Submitted by Gene Howington, Guest Blogger
So you don’t think you’re a slaver?
Of course you don’t.
Statistically speaking, most of you are decent people. You find the notion of slavery abhorrent. Slavery is illegal in this country and immoral and unethical everywhere. You’d never hire someone using slaves to work for you. You’d never buy something you knew without a doubt was made by slaves.
Right? Or would you? What if you didn’t know your subcontractor relied upon slave labor or the goods you purchased were made by slave labor or relied on natural resources gathered and processed by slaves? If you did, would you do something about it? Knowledge is power. As your quantity and quality of relevant information increases, so will the quality of your decision making.
Would you like to get an idea about how much slave labor goes into maintaining your lifestyle, if any?
There’s an app for that.
Slavery Footprint is a website created by Call + Response, a non-profit dedicated to ending slavery, in collaboration with the U.S. State Department’s Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons. The Slavery Footprint website has a Flash-driven survey that asks a variety of questions about how you live, from where to the food you eat to the type of products you use in the bathroom to the clothes in your closet. They also have a downloadable application for both Android and iPhone. You can answer the survey in as little or as much detail as you like. The questions are not brand specific. No questions ask for personally identifying information. However, the more detailed answers you give gets you a more detailed response as to how you live might be contributing to the global slave trade and forced labor practices. You might be surprised at the results, even if you’re an informed and conscientious consumer. I know I was and the knowledge was well worth the time to take the survey.
You might be wondering exactly how Slavery Footprint scores the various products in question. They are quite upfront about both their methodology and their sources of information. Combining data both on the manufacturing country and the source materials used, the algorithm they use is explained by the following graphic:
The sources for their data are as follows:
“The five main reports we used were:
- 1. Department of State “Trafficking in Persons Report 2011” The most comprehensive worldwide report on the efforts of governments to combat severe forms of trafficking in persons.
- 2. Department of Labor (DOL) “List of Goods Produced by Child Labor or Forced Labor 2010” A list of goods from countries that the Bureau of International Labor Affairs has substantiated used of forced labor or child labor its production.
- 3. International Labor Organization’s (ILO) “Committee of Experts Reports 2011-2003” The Committee of Experts undertakes investigations of government reports on ratified conventions. The Committee’s role is to provide an impartial evaluation of violations of international labor standards.
- 4. Transparency International‘s “Corruption Index 2010” This index is used to measure and quantify the levels of public sector corruption in 178 countries around the world.
- 5. Freedom House “Freedom in the World 2010 Combined Average Ratings – Independent Countries” The Freedom in the World 2010 survey contains reports on 194 countries and 14 related and disputed territories. Each country report includes a narrative on the following information: population, capital, political rights (numerical rating), civil liberties (numerical rating), status (Free, Partly Free, or Not Free), and a 10-year ratings timeline.
Additionally, we utilized published data pertaining to forced labor issues. This included vetted data drawn from a variety of international sources. The following inclusion criteria were used:
- Drawn from ONE Internationally credible source with expert review (i.e. ILO, International Office for Migration, World Health Organization, United Nations Security Council)
- Referenced in at least TWO multi-national reliable sources (i.e. CNN, Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International)
- Reported on by at least THREE disparate and unrelated local news sources (i.e. The Guardian, Swedwatch, Jakarta Post, Enough Project)
Note: This data set will continue to be expanded based on emerging research and the results of further investigations that meet the aforementioned inclusion criteria.”
The fight for human rights is more important now than ever. With oppressive practices by both governments and industry on the rise globally, it is imperative to speak truth to power by standing up for human rights everywhere in addition to standing up for civil rights in your home country. In an ever connected and interconnected world economy, slavery isn’t just a local problem in some far away place. It’s a problem in your very own kitchen.
What can be done to address this problem? What should be done to address this problem? Both locally and globally?
What do you think?
Source(s): Call + Response, Slavery Footprint
~Submitted by Gene Howington, Guest Blogger
Too bad that’s not what this column is about, Larry.
