Nov
5
Disposable People – in the New Slavery of the Global Economy
Despite the fact that all countries but two have outlawed slavery, millions of people are enslaved across the globe. They are disposable people, literally thrown out with the trash. These disposable people are held captive not by force of law, but by the raw exercise of power and violence. Kevin Bales says these modern day slaves are “Disposable People – in the New Slavery of the Global Economy”. In this phrase that links the archaic term “slavery” with yesterday’s headline “the Global economy”, we are awakened to the real horrors of global exploitation.
In the recent freefall of the financial system, we have been given an object lesson to confront our assumptions about the benign nature of the global economy.
We are waking up and looking more closely at the connections between ethics, motives, truth and global economy… “New slavery of the global economy”…the phrase shocks us. We somehow assume that our modern-day, market driven global economy would not yield the heinous byproduct of slavery…but even here sin abounds.
Lauran Bethell is a tall striking American woman, Recipient of the Baptist World Alliance Human Rights Award. For 14 years she has served as Director of the New Life Center in Chiang Mai, Thailand which ministers among victims of human trafficking. As an American Baptist missionary, she has started ministries in Eastern Europe, Czech Republic and now in the Netherlands where Bulgarian gypsies are often trafficked into forced prostitution. My husband Roger and I met Lauran at her apartment at the International Baptist Seminary in Prague. Human trafficking, she said, happens in all nations – including 17,000 victims in the US. Primarily it is a crime of bonded labor where people are forced by coercion and violence to work to repay loans that are perpetually growing.
This inescapable labor, in many cases, hides behind legal fiction – initially papers are presented, assurances of good wages and hopeful futures are made, but once in the labor situation – whether prostitution, sweatshops, or other labor, the coercion and perpetual debt become chains of slavery. Local law enforcement is sometimes complicit and sometimes ill equipped to recognize or prosecute the crime.
In addition to Lauran Bethell, if you went to New Baptist Covenant earlier this year you may have met Lia Scholl, founder of Star Light Ministries, Susan Ormanson founder of Night Light Ministries in Thailand or Charity Marquis of Night Light USA ministry in Los Angeles. Ministries like Night Light and Hagar Design create job training, shelter, emergency care, relational evangelism in a micro-business setting with fair wages to help women and children rescued from trafficking have productive lives.
There are several channels for giving to support these ministries – When you give to the Texas Baptist Offering for World Hunger, the CBF Global Missions Offering, to the Baptist World Alliance, to Global Women – you are supporting these ministries. Please continue to give through these offerings.
There are two men that are making a difference to combat the effects of human trafficking: Nathan George, a British layman , he left his corporate job to follow God’s call to help exploited people after visiting ministries like Night Light and Hagar. Nathan founded TradeAsOne. Through purchasing the goods of these ministries, they grow. The CLC supports TAO and we are helping to create markets that you can have in your church – Good News Goods!
The second is Shelton Green, a corporate lobbyist in Austin; he lobbied for chambers of commerce and Texas business interests, he was confronted by the tragedy of human trafficking; he saw what happened in places like Thailand. American businessmen bombarded with child exploitation and prostitution. He knew that Houston Texas and El Paso Texas are two trafficking highways. Shelton has a heart for victims and a message for perpetrators. Shelton is launching an awareness campaign through Texas bars and restaurants – posters and coasters – with a catchy message on one side and the true story of human trafficking on the other. “What’s Your Response?” the campaign asks.
The question haunts us all. What to do about such an evil and global problem? One thing is to start right here in Texas. Thanks to the leadership of Attorney General, Greg Abbott and Dallas Representative Raphael Anchia, the Texas legislature will have the chance to answer two important questions "How do we adjust existing laws and rules to provide services to victims of trafficking?’ and ‘How do we effectively prosecute the crime of human trafficking?"
The Office of the Attorney General has just released a report Texas Response to Human Trafficking (pdf); it is a comprehensive look at laws and regulations in Texas. Beginning in January, there is a plan to adjust the code and create some new law to be able to define and prosecute the crime of human trafficking, help victims and enforce penalties to recover costs for victims’ services. I urge you to help support these bills – they will
- Add civil racketeering to complement criminal laws.
- Add laws to prosecute businesses that exploit children and regulate sex-related businesses.
- Create more law enforcement training and update the database. Texas has a special training task force for law enforcement led by Captain Lucas Terry, and assisted by Rev Bruce Peterson, a BGCT pastor and part time police chaplain from Alvin. Every city needs law enforcement training on this crime.
- Provide legal remedies that fine perpetrators to help victims get their money back and pay for victims services.
Two months ago, I was at the United Nations. There is magnificent art from around the globe throughout the UN complex and at the end of sunlit hallway was an art display that looked like children’s work, but it wasn’t. There were large pieces of paper – adult size – adults had lay down and traced around their silhouette like oversized paper dolls. They were each a victim of aids or human trafficking. Each silhouette was filled with paint, beads, scraps of fabric and colorfully written prayers of hope, forgiveness and resurrection.
Deuteronomy 26 was there in embellished script…
“Remember the Egyptians treated us harshly and afflicted us by imposing hard labor on us. We cried to the Lord, the God of our ancestors; the Lord heard our voice and saw our affliction, our toil, and our oppression. The Lord – through the stuttering Moses – brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm…”
What to do? God will show you as you Pray for these ministries, give to offerings that free victims and build lives, buy Fairtrade goods, help support Texas lawmakers… Is it enough? No, anything I can think of is not enough.
Back in Lauran Bethell’s apartment in Prague, she said “I hang out in red light districts; I pray with women at bars, I find people work one job at a time, I save a child. Is it enough? No, it isn’t enough.”….but my “not enough” and your”not enough” and our”not enough” in God’s hands and with the compassion of Christ becomes just enough to bring in the kingdom of God and put slavery away.
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