Does slavery still exist?

Jean-Marie Valheur

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been alive for quite a while 12h

Does slavery still exist?

There are many Indians, Africans and Filipinos who are worked to the bones in Dubai or the Gulf States. They’re dirt poor and have few rights — in fact they could be ejected from the country any moment. Why? Their employers take their passports. So on paper, officially? Many of them aren’t even there. A wrong look, a wrong word, and you’re done for.

I knew one Filipina who was imprisoned — her employer had taken her passport, and refused to pay her. She eventually tried to file a police case against her employer for non-payment. Her employer then filed a case against HER for being “illegal” as she “didn’t have a passport”. When the employer had been the one to take the passport! There are millions of cases like these. We don’t call them slaves… we call them “migrant workers”. But what’s the difference?

You know who provides the cotton for the cheap shirts many people in the West wear? Uyghur prisoners in concentration camps in Xinjiang, China. Nike. Adidas. Shein. Temu. Just a few of the many brands brought to you by slave labor.

[1]

 We do not call these people slaves, either — they’re called ‘terrorists’ or ‘dissidents’ by the Chinese government. Or maybe just a “troublesome minority”. Slaves picked cotton in the American South before. And would get punished for not picking enough. Many of these ethnic minorities aren’t paid a dime. Many of them are, in fact, incarcerated because they’re “seperatists”. Which is basically just a fancy way of saying “someone who doesn’t like the central government very much due to their efforts to erase their culture and race.

[2]

Then we also have Bangladeshi factories. We have sweatshops in Latin America, in Vietnam, India, Pakistan. We have illegal workers, exploited, throughout the world. American prisoners put to work for a few cents an hour, doing mind-numbingly stupid work. And NONE of these people are called ‘slaves’. But how is it not slavery when a worker has zero rights and is unable to refuse the work for fear of severe repercussions, retaliation or a loss of livelihood?

Footnotes

[1] 

Nike, Adidas, Shein, Temu Sent Letter From House China Committee About Forced Labor

[2] Debunking Denialist Narratives Around the Xinjiang Genocide.