Photo courtesy of Push Green.

BUFFALO, NY Juneteenth, the mid-June holiday that commemorates the day in 1865 on which enslaved people of African descent in Galveston, Texas learned they had been freed by the Emancipation Proclamation two years earlier, has been growing in popularity. Buffalo, New York now hosts the third largest Juneteenth Festival in the nation, and the largest on the eastern seaboard. Filling Martin Luther King Park June 17 with a procession of music, drumming, and dance, the 2017 celebrations were jubilant. The smell of smoked foods swirled through the park as stands displayed traditional African-American clothing and handicrafts alongside various community organizations.

The holidays history is a bittersweet one. Led by the laboring base of the Southern economy, the revolution that won the Civil War established a Reconstruction of the South. Historian Eric Foner has called the Reconstruction period Americas unfinished revolution, because it was cut short with a counter-revolution: Jim Crow.

The system of convict leasing, which Pulitzer-Prize winning author and journalist Douglas Blackmon calls slavery by another name, also persisted into the twentieth century; todays version of subminimum-wage labor in prisons is its direct descendant.

In Buffalo, the celebration and parade included many labor groups including: New York State Nurses Association; Communications Workers of America Local 1168, the Buffalo Teachers Federation; the United Auto Workers Local 774, 897, and Region 9; and AFSCME D.C. 35 .

Also participating in the festival were the Young Black Democrats of Western New York, and open Buffalo, an organization which helps coordinate organizations and coalitions struggling for a more democratic Buffalo, including People United for Fair Housing (PUSH), Coalition for Economic Justice (CEJ), Prisoners Are People Too, Erie County Restorative Justice Coalition, VOICE-Buffalo, and others. Leaders of Community Voices Heard (CVH) were also represented in the CPUSA contingent.

Stacy Fernandez of the Buffalo News also noted an increased police presence at the festival this year.

The Young Black Democrats of WNY alerted festival participants of the need to vote for Bernie Tolbert for Erie County Sheriff. Tolbert is running to replace Timothy B. Howard. Under Howards watch, many people have reportedly died in jail while waiting for trial, the use of devices known as Stingrays have been used to tap peoples cell phones, and Howard himself spoke at a Trump rally with people holding the Confederate flag behind him.

The Community Voices Heard members, together with members of the Communist Party USA (CPUSA), highlighted another piece of slaverys legacy: forced labor in the Work Exchange Program (WEP).

Put into place by the Clinton administration in 1996, WEP required people on public assistance to work without pay. Public workers received rewards for connecting people to poverty wage jobs at places like McDonalds, and after the six month period of working for free, public benefits recipients were frequently fired. Disproportionately affecting racially and nationally oppressed people, the work-for-free program resulted in a spike in homelessness in New York City, and was finally ended by a CVH-led campaign and a progressive Mayor, City Council, and Human Resources Commissioner at the end of 2016. However, a similar program called WeCare persists, and what appears to be a lack of communication between HRA and the Department of Homeless Services (DHS) has resulted in outcomes similar to those that followed WEP.

Go here to read the rest:

Jubilant crowds, union members gather at Buffalo's Juneteenth celebration - People's World

Reprinted with permission from Alternet.

When activist Sam Sinyangwe was awaiting a meeting with the governors office at the Louisiana state capitol building in Baton Rouge, he noticed something odd.A black man in a dark-blue jumpsuit was printing papers while a correctional guardwith a badge and gunstood watching over him. The pair stood out against the white, middle-aged legislators populating the building.

Sinyangwe said he did not know exactly what he was looking at, until he saw another black man in the same dark-blue outfit serving food at the capitol buildings cafeteria. This time, Sinyangwe noticed that the man had a patch on his chest labeling him a prisoner of the Louisiana State Department of Corrections, complete with an identification number.

Sinyangwe realized that the server, the man printing papers and the other people working in the lunch line were all prisoners.

Inmates working at the capitol building in Baton Rouge is a common sight. Prisoners work in the Louisiana governors mansion and inmates clean up after Louisiana State University football games as well. But the labor practice of having inmates work in state government buildings extends beyond Louisiana; at least six other states in the U.S. allow for this practice: Arkansas, Alabama, Missouri, Oklahoma, Nebraska and Georgia.

The inmates allowed to work in the capitol or at the governors mansion are fairly low in number and are carefully screened. According to NOLA.com, about 20 to 25 people work daily in the capitol, and 15 to 18 other inmates work as groundskeepers outside the building. The inmates may not be serving a sentence for a sex crime or a violent offense like murder and must have a history of good behavior while incarcerated and display good work ethic. Furthermore, only inmates at the Dixon Correctional Institute (a men-only facility) can work at the capitol, as it is only 30 miles away.

A similar process occurs in Georgia, where inmates must receive a referral from the Board of Pardons of Parole or the Classification Committee within a state prison. Working at the governors mansion in Georgia is contingent upon an inmates criminal history, their behavior while incarcerated and their release date, among other factors.

The inmates perform janitorial tasks such as cleaning the floors or the offices of state legislators. In the Louisiana capitol, inmates also perform small tasks for legislators like grabbing lunch for them.

While inmates working in state government buildings are dutifully screened, they are not much better paid than prisoners with other jobs. In Louisiana, inmates in the capitol are paid between 2 and 20 cents per hour. They could opt for earning good-time credit toward early release, but only if they qualify. And with a normal workday of at least 12 hoursfrom 5 in the morning to at least 5 in the afternoon, barring legislative sessions when inmates work more than 12 hoursthe prisoners make between 24 cents and $2.40 a day. Inmates working in the governors mansion in Missouri recently got a small pay raise to $1.25 an hour to make about $10 per day. With the previous arrangement, prisoners earned $9 a day. In Arkansas, the prisoners are not paid at all.

History of the practice

The practice of using prison inmates as laborers stretches back to the end of the Civil War and the Emancipation Proclamation. As more black people were freed from slavery, the plantation economy of the South began to falter with the loss of their primary form of labor. The result was the establishment of vagrancy laws, which specifically targeted black communities, in an effort to incarcerate more black people and force them to work once again.

Even the name given to prisoners who work as servants in governors mansions and capitol buildings in some statestrusteeis the same title that was given to prisoners who worked as overseers on infamous prison plantations such as Angola and Parchman. Prison plantations began replacing the convict lease system in the 1920s as a way for prisoners, an overwhelming majority of whom were black men, to work. Back then, it was considered a privilege to be an overseer on a plantation, and the same narrative goes for inmates working in governors mansions today.

All of this, it looks very familiar: having black laborers toiling in the fields under the eye of overseers and having a white governor served by people drawn from that same forced labor pool, said Carl Takei, a staff attorney at the National Prison Project of the ACLU.

Since then, prisoners have been used as underpaid and unpaid laborers, from private companies to state government buildings. The legal loophole that allows this practice to continue is the 13th Amendment to the Constitution. While the 13th Amendment is best known for abolishing slavery, a clause in the amendment stipulates for the continued legality of slavery within the criminal justice system.

The clause reads: Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction.

If somebody is being subjected to forced labor as part of their sentence in a criminal proceeding, then that is outside the scope of the 13th Amendment, Takei said.

Modern-day slavery?

Hillary Clinton made waves for a passage in her 1996 book It Takes A Villagewhen a Twitter userposted photosof a passage in the memoir where Clinton talks about the prisoners who worked in the governors mansion. The passage quickly spread through social media, with many people criticizing Clinton and calling the practice a form of modern-day slavery.

Both Sinyangwe and Takei agree that the current system is exploitative in that inmates who work are barely paid.

When you lock people up and force them to work without providing them a fair wage, thats called slavery, Takei said.

Despite scrutiny from criminal justice advocates, many corrections departments in states that still use this practice have justified it on the grounds that having inmates work reduces recidivism rates and is more beneficial to them overall.

Joseph Nix, director of executive security at the governors mansion in Mississippi, told the Los Angeles Times in 1988 that the inmates tend to make the best workers.

George Lombardi, the Missouri Department of Corrections director, defended the departments work release program, in which one of the jobs includes working at the governors mansion. About 700 of the 30,000 inmates in the states prison system are part of the work release program.

Lombardi told Missourinet the program instills great work ethic, pride, self-esteem and compassion in offenders.

It really cuts to the core philosophy of our department, which is in addition to the time you have to serve, you have another obligation to help your community if possible, Lombardi said. So we present you with opportunities to do that in the form of work release and/or our restorative justice efforts that we have throughout the system.

Paula Earls, executive director of the governors mansion in Missouri, told the Los Angeles Timesin 1998that there have been no problems with inmates and touted the benefits of having inmates work at the mansion.

Were their last leg before they get out to society, she said. I treat them like staff. I appreciate the work they do. They are ready to go back out and make something of themselves and we hope we help with that.

Sinyangwe said these justifications for using inmate labor share similarities with the justifications people used for slaverythat it helped civilize black slaves and increased their work ethic.

When you read the history books about the Antebellum South, those are the same arguments being used, he said. So Im not persuaded by them. I dont think theyre original or new.

Arguments that inmate labor can prepare prisoners for integrating into the outside world once they are released also lose weight because of how difficult it is for former prisoners even to get a job to begin with. The hiring practice of asking applicants to indicate their criminal history on job applications has a harmful effect on ex-convicts, as they are less likely to get called back. These results skew along racial lines, as a study by Harvard sociologist Devah Pager found that only 5 percent of black men with a criminal conviction hear back from potential employers. The research also showed that black men with no criminal convictions are less likely to get hired than white men with criminal convictions14 percent for black men with no record compared to 17 percent of white men with a criminal record.

Wendy Sawyer, a policy analyst at the Prison Policy Initiative, said a larger issue than recidivism are the economic and racial barriers inmates face once they are released.

Everyones upset about recidivism rates, and its all about trying to keep people out once theyre out, she said. But then we make it as impossible as we can for that to work for people.We set up all these barriers that make it difficult for people to get their lives back together.

Arguments about recidivism and psychological benefits aside, another factor driving this practice is its cost-cutting benefits for the state. Because inmates are severely underpaid or not paid at all for their work, the state saves money on every prisoner working in the capitol or the governors mansion by not having to shell out the minimum wage to compensate them. This was the case in Louisiana when inmates began working in the capitol in 1990, as the state was experiencing a financial crisis. Inmates working at the governors mansion were also employed as a cost-saving measure.

Takei said these arguments made to justify the practice do not excuse the fact that it is a deeply exploitative system.

The fact that performing particular tasks may be part of a rehabilitation strategy doesnt excuse the fact that the people in these positions are denied a fair wage and the labor protections they would be entitled to if they were performing the same work on the outside, he said.

Sawyer noted that the greater underlying problem is that the prison system in the U.S. is hardly rehabilitative. Its really just punitive, she said. Its just people sitting there, kind of locked out of society.

Remembering the big picture

While the practice of using inmate labor in capitol buildings and governors mansions largely stays under the radar, it speaks to a larger issue in the prison labor system. As a whole, inmates who work while incarcerated, whether for a private company, for the state or even within the prison, make little to no money. This is despite the fact that in federal prisons, 100 percent of able-bodied inmates are required to work, according to the Prison Policy Initiative. In addition, the average rate of minimum wage for inmates paid by the state is 93 cents, while the average maximum wage is $4.73.

Takei said prisoners working in the governors mansion or the capitol building are caught between a rock and a hard place.

If your choice is between getting paid zero dollars an hour or being paid 25 cents an hour, oftentimes youll choose 25 cents an hour because you need that money, he said.

Sinyangwe said that at the very least, prisoners who are working should get paid a minimum wage for their labor. He noted that reducing recidivism rates could be better accomplished if prisoners earned an adequate wage and could either save the money or spend the money while incarcerated on services like calling family members or buying commissary items. He added that in states like Louisianaone of the poorest states in the countryfamilies of inmates are often financially struggling and shoulder many of the costs their family member incurs while in prison.

I think it would be incredibly impactful to reduce the recidivism rates by making sure that when people get out of jail, they actually have money to actually start a life, he said. That they are not forced to go back into the informal economy or committing crimes just to make a living.

Takei echoed this sentiment. I doubt that if you talk to any of the people who are working as servants in the governors mansion that they would object to the idea of actually being paid a fair wage for their work, he said.

Takei acknowledged that reforming the prison labor system would be difficult, given the precedent set by the 13th Amendment that legalizes this form of modern-day slavery. A number of courts around the country have also affirmed that prisoners arenot protected by the Fair Labor Standards Act or the National Labor Relations Act.

There is also the complacency of state legislators and governors who interact with these inmates every day, but have not taken any action to better their circumstances.

These were the legislators who had the power to change those dynamics, and yet who are benefiting by preserving them, Sinyangwe said.

Sawyer added that the issue has become a missed opportunity for progressives in particular to draw more attention to a practice that is essentially hiding in plain sight.

Theyre in the state buildings. Theyre in our places of government, she said. And were accepting that thats how this countrys going to be.Our state governments are going to benefit from that kind of labor. It feels like kind of a passive acceptance.

Since witnessing the inmates working in the Baton Rouge capitol building, Sam Sinyangwe said he has been looking at methods of reform, whether that involves administrative regulation, a legislative change or even a constitutional amendment to revise the loophole in the 13th Amendment. But he has not lost sight of the broader goal: ending mass incarceration.

What I would like to see, one, is that we are moving to end mass incarceration, he said, to repeal the policies and the draconian sentencing laws that got us to this place.

Celisa Calacal is a junior writing fellow for AlterNet. She is a senior journalism major and legal studies minor at Ithaca College in Ithaca, New York. Previously she worked at ThinkProgress and served as an editor for Ithaca Colleges student newspaper.Follow her at @celisa_mia.

This article was made possible by the readers and supporters of AlterNet.

See original here:

'Modern-Day Slavery': Many Southern States Have Prison Inmates ... - The National Memo (blog)

Photo Credit: Sean Pavone/Shutterstock

When activist Sam Sinyangwe was awaiting a meeting with the governors office at the Louisiana state capitol building in Baton Rouge, he noticed something odd.A black man in a dark-blue jumpsuit was printing papers while a correctional guardwith a badge and gunstood watching over him. The pair stood out against the white, middle-aged legislators populating the building.

Sinyangwe said he did not know exactly what he was looking at, until he saw another black man in the same dark-blue outfit serving food at the capitol buildings cafeteria. This time, Sinyangwe noticed that the man had a patch on his chest labeling him a prisoner of the Louisiana State Department of Corrections, complete with an identification number.

Sinyangwe realized that the server, the man printing papers and the other people working in the lunch line were all prisoners.

Inmates working at the capitol building in Baton Rouge is a common sight. Prisoners work in the Louisiana governors mansion and inmates clean up after Louisiana State University football games as well. But the labor practice of having inmates work in state government buildings extends beyond Louisiana; at least six other states in the U.S. allow for this practice: Arkansas, Alabama, Missouri, Oklahoma, Nebraska and Georgia.

The inmates allowed to work in the capitol or at the governors mansion are fairly low in number and are carefully screened. According to NOLA.com, about 20 to 25 people work daily in the capitol, and 15 to 18 other inmates work as groundskeepers outside the building. The inmates may not be serving a sentence for a sex crime or a violent offense like murder and must have a history of good behavior while incarcerated and display good work ethic. Furthermore, only inmates at the Dixon Correctional Institute (a men-only facility) can work at the capitol, as it is only 30 miles away.

A similar process occurs in Georgia, where inmates must receive a referral from the Board of Pardons of Parole or the Classification Committee within a state prison. Working at the governors mansion in Georgia is contingent upon an inmates criminal history, their behavior while incarcerated and their release date, among other factors.

The inmates perform janitorial tasks such as cleaning the floors or the offices of state legislators. In the Louisiana capitol, inmates also perform small tasks for legislators like grabbing lunch for them.

While inmates working in state government buildings are dutifully screened, they are not much better paid than prisoners with other jobs. In Louisiana, inmates in the capitol are paid between 2 and 20 cents per hour. They could opt for earning good-time credit toward early release, but only if they qualify. And with a normal workday of at least 12 hoursfrom 5 in the morning to at least 5 in the afternoon, barring legislative sessions when inmates work more than 12 hoursthe prisoners make between 24 cents and $2.40 a day. Inmates working in the governors mansion in Missouri recently got a small pay raise to $1.25 an hour to make about $10 per day. With the previous arrangement, prisoners earned $9 a day. In Arkansas, the prisoners are not paid at all.

History of the practice

The practice of using prison inmates as laborers stretches back to the end of the Civil War and the Emancipation Proclamation. As more black people were freed from slavery, the plantation economy of the South began to falter with the loss of their primary form of labor. The result was the establishment of vagrancy laws, which specifically targeted black communities, in an effort to incarcerate more black people and force them to work once again.

