There Are Now More Slaves Than at Any Point in Human History

[xchrom]

http://www.alternet.org/investigations/there-are-now-more-slaves-any-point-human-history

My very first survivor was a boy. How many of us are looking for boys?”
--Sandra Morgan, Director, Global Center for Women & Justice at Vanguard University



His legs were thin as faded whispers and dangled like twisted ropes from his wheelchair, and his walk was a drag as he pulled himself along with worn-out school erasers clutched in each hand. Nadu was born this way and despite being 13 years old, he had just received his first wheelchair the day prior to my arrival. He hadn’t needed one for the past seven years. When he was five his family bent to the weight of foresight, tradition and circumstance. They sold him.

For seven years Nadu was stored like luggage in the back of a nondescript van and was taken from community to community for the sole purpose of being raped by anybody willing to pay enough to cover the driver’s fuel and food expenses. It’s called a mobile brothel and Nadu’s story is only one of countless many. He fought back the first week, but after being beaten nearly to death on two different occasions, he learned that living meant succumbing. And so it went day after day—when days felt like years and years like thick fog. When I met him he smiled but I couldn’t tell if it was a smile of courtesy, relief or something else altogether.

Like many Americans, I once lived under the impression that large-scale slavery ended with the Emancipation Proclamation (and the Civil War) in 1863. My travels both domestic and abroad have coupled with my attendance at conferences by organizations like Not For Sale and Slavery No More to show a truer picture, one that forced me to confront my Americentric worldviews and my absolute naiveté.

There are more slaves today than at any point in human history – 27 million worldwide. The best numbers on the subject reflect that 1-1.2 million children are trafficked every year, and 100,000 human trafficking victims are currently in the United States. After drug dealing, human trafficking (both sex trafficking and trafficking for forced labor) is tied with the illegal arms industry as the second largest criminal industry in the world today, and it’s the fastest growing. 80% of trafficking victims are women and girls.

[dipsydoodle]

1. So sad.

[seabeyond]

2. thanks for this article. i hope it is read. nt

[Quantess]

3. Hinduism religion and their caste system

The caste system is out of fashion officially in India, but it still exists. Child sex slavery is acceptable in that religion, as long as the children are from the lowest caste. 5 to 7 year old children are the favorite age, so I hear. Once they reach puberty they are seen as too dirty so they are kicked out onto the streets.

[Scuba]

4. K&R

[marmar]

5. k/r

[Mnemosyne]

6. ...

[redqueen]

7. K&R

*waits for the claims that this is really all exaggerated and it's really a small problem*

[CrispyQ]

8. No words.

k&r

[redqueen]

9. Kick

[FedUpWithIt All]

10. This makes me so heartsick.

Just really sad.

[gollygee]

11. Horrifying

and much more common than we want to think. K&R

[siligut]

12. Something most people don't want to/can't believe, so they don't

This happens in America too, children abused from an early age so that they dissociate, one personality is a child, the other is a sex slave.

Some of the most chilling I have heard was a seller telling a buyer that the child was programmed so she wouldn't remember the abuse and would act normal in public places.

Major, sophisticated business in selling children as slaves and so few people outside of the loop "know" anything at all.

[Hydra]

14. Interesting that you know about that dirty iceburg

Right under our noses, no less.

[siligut]

17. There are plenty of books out on it

Does your user name indicate that you know something about it as well?

[Hydra]

18. I found out about it via MKUltra

I also live in a state with...interesting people in it. Unnerves me when people refer to "civilization" with such things going on.

[siligut]

19. It is in quite a few states that I know of

They are very good at hiding. MKUltra was in military bases across the country. Civilization is for the people who don't know.

[Hydra]

20. The fact that the good Dr. Cameron was put at the head of the APA

And other places of power and prestige, rather than a jail cell says a lot about how widespread and supported the program and its offshoots are by TPTB.

Not having any direct evidence, there's no reason to think it's not in every state reasonably accessible. There was a busted FLDSer in my area that got sloppy, for instance.

