Jim Wallis: Time For the New Abolitionists
In a new book being released this week – NOT for Sale: The Return of the Global Slave Trade – and How We Can Fight It – my friend and colleague David Batstone turns a spotlight on one of the greatest moral scandals of our time. Many of us believe that slavery ended with the Civil War, but a look at reality in the 21st century quickly reveals otherwise.He begins the book:
Twenty-seven million slaves exist in our world today. Girls and boys, women and men of all ages are forced to toil in the rug looms of Nepal, sell their bodies in the brothels of Rome, break rocks in the quarries of Pakistan, and fight wars in the jungles of Africa. Go behind the façade in any major town or city in the world today and you are likely to find a thriving commerce in human beings.In writing the book, Batstone traveled to Cambodia, Thailand, Peru, India, Uganda, South Africa, and Eastern Europe, investigating the situation and interviewing hundreds of people whose stories the book tells. In poorer countries of the world, poverty and inequality create the conditions that lead to slavery. From destitute parents selling their children, to young rural women looking for work in the cities, to people being trapped in debt with no way out – the pool of potential slaves continues to grow. The International Labor Organization estimates that the work performed by trafficked individuals generates $32 billion a year. Stories of these horrendous injustices have been trickling out over the past few years, but now somebody has put it all together, describing both the magnitude of the problem and the solutions that could really stop modern slavery.
Two hundred years ago, British parliamentarian William Wilberforce and his group of friends profoundly changed the political and social climate of their time by taking on the slave trade. Wilberforce was a convert of the religious revivals that transformed 18th-century England. His life and his vocation as a Member of Parliament were profoundly changed by his newfound faith; he became a force for moral politics. His mentor, John Newton, worked in the slave trade before he became a minister, and became well known for writing the beloved hymn “Amazing Grace.” Later, Newton used his influence as a religious leader to lead the battle against slavery. In light of his efforts, we can read his immortal words, “Amazing grace, how sweet the sound, that saved a wretch like me,” not merely as a testimony of private guilt and piety, but also as a turning away from the sin of trafficking in human flesh. His conversion produced a social and political transformation as well as a personal one. And that’s what Batstone is calling for today.
That kind of conversion became true in the life of Wilberforce, who first heard Newton speak when he was young but regarded his real conversion to be confirmed following a series of conversations in 1785-86. At the conclusion of their conversations, Newton said: “The Lord has raised you up for the good of the church and the good of the nation.” Two years later, Wilberforce introduced his first anti–slave trade motion into Parliament. It was defeated, and would be defeated nine more times until it passed in 1807. It was a historic and moral victory, but Wilberforce wasn't satisfied until slavery was abolished altogether. Finally, in 1833, the House of Commons passed a bill abolishing slavery in the British Empire, and Wilberforce died three days later, his work finally done.
A new film about to be released, Amazing Grace, tells the story of William Wilberforce. On February 18, “Amazing Grace Sunday,” churches around the globe will sing "Amazing Grace" and pray for the end of modern slavery. On February 23, 2007, the movie opens at theaters across the country. Click here to watch a trailer of the film.
Dave Batstone has been converted on the issue of modern slavery, and is now calling for our conversion. Today, as then, there is a growing abolitionist movement: heroic individuals who are rescuing slaves and creating a modern-day underground railroad to carry them to freedom, and organizations that provide social services and legal advocacy for victims of human trafficking. Batstone’s remarkable book tells the story of this new abolitionist movement. He ends his book with a chapter on “ending the slave trade in our time.” It begins, “I believe in the power of individuals to change the world. Social movements take root and blossom when enough individuals take personal action.” The chapter then offers creative ideas for becoming an abolitionist, and a listing of the major abolition organizations. A new campaign is being created around the book – the Not for Sale Campaign. It’s time for all of us to join the campaign.
Recently, I was preaching at an evangelical Christian college in the American Midwest. I called for a new generation of Martin Luther Kings and William Wilberforces. Afterward, two young women were waiting to talk to me at the end of a long line of students. When they finally got their turn to speak, they looked me straight in the eye and said, “We are going to be the next Martin Luther King Jr. and William Wilberforce, and we just wanted to tell you that.” I told them I was glad to meet them now, before they became famous! But they were serious, and so was I. The history of earlier centuries can inform a new generation of Christians in their struggle to reunite faith and social justice in our own time.
