Modern Slavery -I

   *  I start writing on the topic of slavery after it has been in my mind since quite long time. I want to point out, I`m not going to make research or any social addition about the problem of slavery. My article is about a very wide perception on what is “slavery” in the modern society, and not limited to what commonly people understand behind this word.

I. In order to distinguish my general concept on the topic and the usual usage of term slavery worldwide, I`ll start from the well known idea.

What people understand behind the term “slavery” today?

     * There are surely many forms of slavery in worldwide. Researches in this field reveal around 21. million people enslaved globally, from them 26% are children (sometimes bellow 16), 22% are estimated to be forced sex slaves, mostly women, 78% are forced in manual labor slavery (such as farming, mining, ranching, maids, dish-washing, gardening..) Fields for the slaves to be trapped in labor and turmoil are many.

In this quite narrow perspective of slavery, we can obviously condemn it as illegal, out of the low and criminal action. Here I wont go into more details about social side of the problem. More interesting for me is psychological side - who is claimed as a “slave”? Slave is a person, who is forced and trapped in a labor, work and actions, on which he did not agree willingly. This is the way society understands the term. Just here we have to be aware –there are various combinations of conditions, psychological motives, fear, economic repressions…to make one person a slave. In my opinion he can be slave even if he doesn’t feel one. For example children in early age cant realize or comprehend the “good” or bad consequences of many actions. They have feelings, but not developed mind and ability to analyze things they see. They assume something made or given by elder people –specially their parents or custodians – is already “the right thing” without arguments. They cant be aware fully on their situation of trapped unwillingly, as they accept it as existing fact. They are most vulnerable group, exactly for psychological reasons. The second most vulnerable group are women and girls. Many times the so called “developing” societies – cant distinguish well between “woman” and “a child girl”. Moreover some undeveloped cultures and societies (as in Afghanistan, Iraq) have the idea that the girl becomes “woman” just after her first menstruation. These girls- women then can be exploited and used in absolutely criminal and dirty ways, as much elder men could marry them.

There are statistically high percentage of prostitute women in the world, but we even cant be sure how many of them are children (under 18). And how many women actually do that “willingly”? These are questions seems modern society is not so interested to answer.

     II. I want to concentrate now on my own point about slavery. What I understand slavery to be is much wider, various, with multiple faces. We cant even overlook this problem, but before that we need to open eyes for the truth.

Slavery is phenomenon in societies and world, that exists historically until now. As I said, slavery is on the first place “psychological” phenomenon, this is the basis. Then it appears as physical. Slaves are not only people who we imagine to be trapped in a hard physical labor.

     * I`ll make here maybe a shocking statement, but I want to be clear about the facts: Bigger percent of the worlds population are “slaves” in reality, and not free people.

    To be sure about that, think deeply on what is called slavery. I stated, that not all people even are able to realize their position of slaves – specially the children. There are also many people who don’t think themselves as “slaves” but they are such. There are people too, who want to do something (labor, work, that are claimed as “enslaving” in too many cases), by their willing. So are these people “slaves”?

 I`ll observe some particular cases here. First of all, I have to point out, there can be multiple reasons for person to be slave: 1. economic instability, poverty 2. psychological illness, 3. inability to escape from a situation 4. any kind of discrimination on race, gender, group. People who use others in such way, take advantage from their status of vulnerable group in any kind. If they are women, miserable, needing finances for their families, needing to survive, migrants, children…So the slaves are used on the first place psychologically. They put themselves in such situation, usually due to lack of other choices. In this way they are trapped unwillingly.

This enslavement is claimed as criminal action and out of the low, exactly because of peoples “inner reaction” or unwillingness. Slaves want to take any possible chance to run away. They can be paid little, can be abused physically and mistreated. Slavery is abusing the main human rights, known since century of Enlightenment: freedom, equality, labor and working rights. 

[ nina Lea-nura * ]

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