This column is about modern slave labor practices in the harvesting of resources and manufacture of consumer goods.
You’re doubly confused if you think otherwise.
Brilliant reply Gene, but you refused to answer my question. Can I have an answer now?
Why does anyone think the war was about slavery? I was about the incredibly high tariffs raised on southeners. Is everyone forgetting there were slaves in the NORTH and more northern slave states? And after the EP was issued, the NORTH was allowed to KEEP their slaves!!
Yes, Larry.
You are confused.
Gene, Im confused, how was Lincoln an emancipater? leonardo—-Lincoln wasnt a racist? Sure about that? Would you like me to give you quotes by himthat proves he was?
@Dredd: “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” (13th Amendment).
I am not a lawyer, but I would read that to mean the slavery or involuntary servitude must be specifically prescribed as punishment for crime. I do not see it being implicit. Not only is “slavery” and “involuntary servitude” different things, so is “involuntary servitude” and “imprisonment.” In modern times I have never heard of anybody being sentenced to involuntary servitude, I would think that would have to be an explicit part of the sentence by a judge or jury, and without it involuntary servitude would be a violation of their rights, because it was not a component of their punishment for the crime of which they were duly convicted.
The only time I have heard of involuntary servitude is when people have been ordered to perform community services in lieu of prison time.
To me imprisonment is confinement and separation from normal societal interactions. It does not automatically give the state the right to abuse you or put your health at risk. Virtually any kind of forced labor does that, picking crops in particular subjects one to bug bites, snake or other animal bites, dehydration, physical stresses that can induce heart attacks, heat stroke, slips and falls, back injury from repetitive bending, severe allergic reaction, exposure to pesticides, and increased distance from emergency medical care which increases the risk of preventable death.
If the state wants to use prisoners for forced labor, I think they should have to restrict themselves to the subset explicitly sentenced to slavery or involuntary servitude; like community service.
“HB56 has also cut into the States agricultural labor force at a time when farmers are bringing in crops. Farmer’s are being offered inmates from the state’s Department of Corrections to help pick produce before it rots. Growers blame the lack of workers on HB56, which they say has caused laborers to leave. ”
Couldn’t Alabama arrest illegal aliens and THEN send them as the prisoners who pick crops?
also it’s my considered, yet humble, opinion that the Emancipation Proclaimation was a purely political device used to keep Britain and France from recognizing the CSA as a sovereign country.
I would urge anyone with an interest in this period of American history to read Disunion
One-hundred-and-fifty years ago, Americans went to war with themselves. Disunion revisits and reconsiders America’s most perilous period — using contemporary accounts, diaries, images and historical assessments to follow the Civil War as it unfolded.
Disunion
How Lincoln Undid the Union
from the article
On Dec. 11, 1860, with South Carolina’s secession looming, President-elect Abraham Lincoln wrote a letter to Illinois Rep. William Kellogg, a fellow Republican. Publicly, Lincoln was keeping silent on the emerging crisis. But his letter was designed to achieve one objective: to sabotage a sectional compromise to save the Union.
Marked “Private & confidential,” the letter instructed Kellogg to “entertain no proposition for a compromise in regard to the extension of slavery. The instant you do, they have us under again; all our labor is lost, and sooner or later must be done over. … Have none of it. The tug has to come & better now than later.”
Great article Gene! I knew about fair trade coffee, but not chocolate.
@Oro Lee: Unfortunately, that type of thing (a constitutional amendment limiting campaign contributions) won’t do the job.
Most of the problem is not in the campaign contributions. It is true that campaign contributions have grown to the point that they can be an end in themselves for politicians and their staff. Hillary Clinton and staff were dining at $400/plate, living in $10,000/night suites in Vegas (a separate suite of rooms for each senior staff member), and spending lavishly on themselves. And it is true that campaign contributions are one source of corruption.