Even the name given to prisoners who work as servants in governors mansions and capitol buildings in some statestrusteeis the same title that was given to prisoners who worked as overseers on infamous prison plantations such as Angola and Parchman. Prison plantations began replacing the convict lease system in the 1920s as a way for prisoners, an overwhelming majority of whom were black men, to work. Back then, it was considered a privilege to be an overseer on a plantation, and the same narrative goes for inmates working in governors mansions today.

All of this, it looks very familiar: having black laborers toiling in the fields under the eye of overseers and having a white governor served by people drawn from that same forced labor pool, said Carl Takei, a staff attorney at the National Prison Project of the ACLU.

Since then, prisoners have been used as underpaid and unpaid laborers, from private companies to state government buildings. The legal loophole that allows this practice to continue is the 13th Amendment to the Constitution. While the 13th Amendment is best known for abolishing slavery, a clause in the amendment stipulates for the continued legality of slavery within the criminal justice system.

The clause reads: Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction.

If somebody is being subjected to forced labor as part of their sentence in a criminal proceeding, then that is outside the scope of the 13th Amendment, Takei said.

Modern-day slavery?

Hillary Clinton made waves for a passage in her 1996 book It Takes A Villagewhen a Twitter userposted photosof a passage in the memoir where Clinton talks about the prisoners who worked in the governors mansion. The passage quickly spread through social media, with many people criticizing Clinton and calling the practice a form of modern-day slavery.

Both Sinyangwe and Takei agree that the current system is exploitative in that inmates who work are barely paid.

When you lock people up and force them to work without providing them a fair wage, thats called slavery, Takei said.

Despite scrutiny from criminal justice advocates, many corrections departments in states that still use this practice have justified it on the grounds that having inmates work reduces recidivism rates and is more beneficial to them overall.

Joseph Nix, director of executive security at the governors mansion in Mississippi, told the Los Angeles Times in 1988 that the inmates tend to make the best workers.

George Lombardi, the Missouri Department of Corrections director, defended the departments work release program, in which one of the jobs includes working at the governors mansion. About 700 of the 30,000 inmates in the states prison system are part of the work release program.

Lombardi told Missourinet the program instills great work ethic, pride, self-esteem and compassion in offenders.

It really cuts to the core philosophy of our department, which is in addition to the time you have to serve, you have another obligation to help your community if possible, Lombardi said. So we present you with opportunities to do that in the form of work release and/or our restorative justice efforts that we have throughout the system.

Paula Earls, executive director of the governors mansion in Missouri, told the Los Angeles Timesin 1998that there have been no problems with inmates and touted the benefits of having inmates work at the mansion.

"We're their last leg before they get out to society," she said. "I treat them like staff. I appreciate the work they do. They are ready to go back out and make something of themselves and we hope we help with that."

Sinyangwe said these justifications for using inmate labor share similarities with the justifications people used for slaverythat it helped civilize black slaves and increased their work ethic.

When you read the history books about the Antebellum South, those are the same arguments being used, he said. So Im not persuaded by them. I dont think theyre original or new.

Arguments that inmate labor can prepare prisoners for integrating into the outside world once they are released also lose weight because of how difficult it is for former prisoners even to get a job to begin with. The hiring practice of asking applicants to indicate their criminal history on job applications has a harmful effect on ex-convicts, as they are less likely to get called back. These results skew along racial lines, as a study by Harvard sociologist Devah Pager found that only 5 percent of black men with a criminal conviction hear back from potential employers. The research also showed that black men with no criminal convictions are less likely to get hired than white men with criminal convictions14 percent for black men with no record compared to 17 percent of white men with a criminal record.

Wendy Sawyer, a policy analyst at the Prison Policy Initiative, said a larger issue than recidivism are the economic and racial barriers inmates face once they are released.

Everyone's upset about recidivism rates, and it's all about trying to keep people out once they're out, she said. But then we make it as impossible as we can for that to work for people....We set up all these barriers that make it difficult for people to get their lives back together.

Arguments about recidivism and psychological benefits aside, another factor driving this practice is its cost-cutting benefits for the state. Because inmates are severely underpaid or not paid at all for their work, the state saves money on every prisoner working in the capitol or the governors mansion by not having to shell out the minimum wage to compensate them. This was the case in Louisiana when inmates began working in the capitol in 1990, as the state was experiencing a financial crisis. Inmates working at the governor's mansion were also employed as a cost-saving measure.

Takei said these arguments made to justify the practice do not excuse the fact that it is a deeply exploitative system.

The fact that performing particular tasks may be part of a rehabilitation strategy doesnt excuse the fact that the people in these positions are denied a fair wage and the labor protections they would be entitled to if they were performing the same work on the outside, he said.

Sawyer noted that the greater underlying problem is that the prison system in the U.S. is hardly rehabilitative. It's really just punitive, she said. It's just people sitting there, kind of locked out of society.

Remembering the big picture

While the practice of using inmate labor in capitol buildings and governors mansions largely stays under the radar, it speaks to a larger issue in the prison labor system. As a whole, inmates who work while incarcerated, whether for a private company, for the state or even within the prison, make little to no money. This is despite the fact that in federal prisons, 100 percent of able-bodied inmates are required to work, according to the Prison Policy Initiative. In addition, the average rate of minimum wage for inmates paid by the state is 93 cents, while the average maximum wage is $4.73.

Takei said prisoners working in the governors mansion or the capitol building are caught between a rock and a hard place.

If your choice is between getting paid zero dollars an hour or being paid 25 cents an hour, oftentimes youll choose 25 cents an hour because you need that money, he said.

Sinyangwe said that at the very least, prisoners who are working should get paid a minimum wage for their labor. He noted that reducing recidivism rates could be better accomplished if prisoners earned an adequate wage and could either save the money or spend the money while incarcerated on services like calling family members or buying commissary items. He added that in states like Louisianaone of the poorest states in the countryfamilies of inmates are often financially struggling and shoulder many of the costs their family member incurs while in prison.

I think it would be incredibly impactful to reduce the recidivism rates by making sure that when people get out of jail, they actually have money to actually start a life, he said. That they are not forced to go back into the informal economy or committing crimes just to make a living.

Takei echoed this sentiment. I doubt that if you talk to any of the people who are working as servants in the governors mansion that they would object to the idea of actually being paid a fair wage for their work, he said.

Takei acknowledged that reforming the prison labor system would be difficult, given the precedent set by the 13th Amendment that legalizes this form of modern-day slavery. A number of courts around the country have also affirmed that prisoners arenot protected by the Fair Labor Standards Act or the National Labor Relations Act.

There is also the complacency of state legislators and governors who interact with these inmates every day, but have not taken any action to better their circumstances.

These were the legislators who had the power to change those dynamics, and yet who are benefiting by preserving them, Sinyangwe said.

Sawyer added that the issue has become a missed opportunity for progressives in particular to draw more attention to a practice that is essentially hiding in plain sight.

They're in the state buildings. They're in our places of government, she said. And we're accepting that that's how this country's going to be.Our state governments are going to benefit from that kind of labor. It feels like kind of a passive acceptance.

Since witnessing the inmates working in the Baton Rouge capitol building, Sam Sinyangwe said he has been looking at methods of reform, whether that involves administrative regulation, a legislative change or even a constitutional amendment to revise the loophole in the 13th Amendment. But he has not lost sight of the broader goal: ending mass incarceration.

What I would like to see, one, is that we are moving to end mass incarceration, he said, to repeal the policies and the draconian sentencing laws that got us to this place.

Celisa Calacal is a junior writing fellow for AlterNet. She is a senior journalism major and legal studies minor at Ithaca College in Ithaca, New York. Previously she worked at ThinkProgress and served as an editor for Ithaca College's student newspaper.Follow her at @celisa_mia.

View post:

'Modern-Day Slavery': Many Southern States Have Prison Inmates Working in Governor's Mansions and Capitol Buildings - AlterNet

By Margaret Kimberley

The United National Antiwar Coalition (UNAC) recently convened its fourth national conference in Richmond, Virginia. The organizations that comprise this coalition are unwavering in their determination to fight for peace and justice. Opposing the wars at home and abroad is their standard for action.

Virginia is an ironic location for a group whose goal was to unite anti-war, anti-imperialist, anti-neoliberalism and anti-racist forces. If the United States is the belly of the beast, Virginia must be the inner lining. It is the place where the settler colonial project began. Romanticized tales of Pocahantas hide an ugly story of genocide committed against the indigenous population. Virginia was the place where the first enslaved Africans arrived in 1619. In time it became known as the slave breeding state and Richmond was the capital of the confederacy. Yet in 2017 three hundred people gathered there to fight against this legacy that brings so much suffering to humanity.

Black Agenda Report is a UNAC member organization and this columnist is an Administrative Committee member. The connection between the two groups is a natural one. While other so-called peace groups are tied to the Democrats and ebb and flow with that partys fortunes, UNAC is independent of the duopoly. It does not change its organizing principles based on who controls Congress or who sits in the White House Oval Office. Those distinctions are artificial and the system is no less rapacious if there is a change in Republican or Democratic party control.

The nature of the American capitalist system requires that every country become either a vassal or an enemy. It gives us the rule of billionaires. The U.S created a mass incarceration system for the sole purpose of crushing the black liberation movement while also creating a profit center in the process.

All of the oppressions are intertwined. Millions of Americans toil under wage slavery or prison slavery and make fortunes for other people. But the contradictions of capitalism are growing more acute, and imperialist war is the outcome of a system trying to maintain itself. The fight for a living minimum wage and the fight against interventions abroad must therefore be addressed together because they are in fact part of a whole.

The UNAC conference also presented an opportunity to renew the African American-centered peace movement. The newly formed Black Alliance for Peace was very much present with leadership such as Black Agenda Report editor Ajamu Baraka playing key roles. Charo Mina-Rojas spoke about the struggle waged by black Colombians in the Buenaventura region of that country. Lawrence Hamm of the Peoples Organization for Progress linked the history of mass rebellion with the fight against police violence.

Barack Obamas presidency created a rupture in the black American radical tradition. The end of his administration creates an opportunity to rekindle that proud legacy, and to reject the politics of intervention and mass death that emanates from every American presidential administration.

UNAC organizations know that the imperialist project is bipartisan. Barack Obama began the war for regime change in Syria and Donald Trump, despite making claims to the contrary, continues it. The need to expose the American effort to dominate the world continued even as UNAC members met. While speakers pointed to the dangers that America inflicts upon the world, the United States government shot down a Syrian jet and increased the risk of conflict with Russia.

Attendees came from 29 states and from Hungary, Colombia, Ukraine, the Philippines, Serbia, Syria, Palestine and Canada. Every region of the world has been impacted by the drive for American hegemony. The fight against aggression must therefore be waged internationally. Foreign policy is not some rarified realm that can only be addressed by the self-appointed experts who have brought the world to the brink. The people who fight for a living wage or against police murder in this country must also speak to this governments assaults on human rights and sovereignty around the world.

The unity of all these struggles was made clear on the last morning of the conference. Ana Edwards led a march to Shockoe Bottom, the location of a cemetery for enslaved people and the site of one of the largest slave markets in the country. She and other activists from the Virginia Defenders for Peace, Justice and Equality have struggled to preserve the site as a memorial park and protect it from commercial so-called development.

The trip to Shockoe Bottom brought the conference full circle. Racism, supremacist war and predatory capitalism were perfected in Virginia and the people who want to change it paid homage to the first victims. We say, Power to the people but if we mean it we must say clearly who our enemies are and confront them at every opportunity.

The time is ripe for change. Some of that change will be forced upon us, but some of it must be created. That is why UNAC is so important. It is committed to creating the conditions which may make the beast and its belly a thing of the past.

Did you find this article informative? Please consider contributing to Eurasia Review, as we are truly independent and do not receive financial support from any institution, corporation or organization.

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UNAC Brings Power To The People OpEd - Eurasia Review

DENVER Every day, immigrants are told to clean their living areas in a privately run Colorado detention center or risk being put in solitary confinement. Some also volunteer to do jobs as varied as landscaping, more cleaning and cutting other inmates hair, but the pay is always the same $1 a day.

A group of former detainees says the system borders on modern-day slavery. They are challenging it in federal court and have won the right to sue the Denver-area detention centers operator on behalf of an estimated 60,000 people held there over a decade.

The former detainees allege the GEO Group is exploiting people in the 1,500-bed center to keep it operating with just one full-time janitor. The company reported $2.2 billion in revenue and had nearly $163 million in adjusted net income last year.

The case could have broad consequences for the private prison industry, which hopes to cash in on demand for more detention space as the Trump administration cracks down on illegal immigration.

Immigration detention centers are roughly the equivalent of jails in the criminal justice system places where people accused of civil violations of immigration law wait until their cases are resolved. While people convicted of crimes and serving time in prison are often required to work, those held in the nations jails generally cannot be forced to work because they have not been convicted, according to the U.S. Justice Departments National Institute of Corrections.

Courts view immigration detention not as punishment but as a way to keep people from fleeing, said Kathleen Kim, a professor at Loyola Law School in Los Angeles who specializes in immigration law. Forcing detainees to work violates the 13th Amendment, which ended slavery and bars involuntary servitude except for punishment of a crime, she said.

Financially, this model of operating these facilities very much depends on the labor of the people detained there, said an attorney for the Colorado detainees, Andrew Free, of Nashville, Tenn.

GEO says it is only following government policies and wants an appeals court to block the case from proceeding on behalf of everyone held from 2004 and 2014, noting class-action status could lead to additional claims against similar companies.

Thats already started. Another lawsuit filed in May against CoreCivic, the nations largest private prison operator, challenges similar labor practices at its San Diego immigration detention center.

Jonathan Burns, spokesman for the Nashville-based company, said all of its detainee work programs are voluntary and comply with the standards of the federal Immigrations and Customs Enforcement agency.

The agency has come to rely heavily on private companies to house its detainee population, which has tended to fluctuate with surges and drops in immigration.

In December, an Obama administration task force recommended continuing the use of private contractors for immigration detainees even though the administration announced it was phasing them out as operators of federal prisons. At a time when about 65 percent of immigration detainees were in private facilities, the group concluded it would take billions of dollars for the government to take over.

Now, President Donald Trump has asked Congress for a $1.5 billion budget increase for ICE to arrest, detain and deport immigrants in the country illegally. ICE acting director Thomas Homan recently told lawmakers it expects to house about 51,000 immigrant detainees on a given day, up from nearly 40,000.

In April, GEO, ICEs second-largest detention contractor, won a $110 million contract to build the first new immigrant detention center under Trump.

In its appeal, GEO said the former detainees and their attorneys dislike ICEs rules, but instead of asking Congress to change them they are pursuing a class-action lawsuit for monetary relief. Now, the company said, it faces massive financial risk for carrying out federal directives.

GEO noted company officials can remember only once when someone awaiting a hearing was put in solitary confinement for refusing to clean.

The former detainees at the Denver Contract Detention Facility say $1 a day is the minimum they must receive for work and that GEO lied in telling them it could not pay more. But the company says the amount is set in its contract with the government, which reimburses GEO for what it pays detainees.

While government rules require detainees to keep their personal living areas clean without pay, the plaintiffs claim GEO forces detainees to also clean and maintain common areas for free.

Following a November inspection, the U.S. Homeland Security Departments Office of Inspector General found another immigration facility, the publicly run Theo Lacy detention center in California, violated that rule by requiring detainees to clean common-area showers.

One of the former Colorado detainees who filed the lawsuit, Grisel Xahuentitla, of the central Mexico state of Tlaxcala, said as part of her mandatory daily cleaning, she was responsible for her pods floors and tables, along with basketball courts and a small library. But after some other women were deported, she volunteered to clean sinks, toilets and showers three times a day for $1 a day, partly because she felt bad for the lone woman left doing the job.

Xahuentitla also was looking for something to do, having lost interest in the crocheting workshops intended to keep women occupied.

I felt like I was getting a little depressed being there. Thats why I wanted the job, just to kill time, said Xahuentitla, now 33, who spent four months in the center in 2014 and now lives in the mountain town of Durango. She would not discuss how she was released or her current immigration status.

Xahuentitlas family sent her money, so she didnt need the daily wage to make phone calls or buys things like ramen noodles at the canteen. But she said others worked for the money.

The lawsuit estimates about 2,000 people held at the center agreed to work for $1 a day over three years. They are among the estimated 60,000 who were allegedly compelled to clean their living areas for no pay over a decade. (AP)

Read this article:

Ex-detainees charge borderline slavery in lawsuit - The Philadelphia Tribune

Every day, immigrants are told to clean their living areas in a privately run Colorado detention center or risk being put in solitary confinement. Some also volunteer to do jobs as varied as landscaping, more cleaning and cutting other inmates' hair, but the pay is always the same $1 a day.

A group of former detainees says the system borders on modern-day slavery. They are challenging it in federal court and have won the right to sue the Denver-area detention center's operator on behalf of an estimated 60,000 people held there over a decade.