[siligut]

24. I first learned about it through Mormonism

One of the reasons I have such a problem with the religion. It isn't just the FLDS either. Two women I met were from LDS families.

[Hydra]

26. Irony, but you are correct

I simply pointed it out because the FLDSer was so flagrant. He had a "Honeymoon" in one of our local hotels and got busted for it.

I've never seen it personally, but the hints are all over the place about it. Sort of a "cultural flavor" around here like a bad odor. But thanks for reminding me that I'm not just seeing things.

[Quantess]

13. Sickening.

[Hydra]

15. Excellent article

I advocated against this at one point, and still do in various ways.

It's an invisible problem, because the people exploiting it are in favor of it, and the people who should be against it don't want to believe it. Only the barest sliver acknowledge it, and usually in the form of "It's halfway across the world."

Is it? Are you sure?

[seabeyond]

21. yes. nt

[Quantess]

31. We do do not see it before our eyes so it is not occurring.

Nobody wants to think about the worst evils. Denial. No they are not happening!

It is very burdensome to think about. As other human beings are suffering, so we all suffer as a human race, as a whole global society.

[loyalsister]

16. 100,000 known to be in the US

I think that is a notable underestimation. I have friends who have been involved in exposing these situations, and the number they have uncovered in a very small area is large and growing.
They have enlisted the USDA because they can enter some suspected premisses to questioning cleanliness. Roadside hotels with restaurants have been ideal transfer or even initiation spots and some have been caught.

[Hydra]

25. Millions, easily

It's like what a mob informant said on a show I was watching(paraphrasing): "It's amazing to me that you can go to any town in America, no matter how small...and if you want to, you can find drugs."

[loyalsister]

27. I agree

Getting people to believe it is a huge challenge. Another problem is that slavery itself is not entirely illegal. Minimum wage is not automatic. If a person will work for lower wages or just housing, "employers" are free to get more work and pay less money to desperate people.

[Hydra]

28. It's cultural, I think

Something we don't like talking about- like the "Legitimate Rape" comment...at some level, this is approved behavior- but we don't talk about it! Like how beating women and children used to be acceptable.

I personally think our system of work is just an efficient and "voluntary" form of slavery, so the idea that people won't do the "bad" old version side by side with it is kinda silly.

[loyalsister]

29. Exactly

I think beating children is still acceptable in some circles. I am endlessly seeing FB posts passed around about how "I was spanked and didn't shoot anyone"

As for our system of work I agree. I think we didn't see some of this coming when factory workers wanted their sons\daughters to be lawyers. Didn't count on the elevated distance it would bring between professions or the widening gaps that would come with it.

[Hydra]

30. FB is certainly a good place to see how many people glorify stupidity

And my blood boils every time I see those posts...ironically, one of the people on my friends list was physically and sexually abused, but she shares those posts.



I agree about your other point though- the better people are doing, the less likely they are to accept that other people are not doing well. Kinda "I made it, why can't you??"

Ayn Rand's vision of a nation of selfish individuals seems to be horribly coming true. Equality isn't the goal- being top of the heap is. Who needs other people except to satisfy urges?

Community...the thing that helped us survive as a species is now disappearing...amid the cheers of people who should have known better.

[mia]

22. ...he learned that living meant succumbing...

So sorry for this young child and so many others.

[Liberal_in_LA]

23. ..

[CameronConaway]

32. Thank you all for sharing my work!

I've recently discovered the Democratic Underground and am thrilled to see my essay posted here. If anyone has questions about the article or human trafficking in general please feel free to email me through the contact form on CameronConaway.com.

Keep fighting the good fight!

~Cameron

[xchrom]

33. Oh cool! Welcome &

Hopefully we will see around here!

[Kurovski]

34. Welcome to DU!

I have a friend who has been working on a play about female sex trafficking that will be produced in Chicago, I will direct her to you and your kind offer.

Edited to write: She will also be including a male character.