But corruption is like water, it will find any crack in the system and leak through. Plug the campaign contribution hole, and the system will spring a leak elsewhere.
Probably the biggest leak in the system now is lobbyism. I think people fail to comprehend exactly why lobbyists are successful. It is only partially because of their campaign contributions, and it isn’t due to their great negotiating abilities. Lobbyists are walking advertisements for the rewards a politician can enjoy after leaving office, and perfectly legally, if they do not make enemies of the rich and powerful. Lobbyists can live a fantasy life. Million dollar salaries, penthouse offices with a staff, jets and helicopters on call, and lavish expense accounts. All without doing much more than showing up for lunch and dinner.
I think of lobbying costs as the “tax” corporations pay, far less than 1% of their profits in lobbying expenses, in order to keep their income tax rates and regulations costs from being 15-20% higher than they are now. And it works.
The money in campaigns is a side show, the real money in politics is the quiet sale of influence over the law, with payment shrouded in “investments” that appear legal or deferred until it is openly legal. The politicians don’t do it because they love the rich, they do it because they ARE the rich, or they expect the rich to pay them for the help, one way or another.
Campaign contributions are just one path, there are dozens of others. Look at Hillary’s $250,000 windfall profit from her one-and-only commodity trading investment. We all suspect with 99% certainty what happened there, but there is no way to prove it. Look at Harry Reed’s amazing land investment success, becoming a multi-millionaire when the only jobs he has ever held have been in government. Amazing! Or probably not, but we cannot really prove he has traded on tips from rich “friends.” Or the amazing multi-million dollar lobbying success of Joe Lieberman’s wife. Of course it is just coincidental it began when he first gained office. Or not, but we can’t prove whether he votes his “conscience” or he is doing her clients political favors to keep the big salary rolling in.
Campaign contributions are less than half the story. The real money in politics is in the private bank accounts of self-serving politicians.
erykah – I would suggest if you do not understand exactly why Lincoln is called the great emancipator you might want to read a lot more about the period from 1820 – 1865.
Lincoln did not want the war and very probably did not want the immediate emancipation of all slaves when the war began but it was through sheer force of his will that the war was waged in a way which lead to emancipation for all. The Emancipation Proclamation was not everything he wanted at the time but he was bound by what the Constitution allowed him (I know that is a novel concept after the last 11 years, that a President is constrained by the Constitution but it used to be the case)
I’d really suggest Shelby Foote’s 3 volume Civil War history. It is a Southern Realist view. In Foote’s view the war would have gone the other way had Lincoln & Davis been swapped.
Gene, outstanding posting, you link to Slavery Footprint was an education. Thanks.
“Not as long as the corporations and moneyed interests control Washington, and that is an extremely difficult problem to solve all by itself, but I do not think it is out of the question.”
Perhaps something like this
http://www.getmoneyout.com/
SwM,
I suspect it was Halloween and chocolate candy that inspired the radio station to run the news item, though they didn’t mention the Corporations here who import the slave-labor beans. It took quite a while to get that info off the web.
Certainly put a kink in my usual trick or treat candy buying.
Blouise, My son educated me about fair trade when he was in college. I pay attention but I am not as good about it as I could be. Gene’s article is a good reminder. I eat fair trade dark chocolate and buy the fair trade coffee and tea. The halloween candy is not fair trade, but I am going to try not to eat any. lol
SwM,
I was somewhat surprised at Hershey’s involvement as the company has, from its founding, been very socially responsible where children are concerned: http://www.mhs-pa.org/about/mhs-mission-vision
I’m not surprised that Dutch companies import from West Africa in large amounts but Hershey … that surprised me. So, naturally, I wrote a letter to them detailing my surprise and disappointment.
I only buy coffee labeled “fair trade” and Tex and I are big espresso drinkers and we use about 2lbs a week.
Gene was right in education is the key … taking action using that key is the next step.
oops … are marked fair trade
http://fairtradeusa.org/ Buy chocolate and coffee that is marked fair trade.