Sex, Greed And Forced Abortions

[LiviaOlivia]

Sex, Greed And Forced Abortions
Rebecca Clarren
May 09, 2006

Rebecca Clarren, an investigative journalist based in Portland, Ore., traveled to Saipan in February on assignment for Ms.The article below is excerpted from an exclusive investigative report that appears in the Spring 2006 issue of Ms. magazine. To read the full article , look for Ms. on 7,757 newsstands across the country—or subscribe at www.msmagazine.com.

A naked Mongolian woman in a blond wig grinds her body around a silver pole. As music pounds through the small room, disco lights reveal an overweight, graying man in a Hawaiian shirt sitting in the corner, rubbing the thighs of another of the club’s dancers. Outside this Saipan nightclub, scantily-clad Chinese girls, their hair dyed red or blond, sit on cheap white plastic chairs. “You want massage?” they call out to the Asian businessmen and U.S. Navy sailors who frequent the club.

~snip~

One would imagine that Tom DeLay, a right-wing Christian, would be appalled by the teeming red-light district of Saipan, the main island in the Micronesian chain of the Northern Marianas. Or Jack Abramoff, an Orthodox Jew. Yet these two men have been among the strongest supporters of an exploitative labor and immigration system on Saipan that has helped fuel not just this sex tourism, but work arrangements that are tantamount to indentured servitude.

When asked about reports of forced prostitution and labor abuses, DeLay told the Galveston County Daily News in May 2005: “Sure, when you get this number of people, there are stories of sexual exploitation. But in interviewing these employees one-on-one, there was no evidence of any of that going on. No evidence of sweatshops as portrayed by the national media. It’s a beautiful island with beautiful people who are happy about what’s happening.”

No evidence? DeLay’s support persisted even when a Department of Interior report documented that workers in Saipan’s garment factories were coerced into having unwanted abortions. The damage continues to this day, even though both men have been stripped of their power.

~snip~

http://www.tompaine.com/articles/2006/05/09/sex_greed_and_forced_abortions.php

[varkam]

1. DeLay a hypocrite?

Say it ain't so. For all his talk about "family values", he sure has a strange way of showing it by supporting the economic structure of Saipan.