The former detainees allege the GEO Group is exploiting people in the 1,500-bed center to keep it operating with just one full-time janitor. The company reported $2.2 billion in revenue and had nearly $163 million in adjusted net income last year.

The case could have broad consequences for the private prison industry, which hopes to cash in on demand for more detention space as the Trump administration cracks down on illegal immigration.

Immigration detention centers are roughly the equivalent of jails in the criminal justice system places where people accused of civil violations of immigration law wait until their cases are resolved. While people convicted of crimes and serving time in prison are often required to work, those held in the nation's jails generally cannot be forced to work because they have not been convicted, according to the U.S. Justice Department's National Institute of Corrections.

Courts view immigration detention not as punishment but as a way to keep people from fleeing, said Kathleen Kim, a professor at Loyola Law School in Los Angeles who specializes in immigration law. Forcing detainees to work violates the 13th Amendment, which ended slavery and bars involuntary servitude except for punishment of a crime, she said.

Financially, "this model of operating these facilities very much depends on the labor of the people detained there," said an attorney for the Colorado detainees, Andrew Free, of Nashville, Tennessee.

GEO says it is only following government policies and wants an appeals court to block the case from proceeding on behalf of everyone held from 2004 and 2014, noting class-action status could lead to additional claims against similar companies.

That's already started. Another lawsuit filed in May against CoreCivic, the nation's largest private prison operator, challenges similar labor practices at its San Diego immigration detention center.

Jonathan Burns, spokesman for the Nashville, Tennessee-based company, said all of its detainee work programs are voluntary and comply with the standards of the federal Immigrations and Customs Enforcement agency.

The agency has come to rely heavily on private companies to house its detainee population, which has tended to fluctuate with surges and drops in immigration.

In December, an Obama administration task force recommended continuing the use of private contractors for immigration detainees even though the administration announced it was phasing them out as operators of federal prisons. At a time when about 65 percent of immigration detainees were in private facilities, the group concluded it would take billions of dollars for the government to take over.

Now, President Donald Trump has asked Congress for a $1.5 billion budget increase for ICE to arrest, detain and deport immigrants in the country illegally. ICE acting director Thomas Homan recently told lawmakers it expects to house about 51,000 immigrant detainees on a given day, up from nearly 40,000.

In April, GEO, ICE's second-largest detention contractor, won a $110 million contract to build the first new immigrant detention center under Trump.

In its appeal, GEO said the former detainees and their attorneys dislike ICE's rules, but instead of asking Congress to change them "they are pursuing a class-action lawsuit for monetary relief." Now, the company said, it faces massive financial risk for carrying out federal directives.

GEO noted company officials can remember only once when someone awaiting a hearing was put in solitary confinement for refusing to clean.

The former detainees say $1 a day is the minimum they must receive for work and that GEO lied in telling them it could not pay more. But the company says the amount is set in its contract with the government, which reimburses GEO for what it pays detainees.

While government rules require detainees to keep their personal living areas clean without pay, the plaintiffs claim GEO forces detainees to also clean and maintain common areas for free.

Following a November inspection, the U.S. Homeland Security Department's Office of Inspector General found another immigration facility, the publicly run Theo Lacy detention center in California, violated that rule by requiring detainees to clean common-area showers.

One of the former Colorado detainees who filed the lawsuit, Grisel Xahuentitla, of the central Mexico state of Tlaxcala, said as part of her mandatory daily cleaning, she was responsible for her pod's floors and tables, along with basketball courts and a small library. But after some other women were deported, she volunteered to clean sinks, toilets and showers three times a day for $1 a day, partly because she felt bad for the lone woman left doing the job.

Xahuentitla also was looking for something to do, having lost interest in the crocheting workshops intended to keep women occupied.

"I felt like I was getting a little depressed being there. That's why I wanted the job, just to kill time," said Xahuentitla, now 33, who spent four months in the center in 2014 and now lives in the mountain town of Durango. She would not discuss how she was released or her current immigration status.

Xahuentitla's family sent her money, so she didn't need the daily wage to make phone calls or buys things like ramen noodles at the canteen. But she said others worked for the money.

The lawsuit estimates about 2,000 people held at the center agreed to work for $1 a day over three years. They are among the estimated 60,000 who were allegedly compelled to clean their living areas for no pay over a decade.

The rest is here:

Ex-detainees: Detention center's practices border on slavery - ABC ... - ABC News

Thursday, Jun 22, 2017, 11:42 am BY Jeff Abbott

Strikers shut down dozens of factories that produce textiles for large U.S. companies, such as Levi Jeans and Fruit of the Loom. Workers temporarily blocked the road to the Toussaint Louverture International airport in Port-au-Prince on May 19. (Photo: Rapid Response Network)

Thousands of textile workers in Haiti have stopped work in factories and taken to the streets to demand of improved working conditions in the countrys maquiladora export industry. For more than three weeks, workers have mobilized to demand higher wages, an eight-hour workday and protections against increased quotas across the industrial centers of Port-au-Prince, Carrefour, Ounaminthe and Caracol.

The strike follows the annual commemoration of International Workers Day.

Currently, workers receive a daily wage of roughly 300 gourdes, or about 4.77 U.S. dollars (USD), for a days work. Strikers aredemanding that the wage is raised to 800 gourdes, or 12.72 USDand that the eight-hour day be respected.

Workers face poor labor conditions in the countrys assembly-line factories, where they produce textiles for large U.S. companies such as Levi Jeans and Fruit of the Loom. Factory owners have long called for the use of violence against workers rights activists in Haiti and fired anyone known to associate with the unions.

The workers are supported by a coalition of independent labor unions, SOTA-BO and PLASIT-BO, which represent textile workers. These unions are associated with the independent workers movement,Batay Ouvriye, or Workers Fight.

We cannot work with dignity for 300 gourdes per day, said Didier Dominique, the spokesman for Batay Ouvriye, in an interview over the phone. Dominique points out that it is impossible for a family to survive on the low wages, in part due to the out of control inflation in the Caribbean country.

"It's gotten to the point where I can't take care of my son. I don't see any future in this," said Esperancia Mernavil, a textile worker associated with the Gosttra union, told the Associated Press.

On May 19, strikers shut down dozens of factories and temporarily blocked the road to the Toussaint Louverture International airport in Port-au-Prince as part of their actions. They then marched in the direction of the Presidential Palace before they were met by riot police, who deployed tear gas against the workers.

The Association of Industries of Haiti has denounced the strike, stating that the strikes are being led by isolated militants and syndicalists. They also levied accusations against strikers stating that they attacked the factories, as well as their fellow workers within, leading to the temporary closure of factories on May 19.

The workers have maintained their willingness to continue the strike, but cracks in their mobilization are beginning to show. Haitis constant crisis of poverty makes it difficult for the strike to maintain momentum over the long run.

After three weeks of protests, people are getting tired, said Dominique. Families are beginning to have financial issues.

But Batay Ouviye and the other unions are already planning their next actions in the event that the strike comes to an end.

The current strike continues years of actions to demand an increase in wages and improved labor conditions for textile and factory workers. The first minimum wage was established in the 1980s, and it was raised again in 1995. Since then, the minimum wage has not kept up with inflation.

Every year it gets more and more difficult to survive, said Dominique. The inflation takes more and more of the workers money. There is no stability. Because of this the workers are demanding higher wages.

In 2008, the Haitian parliament discussed raising the minimum wage in order to keep up with inflation. But these efforts were derailed by pressure from the United States, with the U.S. Embassy telling officials that any efforts to raise the minimum wage would hurt the economy and threaten trade agreements.

Secret embassy cables exposed by Wikileaks in 2011 highlight the collusion between the United States and businesses to keep the minimum wage low. These revelations led The Nation Magazine and Haiti Liberte to conclude, "U.S. Embassy in Haiti worked closely with factory owners contracted by Levis, Hanes, and Fruit of the Loom to aggressively block a paltry minimum wage increase."

Despite the pushback from the United States and companies, the Haitian Parliament successfully raised the minimum wage to roughly 5.11 U.S. dollars for an eight-hour workday in 2014. Yet, this raise does little to assist families that teeter on the poverty line.

The companies take millions of dollars from the country, and we are left working in poor conditions for little money, said Dominique. It is slavery all over again.

Continued here:

Thousands of Haitian Workers Are on Strike Against Foreign-Owned Sweatshops - In These Times

Outsourcing which is an indirect method employers devised in getting employees to execute various tasks began in Nigeria in the early 1980s with low cadre jobs as gardeners, cleaners and security guards that formed only a tiny part of the workforce. This was followed by organisations contracting out their book keepings to account firms, a phenomenon that has now assumed a monstrous dimension as contract staffs now constitute a major percentage of the workers of most companies in Nigeria. If it could be ignored back then because contract staffs constituted only a negligible part of the manpower, it should give cause for worry now that the reverse is the case. Like a malignant cancer that starts by manifesting seemingly harmless symptoms, the malaise of outsourcing has over the years spread all over the entire system.

First generation Labour leaders as Pa Michael Imodu and Hassan Sunmonu fought against poor remuneration leading to the institulisation of minimum wage in Nigeria. Successive leaders as Wahab Goodluck, Pascal Bafyau and Adams Oshiomhole fought vehemently against casualisation, the evil that plagued industrial society in their day. Up till recent past, a number of firms including financial institutions were picketed at the instance of labour leaders for gross violation of labour regulations as regard engagement of casual staffs and succeeded in reducing the menace to its bearest minimum. A greater evil is here and there is no one to speak against it.

The idea of an organisation sourcing its manpower should not be a deplorable one if the process had not been attended by acute poor remuneration and overall appalling condition of service. Under this scheme, the worker is reduced to a mere industrial adjunct. Benefits as medical care, annual and maternity leaves that were taken for granted in the past are now a luxury to the worker while welfare programmes that formed part of the their incentive are now beyond the reach of the average worker in Nigeria. A good number of these hapless ones work for 12 hours a day and seven days a week against the International Labour Organisation (ILO) stipulated 40 hours work week.

By its nature, mobility along the vertical and horizontal progressions is difficult if not impossible for the contract worker. Gone are the days when Nigerians felt proud working in multinational corporations and a number of local industries and banks whose identity cards they flaunted at any given opportunity to the envy and admiration of their less privileged friends and relations. Government officials make much effort to woo foreign investors to Nigeria for the opportunity which gainful employment offers to the youth. With the trend of outsourcing, this aim has been flatly defeated. Multinational conglomerates that were once the workers haven including foreign investments that enjoy a fabulous tax incentives and duty wavers in collaboration with local predators mercilessly feed fat on the sweat of the Nigerian worker. Contract workers like their casual hands counterparts do not get annual increment, neither do they have benefit in the NLC and TUC neither negotiated minimum wage nor enjoy any of the benefits secured by its 29 affiliated industrial unions at their triennial collective bargaining. An employment letter of a typical contract worker bears the following austere features: basic salary- N73, 440.00; housing allowance- N42, 200.00; transport allowance- N34, 560.00; feeding/utility allowance- N64,800.00; all totaling N216,000.00 per annum.

Save for public corporations/civil service where the trend is yet to gain dominance as contract jobs are limited to menial and technical fields, most jobs from the plumber to the driver and from the blue collar to the white collar are executed by contract hands who are compelled to make do with 25 to 35 per cent of what was hitherto paid for the same positions. While the worker pines away the unscrupulous slave drivers smile to the bank. Outsourcing is monkey de work baboon de shop writ large. The worker in Nigeria today is coerced into high productivity rather than being induced with incentive. A good number of these so called workers trek far distances, some as far as 10 to 15 kilometers to work daily and are constrained to make do with just one square meal for the whole day.

The condition of workers in Nigeria is pathetic and shabby to say the least. In their wretchedness, many employees have become so morally bankrupt as to engage in all sorts of criminal acts in their desperation to survive. Child and gender rights activists need to look into the difficulties faced by workers in Nigeria to nip in the bud the incidents of child abuse and rape rampant in the society. Frequent infighting and the quest for pecuniary gains have combined to render the Nigeria Labour Congress incoherent, inconsistent and emasculated while, workers groan under hardship.

At May Day rallies one finds members of the NLC executive council file out in their colourful regalia chorusing solidarity forever (x2) we will always fight for our rights. They will pontificate on the relevance of the trade union movement to the socioeconomic and political development of the nation and as the bulwark for the defense of the workers rights. But will prevaricate on being confronted with the challenges confronting workers in Nigeria. The NLC slogan: We are committed to ensuring the protection of job, full employment and humane working environment, is all a farce or at best a mere rhetoric. The trade union movement has for long lost its voice in Nigeria. Since the NLC has lost its relevance, it should be shoved aside for a more purposeful, vibrant and dynamic labour union to step in and save Nigeria workers.

Agenro lives in Lagos.

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Outsourcing: The source of modern day slavery Opinion ... - Guardian (blog)

My Lords and Members of the House of Commons.

My governments priority is to secure the best possible deal as the country leaves the European Union. My ministers are committed to working with Parliament, the devolved administrations, business and others to build the widest possible consensus on the countrys future outside the European Union.

A bill will be introduced to repeal the European Communities Act and provide certainty for individuals and businesses. This will be complemented by legislation to ensure that the United Kingdom makes a success of Brexit, establishing new national policies on immigration, international sanctions, nuclear safeguards, agriculture, and fisheries.

My government will seek to maintain a deep and special partnership with European allies and to forge new trading relationships across the globe. New bills on trade and customs will help to implement an independent trade policy, and support will be given to help British businesses export to markets around the world.

My ministers will strengthen the economy so that it supports the creation of jobs and generates the tax revenues needed to invest in the National Health Service, schools, and other public services.

My government will continue to improve the public finances, while keeping taxes low. It will spread prosperity and opportunity across the country through a new modern, industrial strategy.

My government will work to attract investment in infrastructure to support economic growth. Legislation will be introduced to ensure the United Kingdom remains a world leader in new industries, including electric cars and commercial satellites. A new bill will also be brought forward to deliver the next phase of high-speed rail.

My government will continue to work to ensure that every child has the opportunity to attend a good school and that all schools are fairly funded. My ministers will work to ensure people have the skills they need for the high-skilled, high-wage jobs of the future, including through a major reform of technical education.

The National Living Wage will be increased so that people who are on the lowest pay benefit from the same improvements in earnings as higher paid workers. My ministers will seek to enhance rights and protections in the modern workplace.

My government will make further progress to tackle the gender pay gap and discrimination against people on the basis of their race, faith, gender, disability or sexual orientation.

Legislation will be brought forward to protect the victims of domestic violence and abuse.

My government will reform mental health legislation and ensure that mental health is prioritised in the National Health Service in England.

Proposals will be brought forward to ban unfair tenant fees, promote fairness and transparency in the housing market, and help ensure more homes are built.

My ministers will work to improve social care and will bring forward proposals for consultation.

My government will ensure fairer markets for consumers, this will include bringing forward measures to help tackle unfair practices in the energy market to help reduce energy bills.

A priority will be to build a more united country, strengthening the social, economic and cultural bonds between England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales.

My government will work in cooperation with the devolved administrations, and it will work with all of the parties in Northern Ireland to support the return of devolved government.

A new law will ensure that the United Kingdom retains its world-class regime protecting personal data, and proposals for a new digital charter will be brought forward to ensure that the United Kingdom is the safest place to be online.

Legislation will also be introduced to modernise the courts system and to help reduce motor insurance premiums.

My government will initiate a full public inquiry into the tragic fire at Grenfell Tower to ascertain the causes, and ensure that the appropriate lessons are learnt.

To support victims, my government will take forward measures to introduce an independent public advocate, who will act for bereaved families after a public disaster and support them at public inquests.

My ministers will continue to invest in our gallant Armed Forces, meeting the NATO commitment to spend at least two per cent of national income on defence, and delivering on the Armed Forces Covenant across the United Kingdom.

My government will bring forward proposals to ensure that critical national infrastructure is protected to safeguard national security.

A commission for countering extremism will be established to support the government in stamping out extremist ideology in all its forms, both across society and on the internet, so it is denied a safe space to spread.

In the light of the terrorist attacks in Manchester and London, my governments counter-terrorism strategy will be reviewed to ensure that the police and security services have all the powers they need, and that the length of custodial sentences for terrorism-related offences are sufficient to keep the population safe.

My ministers will ensure that the United Kingdoms leading role on the world stage is maintained and enhanced as it leaves the European Union.

As a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council, committed to spending zero point seven per cent of national income on international development, my government will continue to drive international efforts that increase global security and project British values around the world.

My government will work to find sustainable political solutions to conflicts across the Middle East. It will work to tackle the threat of terrorism at source by continuing the United Kingdoms leading role in international military action to destroy Daesh in Iraq and Syria. It will also lead efforts to reform the international system to improve the United Kingdoms ability to tackle mass migration, alleviate poverty, and end modern slavery.

