I FINALLY saw a screening of Call and Response yesterday. The "rock-u-mentary" led me through a rollercoaster of emotions. It was horrifying, heart-wrenching, hopeful, and even funny at times. One thing for sure, I can no longer stay ignorant or complacent.
I wrote a post a few months ago on human trafficking, but this documentary actually showed some of the victims sharing their stories. First of all, human trafficking occurs within a wide variety of trades: child soldiers, agriculture workers, factory workers, and prostitution to name a few. I think now over 80% of human slaves are sex slaves. Girls (and boys) are kidnapped sometimes as young as one year old! The documentary showed some heart-wrenching footage of 6-7 year-olds offering their services to an undercover reporter.
Most sex slaves are either kidnapped or tricked into their positions, seeking better opportunities but then being blackmailed into their situations. They are broken, mentally and physically, and oftentimes are forced into meth addiction to ensure their dependency on their pimps. Because customers pay more for virgins, some girls are forced to undergo painful surgeries to appear as one, then pimped out to the highest bidder, and undergo the surgery again forming an endless cycle. They are locked up in little chambers (that make my tiny Austin studio look like a palace) where they are called out only to perform services. They are used to make money over and over again until they wear out or contract a disease. They are then disposed of and left to die.
Trafficking doesn't just happen abroad - it is common in the US. In fact, it is even common in Austin. The documentary talks about how some pimps scour the malls for young girls who are alone. They target the insecure ones, woo them with kind words and compliments, then "take them for a drive" where they are never heard from again.
Sex slaves aside, there are people in this world forced into backbreaking labor, sometimes working over 20 hours a day for a sustained period of time. And they are not paid for their work. In fact, there are more slaves today then during the time Africans were enslaved by the colonies. The products the slaves today make are sold more cheaply because the companies save on labor costs. The scary thing is, it is difficult to trace products back to how they were made. I look around my apartment - most of the things I own I bought for a bargain. As a graduate student, I have gotten adept at buying the cheapest products without sacrificing quality. Now I suspect the products I buy can be so cheap only because the labor with which they were made cost nothing.
A new website recently launched (be patient while they work out bugs) estimates how many slaves it might have taken to make the products you currently own. The website is: http://slaveryfootprint.org. As soon as it comes back up I'll make sure to take it and report back to you.
***Edit I just took the quiz today (10/4/11). I have 29 slaves working for me...yikes! End edit***
For now, I'll be super careful what I buy - paying special attention to whether items are free trade or not. After all, as much as I want to be frugal and a good steward of my money, if something is cheap, it may be because someone else paid for it with their freedom. And that is something I cannot stand behind!
No comments:
Post a Comment