David Batstone has been getting ready to write this book for a long time. His broad experiences in global issues, business ethics, and Christian social justice movements have all been forms of preparation for this work. When he talks about the modern slave trade, I can hear and feel the passion in his voice. Wilberforce was almost obsessed with slavery, and Batstone can’t let go of it either. He has seen too much now: He has talked to too many victims, and thought often of his own kids, who are about the same ages as the children he’s met who are being trafficked. Dave is on a mission, and invites us to join him. Read his book, see the film, and join the campaign to abolish slavery.
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Comments
Well, considering people in this country are treated as slaves to their COURT APPOINTED attornies, I think the US should just "shut up and take it".
Posted by: Kris Weinschenker | February 8, 2007 5:31 PM
Here is something you can do.
Learn something from www.freetheslaves.net. p
Posted by: Payshun | February 8, 2007 5:33 PM
Jim, http://hrcberkeley.org/download/hiddenslaves_report.pdf is a two year old report about forced labor in the US, which was identified on the "Not for Sale" web site (the link was not active). According to the executve summary, there was a Victims of Trafficking and Violence Protection Act (Trafficking Act) in 2000 which addressed the occurrence of forced labor, here. I now vaguely recall some instance of this that came up in the news in the not too distant past, and was shocked then to think forced labor could be occurring, here. Thanks for bring this to our attention. It seems like there will be a book tour that will continue beyond the few events listed for this month.
Posted by: Mike Hayes | February 8, 2007 5:34 PM
Thanks Jim for the article. I've been to India many times, but this is a side of the booming 9% growth economy that hardly anyone sees!
Posted by: splinterlog | February 8, 2007 5:34 PM
Nice piece Jim. One of my colleagues is working on a study of prostitution slavery in Russia. Since it's controlled by the Russian mob, she is risking her life everytime she goes to Russia on research trips.
Posted by: Carl Copas | February 8, 2007 10:19 PM
Is anyone else repeatedly encountering the message "An internal server error occurred. Please try again later." when you try to access the "Comment" portion of the topics on this blog?
Posted by: Mike Hayes | February 9, 2007 2:53 AM
Daniel, and the many other supporters of the values in "God's Politics" who have posted messages on this blog, I wish there were a way we could communicate off-group... as would be the case if this were a Yahoo! group. http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Su...olitics_Values/ is a place where we could do that. Please consider it.
Posted by: Mike Hayes | February 9, 2007 3:54 AM
In the age of Out Sourcing and Government contracting we need to be more inquisitive with the people who are actually doing the physical labor and ask them how they are doing. We need to find ways to break conventions and get to know the person who is actually pulling the weeds on your lawn or business property or building the new house on the lot next door or cleaning the property. As we learned about the Guatemalans contracted by a Gardening Co. in Maine even people who have been processed legally can be taken advantage of by the businesses we rely on simply because they do not know the language well enough. Make your selves available to the very people who do the most menial tasks for you. I always treat them with great respect and appreciation even if it makes their employers feel uncomfortable.
If we do not see the problem that is right under our noses in our own communities how can we apologize as a nation for the legacy of slavery or even appreciate what is happening to children around the world?
Recognizing that the tomatoes and lettuce that we are eating off our plates was subsidized by a modern system of plantations that exist right here in America should give us pause for consideration about who we bought our meals from.
Posted by: Ms. Cynthia | February 9, 2007 10:22 AM
I commend David Batstone for raising this issue that is a disgrace to humanity. We are the most informed generation of all time. How can we ignore or allow child slavery, child labor, or child theft to flourish in our day? I would bring to your attention an international essay contest for youth on "Compassion and Child Labor as another effort to raise awareness. Information can be found at http://www.oakseed.org/2007EssayContest. The deadline is April 16, 2007. Dr. Edward Bradley
Posted by: Dr. Edward Bradley | February 9, 2007 1:53 PM
Good article.
