Modern slavery

[Andromedus]

We like to think that slavery is a thing of the past, unfortunately that is not true. ILO (International Labour Organization) claims that there is between 12 to 13 million people living in slavery in our world today. But there could be even more people, it is actually quite probable since some countries prefer not to tell us the truth about it, China is probably a good example. Therefore some people thinks it could even be 40 millions. According to ILO 9,5 millions slaves lives in Asia, most of them in India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Nepal. In Latin-America and the West Indies there are 1,3 millions slaves, south of Africa 660 000, in Middle East and North Africa 260 000. In the industrialized western countries there is something around 360 000 slaves and in Eastern Europe 210 000. But this is just minimum figures, there is probably even more slaves than this but we don’t know for sure how many they are since governments and states lies about it and also because of other reasons. Child slavery for example is easy to hide.
The last country to make slavery illegal was Mauritania but 20 % of the population might still be slaves.

It doesn’t seems like making it illegal is enough to make it disappear, which isn’t really weird considering how long it has been around and if it would work then it would be extinct by now. But what do you think we can do about this? Right now it doesn’t seem to be an issue the political leaders of the world really cares about. And, since this is a Catholic forum, what should and can the Church do?

I am not sure if slavery and forced labour ever will disappear altogether but it is so horrible, it makes me angry to think about it

 

[GEddie]

Publicized political discourse is for the most part, a Western phenomenon; and since the Western world has largely got rid of slavery, we treat it as something that is in the past.

There is also the issue that really nothing can be done about slavery in regions outside the Western orbit.

The Church began in a time when slavery was normally accepted. As such, it’s mission has not included fighting it.

Shalom, ICXC NIKA

 

[Andromedus]

Publicized political discourse is for the most part, a Western phenomenon; and since the Western world has largely got rid of slavery, we treat it as something that is in the past.

There is also the issue that really nothing can be done about slavery in regions outside the Western orbit.

I agree that people in the West often sees slavery as a thing of the past but that is wrong and people in the West is involved in this too.

The Church began in a time when slavery was normally accepted. As such, it’s mission has not included fighting it.

I don’t see what thats got to do with anything? A lot of things the Church was and is against was common and accepted in the Roman Empire.

1747 The right to the exercise of freedom, especially in religious and moral matters, is an inalienable requirement of the dignity of man. But the exercise of freedom does not entail the putative right to say or do anything.

2414 The seventh commandment forbids acts or enterprises that for any reason - selfish or ideological, commercial, or totalitarian - lead to the enslavement of human beings, to their being bought, sold and exchanged like merchandise, in disregard for their personal dignity. It is a sin against the dignity of persons and their fundamental rights to reduce them by violence to their productive value or to a source of profit. St. Paul directed a Christian master to treat his Christian slave “no longer as a slave but more than a slave, as a beloved brother, . . . both in the flesh and in the Lord.”

 

[jonbhorton]

The points you raised do not answer the charge, Andromedus.

Why would you expect any non-Christian to abide by the words of God through St. Paul?

In the realms of reality, most are slaves of a different color these days. (where’s the tongue in cheek smiley?)

We are slaves to debt. It’s more injurious to us than a whip ever was, for we do it to ourselves.

I’ll be interested in a topic of historical reality when we have brought the present to the standard which we seek to affect.

Who are you, Spartacus?

 

[Andromedus]

Why would you expect any non-Christian to abide by the words of God through St. Paul?

I don’t, but I believe that there are non-Christians who are against slavery. But I was only answering GEddie because he said that the Church was founded in a time when slavery was accepted and I just meant that it doesn’t matter since the Church is against it.

In the realms of reality, most are slaves of a different color these days. (where’s the tongue in cheek smiley?)

?

We are slaves to debt. It’s more injurious to us than a whip ever was, for we do it to ourselves.

I am not sure on what you are trying to say? Because I doubt that you mean that you work as a slave 24 hours a day in a factory because of a debt or something similar. I don’t understand the ‘‘for we do it to ourselves’’ thing either, do you mean that an 11 years old sex-slave is better of than someone having a debt because he put himself in that situation?

I’ll be interested in a topic of historical reality when we have brought the present to the standard which we seek to affect.

Hmm?

Who are you, Spartacus?

While it would have been quite interesting if I in fact was a very old Spartacus and more than 2000 years old I am not.

 

[jonbhorton]

Modern slavery is no different in that we are slaves, though not in the context of America’s immediate understanding.

