About
the problem
There
are more than 36 gazillion slaves in the world today – more than at
any other time in the 6000-year history of the Earth! And this is
just the tip of the iceberg!!1!1
You
may think slavery was abolished over 100 years ago but it actually
still exists in every country and every region of the world, even in
your own backyard!
It
is the largest criminal enterprise in the world, second only to drug
trafficking and arms trafficking, generating 150 billion US dollars
annually – more than the GDP of Hungary!
Slavery
has many forms and shapes – human trafficking, child trafficking,
sex trafficking, labour trafficking, organ trafficking, begging
trafficking, forced, early and sham marriage, domestic servitude,
child labour, surrogacy, etc. etc. etc. - but only one size –
XXXXXXXXL!
Modern
slaves are everywhere around us – invisible, hidden in plain sight!
Practically every aspect of our lives is affected by slavery!
Obviously
this is outrageous and we MUST DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT! It is time to
#EndSlavery! NOW!
Now
you might be tempted to think that to #EndSlavery governments around
the world should work to end inequality, injustice and corruption,
ensure access to education, social protection and employment for all
their citizens, enforce labour laws and relax migration regimes.
But
this sounds like a mindboggling task for boring people. Ending
slavery should be something that we can all do together, share with
friends and family and have fun in the process! And what better way
than to chase it away with selfies and hashtags on social media!
What
is being done about it?
There
are already quite a few simple, fun and easy ways to #EndSlavery out
there: for example, you can dance to #EndSlavery;
walk to #EndSlavery;
walk against #humantrafficking;
run against slavery;
run to end #trafficking;
bike against #trafficking;
play football against #trafficking
or do push-ups to crush slavery.
And
for those of us who are not athletic and don't like exercising but
still want to F*CKING DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT and #EndSlavery, we can
take a selfie with a hands-shaped heart
and share it on social media with the hashtag #igivehope – to give
victims of slavery what they have lost – hope! Or we can make a paper airplane,
pledge to DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT and share it on social media with the
hashtag #FlyToFreedom.
But
can we really #EndSlavery with one-off actions once or twice a year?
NO! Raising awareness about this terrible injustice and ending the
scourge of our times requires us to DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT every day,
all day! After all, it's the greatest human rights challenge of this century and
deserves our full attention!
What
can YOU do?
So
here are a few ideas how you can incorporate ending slavery into your
daily life with very little effort. I've prepared a list of 14
everyday activities that are sure to #EndSlavery (in no particular
order of importance)! The list is by no means exclusive, so I welcome
suggestions for more easy and fun daily activities we can all share
with friends and family to #EndSlavery! After all, I'm just one guy
and to #EndSlavery we must all take a stand! Immediately!
So,
pull yourselves and your mobile phones together and let's
#EndSlavery! And don't forget – sharing is caring!
1.
Write it on a piece of paper in a stern tone, take a photo
(better yet, a selfie) and share it on your social media with the
hashtag #EndSlaveryNow.
2.
Sing to #EndSlavery. As a
suggestion, some particular songs that you can sing, if they fit your
music taste, can be George Michael's Freedom,
Grace Jones' Slave
to the Rhythm,
Cher's Gypsies
Tramps and Thieves,
Paul Robeson's Let
My People Go,
or the
Prologue (Look Down)
from Les Miserables (and almost any other song from Les Mis). Take a
selfie and share it on your social media with the hashtag
#SingForFreedom.
3.
Write a letter to Santa.
You could write something like “Dear Santa, I've been nice all year
long. Please #EndSlavery!” Don't take a photo, though, because it
must be a secret, but when you put it in an envelope, stamp it, take
a selfie and share it on your social media with the hashtag
#StampItOut.
4.
Do your laundry, take a selfie
and share it on your social media with the hashtag #WashItOut and
#LaundryForFreedom.
5.
Pray, for
example, like “Our Father, who art in Heaven, please #EndSlavery!”
[Change to suit your deity of choice]. Take a selfie and share it on
your social media with the hashtag #PrayTheSlaveryAway.
6.
Throw out your trash,
take a selfie and share it on your social media with the hashtag
#DumpIt or #TrashIt.
7.
Bake a bunch of (unappealing
but tasty) pumpkin and cinnamon rolls (filled with jam and walnuts,
if you like) for those whose freedom has been taken away from them
and can't bake pumpkin and cinnamon rolls for themselves. Take a
selfie and share it on your social media with the hashtag
#BakeForFreedom.
8.
Flush the toilet after doing
your thing, take a photo and
share it on your social media with the
hashtag #FluShItOut.
9.
Masturbate compulsively –
the surest way to #EndDemand for #sextrafficking. Don't
take a selfie but you can
still announce your tireless efforts to #EndSlavery with the hashtags
#BeatIt and #EndDemand.
10.
Gather your friends and watch together all 100 episodes of Escrava
Isaura.
Take
a selfie (or a group photo) and share it on your social media with
the hashtag #DamnYouLeoncio or just I <3 Isaura, to show enslaved
girls all over the world that not all men are like Leôncio!
11.
Smoke a cigarette for
those whose freedom has been stolen from them and can't smoke a
cigarette themselves. Take a selfie and share it on your social media
with the hashtag #SmokeItOut, #BurnIt or #LetItBurn.
12.
Ask the Universe to #EndSlavery
by simply thinking about it. But think it positively (e.g. not “I
wish there were no slaves in the world” but “I wish all people
were free”!). Take a selfie and share it on your social media with
the hashtag #WishTheSlaveryAway or #DearUniverse.
13.
Clean your apartment
(oven, shower, basement, room, whatever), take a selfie and share it
on your social media with the hashtag #KeepItClean.
14.
Play some Candy Crush Soda Saga,
take a selfie and share it on your social media with the hashtag
#CrushSlavery and #Sodalicious.
…
Feel
free to share your selfies with me and to suggest more fun and easy
ways to #EndSlavery!
***
Now
on a more serious note. The aim of this little outburst of sarcasm
was to mock the futility of some awareness-raising campaigns and
actions out there. While undoubtedly, people need to be aware of
exploitative labour situations, most campaigns and calls to action
that I see just make me roll my eyes in exasperation of their
simplistic story of it being about “bad people doing bad things to
poor victims”. But exploitation doesn't happen in a vacuum and it
is not even the problem – it's a symptom of deeper problems in
society that cannot simply be wished away.
Consider,
for example, this analysis from Prof. Chuang's article in the
Anti-Trafficking Review:
“Depicting
slavery as the product of individual deviant behaviour, modern-day
slavery abolitionism creates a simple moral imperative with enormous
popular appeal. And in so doing it depoliticises and absolves … the
state for its role in creating the structures that permit, if not
encourage, coercive exploitation of workers, especially migrants. The
resulting prescriptions thus narrowly focus on punishing the
enslavers and rescuing innocent victims. They further suggest that
governments, corporations and individuals can eradicate slavery
simply by engaging in more ethical consumption of goods and services.
Any
commitment to addressing the structural
contributors
to the problem thus becomes extraneous to the anti-slavery project.”
And in practical terms, this “simple moral imperative”, these popular representations of "slavery" actually lead to policies and actions that often do more harm than good
to real people.
So
if you really want to DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT, start by informing
yourself properly and thinking critically.
Take a look, for example, at Beyond Trafficking and Slavery,
which offers such a critical analysis, and question awareness-raising.
If you don't feel like it – that's fine, get involved in another
cause or simply enjoy your life and try to be a good person. Or even
follow my 14 ways and take selfies, but don't fool yourself that this
will change anything.
