The Official Story
There is this bizarre conception that slavery was a brief part of history. The conventional view goes something like this.
“Slavery was horrible, it was promoted by evil slave holders, however it was abolished and we can all celebrate now.”
The question regarding why slavery was accepted for so long is somewhat papered over. However, how slavery worked and works is only infrequently discussed. Thus we thought we would outline slavery in this post.
History of Slavery and It’s Current Manifestations
Slavery is an ancient method of organizing labor and property rights. It is not entirely known, but thought likely that the first slaves were captured enemies. In the US, slavery is considered primarily a white vs. black institution, however, this is historically inaccurate, but in a way is an idea reinforced by institutions that seek to explain slavery within a far more narrow context than it historically occurred.
History Then and Now
Far from an aberration, slavery is a an extremely common work relationship…
….and it has stood the test of time…
..and has had a global reach. Slavery began local, but with the introduction of international shipping became an international phenomena, and this was not simply for a short period of time. For roughly 30o years the number one way in Britain to become wealthy was to be a slaver.
..it is the central organizing structure of all of Latin America which always has been setup as a system of privileged European descendents surrounded masses of mostly illiterate Indian and mestizo peasants.
“Nuevo” Slavery
Not to be outdone, America uses subcontract slaves in overseas factories. Almost all garments we wear are made by people mistreated in sweatshops. These people make on average 9 cents for shirts that sell for $30 dollars. Definitive statistics are hard to come by, but that number was taken from Nike’s own documentation. Republicans like to cover this over with the statement that “9 cents per hour is better than what they were getting before.” This is why they are the party of “God.”
However, sometimes the US bring in slaves, though in a less direct manner than in the Antebellum South. They do this when they find that US citizens ask for a living wage.
Slavery and continues to this day under different names (illegal aliens, H2 visas, guest workers, garment workers, etc…). And with new names and philosophies like the free market or free trade or the right to work, and supported by the largest companies….
…..there is very little stopping it from continuing its long march.
Our Ideas About Slavery
The idea that slavery is gone from our planet is completely inaccurate. In fact it is not remotely supportable. Yet most people nod in agreement when slavery is discussed as a historical institution. The reality of slavery is quite a bit different. To begin, slavery was not some short term aberration. It goes back to the beginning of human history. The bible has passages that discuss how to be a good slaveholder and the ethics of managing slaves and slave prisoners of war. Secondly, slavery still occurs in even the supposedly “free societies.” Globalization is most certainly a form internationally slavery where the poor work in manufacturing jobs for subsistence wages for the benefit of those in wealthy countries. Workers in these sweatshops are controlled, given bad health conditions, they have no freedom, have their travel documents controlled, are isolated from their families, are physically intimated and beaten and can be sexually assaulted by the sweatshop guards. Why we shy away from calling this slavery tells you something about our intellectual culture. The logic is that even if they are paid cents per hour, that is cents they would not ordinarily get.
Common Areas of Slavery
Rather than being out of fashion, slavery is common an in effect and not going anywhere. The only thing that is unfashionable about slavery is the word “slavery.” Slavery has a new name now. Some of the most liberal people in the nicest neighborhoods would be surprised to find they have a number of people working for them as slaves. While reading a book on the abolition of slavery to their children, they may exclaim:
“where is my Honduran gardener? why is he late again.”
References
http://www.projectcensored.org/top-stories/articles/15-worldwide-slavery/
http://www.projectcensored.org/top-stories/articles/7-guest-workers-inc-fraud-and-human-trafficking/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antebellum
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