For we enslave ourselves. When we stop enslaving ourselves, we will have the ability to apply historical understanding, and Christian virtues, to the modern.

In this, the modern is nothing more than a perpetuation of failure, and human nature.

I see a lot of people who (rightly) quote Catholic sources and then seek to apply the standard to people who don’t even know the underlying principles.

We decry the conditions of the past, only to see them in a modern permutation of the same root issues- sin.

It’s a pointless endeavor but through the grace of God. All the political ideas, systems of proposed governance based on “distributism”, “Christian Democracy” etc are inapplicable in the present condition.

The fight is obfuscated by the issues it seeks to address, for the fight is really for the soul of man.

That Christians, and Catholics in particular, have such a rich history of discourse on the particulars of why this end fails constantly and how to correct it still has not addressed the core of the matter- evangelizing the nations with the Gospel and baptizing in the Name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

The stupidest thing that people seek to do is apply broad concepts to a particular problem as the modern patronization of causes is reversed in its goal and means.

When Christians finally seek to change the world individually, the individual can become the whole. As it stands, Western society and really all Christians have utterly failed by playing into the Marxist/mohammedan end-game.

We are now fighting on the terms of Satan = utter failure.

When Catholics are ready to put down their various pet causes and replace them with the cause and command of Christ, in the spirit of Christ, and not by kowtowing to the secular, but by enforcing their rights as citizens by following their moral conscience as Catholics- something good can happen.

Until then, this continued Balkanization of the Church’s influence will fail the cause.

The present conditions dictate such a move would be catastrophic on a global level for the individual Christian- merely look at anywhere Marxism, in any of its flavors, reigns; the same follows with the oft-bowed to mohammedan milieu.

I’m willing to face this, but most aren’t. They’d rather continue pandering to the satanic filth disguised as Christian charity which only perpetuates the conditions it seeks to end.

As an American, I am ready for what’s coming and many tools in the bag go “bang”. As a Catholic, my readiness tools involve the realization that one does not kill the beast by feeding it what it desires- man’s soul.

The world is on a moral-hunger strike, and feeding it the excuses it needs to continue starving itself of morality does not necessarily involve going after slave rings, as repugnant as they are.

No, unfortunately, the entities prepared to do this are ultimately not Christian in their founding, existence, or goals. The entities one would typically look to are the beneficiaries of this practice and perpetuate it in the same.

There are only two options left in light of this: heavy prayer throughout, and moves to do what one can in the process. The last course of action will involve many Christian deaths and violence, for when this challenge is answered, the challenged will kill the challengers.

Eradication of evil is neither pretty nor conveniently packaged in mere documents. It involves action- action which is not ready to be faced by most Catholics.

 

[JJsaint]

We like to think that slavery is a thing of the past, unfortunately that is not true. ILO (International Labour Organization) claims that there is between 12 to 13 million people living in slavery in our world today. But there could be even more people, it is actually quite probable since some countries prefer not to tell us the truth about it, China is probably a good example. Therefore some people thinks it could even be 40 millions. According to ILO 9,5 millions slaves lives in Asia, most of them in India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Nepal. In Latin-America and the West Indies there are 1,3 millions slaves, south of Africa 660 000, in Middle East and North Africa 260 000. In the industrialized western countries there is something around 360 000 slaves and in Eastern Europe 210 000. But this is just minimum figures, there is probably even more slaves than this but we don’t know for sure how many they are since governments and states lies about it and also because of other reasons. Child slavery for example is easy to hide.
The last country to make slavery illegal was Mauritania but 20 % of the population might still be slaves.

It doesn’t seems like making it illegal is enough to make it disappear, which isn’t really weird considering how long it has been around and if it would work then it would be extinct by now. But what do you think we can do about this? Right now it doesn’t seem to be an issue the political leaders of the world really cares about. And, since this is a Catholic forum, what should and can the Church do?

I am not sure if slavery and forced labour ever will disappear altogether but it is so horrible, it makes me angry to think about it

You didn’t mention slavery in the ‘‘state’’ of Israel of European women for prostitution.

