Although the term ‘slave’ is used colloquially and loosely to refer to people who are paid less than they should be paid, even if we apply the most literal sense of ‘slavery’ to a situation, that is indentured humans who are kept alive at subsistence level for the benefit of other humans, there are more slaves now than there ever have been in history.
When slaves were last traded in The Americas, the life of a slave was worth the adjusted figure of 40,000 dollars. It says something about the worth of human beings that today an adolescent slave can be purchased for $50.
I learnt this from a podcast. For a good night’s rest I should probably avoid listening to such talks overnight, but for an appropriately sobering introduction to modern slavery, I recommend a talk from Zocalo Public Square, by Benjamin Skinner, a journalist who has written and researched extensively on this topic. Here’s the YouTube video of the same talk.
A few years ago SBS aired a short series called ‘Modern Slavery’, which has stayed with me. It’s a three part series. I especially remember the scene of the family born into slavery, made to create mud bricks all day in India. The toddler had one meal per day. It was half of a red onion. I think of this image each time my own preschooler complains that I’ve put red onion in a salad.
A New Way For Companies To Prevent Slaves From Working For You from co.Exist
How many slaves do you have working for you? from the Everyday Minimalist