Posted by: Donny | February 9, 2007 2:12 PM
Jim, thank you. I read this excellent piece, and then glanced up at my bookshelf, and saw that God's Politics was right next to Bury the Chains (Hochschild). If any readers have older children (10-12 years old, or so) who might be interested in fiction that involves modern slavery, they might look at my book at the URL cited as my homepage. (All royalties go to CRS for relief efforts in Sudan)
Posted by: Joe | February 9, 2007 2:33 PM
Great piece. You might be surprised by who will oppose you on this topic. Conservative Christian groups have been trying to draw attention to slavery Sudan for many years. The greatest opposition came from liberal black "christians" and the Nation of Islam.
Posted by: Jeff | February 9, 2007 2:57 PM
Ditto, Jeff! And how about fathers in Afghanistan and Pakistan who sell their daughters, often as young as 10 yrs old, to much older men.
Chattel slavery (actual sale and often mutilation of human beings) is alive and well and thriving in moslem africa. You gotta be politically correct, so not offend any mohammedans! All the same, we cant focus solely on wage slavery.
I shall have to read the book to see how good a job he does.
Posted by: Ralph Prickett | February 9, 2007 6:08 PM
For twenty years, Christian blacks in the southern Sudan were kidnapped by the Arab muslims in the north and the UN and others said nothing. 2million Christians died and the world was silent. WHY were you silent?
Posted by: Bro. Murphy | February 9, 2007 7:36 PM
Jeff, What oppostion was this? p
Posted by: Payshun | February 9, 2007 8:12 PM
A few years back I read "Disposable People: New Slavery in the Global Economy" by Kevin Bales. I've been passionate about this issue ever since & would highly recommend this book. I'm hoping that as there is more awareness, there will be more that the average person can do. Maybe "Not for Sale" will provide the next step. For now, I read labels and try to be aware of what I buy (rugs are notorious purchases made with child and slave labor). Also, Anti-Slavery International has been working hard & I greatly admire their work. I'll check out www.freethslaves.net (thank you). Peace, Betty
Posted by: Betty L. | February 9, 2007 9:29 PM
I am glad you are bringing this up, but I have concerns that many will follow through. I have been reading about modern slavery for years. It is chilling but seems to be immediately forgotten. Photographs of Eastern European women lined up for takers have been around on the Internet for at least 10 years. The Twin Cities are known to produce a large crop of young girls who are taken to become prostitutes and transported elsewhere. I have had a friend who worked in a middle east country tell me how he once obtained a female slave. My fear is that with the increases in population we are seeing the problem will only get worse. Wilberforce and other abolitionists as well as economic conditions prevailing put and end to the legal trade in slaves in western Europe and the United States. But, as it has become economically advantageous to use slaves the practice seems to be getting worse. One thing I believe is overlooked, is that American enslavement of African-Americans was just one extreme form of slavery. Just because we don't have public slave auctions,overseers with whips, and modern day Simon Legrees running around doesn't mean slavery is gone.
A girl forced into prostitution, a man who "owes his soul to the company store," anyone caught in a bind where they are forced to work and cannot leave is in a sense a slave.
Posted by: John D. Sens | February 9, 2007 10:06 PM
Slavery is alive and well in the world w/ over 25,000,000 people enslaved it's a problem. One can see this in Africa, India, China and South America. Heck we have over 100,00 enslaved people here in the states sometimes it's because of the sex trade other times commerce. But slavery is very much alive and well. I would argue that liberal black Christians (I am one) have not stood in the way of that. But there are many that feel that their neighborhoods need more attention before they can help someone else out. I would tend to agree to some extint. I don't see anything wrong w/ that. But I was raised different and as a liberal black Christian I make it a point to learn about the issue. Did any of you know that 1/3 of the world's chocolate is composed by slave labor? p
Posted by: Payshun | February 9, 2007 11:20 PM
Christ can set us free. The chains of sin will fall off and then we will be free. Praise the Lord.