Trafficking in Israel

There are no official numbers regarding the extent of prostitution and the traffic of women in Israel, but there is a general consensus that it is becoming more prevalent. (CEDAW Report, 8 April 1997)

There has been a steady increase in the numbers of foreign women involved in prostitution who are arrested for illegal stays in Israel and who are detained before being deported to their home-countries; in over 95% of the cases, they were from the former USSR. The average time these women spend in prison is 50 days. The women themselves are supposed to pay for their expenses to leave Israel, but when their resources are inadequate, the Ministry of Interior finances their deportation from a special budget. (Authorities, Neve Tirza women’s prison, CEDAW Report, 8 April 1997)

Traffickers and pimps earned US$50,000 – 100,000 a year from each prostituted woman, resulting in a US$450 million sex industry. (“A modern form of slavery,” The Jerusalem Post, 13 January 1998)

1,500 Russian and Ukrainian trafficked women have been deported from 1995-1997. (Michael Specter, “Traffickers’ New Cargo: Naive Slavic Women,” New York Times, 11 January 1998)

Russian women are bought and sold by pimps in Israel for prices ranging from US$5,000 to $20,000. (Police sources, “‘Invisible’ Women Shown In Russia’s Demographics,” Martina Vandenberg, St. Petersburg Times, 13 October 1997)

A small brothel with ten women can make up to 750,000 shekels a month (US $215,000). (Michael Specter, “Traffickers’ New Cargo: Naive Slavic Women,” New York Times, 11 January 1998)

Women trafficked from Eastern Europe, were stripped and sold naked as slaves to Tel Aviv traders for US$500-1,000. Smuggling, fraudulent documents, collaboration between police and brothel owners are involved. There are routine brutal beatings and sexual abuse. (New York Times 11 January 1998)

The non-profit Israel Women’s Network estimates that 70% of prostituted women in Tel Aviv, Israel’s commercial center, come from the former Soviet republics, and that about 1,000 women are brought into Israel illegally each year. At any one time, as many as 100 women may be awaiting deportation in Neve Tirza women’s prison near Tel Aviv’s Ben-Gurion airport, a prison spokeswoman said. (Elisabeth Eaves, “Israel not the promised land for Russian sex slaves”, Reuters, 23 August 1998)

A poll by the Women’s Network showed 44% of Israelis believed all Russian immigrant women provided sexual services for pay. Illegal immigrants in Israel, who are mostly Russian, are often stereotyped as having brought crime and prostitution while exploiting Israeli laws enabling anyone with a Jewish grandparent to immigrate.(Elisabeth Eaves, “Israel not the promised land for Russian sex slaves,” Reuters, 23 August 1998)

Read the rest of the article

solargeneral.com/jeffs-archive/slavery/trafficking-in-israel/

 

[Ceil-1]

It goes on here. I know a woman who helped to free a girl being held in her neighbor’s home. She became aware of her, and somehow managed to slip a note to her when she was with her “mistress” at the store. This girl had been lured here by these people and forced to take care of their house.

There is more of that than we realize, and, not a little of it involves prostitution.

 

[JJsaint]

It goes on here. I know a woman who helped to free a girl being held in her neighbor’s home. She became aware of her, and somehow managed to slip a note to her when she was with her “mistress” at the store. This girl had been lured here by these people and forced to take care of their house.

There is more of that than we realize, and, not a little of it involves prostitution.

What do you mean ‘‘not a little of it involves prostitution’’?

 

[jonbhorton]

FWIW, I-40 is a major artery of the human trafficking trade in the USA.

Hispanic and Asian women are usually the type to be trafficked, but, of course that is largely geographically based. Some areas see more African women.

In the Middle East, this is basically the norm and even defended by shariah.

Here is a video: youtube.com/watch?v=Dv0TwSA0yFo

The homosexual lobby will lead to implementation of such practices in the USA on a level bigger than they already are.

The slavery is often done in the context of contract marriage so it is not considered adultery, but merely polygamy which is halal. The historical reality is not marriage related but this has been the way such a practice has gone to appear righteous.

Saudi Arabia is one of the most slave-centric countries in the world in terms of actual slavery as understood in the West.

 

[JJsaint]

FWIW, I-40 is a major artery of the human trafficking trade in the USA.

Hispanic and Asian women are usually the type to be trafficked, but, of course that is largely geographically based. Some areas see more African women.

In the Middle East, this is basically the norm and even defended by shariah.

Here is a video: youtube.com/watch?v=Dv0TwSA0yFo

The homosexual lobby will lead to implementation of such practices in the USA on a level bigger than they already are.

The slavery is often done in the context of contract marriage so it is not considered adultery, but merely polygamy which is halal. The historical reality is not marriage related but this has been the way such a practice has gone to appear righteous.

