Modern slavery: it’s the money ...

Very recently, the world commemorated the 50th anniversary of the infamous African slave trade. Many may still think that slavery is the history of the past. But the present day reality shows otherwise. Although slavery has existed for thousands of years, changes in the world’s economy and societies over the past 50 years have enabled a resurgence of slavery. Here is a story happened not 50 years ago, but now in our very modern generation.
“When Drissa was a teenager, he decided to leave his village in Mali to look for work. There were many boys Drissa’s age looking for jobs in and the around the village, and precious few jobs available. Although it was difficult to leave his family and friends, he decided it was worth it to try his luck elsewhere.
Drissa crossed the border into neighboring Cote d’Ivoire, where he heard there were many jobs available for people who did not mind working hard. When he arrived in Korhogo, he was pleased to be offered what sounded like a good job on a cocoa plantation. Drissa agreed on the payment and work arrangements, and then went with the employment recruiter to begin his new job.
Drissa’s new job suddenly turned into a nightmare. He became a slave. Drissa and 17 other boys and young men on the cocoa plantation were forced to spend long days tending the cocoa plants and collecting the pods. Besides the back-breaking work, the heat was oppressive, the biting flies constantly swarmed around them, and they had to watch for snakes in the undergrowth.
The slaveholder gave them little to eat, and many times only braised banana for months on end. Weak from hunger, they staggered under large sacks of cocoa pods. If they slowed in their work, they were beaten. At night the slaveholder locked them all into a small room with only a tin can to use as a toilet.
Drissa was trapped. He was more than 300 miles from home in a new country, far from any settlement, and he did not even know exactly where he was. One evening before being locked in, Drissa attempted to escape, but the slaveholder caught him and savagely beat him. He still has the scars from those beatings. The next day, Drissa was forced to work, even though the wounds from the beating were still raw. Flies feasted on his exposed flesh.
Drissa and the other slaves on that farm were eventually rescued by an official of the Malian government. After their rescue, Drissa and his friends were given medical care and a safe place to stay until they could return home” . Well, Drissa’s story is the tip of the ice- burg.
Three trends have contributed most to the rise of modern slavery. The first, a recent population explosion, has tripled the amount of people in the world, with most growth taking place in the developing world. The second, rapid social and economic changes, has displaced many to urban centres and their outskirts, where people are powerless and without job security. The third, government corruption around the world, allows slavery to go unpunished, even though it is illegal everywhere.
In this way millions have become vulnerable to a resurgent form of slavery. This new slavery has two prime characteristics that differentiate it from the slavery of the past: slaves today are cheap and they are disposable.
In Old Slavery, also called chattel slavery, slaves were extremely expensive to purchase and often yielded low profits for their owners. Since there was always a shortage of potential slaves, and enormous costs associated with transporting them from one continent to another, those already enslaved were considered investments and held for generations.
Their health was generally maintained (at rudimentary levels) and it was of enormous importance to assert ownership over this valuable ‘property’. Slave-owners took great pains to emphasize the ethnic differences between themselves and their investment.
New Slavery turns each of these characteristics on its head. An average slave in the American South in 1850 cost the equivalent of $40,000 in today’s money; today a slave costs an average of $90. In 1850 it was difficult to capture a slave and then transport them to the US. Today, millions of economically and socially vulnerable people around the world are potential slaves.
This “supply” makes slaves today cheaper than they have ever been. Since they are so cheap, slaves are no longer a major investment worth maintaining. If slaves get sick, are injured, outlive their usefulness, or become troublesome to the slaveholder, they are dumped or killed. For most slave-holders, actually owning the slave is an inconvenience since they already exert total control over the individuals labour and profits.
The slave-holder cares more about these high profits than whether the holder and slave are of different ethnic backgrounds; in new slavery, profit trumps skin colour. Finally, new slavery is directly connected to the global economy. As in the past, most slaves are forced to work in agriculture, mining, and prostitution. From these sectors, their exploited labour flows into the global economy, and into our lives. When you eat chocolate, remember modern day slavery.