. These views are meant only to assess and illuminate the construction of slavery in film.
When we think about slavery many things come to our mind. There are many different ways one can describe slavery. If you were to look it up in a dictionary it would say that a slave is “one who is owned and forced into service by another,” this was the definition given in the Webster’s Dictionary. But then again if you were to look it up in the Oxford Dictionary the definition given here is of one who is an “obsessive devotee.” On the whole slavery can have different meanings to different people.
Slavery is defined as a person being owned by someone, a state of bondage, servitude, or work performed under harsh conditions for little or no pay. Both continental African slavery and external commercial slavery deprived people of freedom. Continental slavery focused on adding people to a group to be productive members of the society and for other reasons beside monetary benefits. External slavery consisted of obtaining slaves for monetary means while inducing physical, emotional as well as psychological detriment to ensure compliance (Reader, 1997). With the emergence of European colonies, a system of trade with American Indians was created ...
The word “slavery” brings back horrific memories of human beings. Bought and sold as property, and dehumanized with the risk and implementation of violence, at times nearly inhumane. The majority of people in the United States assumes and assures that slavery was eliminated during the nineteenth century with the Emancipation Proclamation. Unfortunately, this is far from the truth; rather, slavery and the global slave trade continue to thrive till this day. In fact, it is likely that more individuals are becoming victims of human trafficking across borders against their will compared to the vast number of slaves that we know in earlier times. Slavery is no longer about legal ownership asserted, but instead legal ownership avoided, the thought provoking idea that with old slavery, slaves were maintained, compared to modern day slavery in which slaves are nearly disposable, under the same institutionalized systems in which violence and economic control over the disadvantaged is the common way of life. Modern day slavery is insidious to the public but still detrimental if not more than old American slavery.
For as long as civilization has existed so has slavery in its various forms. These downtrodden segments of society can be found throughout the annals of history; and some, like Oscar Wilde above, claim it was a necessary evil of civilization. Only in these modern times has much of the world found a reprieve from slavery. And finally mankind recognizes that in fact we all are equal, and all deserve certain immutable rights. Maybe not inconsequentially this change of heart has occurred because man has found the perfect slave; a slave that never sleeps, never eats, never complains; a slave totally incapable of open rebellion. It is as Oscar Wilde said, "the slavery of the machine."