My government will continue to support international action against climate change, including the implementation of the Paris Agreement.

Prince Philip and I look forward to welcoming Their Majesties King Felipe and Queen Letizia of Spain on a State Visit in July.

My government will host the Commonwealth Summit in April of next year to cement its relevance to this, and future generations.

Members of the House of Commons:

Estimates for the public services will be laid before you.

My Lords and Members of the House of Commons:

Other measures will be laid before you.

I pray that the blessing of Almighty God may rest upon your counsels.

Go here to see the original:

Queen's Speech: Full text - Spectator.co.uk (blog)

Maybe it will have to be revolution:

The Turnbull government has put its bill to prevent worker exploitation on the backburner, delaying a vote until at least August a full two years after the 7-Eleven wage scandal was exposed.

The move comes amid an extensive behind-the-scenes lobbying campaign by the Franchise Council of Australia,led by former Liberal minister Bruce Billson,aimed at watering down the legislation.

The government originally said it wanted to pass the bill in May, shortly after a Senate inquiry report.

When that didnt happen, Employment Minister Michaelia Cash signalled she would seek to pass it before Parliaments long winter break but her office now concedes that will not happen either.

Citing a busy agenda dominated by school funding changes for the delay, a spokesman for Senator Cash says the bill is now highly likely to be debated when Parliament returns in August.

But the governments claim that it was too busy to deal with the bill was undermined on Tuesday when the government started filibustering on its own non-controversial legislation because the Senate had run out of work.

That will mark two years since a joint Fairfax Media/Four Corners investigation exposed widespread wage theft across the 7-Eleven network. A series of scandals involving a range of major companies have followed.

And they wonder why theres no income growth?

Everyone except Phil Lowe knows whats going on.Late last year, the Australian Population Research Institute (APRI) released an alarming new report entitled Immigration overflow: why it matters, which examined the widespread rorting of Australias visa system, as well as the crushing impact of Australias high permanent immigration program on Sydney and Melbourne.

One of the findings from this report was the high and increasing numbers of IT professionals being granted 457 visas, which constitute by far the largest occupation group within the 457 program:

The APRI claimed that most IT professionals being granted 457 visas are Indian nationals who are sponsored by Indian IT service companies. These companies have been successful in winning a major chunk of Australias IT consulting work on the basis of these 457 visa holders, partly because they are paying them much lower salaries than the market rate for IT professionals in Australia:

As Table 2 shows, some 76 per cent of the 7,542 457 visas issued in the three IT occupations listed were to Indian nationals. The great majority of these were sponsored by Indian IT service companies as intra-company transferees

Once in Australia their staff are being paid at much lower rates than experienced resident IT professionals and in some cases even new local graduates.

Even more disturbing is the relatively high proportion of these Indian IT professionals (28 per cent) whose 457 visas were approved at the extremely low base salary of $53,900 or less. This is despite the fact that only eight per cent of the 457 visas granted to Indians in the two ICT occupations in 2014-15 were aged less than 25.

The median starting salary for local ICT graduates under the age of 25 is around $54,000. Coincidentally, the 457 minimum salary floor is set at $53,900

The report also noted how the biggest sources of skilled permanent migrants engineers, accountants and IT professionals are also the areas with the biggest surplus of workers:

Thus, the overall immigration system is destroying career prospects for local graduates in these (and other) areas.

The IT Professionals Association (ITPA) has clearly had enough of the rorting, claiming that local tech firms are abusing the 457 visa system and threatening to name and shame IT organisations involved if issues are not rectified:

The ITPA cited temporary work data from the governments data.gov.au website which suggests there has been an unprecedented rise in 457 visas being issued to IT support workers over the past 10 years.

The data also found that while the overall number of 457 visas issued over the last decade (excluding IT) has risen by just 2 per cent, over the same period there has been a 136 per cent rise in 457 visas issued for IT workers.

Digging deeper, he said the growth rate for 457 visas granted to entry level occupations including systems administration and IT support blows out by over 480 per cent over the decade of 2005/06 2015/16.

The ITPA has no issue with local IT organisations using 457 visas if they are genuinely unable to find suitable local candidates, Hale said.

What we are concerned about, however, is that many local IT organisations appear to be using 457 visas to hire international staff to work in entry level IT support positions rather than hiring and developing local graduates

With the growing number of people now being brought in on 457 visas to undertake these roles, he said its not surprising local IT graduates cant find work, and the number of students studying IT degrees at Australian tertiary institutions has dropped in the last decade.

What is happening in IT is the equivalent to Australian government deciding to scrap all medical internships at Australian hospitals and bring in surgeons from overseas who are willing to work for half the wages, said Hale.

If that was the case, the result would be that universities stop offering medical degrees and we would become totally reliant on importing overseas medical staff in our hospitals

To stop abuse of organisations using the 457 visas system to fill systems administration and IT support positions, the ITPA calls on the Department of Immigration and Border Control to make details of all future 457 visa applications for systems administration and IT support positions available, so that we can promote to our members and IT graduates.

In the interim, the ITPA has asked our membership to advise us of examples of alleged abuses they encounter and if any claims are substantiated, we intend to alert the Immigration Department. If the identified 457 abuses are not rectified we will name and shame the IT organisations involved to our 7000 members and the media, he said.

Enter Fairfaxs Adele Ferguson, who recently penned another troubling piece on the rampant exploitation of foreign workers and visa fraud in Australia:

Extortion, blackmail, cash back scams and slavery are happening every day under our noses. They happen in the most unsuspecting places such as suburban restaurants and nail bars. Most suffer in silence.

In some cases unscrupulous employers offer sponsorships to desperate foreign workers in return for payment. In other cases they lure unsuspecting workers into a job with the promise of sponsorship, then they turn on the blackmail dial.

The price of visas can vary from $30,000 to $150,000 depending on the visa, the job on offer and the workers nationality. For companies engaging in this illegal practice, the scheme offers big bucks

If workers complain, their sponsorship is likely to be cancelled, inevitably leading to deportation unless a new sponsor can be lined up. Finding a legitimate sponsor isnt easy and there are no protections for workers who are exploited.

Sadly, Australias immigration system has morphed into one giant rort that is robbing young Australians old and new of a future, as well as choking the living standards of old and new residents in our major cities, who are having to contend with stagnant wages growth, ever-rising congestion, deteriorating housing affordability, and overall reduced livability.

See the rest here:

Franchise Council scuttles anti-slave labour bill - MacroBusiness (blog)

JUDY WOODRUFF: But first: More than three million migrant workers every year, most of them women, leave their countries to work as domestic laborers, often in conditions some say border on slavery.

Human trafficking is especially grave in the Persian Gulf and the Middle East.

Special correspondent Fred de Sam Lazaro begins his report from the West African nation of Cameroon. Its part of his series Agents for Change.

FRED DE SAM LAZARO: Theyre able to laugh at it now in a workshop setting, but the skit these women are watching depicts experiences that are all too real.

These women are all survivors from time spent in Persian Gulf and Middle East countries where they were domestic workers, victims of an industry the U.N. and rights groups say is rife with human trafficking and abuse.

Three years ago, Francisca Awah was working as a secretary in Cameroon and helping her mother sell vegetables. She had a new baby and with her fiance wanted to build a nest egg. So, Awah, who has a college degree, jumped at what she thought was a teaching job offer in Kuwait for 10 times her salary in Cameroon.

She paid the sponsoring agency $500, plus airfare. But almost as soon as she landed in Kuwait, she knew something was wrong, an experience familiar to many in this audience and acted out in the skit.

WOMAN: You no like, you give me $6,000, you go back to your country.

FRED DE SAM LAZARO: The bait and switch, an agent or trafficker demanding large sums if they werent satisfied with their job or pay, in Francisca Awahs case, not teaching, but cleaning.

FRANCISCA AWAH, Trafficking Survivor: He started telling me, youre going to work with me as a maid. You will take care of my two children and the house chores.

FRED DE SAM LAZARO: Awah says she complained and asked for her passport back, so she could return home. Although its illegal, workers passports are routinely confiscated by employers. The employers wife refused, saying she had paid the agency $2,000 for her services.

FRANCISCA AWAH: And the lady was so angry that she pointed at the television and told me that, Francisca, you know something? You are like that television. You are a commodity. I bought you. You need to pay back my money before you leave.

FRED DE SAM LAZARO: She had bought you?

FRANCISCA AWAH: Yes.

FRED DE SAM LAZARO: Then, one day, Awah saw a news report about an organization, Freedom For All, headed by an American woman named Katie Ford.

KATIE FORD, Freedom For All: And she said, please help me. There are many in much worse situations. Please help us all.

FRED DE SAM LAZARO: Indeed, Awahs story is far from unique. Each year, more than three million women worldwide are forced into servitude as domestic workers. Ford was shocked when she learned the extent of the problem.

KATIE FORD: Why arent we calling this slavery? Its people being forced to work without pay, without an ability to escape.

FRED DE SAM LAZARO: Katie Ford is the former CEO of the renowned Ford Modeling Agency. Her parents started the business in 1946, and represented such high profile models as Elle Macpherson and Naomi Campbell, bringing standards to an industry notorious for taking advantage of young women.

Ford was the first agency to insist that models be paid a fair wage.

KATIE FORD: They made sure the client paid, and they made sure the models were protected.

This is the first picture of her I saw.

FRED DE SAM LAZARO: Just as her parents did for their models, Katie Ford says she wanted to advocate for domestic workers. Her goal was to form partnerships with governments, employers and human rights organizations.

One of the first places she started was Kuwait, an oil-rich state of nearly four million people where foreigners outnumber native Kuwaitis by 2-1. It is the only country in the Persian Gulf region to even acknowledge theres a problem with domestic workers.

Kuwait became the first country in the Gulf region to pass a law that attempts to protect the rights of domestic workers, requiring at least one day off a week, for example, and setting the maximum number of hours worked per week. Its not much. That maximum is 72 hours. And the law doesnt specify that the worker be allowed out of the home on that day off.

And many, in fact, are forced to remain in their employers home on their day off. The Kuwait government has established a shelter, with a capacity for 500, where foreign domestic workers can escape abusive employers.

We were given a rare tour of the facility by its director, Falah al Mutairi.

FALAH AL MUTAIRI, Director of Labor Housing, Kuwait (through interpreter): The services that are provided include legal services, social, cultural and emotional help if needed. When it comes to deciding what the next step is, its up to the individual herself. Does she want to stay in the country? Thats when we discuss options. Ninety percent of the women want to go back to their home countries.

FRED DE SAM LAZARO: Since the shelter opened two-and-a-half years ago, nearly 8,000 women have passed through, waiting for passports to be returned, trying to find the means to buy return tickets, sorting out various legal problems.

We spoke with five women from countries as diverse as Madagascar, Sierra Leone, Sri Lanka, Nepal and the Philippines. All said they were either unpaid or severely underpaid. Many were lured here under false pretenses.

Nineteen-year-old Hassanatu Bangura says her parents thought they were sending her to college.

HASSANATU BANGURA, Trafficking Survivor: I think Im going to start school. So we go to the office, and she said that Im going to work.

BIBI NASSER AL SABAH, Social Work Society of Kuwait: We have a domestic labor law, but we dont have clear punishments or punishments that are enough to make an employer stop.

FRED DE SAM LAZARO: Bibi Al Sabah is a member of Kuwaits ruling family. Twelve years ago, she founded an organization designed to get workers legal help, also, she says, to change the culture, and attitudes toward domestic workers.

BIBI NASSER AL SABAH: Were rich people, and we can afford to have people working for us. And so, with this idea, a lot of people eventually just lost track of how humans should behave. It became part of the culture now to have workers everywhere. And so people forget that theyre humans and forget that these people are have lives and have children and have their dignity.

FRED DE SAM LAZARO: Falah Al Mutairi acknowledges that more reforms need to happen, but hes convinced that Kuwait has turned a corner. And he says that, to truly eradicate the problem, traffickers must be held accountable in the workers countries.

FALAH AL MUTAIRI (through interpreter): Because of sovereignty issues, Kuwait cannot track down criminals in other countries. It cant do anything about people outside its jurisdiction.

FRED DE SAM LAZARO: Francisca Awah isnt sure she can stop the traffickers either, but she is trying to help the desperate economic plight of women in low-income countries like Cameroon. After being rescued by Katie Ford 18 months ago, the two women have teamed up to form a career training program for women in this West African country

FRANCISCA AWAH: I wish that the girls should be like empowered personally. They should learn to do something within their country.

FRED DE SAM LAZARO: Last fall, Awah led a workshop with 34 young women who fled abusive work situations in the Middle East. They were learning how to finance and start their own businesses.

It included field trips to restaurants and markets to learn from other entrepreneurs and team-building exercises.

WOMAN: You wake up. You clean everywhere, OK?

FRED DE SAM LAZARO: Gatherings like these have helped women overcome, even laugh at their traumatic experiences, and maybe, they say, spread the word to other would-be trafficking victims.

For the PBS NewsHour, this is Fred de Sam Lazaro in Kumba, Cameroon.

JUDY WOODRUFF: Freds reporting is a partnership with the Under-Told Stories Project at the University of St. Thomas in Minnesota.

Link:

How human traffickers trap women into domestic servitude - PBS NewsHour

Minimum wage not about employers

(Re: Wage hike irresponsible in the June 14 edition of the Examiner)

It would appear that Mark Magner has not had to support himself or his family on a minimum wage.

Before any of us can remember, some cried foul when slavery was abolished. How could the economy survive? It depended on free labour!

Then they abolished child labour. How could we cope with losing that source of cheap labour.

Unions fought bitterly for a living wage.

And we adapted to all this.

If a business cannot survive paying a living wage to its employees, maybe it is poorly managed. Maybe it survives through oppression. Maybe it should close its doors.

Maybe we should get used to paying the true cost of goods and services. There are other incomes that should be modified and reduced. The minimum wage is not one of them.

Mel MacIsaac

Barrie

Planet interconnected

(Re: Trump pulls U.S. out of climate deal in the June 2 edition of the Examiner)

The United States of America is the biggest carbon polluter in the history of the world.

The Global South, which did little to create the problem, but now are facing catastrophic changes in the climate.

American President Donald Trump made it very clear, he was ending contributions to the Green Climate Fund.

The United States has pledged by far the most, $3 billion total or $9.41 per capita. Many countries have offered more on a per capita basis. The Swedes, for example, will contribute nearly $60 each.

It is abundantly clear to military around the world that climate change is the mother of all risks to national and global security. Climate change acts as a threat multiplier, exacerbating threats in already unstable regions of the world.

Everything is connected here on Earth. Trump does not appear to understand that fact.

Herein lies the gift Trump has given the world. We will now move on without a disconnected thinker obstructing the path forward.

Cathy Orlando

Citizens Climate Lobby Canada

Sudbury

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Minimum wage, Trump: LETTERS - The Barrie Examiner

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JUDY WOODRUFF: But first: More than three million migrant workers every year, most of them women, leave their countries to work as domestic laborers, often in conditions some say border on slavery.

Human trafficking is especially grave in the Persian Gulf and the Middle East.

Special correspondent Fred de Sam Lazaro begins his report from the West African nation of Cameroon. Its part of his series Agents for Change.

FRED DE SAM LAZARO: Theyre able to laugh at it now in a workshop setting, but the skit these women are watching depicts experiences that are all too real.

These women are all survivors from time spent in Persian Gulf and Middle East countries where they were domestic workers, victims of an industry the U.N. and rights groups say is rife with human trafficking and abuse.

Three years ago, Francisca Awah was working as a secretary in Cameroon and helping her mother sell vegetables. She had a new baby and with her fiance wanted to build a nest egg. So, Awah, who has a college degree, jumped at what she thought was a teaching job offer in Kuwait for 10 times her salary in Cameroon.

She paid the sponsoring agency $500, plus airfare. But almost as soon as she landed in Kuwait, she knew something was wrong, an experience familiar to many in this audience and acted out in the skit.

WOMAN: You no like, you give me $6,000, you go back to your country.

FRED DE SAM LAZARO: The bait and switch, an agent or trafficker demanding large sums if they werent satisfied with their job or pay, in Francisca Awahs case, not teaching, but cleaning.

FRANCISCA AWAH, Trafficking Survivor: He started telling me, youre going to work with me as a maid. You will take care of my two children and the house chores.

FRED DE SAM LAZARO: Awah says she complained and asked for her passport back, so she could return home. Although its illegal, workers passports are routinely confiscated by employers. The employers wife refused, saying she had paid the agency $2,000 for her services.

FRANCISCA AWAH: And the lady was so angry that she pointed at the television and told me that, Francisca, you know something? You are like that television. You are a commodity. I bought you. You need to pay back my money before you leave.

FRED DE SAM LAZARO: She had bought you?

FRANCISCA AWAH: Yes.

FRED DE SAM LAZARO: Then, one day, Awah saw a news report about an organization, Freedom For All, headed by an American woman named Katie Ford.