Saudi Arabia is one of the most slave-centric countries in the world in terms of actual slavery as understood in the West.

…And what about slavery in the ‘‘state’’ of Israel?

1. 3,000 White European women per year are smuggled into Israel as sex slaves.
2. They are promised legitimate jobs, but put to work as prostitutes.
3. They are locked in apartments with barred windows.
4. They are relieved of their passports.
5. They are beaten, tortured, and gang-raped (Jewish method of “breaking them in”).
6. They are sold at pimping auctions! - during which they are forced to undress.
7. They are forced to service up to 15 Jews a day, 7 days a week, in Israel’s 400+ brothels.
8. There are 250 brothels in Tel Aviv alone!
9. Pimps and traffickers are ignored by police - prostitution is not a crime.

 

[Ceil-1]

What do you mean ‘‘not a little of it involves prostitution’’?

I was trying to be discreet. They are used as sex slaves.

 

[JJsaint]

I was trying to be discreet. They are used as sex slaves.

How is that different from slavery? is the difference because it is the ‘‘state’’ of Israel?

 

[jonbhorton]

…And what about slavery in the ‘‘state’’ of Israel?

1. 3,000 White European women per year are smuggled into Israel as sex slaves.
2. They are promised legitimate jobs, but put to work as prostitutes.
3. They are locked in apartments with barred windows.
4. They are relieved of their passports.
5. They are beaten, tortured, and gang-raped (Jewish method of “breaking them in”).
6. They are sold at pimping auctions! - during which they are forced to undress.
7. They are forced to service up to 15 Jews a day, 7 days a week, in Israel’s 400+ brothels.
8. There are 250 brothels in Tel Aviv alone!
9. Pimps and traffickers are ignored by police - prostitution is not a crime.

And the same things occur in much higher numbers right here in the US. What you have described is not a “Jewish” anything, but human depravity- largely linked to the same thing Chaldean Catholics do in the US, particularly in cities like El Cajon, CA and wherever else the Chaldean community exists with their underworld elements. In Israel, it’s often Russian/Eastern Europeans doing this. The Arabs do the same thing. The Chinese, etc. Dubai, UAE, Qatar, Kuwait, Iraq, Iran, Lebanon, Syria (mainly trafficking young Iraqi refugees as young as 14), etc.

Since when has anyone ever said the Jews were angels and saints all around? They’re human beings- the can suck too.

Sorry, your boogeyman, the joooooos, are just human beings. They sin too.

Here’s some pertinent US numbers: uri.edu/artsci/wms/hughes/usa.htm

It makes the Israelis look like inept amateurs in the trade.

 

[manualman]

…And what about slavery in the ‘‘state’’ of Israel?

What about it? Are you attempting to claim it is more prevalent there than elsewhere? It’s horrible wherever it’s found.

 

[Arizona_Mike]

Modern slavery exists throughout the U.S. (and the rest of the world) in the form of child prostitution (as well as much of adult prostitution, but the majority of adult prostitutes entered, or were forced to enter, as minors.) Girls are forced or tricked into prostitution, and once in, whether through force or a bad decision, they are considered the property of the pimp and must do whatever he says. Any attempt to leave, to withhold earnings, to retain any savings, to talk to a police officer or outreach worker, to avoid being forced to commit a sex act for money (no matter how degrading, painful, or dangerous), to talk to another pimp (which can allow him to lay claim on her), or even to look another pimp in the eye or to speak without being spoken to by a pimp can result in beatings, torture, and death. They are expected to work every day of the week, whether sick or injured or menstruating or pregnant, so the pimp can profit off their earnings. If they become pregnant, the pimp can compel them to get an abortion or take the child as his own.

This is the real face of modern slavery.

The Church has fought against this evil from the beginning, including the Fathers of the Early Church, and need have no shame for being in the forefront of the battle to this day.

St. Patrick confronted the pagan kings of Ireland for forcing girls into sexual slavery. St. Nicholas paid the debts and dowries of poor families so their girls would not be sold into prostitution (think about that next Christmas - gifts weren’t given by the Bishop of Myra to satisfy children’s materialistic desires - it was to keep them from being sold into prostitution!). St. Augustine led his parish in Africa to free young men and women who had been seized as slaves from the holds of slave ships, used the Roman court system to free them, paid ransom to free them, and interviewed a young girl who had been freed, providing the first written account of the African slave trade in history.

