There are 27 million slaves alive today, more than at any point in history, and more than were stolen from Africa during four centuries of the transatlantic slave trade. Written by the world’s leading experts, this shocking and powerful examination combines original research with first-hand stories from the slaves themselves to provide a reliable account of one of the worst humanitarian crises facing us today. Conservative estimates place the number of slaves living in the US right now at 40,000 with 17,000 individuals being trafficked a year. Around half of these will be forced into the sex industry while others labour in plain sight in hotels and restaurants. Only a few slaves are reached and freed each year, but the authors offer hope for the future with a global blueprint that proposes to end slavery in our lifetime. Kevin Bales is president of Free the Slaves and advisor to the UN and the US and British governments. He lives in Takoma Park, MD. Zoe Trodd teaches in the history and literature department at Harvard University. Dr. Alex Kent Williamson works at Children's Hospital Boston, Harvard University.
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"Modern Slavery is the most riveting exposee I've read in recent years and should forever redfine the phase "economic injustice." --Barbara Ehrenreich, award-winning journalist and bestselling author, whose books include 'Nickel and Dimed' and 'Global Woman'
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"A dazzling work of scholarship and protest, a clarion call that will, like the abolitionist literature of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, awaken people to the dehumanizing effects of global capitalism. Bales, Trodd, and Williamson are leading the way in the effort to end modern slavery."
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6 of 6 people found the following review helpful
By Hilary
Format:Paperback
This book is a must read if you are interested to know what forms modern slavery takes. It is full of facts and figures, and covers all forms of modern slavery - from debt bondage in India to human traficking and forced prostitution in the world.
As well as looking at what is happening it looks at the economics of slavery (who is profiting or not) and the mechanics of it - what makes a person or community susceptible to enslavement, how do they become enslaved. It looked at rehabilitation of former slaves and strategies to end slavery.
This is not a pleasant subject area, but I think we all ought to know what is going on so we can do our best to end it. It is particularly important that law enforcement, medical personnel and those who work in service stations read this book whatever country they are in. It is these people that are most likely to see slaves and put an end to their misery.
As well as looking at what is happening it looks at the economics of slavery (who is profiting or not) and the mechanics of it - what makes a person or community susceptible to enslavement, how do they become enslaved. It looked at rehabilitation of former slaves and strategies to end slavery.
This is not a pleasant subject area, but I think we all ought to know what is going on so we can do our best to end it. It is particularly important that law enforcement, medical personnel and those who work in service stations read this book whatever country they are in. It is these people that are most likely to see slaves and put an end to their misery.
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
Citizens & Governments/ 21st Century Slaves Are Cheap & Disposable Commodies
September 11, 2010
Format:Paperback
There are at least 27 million slaves alive today. More than at anytime in history, as many as in the 350 years of the Atlantic slave trade era, and as the authors point out, their numbers are greater than the population of Australia. They are paid nothing and are nationally and globally exploited. They are under VIOLENT control. They are i n v i s i b l e . As the authors put it/making something illegal doesn't make it disappear.
Forced labor for economic exploitation accounts for about 90% of slavery in Latin America and the Carribean, Asia, Africa and the Middle East, while commercial sexual exploitation accounts for the remaining 10%. In the industrialized countries sexual exploitation rules, accounting for about 75% of slavery in those civilized countries.
The authors provide a variety of charts that give the reader a quick picture of what slavery is geographically, economically, & historically. The also provide some pictures of slaves that bring the relization home, that these are people, like ourselves. For instance one shows the forms of slave labor in the U.S./Sex services(including children)49%, Domestic service 27%, Agriculture 10%, Factory work 5%, Restaurant-Hotel work 4%, Entertainment 3%, Other 2%.
The authors tell how the history of slavery is seamless; and how it has evolved today to become globalized, where forms of slavery in different parts of the world are becomming more alike; where it is now predominately in the realm of small criminal bussinessmen; where the length of time slaves are held has fallen, now often temporary, lasting just a few years or even months, because it is not profitable to keep slaves when they are not immediately useful; and is no longer dependent on racial difference. That today the cost of slaves have dropped like the proverbial lead baloon to historical lows, wher the amount of profit to be made starts in the double figures and can range easily up to 800%.
After violent control is established slavery can then take on many forms including: debt bondage slavery, contract slavery, slavery linked to religious practices, or state-sponsored forced labor.