KATIE FORD, Freedom For All: And she said, please help me. There are many in much worse situations. Please help us all.

FRED DE SAM LAZARO: Indeed, Awahs story is far from unique. Each year, more than three million women worldwide are forced into servitude as domestic workers. Ford was shocked when she learned the extent of the problem.

KATIE FORD: Why arent we calling this slavery? Its people being forced to work without pay, without an ability to escape.

FRED DE SAM LAZARO: Katie Ford is the former CEO of the renowned Ford Modeling Agency. Her parents started the business in 1946, and represented such high profile models as Elle Macpherson and Naomi Campbell, bringing standards to an industry notorious for taking advantage of young women.

Ford was the first agency to insist that models be paid a fair wage.

KATIE FORD: They made sure the client paid, and they made sure the models were protected.

This is the first picture of her I saw.

FRED DE SAM LAZARO: Just as her parents did for their models, Katie Ford says she wanted to advocate for domestic workers. Her goal was to form partnerships with governments, employers and human rights organizations.

One of the first places she started was Kuwait, an oil-rich state of nearly four million people where foreigners outnumber native Kuwaitis by 2-1. It is the only country in the Persian Gulf region to even acknowledge theres a problem with domestic workers.

Kuwait became the first country in the Gulf region to pass a law that attempts to protect the rights of domestic workers, requiring at least one day off a week, for example, and setting the maximum number of hours worked per week. Its not much. That maximum is 72 hours. And the law doesnt specify that the worker be allowed out of the home on that day off.

And many, in fact, are forced to remain in their employers home on their day off. The Kuwait government has established a shelter, with a capacity for 500, where foreign domestic workers can escape abusive employers.

We were given a rare tour of the facility by its director, Falah al Mutairi.

FALAH AL MUTAIRI, Director of Labor Housing, Kuwait (through interpreter): The services that are provided include legal services, social, cultural and emotional help if needed. When it comes to deciding what the next step is, its up to the individual herself. Does she want to stay in the country? Thats when we discuss options. Ninety percent of the women want to go back to their home countries.

FRED DE SAM LAZARO: Since the shelter opened two-and-a-half years ago, nearly 8,000 women have passed through, waiting for passports to be returned, trying to find the means to buy return tickets, sorting out various legal problems.

We spoke with five women from countries as diverse as Madagascar, Sierra Leone, Sri Lanka, Nepal and the Philippines. All said they were either unpaid or severely underpaid. Many were lured here under false pretenses.

Nineteen-year-old Hassanatu Bangura says her parents thought they were sending her to college.

HASSANATU BANGURA, Trafficking Survivor: I think Im going to start school. So we go to the office, and she said that Im going to work.

BIBI NASSER AL SABAH, Social Work Society of Kuwait: We have a domestic labor law, but we dont have clear punishments or punishments that are enough to make an employer stop.

FRED DE SAM LAZARO: Bibi Al Sabah is a member of Kuwaits ruling family. Twelve years ago, she founded an organization designed to get workers legal help, also, she says, to change the culture, and attitudes toward domestic workers.

BIBI NASSER AL SABAH: Were rich people, and we can afford to have people working for us. And so, with this idea, a lot of people eventually just lost track of how humans should behave. It became part of the culture now to have workers everywhere. And so people forget that theyre humans and forget that these people are have lives and have children and have their dignity.

FRED DE SAM LAZARO: Falah Al Mutairi acknowledges that more reforms need to happen, but hes convinced that Kuwait has turned a corner. And he says that, to truly eradicate the problem, traffickers must be held accountable in the workers countries.

FALAH AL MUTAIRI (through interpreter): Because of sovereignty issues, Kuwait cannot track down criminals in other countries. It cant do anything about people outside its jurisdiction.

FRED DE SAM LAZARO: Francisca Awah isnt sure she can stop the traffickers either, but she is trying to help the desperate economic plight of women in low-income countries like Cameroon. After being rescued by Katie Ford 18 months ago, the two women have teamed up to form a career training program for women in this West African country

FRANCISCA AWAH: I wish that the girls should be like empowered personally. They should learn to do something within their country.

FRED DE SAM LAZARO: Last fall, Awah led a workshop with 34 young women who fled abusive work situations in the Middle East. They were learning how to finance and start their own businesses.

It included field trips to restaurants and markets to learn from other entrepreneurs and team-building exercises.

WOMAN: You wake up. You clean everywhere, OK?

FRED DE SAM LAZARO: Gatherings like these have helped women overcome, even laugh at their traumatic experiences, and maybe, they say, spread the word to other would-be trafficking victims.

For the PBS NewsHour, this is Fred de Sam Lazaro in Kumba, Cameroon.

JUDY WOODRUFF: Freds reporting is a partnership with the Under-Told Stories Project at the University of St. Thomas in Minnesota.

The post How human traffickers trap women into domestic servitude appeared first on PBS NewsHour.

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How human traffickers trap women into domestic servitude - NET Website