Today, Catholic organizations continue the fight to free these girls, provide them a safe shelter, work with the police and FBI to bring justice to their pimps and protect others, provide them with job skills and training, and reintegrate them into the community. They also run diversion schools with the aid of the criminal justice system to confront those who have been arrested as customers with the evil of what they have done as a one-time diversion from imprisonment.

In Arizona, we have DIGNITY HOUSE under the leadership of Kathleen Mitchell and Catholic Charities, one of the oldest programs in the nation. If you are interested in donating or volunteering, here is their contact info: catholiccharitiesaz.org/ServicesForThoseInNeed/SexTrafficking.aspx

Most dioceses have similar programs. I highly recommend you look for one in your area. Even if the only help you can give is a donation to one of their safehouses, it is very rewarding and a good cause.

 

[JJsaint]

What about it? Are you attempting to claim it is more prevalent there than elsewhere? It’s horrible wherever it’s found.

Post 1 in this thread does not mention the ‘‘state’’ of Israel so I take it people do not know…

 

[GEddie]

JJ:

1). Why is the word “state” in quotes everywhere in your posts when referring to Israel?

2). The OP was not asking about situations in Israel per se, but about modern slavery generally.

ICXC NIKA

 

[JJsaint]

JJ:

1). Why is the word “state” in quotes everywhere in your posts when referring to Israel?

2). The OP was not asking about situations in Israel per se, but about modern slavery generally.

ICXC NIKA

I do the quotes as a form of emphasis as most think the modern ‘‘state’’ of Israel is the Israel of the Bible.

 

[Andromedus]

Modern slavery exists throughout the U.S. (and the rest of the world) in the form of child prostitution (as well as much of adult prostitution, but the majority of adult prostitutes entered, or were forced to enter, as minors.) Girls are forced or tricked into prostitution, and once in, whether through force or a bad decision, they are considered the property of the pimp and must do whatever he says. Any attempt to leave, to withhold earnings, to retain any savings, to talk to a police officer or outreach worker, to avoid being forced to commit a sex act for money (no matter how degrading, painful, or dangerous), to talk to another pimp (which can allow him to lay claim on her), or even to look another pimp in the eye or to speak without being spoken to by a pimp can result in beatings, torture, and death. They are expected to work every day of the week, whether sick or injured or menstruating or pregnant, so the pimp can profit off their earnings. If they become pregnant, the pimp can compel them to get an abortion or take the child as his own.

This is the real face of modern slavery.

The Church has fought against this evil from the beginning, including the Fathers of the Early Church, and need have no shame for being in the forefront of the battle to this day.

St. Patrick confronted the pagan kings of Ireland for forcing girls into sexual slavery. St. Nicholas paid the debts and dowries of poor families so their girls would not be sold into prostitution (think about that next Christmas - gifts weren’t given by the Bishop of Myra to satisfy children’s materialistic desires - it was to keep them from being sold into prostitution!). St. Augustine led his parish in Africa to free young men and women who had been seized as slaves from the holds of slave ships, used the Roman court system to free them, paid ransom to free them, and interviewed a young girl who had been freed, providing the first written account of the African slave trade in history.

Today, Catholic organizations continue the fight to free these girls, provide them a safe shelter, work with the police and FBI to bring justice to their pimps and protect others, provide them with job skills and training, and reintegrate them into the community. They also run diversion schools with the aid of the criminal justice system to confront those who have been arrested as customers with the evil of what they have done as a one-time diversion from imprisonment.

In Arizona, we have DIGNITY HOUSE under the leadership of Kathleen Mitchell and Catholic Charities, one of the oldest programs in the nation. If you are interested in donating or volunteering, here is their contact info: catholiccharitiesaz.org/ServicesForThoseInNeed/SexTrafficking.aspx

Most dioceses have similar programs. I highly recommend you look for one in your area. Even if the only help you can give is a donation to one of their safehouses, it is very rewarding and a good cause.

It is indeed a part of the real face of modern slavery but not the only one, there are different kinds of slaves today too. For example there was (and perhaps still is) children in the United Arab Emirates who was/is forced to work as Camel jockeys, according to wikipedia some of them could even be as young as 2 years old. In El Monte, California, there was a group of Thai immigrants who had to work 18 hours a day and wasn’t allowed to leave the place they were working in. They were an example of debt bondage, one form of slavery.