By understanding the social, cultural, political, economic, and sometimes religious packaging that is wrapped around slavery in different countries, we can adept general patterns yo each unique setting.
There is a sinister and vicious cycle being perpetrated by some transnational corporations & international banks, where they force slaves to generate the destruction of their very own living environments, thereby destroying the very lands where their families and neighbors make their livliehoods, creating the very forces that drive their own communties toward... enslavement! The cycle of slavery and environmental destruction is very evident! Anyone who can see, could plainly view the destruction from space!
Today there are slaves waiting to be freed. Slaves have been coming to freedom for hundreds of years. The organizations that liberate slaves know how to set them free. What they cannot do is mobilize funds that help extend their work further.
In confronting slavery, we are confronting at the same time numerous associted heath risks and consequences - on an individual, national, and global scale.
Around the world slavery grows quickly amid the chaos of armed conflict, environmental destruction and natural disaster - because chaos brings with it economic crisis & violence: two of slavery's key ingrediants.
As we combat poverty to end slavery, we also need to combat slavery to help end poverty.
It is all here, AND then some. This work is only a couple of hundred pages, yet very informative. I picked this up because many of the fiction books Ive been reading have brought this issue up as part of their plots. WOW!
In closing, the authors quote Frederick Douglas many times throughout their fine work, and so.../Where justice is denied, where poverty is enforced, where ignorance prevails, and where any one class is made to feel that society is an organized conspiracy to oppress, rob and degrade them, neither person or property will be safe.
HIGHLY RECOMMENDED !!!!!!!!
Forced labor for economic exploitation accounts for about 90% of slavery in Latin America and the Carribean, Asia, Africa and the Middle East, while commercial sexual exploitation accounts for the remaining 10%. In the industrialized countries sexual exploitation rules, accounting for about 75% of slavery in those civilized countries.
The authors provide a variety of charts that give the reader a quick picture of what slavery is geographically, economically, & historically. The also provide some pictures of slaves that bring the relization home, that these are people, like ourselves. For instance one shows the forms of slave labor in the U.S./Sex services(including children)49%, Domestic service 27%, Agriculture 10%, Factory work 5%, Restaurant-Hotel work 4%, Entertainment 3%, Other 2%.
The authors tell how the history of slavery is seamless; and how it has evolved today to become globalized, where forms of slavery in different parts of the world are becomming more alike; where it is now predominately in the realm of small criminal bussinessmen; where the length of time slaves are held has fallen, now often temporary, lasting just a few years or even months, because it is not profitable to keep slaves when they are not immediately useful; and is no longer dependent on racial difference. That today the cost of slaves have dropped like the proverbial lead baloon to historical lows, wher the amount of profit to be made starts in the double figures and can range easily up to 800%.
After violent control is established slavery can then take on many forms including: debt bondage slavery, contract slavery, slavery linked to religious practices, or state-sponsored forced labor.
By understanding the social, cultural, political, economic, and sometimes religious packaging that is wrapped around slavery in different countries, we can adept general patterns yo each unique setting.
There is a sinister and vicious cycle being perpetrated by some transnational corporations & international banks, where they force slaves to generate the destruction of their very own living environments, thereby destroying the very lands where their families and neighbors make their livliehoods, creating the very forces that drive their own communties toward... enslavement! The cycle of slavery and environmental destruction is very evident! Anyone who can see, could plainly view the destruction from space!
Today there are slaves waiting to be freed. Slaves have been coming to freedom for hundreds of years. The organizations that liberate slaves know how to set them free. What they cannot do is mobilize funds that help extend their work further.
In confronting slavery, we are confronting at the same time numerous associted heath risks and consequences - on an individual, national, and global scale.
Around the world slavery grows quickly amid the chaos of armed conflict, environmental destruction and natural disaster - because chaos brings with it economic crisis & violence: two of slavery's key ingrediants.
As we combat poverty to end slavery, we also need to combat slavery to help end poverty.
It is all here, AND then some. This work is only a couple of hundred pages, yet very informative. I picked this up because many of the fiction books Ive been reading have brought this issue up as part of their plots. WOW!
In closing, the authors quote Frederick Douglas many times throughout their fine work, and so.../Where justice is denied, where poverty is enforced, where ignorance prevails, and where any one class is made to feel that society is an organized conspiracy to oppress, rob and degrade them, neither person or property will be safe.
HIGHLY RECOMMENDED !!!!!!!!
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