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[tags: slavery, john butler, africans] 594 words (1.7 pages) Good Essays [preview] Slavery in American Society: Impact and Evolution - Slavery in American Society: Impact and evolution Slavery in American Society The controversies surrounding slavery have been established in many societies worldwide for centuries. In past generations, although slavery did exists and was tolerated, it was certainly very questionable, ethically. Today, the morality of such an act would not only be unimaginable, but would also be morally wrong. As things change over the course of history we seek to not only explain why things happen, but as well to understand why they do.... [tags: Slavery Essays] :: 8 Works Cited 1631 words (4.7 pages) Powerful Essays [preview] The Bible in Relation to Slavery - The Bible is the best-selling book of all time, and with good reason. For the stories written in it have changed the way many think and even believe when it comes to the power greater than this world. The Bible holds very specific opinions on things such as slavery, who humans should treat each other, and ultimately social justice. It has been one of the most important foundations for allowing social reform to occur in modern day history as well as the history of the whole world. However, it is forgotten in history class how prominent the ancient texts have changed the people.... [tags: Religion, History, Slavery] :: 3 Works Cited 1787 words (5.1 pages) Powerful Essays [preview] If Slavery were Considered Moral - Describe the differences of this time period if slavery was considered "right". ISSUES TO UNDERSTAND CH. 14 1) The Compromise of 1850 was a dispute on whether or not Mexico (gained by US) would become a slave or free state. The northerners didn't want the 36'30' line to be moved to the Pacific and the southerners didn't want "free soilism" which would make Mexico a free state. Northerners gained from the Compromise California as a free state, New Mexico and Utah as likely future slave states, a favorable settlement of the New Mexico-Texas boundary, and the abolition of the slave trade in the District of Colombia.... [tags: Slavery] 1110 words (3.2 pages) Strong Essays [preview] The Real Heroes of Slavery in the United States - As a child in elementary and high school, I was taught that President Abraham Lincoln was the reason that African slaves were freed from slavery. My teachers did not provide much more information than that. For an African American student, I should have received further historical information than that about my ancestors. Unfortunately, I did not have the opportunity or desire to research slavery on my own until college. And with my eagerness and thirst for more answers concerning my African American history, I set out to console my spirit, knowledge, and self-awareness of my ancestors history.... [tags: Slavery Essays] 1983 words (5.7 pages) Powerful Essays [preview] The U.S. Constitution and Slavery - The US constitution was written with great vision to create strong nation. The bill of right were written, it provide all humans with rights. The writers of the constitution we hypocrites, they didnt abide by what they preached. Thomas Jefferson wrote himself all men are created equal but he owned slaves. The founding father didnt look or even think about slavery when they wrote the constitution. They were pre-occupied in getting the southern state to join the union and sign the new constitution.... [tags: USA, constitution, slavery, history, ] 408 words (1.2 pages) Strong Essays [preview] From Slavery to Presidential Power - When people look at a persons appearance, no two people will ever look alike. When people look at a persons character, no two people will ever look alike. Color, being the only thing that was similar, caused people of white race to see themselves as superior to those of African-American race. Slavery, which first arrived in Virginia in 1619, was followed by a number of events; many laws and amendments were passed, like the Fugitive Slave Law. Slavery resulted in Civil War, later gaining rights for African-Americans.... [tags: Slavery / Civil Rights] :: 6 Works Cited 1274 words (3.6 pages) Strong Essays [preview] History of Slavery in America - Slavery in the United States Slavery in general term consist in the state of a person being a property of another person. It has appeared for thousands of years. From the old Roman emperor to nineteenth century. Regardless, it increased by the development of societies to make profit by cheap human labor. Slavery appeared in the United States in late of seventeen centuries as a result of the trade market. These slaves came from Africa to work in large plantations for free labor in America. Historians believe that the first ship of slaves to arrive in America was Dutch to the Virginia colony of Jamestown in 1619 with around 20 slaves.... [tags: American History, Africans, Slavery] :: 8 Works Cited 909 words (2.6 pages) Better Essays [preview] George Washington's Feelings About Slavery - An abundance of scholars and general public regard George Washington as a prime example of leadership, citizenship, and overall individual achievement, and with good reason. When first learning of about George Washington in grade school, I was only told of his great accomplishments. The following composition will challenge the readers perception of our Nations first President as well enlighten the reader to debatable evidence of a more selfish racist. Thus forth, the following will show several of his accomplishments and how they not only overshadow his more deplorable actions but place his character and honesty into question.... [tags: Slavery Essays] :: 5 Works Cited 1319 words (3.8 pages) Strong Essays [preview] American Slavery Vs. Russian Serfdom - ... Slaveholders would exercise full dominance over their slaves. The British, Spanish, and Portuguese colonies all used the raw materials they exported to monopolize the trading that occurred in their empires. All colonies used supply and demand principles to determine where they would make the most money from their materials and products. Between 1450 and 1750 two developments and shifts in thought in Europe were the Renaissance and the Reformation. The Renaissance and the Reformation were partially caused by the questioning of the church after the Black Plague.... [tags: Serfs, Slavery] 1876 words (5.4 pages) Better Essays [preview] Colonial American Slavery - The study of slavery in the development of early America is an extremely complex, yet vitally important part of American History. There are hundreds of thousands of documents, debates, and historical studies available today. According to Ms. Goetz, the assistant professor of history at Rice University, who states, in The Southern Journal of History, that in addition to geographic and chronological diversity in the Americas, assessment of experiences of colonial slaves is extremely complex, especially in the context of three European colonial powers, vigorous Indian groups, and free and enslaved blacks(Goetz, 599).... [tags: Slavery Essays] :: 13 Works Cited 1467 words (4.2 pages) Powerful Essays [preview] Slavery is in the Past - Imagine being out in the fields hunting with your father. It has been a long day and a spitted warthog hangs between you. All of a sudden you are ambushed. An enemy tribe attacks you and your father. You fight using your makeshift spear but are overwhelmed by the number of tribesmen. You are hit in the head with a rock and fall unconscious. When you wake you are being loaded into a great wooden monster. You cringe in fear as you and your fellow captives are herded into this great wooden beast. You scream in protest at the white men who have chained you but they just beat you on the head with their rifles.... [tags: Slavery Argumentative] 1953 words (5.6 pages) Powerful Essays [preview] Historical Contridictions in Slavery - ... Also Zinn states that the growth of American capitalism, before and after the Civil War, whites as well as blacks were in some sense becoming slaves thus, Zinn believes that capitalism makes people slaves, whether citizens are entitled to a bill of rights or not (Zinn 193). Under a capitalistic system, with a bill of rights, this is a far leap to take, even for Howard Zinn to say that U.S citizens were living like slaves. Although the U.S government would eventually get rid of slavery Zinn is not satisfied with how this was achieved, apparently a national government would never accept an end to slavery by rebellion.... [tags: History of American Slavery, african americans] :: 3 Works Cited 1506 words (4.3 pages) Research Papers [preview] The Abolishment of Slavery - The Abolishment of Slavery Slavery was a disgraceful and disturbing phenomenon. It was abolished, as people gradually became aware of the conditions of the lives of the slaves. There were many courageous men and women who helped put an end to slavery, both black and white, and the large number of people in Britain in Britain and all over the world that opposed slavery were very important abolishment of slavery. Middle class whites had an important role in the abolishment of slavery.... [tags: Slavery Essays] 366 words (1 pages) Strong Essays [preview] Slavery in the South - Slavery in the South A large majority of whites in the South supported slavery even though fewer of a quarter of them owned slaves because they felt that it was a necessary evil and that it was an important Southern institution. In 1800 the population of the United States included 893,602 slaves, of which only 36,505 were in the northern states. Vermont, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York, and New Jersey provided for the emancipation of their slaves before 1804, most of them by gradual measures.... [tags: Slavery Essays] 683 words (2 pages) Good Essays [preview] The Cases Against Slavery - The two addresses by Abraham Lincoln Address at the Dedication of the Gettysburg National Cemetery and Second Inaugural address reflect the issues with slavery. The story, as framed by Abraham Lincoln, tells how colored soldiers and non colored soldiers have come together to fight the civil war to abolish slavery and preserve their rights their fore fathers have set up for them and how slavery goes against being a Christian. While the story line follows that of Harriet Beecher Stowe in her book Uncle Toms Cabin, where through a series of sketches she tells the stories of the human cruelty of slavery and enlightens the reader on how being a Christian and being for slavery is wrong.... [tags: Abraham Lincoln, slavery, Civil War] 1110 words (3.2 pages) Better Essays [preview] What is Wrong with Slavery?: Utilitarian Thought - In Philosophical Ethics, Utilitarianism is the doctrine that our actions are right if the outcome of our actions generate the greatest happiness amongst the majority. However, in What is Wrong with Slavery? some objectors of utilitarianism have tried to dismiss this moral reasoning as to having any importance by blaming the awful actions of slave traders and slave owners on utilitarianism. They attack this doctrine by saying that utilitarianism is a belief system that can either praise or condemn slavery, and utilitarianism easily commend slavery if a majority of the people visualize a slave-owning society as the most beneficial and generate greatest happiness.... [tags: utilitarianism, slavery, slave trade] 733 words (2.1 pages) Better Essays [preview] The Effect of the Industrial Revolution on Slavery - Slavery has always been a part of human history. Therefore on cannot talk about when slavery began in North America. Soon after the American colonies were established in North America, slaves were brought in to meet the growing labor need on plantations. Although the importation of slaves continued to grow as new plantations were developed, it was the industrial revolution that would have the most profound impact on the slave industry. The purpose of this essay is to analyze the effect of slavery in the 13 colonies due to the industrial revolution.... [tags: Slavery, North America, Industrial Revolution, his] 1161 words (3.3 pages) Strong Essays [preview] Slavery in the South - Slavery in the South Slavery of the Black man in America was the cruelest ever known to man. Europeans transported slaves from Africa as early as 1505. The African Slaves were first exploited on an island named Hispaniola, in the Caribbean by the Europeans to do labor work, before they were sent to the Americas. The women usually worked the interior cooking and cleaning while the men were sent out into the plantation fields to farm. These Africans were stripped of their homes, cultures, and languages.... [tags: Slavery Essays] 865 words (2.5 pages) Good Essays [preview] Slavery in the Caribbean - Slavery in the Caribbean Caribbean Slavery gave planters and elite in the Caribbean the right to abuse a human by requiring ridiculously long hours of work on the fields and not providing enough nutrition. The article by Kiple and Kiple reviews the state of malnutrition among the slaves and the findings are atrocious. Slaves were lacking basic nutrients such as calcium, fats, and various vitamins. Kiple and Kiple, regardless of these facts, state that according to 18 and 19th century standards, these diets were not poor.... [tags: Slavery Essays] 870 words (2.5 pages) Strong Essays [preview] Slavery in the United States - A historian once wrote that the rise of liberty and equality in America was accompanied by slavery. There is truth in that statement to great effect. The rise of America in general was accompanied by slavery and the settlers learned early on that slavery would be an effective way to build a country and create free labor. There was a definite accompaniment of slavery with the rising of liberty and equality in America. In 1787, in Philadelphia at the Constitutional Convention, the structure of government wasnt the only thing being discussed.... [tags: Slavery, racial issues, equal rights, civil rights] :: 3 Works Cited 1042 words (3 pages) Better Essays [preview] The South and Slavery - The South and Slavery The Societies of the North and South were very different. They were two regions of the country that depended very heavily on each other but yet seemed so far apart. Disagreeing on almost every aspect of how to reside and especially on very specific issues like slavery and emancipation. The North was an industrious, moneymaking, region. They respected blacks and gave them more rights than in the South where they had none. They still were not given the same rights as whites.... [tags: Slavery Essays] 527 words (1.5 pages) Strong Essays [preview] The Longstanding Institution of Slavery in the United States - Slavery, as an institution, has existed since the dawn of civilization. However, by the fifteenth century, slavery in Northern Europe was almost nonexistent. Nevertheless, with the discovery of the New World, the English experienced a shortage of laborers to work the lands they claimed. The English tried to enslave the natives, but they resisted and were usually successful in escaping. Furthermore, with the decline of indentured servants, the Europeans looked elsewhere for laborers. It is then, within the British colonies, do the colonists turn to the enslavement of Africans.... [tags: USA, slavery, history] 658 words (1.9 pages) Better Essays [preview] Slavery and the Caribbean - Slavery and the Caribbean Europeans came into contact with the Caribbean after Columbus's momentous journeys in 1492, 1496 and 1498. The desire for expansion and trade led to the settlement of the colonies. The indigenous peoples, according to our sources mostly peaceful Tainos and warlike Caribs, proved to be unsuitable for slave labour in the newly formed plantations, and they were quickly and brutally decimated. The descendants of this once thriving community can now only be found in Guiana and Trinidad.... [tags: Slavery Essays] 767 words (2.2 pages) Strong Essays [preview] Chapter 19 Outline: Perceptions on Slavery - ... Yet again the citizens would vote to make Kansas either pro or free slave state. The Lecompton Constitution is made to control free-soilers and appeal to the pro-slavery southerners. The constitution caused problems because obviously northerners didnt agree with it. In the end the constitution was thrown off by free-soil voters. Kansas never becomes a state until southern states seceded from the Union. IV. Bully Brooks and His Bludgeon: a. Charles Sumner Senator of Massachusetts gives a speech and is afterward beaten by Preston Brook.... [tags: kansas, slavery, debate, union] 1219 words (3.5 pages) Strong Essays [preview] African American Issues: Slavery and Continuing Racism - There are many issues that African Americans face in todays society, many of which I had not realized until after taking Africana Studies. Some issues dwell on the horrific past of the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade, which not only is history, but also is part of African American heritage (Karenga, 2010). African Americans frequently experience many perilous problems, such as dire economic situations and feelings of hostility from the cultural mainstream in America (Kaufman, 1971). The cultural collision between African Americans and whites continues to create several problems in society.... [tags: Race, Slavery] :: 9 Works Cited 894 words (2.6 pages) Better Essays [preview] The Hypocrisy of American Slavery, Through the Eyes of Frederick Douglass - The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave, Written by Himself is a powerful book in many respects. Douglass invites you to vicariously witness the monstrous atrocities he experienced during the antebellum period; a time when said atrocities were not only encouraged, but looked highly upon. Throughout his narrative, Douglass expresses his exponentially growing anger and fortitude. When the reader arrives at The Appendix, it soon becomes that much more apparent that the vice of slavery that is most troublesome to him, is the curtain of pseudo-Christianity surrounding it.... [tags: Slavery Essays] :: 3 Works Cited 1599 words (4.6 pages) Powerful Essays [preview] slavery and the plantation - slavery and the plantation During the era of slavery in the United States, not all blacks were slaves. There were a many number of free blacks, consisting of those had been freed or those in fact that were never slave. Nor did all slave work on plantations. There were nearly five hundred thousand that worked in the cities as domestic, skilled artisans and factory hands (Green, 13). But they were exceptions to the general rule. Most blacks in America were slaves on plantation-sized units in the seven states of the South.... [tags: Slavery Essays] :: 6 Works Cited 2101 words (6 pages) Powerful Essays [preview] Slavery in the Bible - Slavery in the Bible The first mention of slavery in the Bible is found in Noah's declaration, "Cursed be Canaan. The lowest of slaves will he be to his brothers" (Gen. 9:25). He said this after waking up from a naked, drunken stupor and learning that his son Ham had mocked him. Although Ham was the guilty party, Noah's statement was directed at Ham's youngest son Canaan. If he was involved with his father in this act of disrespect, the statement can be taken as the pronouncement of a curse, "Cursed be Canaan." It is possible, however, that Canaan did not join his father in making fun of Noah.... [tags: Slavery Essays] 780 words (2.2 pages) Good Essays [preview] Slavery Around the World - Throughout this course we have learned about slavery in many parts of the world. I have learned some new things about slavery that I had never been taught before. Slavery has been a major stab wound to the heart of the world ever since it first existed. Slavery has caused years of turmoil and depression to large ethnic groups of people who have done nothing to deserve what came to them. The sad part about the whole slavery situation is that, it was never completely abolished from the world. Maybe on paper slavery may have been abolished, but there are still forms of slavery that exists in the world today.... [tags: Slave, Mende Nazer, child slavery, Sudan] :: 3 Works Cited 1588 words (4.5 pages) Powerful Essays [preview] The abolition of slavery in Africa and the Middle East - ... The Western civilizatory mission can not accept slave work in a world in which the progress and the 'humanity' it was characterized by freedom and wage labor.9 Actually, the end of slavery in Africa was one of the 'motivations' of the 'scramble of Africa'. Colonialism was a way to overcome the savagery and bring natives to progress and civilization through wage labor and production for the market.10 Once the colonial rule was established and slavery legally abolished, images of 'benign' slavery were a way to keep good relations with the local rulers.... [tags: British and Foreign Anti-Slavery Society] 1001 words (2.9 pages) Better Essays [preview] Slavery, A World History - ... The author points out the plain fact of life, of which slavery was universally practiced. There were many slaves held in bondage through warfare, piracy, kidnapping and shipwreck. The idea that natural slavery was obviously absurd. Bondage was, therefore, not identified by color. Slavery at that time was seen to rest on nothing but preferred force. As a result, a significant aspect of slavery in ancient times was the absence of a color line. Even though most of the slaves were foreigners, there was no slave race or social class.... [tags: labor systems, laws don't abolish slavery ] :: 2 Works Cited 1098 words (3.1 pages) Strong Essays [preview] Racial Slavery and the Development of Our Nation - ... Confrontation between the Native Americans and settlers in western Virginia spearheaded an uprising that demanded Governor Berkeley to provide more land to the poor whites. Berkeley stood by his decision to maintain peaceful relations with the local Native American population, which sparked a series of uprisings and massacres that grew into full rebellion against Berkeley and his men. Berkeley fled when Nathaniel Bacon and his ranks burned Jamestown to the ground, which led to Bacons rule over Virginia for a short while until England sent warships to regain control.... [tags: united states, freedom, liberty, slavery] :: 1 Works Cited 1436 words (4.1 pages) Better Essays [preview] Interpretations of Slavery - Interpretations of Slavery INTRODUCTION Slavery is known to have existed as early as the 18th century B.C. during the Shang Dynasty of China. Slavery was widely practiced in many other countries, including, Korea, India, Greece, Mexico and Africa. (Britannica 288-89). When most people consider slavery, however, they think of Western slavery in North America because it is well documented and it was such a horrible institution. Even though there is no one definition of slavery, the people who study it (historians, anthropologists and sociologists) agree that certain characteristics are present in all forms of slavery.... [tags: Slavery Essays] :: 8 Works Cited 3740 words (10.7 pages) Powerful Essays [preview] Slavery in America - Slavery in America By 1850, ninety-two percent of all American blacks were concentrated in the South, and about 95 percent were slaves. Pre-civil war slaves in America went through a great deal of turmoil and discontent in the South. Slavery has had a huge effect on our country. Many slaves were beaten to death and some did not survive the ruff life of slavery. Slavery then went on to cause the War between the North and the South known as the Civil War. In 1916, a Dutch ship brought twenty enslaved Africans to a Virginia Colony at Jamestown.... [tags: Slavery Essays] :: 2 Works Cited 410 words (1.2 pages) Strong Essays [preview] Slavery In 19c - Slavery in 19th Century A justified institution as the 19th century emerged; the infamous institution of slavery grew rapidly and produced some surprising controversy and rash justification. Proslavery, Southern whites used social, political, and economical justification in their arguments defining the institution as a source of positive good, a legal definition, and as an economic stabilizer. The proslavery supporters often used moral and biblical rationalization through a religious foundation in Christianity and supported philosophic ideals in Manifest Destiny to vindicated slavery as a profitable investment.... [tags: Slavery Essays] 1159 words (3.3 pages) Strong Essays [preview] Slavery In America - Slavery in America Introduction There has been much debate on the topic of slavery in the early times, although most of the countries considered slavery as a criminal activity. Some countries such as Myanmar and Sudan do not abolish it. They even expedite the slavery system. It is no doubt that slavery violent the human rights. However, it was commonly spread in the early times from 17th to 19th century. In this research, I will talk about the origin of the slavery, the reasons for people to becoming slave and the life of the slave.... [tags: Slavery Essays] 1493 words (4.3 pages) Strong Essays [preview] Slavery In Illinois - Slavery in Illinois This essay talks about the dated events that happened in Illinois, focusing on slavery, from the time it begun, whether it should be implemented or not, its abolishment, and up to the time it ended. The paper also contains a well-opinionated reaction about slavery, how it is different from today. The Civil War Period has always been the primary hub of teaching in any American History classes. The era between the American Revolution and the Civil War was of a great importance since it has been the best and worst part of the western civilization during those times.... [tags: Slavery Essays] :: 4 Works Cited 1565 words (4.5 pages) Strong Essays [preview] Slavery in Literature - Slavery in Literature Frederick Douglass was born into the lifelong, evil, bondage of slavery. His autobiography, Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, An American Slave, Written by Himself, depicts his accomplishments. The narrative, however, is not only the story of his success. It is not simply a tale of his miraculous escape from slavery. Frederick Douglass' narrative is, in fact, an account of his tremendous strides through literacy. He exemplifies a literate man who is able to use the psychological tools of thought to escape the intense bonds of slavery.... [tags: Slavery Essays] 1499 words (4.3 pages) Strong Essays [preview] Slavery and Reparations - Slavery, colonialism and neo-colonialism have caused inestimable damage to billions of people throughout the world. They have also formed the basis for the accumulation of immense wealth in the hands of a small elite The slave trade involved the brutal relocation of tens of millions of people in which families, communities and societies were destroyed and in which millions lost their lives in the most inhumane conditions. At the same time, slavery was a fundamental element of the strengthening of mercantile trade and the rapid accumulation of capital that formed the basis for the emergence of the capitalist system as we know it today.... [tags: Slavery Essays] 4382 words (12.5 pages) Powerful Essays [preview] Defense Of Slavery - Throughout history many things have happened that were by many thought to be unconscionable. Yet, the people who were putting their mark of unacceptance upon those committing these thought to be deplorable acts, were unaware of the actual situations, and in many cases, committing the same acts themselves. This was true during the Holy Wars, the Crusades and similar events. People who were not involved, often thought these acts of inhumanity to be reprehensible, but the parties involved, in their minds, had just cause for what they were doing.... [tags: Slavery Essays] 1105 words (3.2 pages) Strong Essays [preview] Slavery In America - Slavery in America stems well back to when the new world was first discovered and was led by the country to start the African Slave Trade-Portugal. The African Slave Trade was first exploited for plantations in the Caribbean, and eventually reached the southern coasts of America. The African natives were of all ages and sexes. Women usually worked in the homes cooking and cleaning, while men were sent out into the plantations to farm. Young girls would usually help in the house also and young boys would help in the farm by bailing hay and loading wagons with crops.... [tags: Slavery Essays] 1011 words (2.9 pages) Strong Essays [preview] Racism and Slavery - Did race prejudice cause slavery. Or was it the other way round. Winthrop D. Jordan, in his monumental study of white American attitudes to black people from 1550 to 1812, argues that prejudice and slavery may well have been equally cause and effect, 'dynamically joining hands to hustle the Negro down the road to complete degradation. But we must go deeper than that, if we are to understand the rise of English racism as an ideology, the various roles it has played in the past, and the role it is playing today.... [tags: Slavery Essays] 1802 words (5.1 pages) Powerful Essays [preview] Lydia Maria Child's Propositions Defining Slavery and Emancipation - There has been many debates about the righteousness of slavery in the United States. There were many supporters of slavery as well as people who opposed slavery. Slavery has concentrated on African slaves In the United States. Law and public opinion regarding slavery differed from state to state and from person to person. Slavery has brought about a lot of controversy and stirred emotions even in today's society which has left a big impact on the people. In the documents, Ads for Runaway Servants and Slaves (1733-72), Lydia Maria Child's Propositions Defining Slavery and Emancipation (1833) and Lydia Maria Child's Prejudices against people of color (1836), describes the life of slaves alon... [tags: slavery, african-american, servants] :: 9 Works Cited 1425 words (4.1 pages) Powerful Essays [preview] Slavery in Jamaica - Jamaica has been a land exploited and oppressed by white nations for much of its history. First colonized by the Spanish and then the British, it seems hard to imagine a time when it was just the native people living in peace and harmony with the land. Many years after the white man first jammed himself onto the beaches of Jamaica, reggae music was born. A continuing tradition, this easy-to-groove-to music style originated as a voice against this oppression; it was the peaceful islanders way of finally communicating their plighted history to all who would listen, or all who could appreciate a good beat.... [tags: Slavery Essays] :: 6 Works Cited 4438 words (12.7 pages) Strong Essays [preview] slavery in brasil - Because certain forms of slavery had existed for centuries on the continent of Africa, Brazilian historians used to say that blacks imported from across the Atlantic were docile and ready to accept their new status as slaves. This assertion is based on the unwarranted assumption that was true of a limited area of Africa was typical of the continent as a whole. All slavery in brazil was essentially the same depending on the task or the labor the slave had to preform. In many cases the slaves was there to perform labor that was deplorable to the nobility.... [tags: Slavery Essays] 743 words (2.1 pages) Good Essays [preview] Views On Slavery - There are many perceptions as to how people view slavery. When people talk about slavery, the first thing that comes to their mind will be African American Slaves in the United States. They will also think of how they were brought to the United States against their own will and unequally exploited. However, according to Stephen F. Austin, during the eighteen-twentys and thirtys Mexicans also had slaves. He compares American Slaves and Cruz Arocha as a Mexican Slave. Although there are many differences between Cruz Arocha and the American slaves, especially in the ways they are treated.... [tags: Slavery Essays] 761 words (2.2 pages) Strong Essays [preview] Women and Slavery - SLAVERY AND THE UNDERGROUND RAILROAD The simple fact is that everybody has heard of the Underground Railroad, but not everyone knows just what it was. First of all, it wasn=t underground, and it wasn=t even a railroad. The term AUnderground Railroad,@ actually refers to a path along which escaping slaves were passed from farmhouse to storage sheds, from cellars to barns, until they reached safety in the North. One of the most widely known abolitionists in history is a slave by the name of Harriet Tubman.... [tags: Slavery Essays] :: 2 Works Cited 1466 words (4.2 pages) Powerful Essays [preview] Slavery in America - For this assignment we were asked to read the book Modern Medea written Steven Weisenburger, which deals with slavery in the mid-nineteenth century. In my paper I will discuss how the book portrays the daily life as a slave, the issue of freedom, and the racial realities during this time. This particular book tells the story of a slave by the name of Margaret Garner, who one day escaped from her plantation in Covington, KY, and took along with her Robert which was her husband, her four children, and Robert's parents.... [tags: Slavery Essays] 1843 words (5.3 pages) Strong Essays [preview] Support of Slavery by the Christian Church - Support of Slavery by the Christian Church The belief in some higher presence, other than our own, has existed since man can recollect. Religion was established from this belief, and it can survive and flourish because of this belief. Christianity, one of several forms of religion that exist today, began sometime during the middle of the first century. Christians believe in a higher presence that they call "God." This belief in God is based on faith, not fact; faith is "unquestioning belief that does not require proof or evidence." (Webster's New World College Dictionary, 1996, p.... [tags: Slavery Essays] :: 6 Works Cited 2850 words (8.1 pages) Powerful Essays [preview] The Contrasting Views of Pro-Slavery vs. Abolitionist - ... Samuel Cartwright was a physician and pro-slavery advocate during the 1800s and is well known for his diagnosis of drapetomania, a supposed disease that made slaves runaway. He concluded that the reason African slaves sought to escape was because they were treated inadequately by their masters. Delving deeper in his writings it is discovered he too, like George Fitzhugh, approved of enslavement. Both men advocated the issue and have similar analyzes on how slaves are or should be treated. Cartwright expresses to his audience that slaves will most likely run (drapetomania) if they are treated poorly by their master; according to my experience, the "genu flexit"--the awe and reverence, m... [tags: positions, goals, party, slavery] 1248 words (3.6 pages) Strong Essays [preview] Slavery in the Nineteenth Century: Viewpoint of the Antislavery and Abolotionist Movements - ... They were very well envisioned, however their efforts were only effective for so long due to the vast amounts of funding necessary for compensation of slave owners and shipment of freed slaves to their new settlements. There were far too many slaves and it was certain that the plan would never reach economic sufficiency to follow through with their project, as well as the fact that the growing cotton industry in the South called for much labor work and slaves were the easiest access of productive laborers.... [tags: homelands, slavery, influence, war] 751 words (2.1 pages) Better Essays [preview] A Study of the Healing Process from Slavery and Racism - A battle lost or won is easily described, understood, and appreciated, but the moral growth of a great nation requires reflection, as well as observation, to appreciate it.-Frederick Douglass When you think of slavery, you may want to consider the effects of an earthquake because thats how powerful it was. Like many earthquakes, slavery produced various damaging ramifications to everything around it. This included devastation to family structures and in worst cases the loss of human life; and without doubt slavery claimed the lives of many just as Harriet Jacobs expressed I once saw a slave girl dying after the birth of a child nearly white.... [tags: Racial Relations, Slavery, Racism] 2560 words (7.3 pages) Powerful Essays [preview] Looking Poitively at the Effects of Slavery in the USA: Personal Narrative - A Blessing in Disguise Slavery and capitalism have an interesting relationship. Slavery has existed nearly everywhere in the world, under almost every political and economic system, and was in no way a stranger to capitalism or the United States. America experienced endless economic benefits from slavery, but it was simultaneously a despicable violation of human rights. Natives of Africa were not only captured, but transported to what is now the United States and forced to do work. From the 16th to the 19th centuries, European colonies heavily depended on the labor of the Africans for their economic survival.... [tags: economic systems, capitalism, slavery] :: 5 Works Cited 1012 words (2.9 pages) Strong Essays [preview] Wendell Phillips: A Leading Reformer for the Abolishment of Slavery - ... For the most part Phillips was a peaceful reformer but in the 1850s he became radical. During the 1840s, he regularly attended conventions such as the World Anti-Slavery Convention in London that advocated the freedom of slaves. In years foreshadowing the Civil War, he became more aggressive, with events like Harpers Ferry Raid that subsidized his presence as a radical leader. However, after the war, he returned to being a more passive reformer by serving as a lecturer and public speaker. He heavily advocated for the 13th, 14th and 15th amendments which obliterated slavery and finally gave the right for African Americans to be citizens and permitted them to vote.... [tags: anti-slavery leaders] 727 words (2.1 pages) Better Essays [preview]

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Free Slavery Essays and Papers

Jun 18, 2017-

Domestic workers, the most vulnerable unregistered workers of the labour community, who often work without clear terms of employment, are facing identity crisis and inferiority complex, stakeholders have said.