Posted by: Good News | February 10, 2007 1:58 AM
Interesting that you should be addressing this issue at the same time that Oprah Winfrey addressed it in her program yesterday(2/9/07) on child slave labor in Ghana. She depicts children as young as four years old who are sold by their parents to fisherman. These children work in freezing temperatures for long hours on one meal a day, doing work that would tax even the healthiest of adults. The program portrayed efforts to rescue the children and the children's happiness at being rescued even when they could not be reunited with their parents and had to live in orphanages. Slave labor today is the scourge we have inherited, by allowing so much poverty to exist in our world.
Posted by: Carol | February 10, 2007 12:56 PM
What action can an ordinary (caash-strapped) american do about slavery, or the massacres in Darfur? Knowing is not enough; we need to be able to vote, or actively participate in protest demonstrations or write letters or something. What do we do after we've been made aware?
Posted by: nette | February 10, 2007 1:44 PM
Nette, Yours is the $64,000 question. I have read a lot of descriptions of the problem and see shows like Oprah's. But stopping slavery seems like a Sysiphean task.
Posted by: John D. Sens | February 10, 2007 5:18 PM
I would hope five minutes of consideration on this issue would cause all the anti immigration folks to rethink their position. World wide things just don't match our American mind set and make us look self centered and mean. I want to add my voice to Mike Hayes' and suggest we all log on to the HRC site.
Posted by: wayne | February 10, 2007 9:01 PM
Wayne: "I would hope five minutes of consideration on this issue would cause all the anti immigration folks to rethink their position." Good point, Wayne. You beat me to it. Our present system of unjust immigration laws which makes it nearly impossible for huge numbers of people to even have the slightest prospect of legalizing is our form of slavery.
Posted by: Timbuktoo | February 10, 2007 9:31 PM
Anderson Cooper had a special about this very topic a few weeks ago, "Invisible Chains: Sex, Work, and Slavery". You can read the transcript of the show on CNN: http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0701/24/acd.01.html
Posted by: Pollyanna | February 11, 2007 3:41 AM
Timbuktoo makes the very point that I see as presenting the greatest difficulty.
In today's paper I read about a 37 year old woman who has $48,000 in non-dischargeable college loan debt who so far as been able to earn only $8.50 per hour. Chances are she will never be able to repay and will be in effect a wage slave all her life. Certainly getting the college degree was admirable, but the result is not very good. She is legal and she is free but isn't she still a slave of sorts? I know a number of people who hate their work and do a daily stint just to put food on their tables and provide a roof over their heads. Doesn't their life contain a large element of involuntary servitude? How many people are afraid to leave a job they don't like because they don't want to risk losing medical insurance? Are they truly free or are they slaves to a system they did't create? What is the result if a 20 something, drug-addicted, prostitute is "freed" from the control of a pimp and put on the street to find her own way? Where is that bright line we need to distinguish what is slavery and what is acceptable social burden?
Posted by: John D. Sens | February 11, 2007 4:01 PM
Slavery is forced servitude. It is not working to support a family, or to pay off college loans, or to reside in a country illegally (though some who are illegal are undoubtedly forced into servitude).
If we redefine slavery as the need to work, then the term loses all meaning. To redefine it to support our own pet political viewpoint is pure demagogy.
Posted by: kevin s. | February 11, 2007 9:13 PM
i think we all need to think about what we eat wear buy etc. It is hard to buy anything now without thinking about some some part of it produced by slave (or close to it) labor.
However, there are things we can do. Like buying fair trade goods. Sojourners' Pura Vida coffee (and others like it). And CHOCOLATE. No one wants to hear it, esp on Valentine's Day, but much of the world's cacao is produced in Cote d'Ivoire by 12-yr-old boys tricked into slavery. Buy Fair Trade certified goods.
Posted by: michelina | February 12, 2007 1:31 AM
Modern day slaves require no chains, no capture, no transport or sustinance. Today's slaves make their way from dirty little towns south of Texas and transport themselves to where they are needed. They have no rights, they cannot vote, and they are exploited by all.
Posted by: osisbs | February 12, 2007 1:58 PM
Great piece - this should be a bipartisan issue in Washington.
Posted by: Shane Vander Hart | February 14, 2007 1:48 AM
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