Mother Jones - Comments for "The Apex of Slavery"

this is soo horrible to

this is soo horrible to read... humans are treated like animals, even worse..

Billboards design | Web portal design | Magazine Ads Design

ddddddddddds

The EPA recently changed the MPG ratings so in 2007 the smart would have gotten upper 40's low 50's, plus no expensive battery to change when you get up there in miles. I have crunched the numbers and ordered my smart a few months ago!

thanx

thsnx

Did anybody say educated? I meant "nothing to lose

Re: the 9/25/08 column by Nicholas Kristof: 'A Heroine from the Brothels'

Mr. Kristof relates the brave story of the Somaly Mam, who had been forced to work in a brothel as a young teen in Cambodia, went on to get the place shut down, now works with her husband to combat sex trafficking, and appeared at the UN this week. Kristof calls upon international leaders to combat the slavery that still exists in the world in this century.

At Columbia University a few nights ago was a program that focused on modern slavery in many countries, now called 'human trafficking.' The event was sponsored by the Center for the Study of Science and Religion at Columbia. The program began with a man who was associated with the new rabbinical school on the campus, intended to train rabbis to go out and administer to the poor, hungry, widows, and modern slaves of the world, remembering that Egypt once kept Jews as slaves thousands of years ago.

A woman representing the DC organization called Free the Slaves informed us next that there are 27 million slaves in the world today, meaning folks who are forced to work without pay by someone controlling their lives, often children, and their NPO works with 5 countries in Asia, Africa, and Latin America, but she also mentioned that slavery exists even in the USA, including child abuse and men who are abusing their spouses. More slaves are in the world at this time than ever before in history, twice as many as were brought over to the new world from Africa by slave ships in the days of the diaspora, when slavery was even excused by some folks by economic rationalizations.

Two men from Africa who had won what were called 'Freedom Awards' spoke briefly of their wonderful work with former slaves (mostly children) back in their home countries. Each was introduced with a little 3-minute video of his work in his home town. James Kofi Annan, winner of an award named after Frederick Douglass, himself had been enslaved as a child in Ghana, where many kids are forced to help with fishing with nets in the lakes formed by the river that flows through the western African country, dangerous work indeed, and he had seen several other children killed when told to go untangle some net underwater. Mr Annan escaped at 13, worked his way through college, got a job at a Barclay Bank (which was a big deal in his country), then was seized by his feeling he wanted to help other slaves, resigned in 2007, and founded the school called Challenging Heights, which he runs with his wife (sitting in the audience) and a small staff. There, children who had been enslaved since as early as 6 years old are taught to read, given counseling for the trauma they have endured, offered sports, taught healthy habits and trade skills, and eventually it is hoped introduced back into their home communities. Their community welcomes donations such as school supplies and clothing. Their website is www.challengingheights.com, and their email is challheights@yahoo.com.

Ricky Richard had been one of the many children forced to be a soldier in the ongoing civil wars in northern Uganda, had seen his whole family burned alive in their hut but had escaped, and has been given the Harriet Tubman award for having founded the organization called Friends of Orphans. Since 1999, their mission has been to rehabilitate, empower, and reintegrate former child soldiers and inductees and women who have been ravaged by the conflict and HIV/AIDS. Life and vocational skills are taught, as well as conflict management skills, with the emphasis upon seeking to learn to live as a community, especially since most had been trained at an early age to hate their neighbors and live by a fierce but brutal tribal loyalty. Their website is frouganda.org, and email is fropug@yahoo.co.uk, or ngomkwaro@yahoo.co.uk. Though his name was not mentioned, the terrible figure of Idi Amin came to my mind.

When the two gentlemen had finished their brief and modest but heartfelt sharing to us, the rabbi came on again and said that these men were truly heroes in his estimation, and though only a few of us in the audience could be called African Americans, just a few thousand years ago, all humans were still in Africa, so all of our citizens are really American Africans. He said that a country that had spent billions of dollars on wars on the other side of the world surely could do more about relieving world poverty and misery, too. The Free the Slaves lady urged us all to urge Congress to go about taking steps forever to eradicate slavery from the face of the earth.

I'm annoyed by the false claim that (US?) feminists ignore everything but sex slavery. Ms. Magazine steadily runs articles on slavery here and abroad; from a feature article last year,

"The majority of trafficking victims are people who may be sewing our clothes, picking our crops, washing dishes in our restaurants, cleaning our motel rooms and building our homes and office buildings. They may be enslaved as domestic servants in our neighbors’ homes."

That's at http://www.msmagazine.com/summer2007/invisibleones.asp if you want to see for yourself; the article has links to anti-slavery organizations, too.

Not all participants in the U.S. sex trade are coerced into the marketplace. I do find ludicrous the notion that most women, young men, and children are voluntarily submitting to sex acts for $1 a pop (especially if their 'friend' 'daddy', business manager' pimp- is getting the other $24.)
I read this interview along with the Mother Jones Special Report 'Who Can Stop Domestic Violence?' It seems the minute (and o, how I hope I am wrong) a powerful person's (usually, but not always, a man's) desire for control is in question, a woman loses her rights.
I am a female who has strong spiritual beliefs.
I am horrified at all sorts of oppression- I shop accordingly, avoiding retailers who fund exploitation of workers, and share my money with groups who work to provide financial self reliance to people who are losing their livelihoods to globalized capitalism.
That'a about all I have the resources to do at this time, since I am playing catch-up after 20 years of legalized sexual and financial servitude. Evidently when I entered into the marrige contract, I lost my rights as an American citizen to not be punched in the face, strangled with a belt, verbally assulted, financially defrauded, and certainly I lost my right to chose to engage or not engage in sex.
If one is a male, the best financial investment he can make is a $20 marriage certificate.
I hope brave committed people like Mr. Skinner and the evangelicals, and the feminists and law enforcement can all work together to help people out of oppression.

The hypocrisy of Mike O knows no bounds. Fix it yourself, princess.

Hey Lorin...

It's a big damn world, somewhere sometime there will always be something happening that makes Humanity seem worthless.

Everyone bitches about how bad the world has =become=. It hasn't "become" worse, we're just more aware of more inequities than ever before. Ever lift a board that had been lying for weeks or months in a beautiful meadow? Same idea.

Fighting the Good Fight may not help =much= in the big picture, but it sure doesn't make it any worse.

We ain't gonna fix this any easier than fixing war or religion fanaticism. The hypocrisy of evangelicals knows no bounds

How can I continue to live in this world when this kind of activity is allowed to happen?

Did anybody say educated? I meant "nothing to lose" :o

How do we fix this?

I'm not talking about sending $10 or marching down the street with cards held high or "doing something". I'm talking about the opposite of doing nothing, about shoving the mountain into the sea. What does one educated person with nothing to loose do right now to initiate the end of slavery and everything that goes with it?