Domestic workers say their work is not considered decent and since they are undocumented, they face hassles on everyday basis.

We are often frownedupon and there is no way to address our woes, said Rama Pandey, 36, who has been working for several families in the metropolis for the last 15 years.

The Civil Code Amendment Bill and Labour Act Amendment Bill have incorporated some provisions to ensure the rights of domestic workers, but both are yet to be passed by Parliament.

The Labour Act-1992 does not define informal workers as labourers.

The Labour Act Amendment Bill, however, has a provision of one employer and one worker policy and seeks to bring domestic workers under formal working group.

But Clause 88 (3) allows the employer to deduct money from the total wage if the employer provides food and accommodation, forcing domestic helps into some sort of slavery.

On top of that, wages for domestic help are determined on the basis of mutual understanding between the employer and the employee, and in most of the cases, the former has the upper hand.

Keshav Duwadi, secretary at the General Federation of Nepalese Trade Unions (GEFONT), said the organisation imparts special training to domestic workers on their wages and rights.

For eight hours of work, the minimum wage for domestic workers should be Rs9,700 per month.

There are approximately67 million domestic workers worldwide and 41 million of them are employed in Asian countries.

Nepal has around 200,000 domestic workers, according to GEFONT.

Nepal has ratified Domestic Workers Convention 189 of the International Labour Organization concerning decent work for the labourers.

A report published by the ILO in January 2016 about its programme entitled Decent Work Country Programme (2013-2017) says that in April 2015, the government had endorsed and implemented new guidelines on recruitment process of domestic workers in foreign employment.

Some employers even make us work for extended hours, but would not pay us accordingly, said Ganga Subedi, 24.

We have nowhere to go.

Unless a new law is introduced to protect the rightsof domestic workers, theywill be forced to wallow in self-pity, she said.

Published: 18-06-2017 07:59

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Undocumented, domestic helps mired in low wages, exploitation - The Kathmandu Post

The conversation around diversity in tech persists. One effect of this has been the creation of executive positions designed to oversee a companys approach to inclusion. Thats great.

TechCrunch Sessions: Justice brought together activists, union organizers, advocates and tech leaders to for lively conversations examining the intersection of justice and tech. Leslie Mac, DeRay Mckesson, Maxine Williams, Tony Prophet, Malkia Cyril, Matt Mitchell and Nicole Sanchez joined folks from the ACLU, the Last Mile, Measures for Justice and the Hidden Genius Project to examine criminal justice reform, diversity and inclusion, tech and the so-called pipeline problem that hiring managers like to bandy about. You should have been there.

If you werent among the lucky ones to have the privilege of attending, we have you covered. Below is every single panel that made up TechCrunch Sessions: Justice. Watch them, share them and continue the conversation.

Why did Elon Musk wait until it was about the climate to pull out of Trumps councils? Why shouldnt a tech CEO run for governor? Federal policies affect local constituencies and people in tech have an opportunity to fight for change at the local level. Erica Baker, soon-to-be director of engineering at Kickstarter, and Catherine Bracy, co-founder and executive director of TechEquity Collaborative, discussed the interest the tech industry has taken in social justice issues.

When youre a first-time founder of color trying to get funding, what do you have to do? According to Michael Seibel of Y Combinator, you have to be 20 percent better at everything. Monique Woodard of 500 Startups and Laura Gmez, CEO and founder of Atipica, debate whether an aspiring founder needs to be in Silicon Valley and offer practical advice to getting that first meeting. And the second.

You might not know that you need a big crypto hug, but Matt Mitchell of Crypto Harlem has one for you. But why for the black community in particular?

Surveillance is a tool of oppression, and black folks have been surveilled since before the slave ships. You look at a manifest of a slave ship and people were numbers and cataloged. You look at an overseers diary and its basically a CCTV camera but written out in handwriting. All the way up to COINTELPRO where a whos who of civil rights and racial justice leaders from the 60s and 70s [were surveilled]. Its part of a program, especially in this country, to dismantle those organizationsbecause theyre disruptive.

Thats why.

Its no secret that Silicon Valley has a diversity problem. But who doesnt? The legacy of this country we were founded on slavery and stolen land and genocide, says Nicole Sanchez, vice president of social impact at GitHub. Silicon Valley alone isnt going to be able to upend that. This question is impossible to answer unless those who are asking it are willing to go far deeper than the numbers from a diversity report.

Wayne Sutton of Change Catalyst, Rachel Williams, head of diversity at Yelp, and LaFawn Davis, global head of culture and inclusion at Twilio, talkedabout what it takes for tech companies to get at the root of their diversity problems.

Cognitive diversity + programming: That is the yes-and equation that Maxine Williams, head of diversity at Facebook, employs at the company in its pursuit of a more diverse workforce. When you have cognitive diversity, a foundation where people think differently, that is where you achieve diversity of thought. At that point, Williams says, is when the and part of the equation emerges. When I say its yes-and, we lay the foundation with cognitive diversity as a principle, and then we talk about the programming, and the programming does in fact go heavy on things like gender, race, ethnicity.

She also touches upon hiring practices in tech. You know when you tell the people you know about the jobs open in your company? Williams isnt a fan of that. Im not in the people you know thing; Im into skills you have.

Many of us will never serve time in prison, and many of us will never serve time in the military. Yet, those who have will sometimes find themselves suddenly thrust back into society, forced to make livings that they might not be prepared to make.

Kenyatta Leal, having served 19 years in prison, was released from San Quentin and immediately began working for RocketSpace. Donald Coolidge, a veteran of the Marine Corps., is the co-founder and CEO of Elemental Path. Organizations like Chris Redlitzs The Last Mile and Katherine Websters VetsinTech help bridge the gap for those who want to break into the tech industry as a returning citizen. The panelists have stories that Im sure not many of you can relate to.

Living in the Central Valley of California and commute two hours each way to Cisco taxes your time, energy and bank account. Do this as a low-wage worker and your life is dramatically impacted in ways most people will never understand. Jennifer Morales, who works in a cafeteria at Cisco, kicked this panel off by talking about her job before and after she and her colleagues organized a union.

Derecka Mehrens of Working Partnerships for her part is trying to challenge the narrative that Silicon Valley is working for everyone. Because as she says, it isnt. Silicon Valley Rising came out of this idea that we had to not only push to create middle wage jobs we had to upgrade the conditions of low-wage work especially in profitable industries. Guess what industry is profitable? And Y-Vonne Hutchinson of Project Include flipped the conversation to the 1099 workers whose roles arent all that great, either. Oh, and Morales is just getting started.

You cannot inject technologies into a condition or situation of white supremacy and expect anything but white supremacy to be the result, Malkia Cyril of the Center for Media Justice says about the role that technology plays in the quest for racial and economic justice.Its a grim reality; when body cameras focus their gaze on black and brown bodies and social media platforms readily police the words of black activists, the pursuit for justice becomes harder.

Cyril says we need to shift the power dynamic and demonstrate more directly what communities of color want. Silencing voices and limiting action is not the way to achieve that goal.

Hiring reps at tech companies will tell you the reason their companies demographics lean heavily toward the white, cis and male is because there is a pipeline problem. Karla Monterosso from Code 2040, Michael Essien of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Academic Middle School, and Brandon Nicholson of The Hidden Genius Project will tell you differently. Its about access and its about opportunity.

Were in a time of resistance. If you havent felt it, social activist DeRay Mckesson of Campaign Zero and Pod Save the People broke it down for you. He talked Twitters role in activism and what its like to walk the resistance road in 2017 and beyond: I try not to let the fear get to me too much, because I know that people want to see me too afraid to do the work.

Salesforce Chief Equality Officer Tony Prophet told the Justice audience members to think about self ID before they watched a video clip he brought. What does it mean at your workplace to say Im ____? How many of you have thought about having to do that? Prophet is working to ensure that Salesforce employees can show up every day and feel comfortablebringing their entire self to work. Its never too early to think about company culture, inclusion, how diverse your workforce is, and how inclusive your advisers and boards of directors are. Whats the essence of the endeavor that youre embarking on? he asks founders and people in the early stages of starting a company. Sound advice.

Data is playing a significant role in identifying the racial disparities in our criminal justice system. Ana Zamora of the ACLU says that at all levels from the police, to prosecutors, sheriffs, corrections system, probation/parole, etc. we need to see who is doing what in order to reform the criminal justice system.Its in the data.

As Amy Bach of Measures for Justice says, no data, no change. The voters want it, too, Zamora says. Through data, narrative and social media and technology, we can bring these issues to the voters so they can understand what the issues are and who is in charge. Dont boo. Vote.

Diversity reports break down the racial, ethnic, gender and sexual orientation demographics of those companies that choose to release them. However, often overlooked are the number of people with disabilities who work at these companies.

In this panel are Matt King, who works on the accessible engineering team at Facebook, and KR Liu, director of advocacy and accessibility at Doppler Labs. They discuss the importance of engineers to adhere to the needs of people with disabilities so that tech is available to all.

Requisite sentence about Ubers rough year. On the day the company fired 20 people, Bernard Coleman, the companys newish head of diversity, talked about diversity, inclusion and whether he regrets taking the job. (He says he doesnt.) Among his ideas for making Uber less Uber-like are developing an inclusion index to understand what inclusion looks like across all groups. And workshops. Lots of workshops. Coleman said he went to Uber for the challenge. He got one.

White supremacy is insidious. One of the most insidiouspieces of it is that its meant to be obscured by those who benefit from it most. Leslie Mac, an activist, writer and entrepreneur, telling the sad, plain truth.

The Safety Pin Box co-founder and activist, who was banned by Facebook in December, spoke with me about the role that white privilege plays in the persistence of our racist society and how white folks can be true allies (without calling themselves allies) in the fight for racial justice. She even had jokes: Two white allies walk into a bar because it was set so low. Zing.

Our criminal justice system is horribly broken, began Shaka Senghor, a former prisoner, best-selling author and founder of just-launched Mind Blown Media, in this panel. Its not designed to ensure men and women come home healthy and whole. Its designed to ensure men and women cycle in and out of prison.

Senghor wants to not only tell his own stories but he also wants to give voice to incarcerated individuals who are among the over-incarcerated. The personal is political and everyone has a story to tell.

See the rest here:

Here are all the panels from TechCrunch Sessions: Justice - TechCrunch

In episode 8 of Beyond Prisons, we have a wide-ranging conversation on the subjects of prison labor and slavery. First, we hear more from Bennu Hannibal Ra-Sun, an incarcerated member of the Free Alabama Movement, and a member of Jailhouse Lawyers Speak,a group of incarcerated human rights advocates and prison abolitionists,on the connection between slavery and the 13th amendment, and how society justifies the exploitation of prisoners through academia.

We are then joined by Jared Ware, our producer and a fellow abolitionist. Jay worked withthe Incarcerated Workers Organizing Committee (IWOC) during the nationwide prison strikes against slavery. He helped manage their Twitter account, which was acrucial source of informationas the strike unfolded.

The three of us talk aboutprison jobs programs, organizing against prison slavery, abolishing the 13th Amendment, and the upcoming Millions for Prisoners Human Rights March in Washington, D.C. We also attempt to complicate the discussion of prison labor by considering the economic relationship between the minimum wage labor movement and the use of prison labor, the ethics of working in prisons, and the relevance of prison jobs to the broader labor market.

Free Alabama Movement:http://www.freealabamamovement.com/

Jailhouse Lawyers Speak:https://www.facebook.com/BlkJailhouselawyer/

Read Lawsuit May Serve As Template For Challenging Forced Immigrant Labor In Private Prisons, by Jared Ware.

Please listen, subscribe, and rate/reviewour podcast on iTunesand on Google Play

Sign up for the Beyond Prisons newsletter to receive updates on new episodes, important news and events, and more.

Send tips, comments, and questions tobeyondprisonspodcast@gmail.com

Follow us on Twitter:@Beyond_Prison @phillyprof03 @bsonenstein

Like us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/beyondprisonspodcast/

Music & Production: Jared Ware

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Beyond Prisons Episode 8: Prison Labor feat. Jared Ware - Shadowproof (blog)

Carlos Lowry/Flickr. Creative Commons.

Our homes are our sanctuaries. Where we return after a days work, to eat and rest. Where we feel most safe. But for so many, our homes are places that present risk.

For domestic workers the nannies, cleaners and caregivers who do the work that makes all other work possible our homes are their workplaces. Behind the closed doors of homes in our neighbourhoods are where this invisible workforce consisting mostly of immigrant women spend their days nurturing our children, cleaning our kitchens and caring for our grandparents and loved ones with disabilities. There are 100 million domestic workers, hidden from view by the outside world, excluded from many labour laws that protect other workers, and vulnerable in the shadows of the economy.

If you listen to domestic workers you will hear stories that evoke every emotion, from humour to humiliation and heartbreak. Being forced to sleep in the basement near an overflowing sewage tank. Being withheld full pay, without any recourse. Being instructed to push a dog and a child around the neighbourhood in a double stroller. The pain of having to leave your own child to care for another. There are many positive stories as well, stories of interdependence and relationships that grow to become stronger than blood. But in the context of this very intimate field of work, every story includes vulnerability, and almost every domestic worker has a story of abuse.

The cruel irony is that domestic workers are some of the most important workers in our economy. As the baby boom generation ages, enjoying longer average lifespans and preferring to age at home rather than in nursing homes or other institutions, the need for home-based elder care is growing. In addition, more women are in the workforce, meaning there is now less capacity for care at home and thus an unprecedented need for domestic services and support. Between the displacement of work in existing sectors of the economy by automation and artificial intelligence, and the increase in the need for home-based care and services, care jobs are anticipated to be the single largest occupation in the economy by 2030.

Somethings got to give.

The exclusion of domestic workers in the United States from basic labour protections, including the rights to organise, collectively bargain and form unions, is rooted in the legacy of slavery. In the 1930s, as cornerstone labour policies were being debated in the United States Congress, members from southern states refused to sign on if domestic workers and farm workers who were mostly African American at the time were included in the new protections. To appease them the National Labor Relations Act (1935) and several other key labour laws were passed with those explicit exclusions.

With this as the legal and historical backdrop, I began organising with domestic workers in New York City some 20 years ago as part of an initiative to bring together Asian immigrant women in low-wage service work. It was impossible to ignore the quiet army of women of colour, mostly immigrants, pushing children of a different race in strollers up and down the streets of Manhattan.

Inter-Alliance Dialogue Assembly with the National Domestic Worker Alliance. Jobs with Justice/Flickr. Creative Commons.

Despite the need, it was a challenge to bring a small group of women together. Most women I met were primary income earners for their families and under extreme economic pressure to make ends meet, so the fear that coming to a meeting would jeopardise their jobs was a difficult barrier to overcome. The pressure on immigrant women was further compounded by the fear of being deported and separated from their families and communities. We persisted and eventually broke through, creating safe spaces for women to come together for connection, a sense of community and belonging.

The workers who came found strength and power in one another. The word spread to workers in other cities who were also beginning to organise. Meeting by meeting, in circles large and small, domestic worker organising started to spread locally. By 2007 we were ready to break out of the isolation of local organising and connect nationally, holding our first national meeting and officially forming the National Domestic Workers Alliance (NDWA).

Ten years later, were an alliance of 64 local organisations of domestic workers in 36 cities and 17 states around the country. Our members are nannies, housecleaners, and caregivers for the elderly and people with disabilities who work in the home setting. The workers can join through a local affiliate organisation or as an individual from anywhere in the country, pay dues and gain access to training, benefits and other resources.

Our newfound feelings of power became tangible as we filed lawsuits and organised rallies to hold abusive employers accountable. Lawsuits led us to understand the limitations of the law itself as domestic workers had been subjected to numerous exclusions in the labour law. It became clear that we would need to organise to change the laws and enact new policies altogether.

Our feeling of power became tangible as we filed lawsuits and organised rallies to hold abusive employers accountable.

We introduced the Domestic Workers Bill of Rights: state legislation that would establish basic protections for the workforce such as protection from discrimination, a day of rest per week, and paid time off. Our first big breakthrough came in 2010 when, after a seven-year campaign, the governor of New York state signed the bill into law. Since that time, six additional states have passed legislation to protect the rights of domestic workers, and the Federal Department of Labor has changed its rules to include two million home care workers previously excluded from federal minimum wage and overtime protections.

In addition, groundbreaking work with domestic worker survivors of labour trafficking has begun to change the conversation about trafficking to include the spectrum of vulnerability that women in low-wage service occupations face. Millions of dollars of unpaid wages to domestic workers have been recovered and thousands of domestic workers have engaged in the campaigns, developing a whole new generation of leaders for social change movements.

While our decade of work has focused on improving conditions for domestic workers, its significance to the rest of the workforce cannot be overstated. In the early years of organising, the conditions and vulnerability facing domestic workers felt marginal to the rest of the workforce. Today, these issues are affecting a much greater segment of people lack of job security, lack of pathways to career advancement, and lack of access to social safety nets are issues faced by workers in many sectors. In fact, as more of the workforce becomes, temporary, part-time, or self-employed, the non-traditional work dynamic has become more and more the norm.

The future of work for us all can be seen in the experience of domestic workers.

As the US economy adjusts to a growing gig economy, and as businesses and workers figure out how to leverage the benefits but avoid the dangers of tech-enabled gig-based work, we need only look to domestic workers to see how we will fare. Domestic workers are the original gig economy workers: we have experienced its dynamics, struggled with its challenges, and most importantly found some solutions to survive as a vulnerable workforce.

We could all benefit, for example, from a new bill of rights for working people in the 21st century. There are millions of workers in non-traditional settings who are denied access to benefits, in addition to domestic workers. Every workforce could gain from reinvented training systems to bridge the growing divide between high-wage and low-wage workers. And, if we can figure out how to provide a real voice for this disaggregated workforce with a sustainable, scalable, 21st century workers organisation we could create the context for workers to sit at the table and help shape the future of the global economy once and for all.

At the National Domestic Workers Alliance we are developing solutions with the future in mind.

We are building a national, voluntary membership association that any domestic worker can join and gain access to training and benefits. We are developing new training curriculums and career pathways for the workforce, and making training accessible in various languages and on mobile phones. Weve developed a Good Work Code a framework for good jobs in the online economy that helps companies design their businesses with the well being of workers in mind. And were developing a portable benefits programme that provides a means for independent contractors and informal sector workers to collect benefits contributions and apply them to the benefits she would like.

As a workforce of mostly women, the way we develop solutions is critical. We must ensure that undocumented workers and migrant workers are fully included in our solutions and strategies. We must account for the legacies of slavery and colonialism that shape todays workforce, as we invest in organising the workforce. Fortunately, that is precisely how our movement has evolved. At the intersection of many identities and experiences, we challenge ourselves to create organising models where everyone has a voice and dignity, where everyone belongs.

The global domestic workers movement is rising at precisely the right moment, not only to bring dignity and respect to domestic work, but to shape the future of work globally to be one of opportunity and real economic security for all families. The domestic workforce sits at the centre of many changes in the global economy, and must also be at the centre of their solutions. Our belief is that the research, organising, and solutions that emerge from the global domestic workers movement hold the keys to many of the critical questions we must answer, to achieve dignity and opportunity in the future.

So next time you see a worker quietly slip into a house with her cleaning supplies, or a nanny comforting a crying child who is not hers, or a caregiver gently pushing an elderly woman in a wheelchair into the sunshine, take note.

They might go largely unnoticed by you, but their significance to us all cannot be overstated. Their struggles are the struggles of the future of work. Their solutions are the solutions for the future of work. Theyre not just saving us from the domestic work conditions of the past and present, they just might also save us from a future of work that doesnt learn from the mistakes of the past.

And that is how we build a future of work with dignity and respect for all workers, a future of work we can all be proud of.

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Out from the shadows: domestic workers speak in the United States - Open Democracy

Rani Hong, a 46-year-old American citizen who was born in India, has gone from victim of child slavery to a United Nations special advisor on combatting modern day slavery. Above and beyond her work with the UN, Hong was also instrumental in creating a platform for victims to speak out.

She has launched an initiative known as the Freedom Seal, something companies can earn should they meet the criteria required to ensure that abusive migrant labour practices are a thing of the past, and was also successful in convincing the UN to launch a World Victims Day, celebrated on 30 June.

Hong was speaking at a conference on sharing models and best practices to end modern day slavery and restore dignity to victims. President Marie-Louise Coleiro Preca and a number of experts in the field addressed the event, which was organised by the Amersi Foundation and the Presidents Foundation for the Wellbeing of Society

How did this all start?

I am based in Seattle-Washington. My offices are there but I work all over the world and have visited 25 countries in the course of my work. It is amazing now to be here in Malta for the first time and Iam grateful for the opportunity that the foundation, the global sustainability network and the presidency foundation have created.

So I was a seven year old child living in South India. I was very happily living with my mum and dad, and one day I was suddenly kidnapped and stolen from my mother. I was taken into slavery into a separate state. Nobody knew me, I couldnt speak the language and I was very disorientated.

I do not have much memory of this, traffickers prey on vulnerability and innocence. During the process, they abuse and torture as a way to control, its called seasoning for submission.

This is what happens to a child who is going through the trafficking process. In my case thats what happened and it led me to completely shut down and became dysfunctional.

And how did you end up living in America?

So the traffickers said this child cannot work anymore. My owner was using children to work, and was selling children left and right. He was an employee of a cement company, and was using children for services. In my case I looked destitute and dying so they wanted to get rid of me. While they wanted to get rid of me they also wanted to make one last profit, so they sold me into international adoption through illegal channels.

They sold me into Canada and then into the USA. Today, I speak for those without a voice. Millions of children cannot stand up and speak out, not just because of their age alone but also because they had no platform to do this.

Today, under the Global Sustainability Network, the GSN platform brings together the media, faith leaders, governments and survivors to bring us together in a network so we can collaborate and work as one big network to fight human trafficking. According to the international labour organisation human trafficking is a 50 billion dollar industry.

Modern day slavery around the world

When we look into Malta, we know that migration is a huge problem because a lot of times, especially in the past year, we hear how refugees are being brought over and traffickers exploit that vulnerability. They leverage their illegal activity of human trafficking, they offer help and thats the trap, but its modern day slavery.

In the trafficking situation, especially in labour trafficking, often people are promised the world.

In 2011 I was appointed as the UN special advisor in the global initiative to fight human trafficking. In my travels for this, I spoke about the issues to raise awareness and education. Throughout this I realised there is a huge problem with the use of unethical recruitment practices.

As a result of this I launched the Freedom Seal. This is an actual label that companies can earn if they meet our criteria. One of those is that a company cannot go and charge for recruitment fees. We are seeing a lot of recruitment fees paid to brokers that are unethical.

If you are going to recruit, let us do it ethically, lets pay a decent salary and a living wage. Many are not given this despite signed contracts promising certain conditions.

I worked with a case of migrant labourwhere someone from my own state was shipped over to the Gulf. Once they got there none of the conditions promised were true, their living conditions were horrible and all the recruitment fees were gone because they were used for transportation.

This shows a business system that is absolutely exploiting migrants.

No country is exempt from modern day slavery, every country has it. When I worked with the UN office on drugs and crime, we launched a report and looked at the different countries, the migration route and the trafficking routes.

Based on geographical locations certain type of trafficking was more prevalent in certain areas. South East Asia is a place where all trafficking occurs; sex trafficking, organ trafficking, migrant labour, international adoption are all exploited.

Did you ever see your biological mother again?

I lived a good life in America. My adoptive mother helped me to bring healing and restoration. She was one single woman that took the chance and took me in. She was very surprised by my condition - I couldnt walk. My difficulty in walking came because I was held in a cage. I was in very bad shape but I learned to overcome the obstacles in my life. It took time but eventually I became stronger through my adoptive mothers love and attention.

Thats all we are asking for, we are not asking for the stars and the moon, but basic rights. We are asking for the right to be loved and cared for like a normal child. 21 years later I travelled back to India for the first time on vacation. We were in southern India, and in a three week time frame certain memories started to come back to me and I remembered some names. Long story short, after a miraculous series of events, 21 years after being sold into child slavery, I found my birth mother in a tourist hotel.

She recognised me straight away, as a mother you always remember your child. It was very emotional. As a child that grew up in India, I forgot, I became an American living an American life.

When I found her I was shocked, I was not prepared. I was simply on vacation in India. It felt liberating and I had so many questions. I asked the questions, what happened? Why am I in the USA? I soon realised she had no answers, she did not know what happened to me or that I had been living in America.

The drive to speak out

At that time is when I became a voice for victims worldwide. In 1999 I knew I could not stay silent on this issue. I learned my own case of being a child trafficking victim, I did quite a bit of research and that is what lead to all this, to me being an expert on the issue.

Many people do not have a happy ending to a story like mine, so I never take this for granted.

Having a network that provides that platform, the presidency society also wants victims voice to be heard, which is my lifes work.

When I spoke at the UN in 2010, I was one of the first victims to ever speak at the UN. Getting the voice of victims heard has been a struggle. But now I am happy to see the overcoming of that struggle and that challenge. Today we are seeing platforms at conferences highlighting this area.

I went before the UN General Assembly back in 2013 and asked them to launch a World Day where the voice of victims is heard. To my happiness, the UN 193 member state bloc agreed to this day, and will be celebrated on July 30.

This was a huge success because it is not easy getting things passed at the UN. I also asked for the issue of human trafficking to be a priority in the Sustainable Development Goals. They did, it is called Goal 8, and 8.7 is the goal that I had started to talk about in 2013. The Global Society Network now prioritises this which is a huge success.

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How victim of child slavery leads way in fight against exploitation of labour migrants - Malta Independent Online

Almost two years after the trial opened, Congolese military commander Bosco Ntaganda will take the stand on Wednesday at the International Criminal Court (ICC), charged with 13 war crimes and five crimes against humanity.

Ntagandas charges including the murder and rape of civilians and the recruitment, use, rape and sexual slavery of childrendate back to 2002 and 2003, while he was deputy chief of the general staff for Force Patriotiques pour la Libration du Congo (FPLC), a rebel group in eastern Congo.

Described by ICC chief prosecutor Fatou Bensouda as a notorious and powerful military leader, the 43-year-old was a central figure in the FPLC, one of Congos many armed groups, and is accused of recruiting hundreds of children under the age of 15 into combat in the countrys mineral-rich east.

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They recruited and used hundreds of childrento wage their bloody war, Bensouda said at The Hague. They forced these children to kill and treated them cruellyalso raped and sexually enslaved the girls.

The ICCs pursuit of Ntaganda, who evaded authorities for nearly seven years before he surrendered in 2013, is a welcome move for an institution criticized over the years for inaction. In 2014, Ntagandas ally Thomas Lubanga Dyilo was sentenced to 14 years in prison for the recruitment and use of children under 15 by the ICC. It was the courts first ever conviction.

Prior to that, in 2007, the international community had already sent a clear message that those who use children in war would have to face justice. The Special Court for Sierra Leone convicted Alex Tamba Brima, Ibrahim Bazzy Kamara, Santigie Borbor Kanu and Allieu Kondewa of the recruitment and use of children among other crimes under international law during the West African countrys 11-year armed conflict that ended in 2002.

A Congolese boy and former rebel soldier is pictured at a center for demobilized child soldier in Rutshuru, in the North Kivu province in Democratic Republic of Congo, on January 26, 2006. Four in 10 child soldiers in Congo are estimated to be girls. JOSE CENDON/AFP/Getty

And later in 2012, the former Liberian president, Charles Taylor, was found guilty of a range of crimes, including recruiting children under the age of 15 and using them to participate actively in hostilities in the same conflict in Sierra Leone.

Pinpointing an exact number of child soldiers globally is impossible given the disparate nature of many armed groups. But Child Soldiers International estimates the numbers remains in the tensif not hundredsof thousands.

Read more: Why the U.S. and Uganda are dropping the hunt for warlord Joseph Kony

Congo has been a major breeding ground for underage combatants over the years. What is unique about the Ntaganda trial is its focus on the exploitation and serial abuse of girls in armed conflict, an area largely overlooked by international media. Strikingly, it is estimated that up to 40 percent of all child soldiers in the country are girls.

Bensoudas remarks at the trial opening reveal the horrific extent of abuse suffered by many at the hands of the FPLC. She argues that girls in the group were reduced to objects which soldiers and commanders could pass around and use for sex whenever they pleased.

Her comments strike an alarmingly similar tone to those of many girls we interviewed in the country in 2016. I was often drugged,17-year-old Jeanette*, who was formerly part of a Congolese armed group, told us. I would wake up and find myself naked. They gave us drugs so that we would not get tired of all of them using us.

Congolese warlord Bosco Ntaganda sits in the courtroom of the International Criminal Court (ICC) during the first day of his trial in The Hague, on September 2, 2015. Ntaganda is charged with 13 counts of war crimes, including the recruitment, rape and sexual slavery of children. MICHAEL KOOREN/AFP/Getty

The account forms part of Child Soldiers Internationals extensive new research detailing the experiences of 150 former girl soldiers in eastern Congo to be released on June 19, the International Day for Elimination of Sexual Violence in Conflict. A majority of girls we interviewedsome who had joined armed groups and self-defense militias voluntarily, others who were forcibly recruitedsaid they had suffered sexual abuse in captivity. Many had been forced to be wives for soldiers. We were treated like toys, 15-year-old Sara explained. Lucky were those who only had one man.

Girls roles in armed groups take on multiple forms. Some will indeed be involved in direct fighting but many are exploited as cooks, porters, spies and forced to carry out hard labor. For Anourite, who was only eight years old when she was abducted from her school by Joseph Konys Lords Resistance Army a Ugandan militant group active in Congo and Central African Republiclife in the group meant caring for babies (many born to other female soldiers) and carrying the armed groups belongings, because she was too small to serve men.

Held captive for four years by the infamous group, she told us that physical and psychological suffering was common: We were beaten, even though we were only children. At first I said: I want to see my family, and they beat me even more. So I stopped crying. I had my first period in the bush. I managed using leaves.

The sexual abuse suffered by many of the girls we interviewed also makes them the focus of ridicule and rejection when they return home. Stigmatization of returning girl soldiers, heightened because of their sexual relations with soldiers, is a major problem in the region and stifles their reintegration back into communities. Every girl from the bush, the community points to her and says: Watch out: HIV, one 16-year-old girl explained.

Reintegrating these girls brings many challenges. This is why Child Soldiers International works with our national partners and communities to help them better understand the suffering these girls have gone through and support them accordingly when they go home.

The trial of Bosco Ntaganda is clearly a positive step in bringing to justice those individuals and armed groups who continue to recruit children for war. Butthe international community needs to ensure that the girl soldiers in Congo and elsewhere in the world are not forgotten on their return home. And sadly, there are still countless other perpetrators recruiting and using children that remain free and operate outside of the law.

We hope that the events at The Hague will send another strong message that these war crimes will no longer be tolerated and provide a small shred of justice to Ntagandas many victims, offering some hope to the thousands of other children who suffer, and have suffered at the hands of armed groups and forces.

Sandra Olsson is program manager at Child Soldiers International , an international human rights organization that seeks to end the military recruitment of all children.

*Names of individuals in this article have been changed to protect their identities.

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Child Soldiers in Africa: ICC Trial of Congolese Warlord Puts Recruitment of Girl Fighters in Spotlight - Newsweek