Jay Evensen
  • Front Page
  • Opinions
  • Second Thoughts
  • Portfolio
  • Awards
  • About

Slaves are cheaper than ever, but 1 expert is optimistic

1/11/2017

0 Comments

 
Picture
Somehow, Kevin Bales stays optimistic.

That’s not easy when your life’s work revolves around the modern plague of human slavery, a plague that constantly trickles like melting snow into the shadows of contemporary society, even in Utah.

A professor of contemporary slavery at Britain’s University of Nottingham, Bales is perhaps the world’s foremost expert on the subject. He has at times worked undercover to expose the trade,
talking to slaveholders and slaves in some of the world’s least desirable locations.

He admits, apologetically, to pretending to be a journalist once when he approached a brick kiln operation in Pakistan. While getting the overseers to talk for a “story,” Bales’ driver spoke to the workers in their native language.

He cofounded an abolition group called “Free the slaves” and has written several books on the subject, including one that examines solutions.

He came to Utah this week to speak as part of the Utah Council for Citizen Diplomacy’s World Affairs Lecture Series. As we met prior to that speech, he confided that being optimistic isn’t always easy, especially when you see humans treated in unspeakable ways.

“There have certainly been times in this work where my optimism has collapsed in the face of horror,” he said, recounting a period when he displayed the classic symptoms of posttraumatic stress syndrome, complete with flashbacks, crazy dreams and rage.

Just the sheer numbers are discouraging enough. According to the Global Slavery Index, 48.5 million people are enslaved worldwide, and 57,700 of them are in the United States. Those who think it all went away at Appomattox are wrong. It’s time to rewrite the textbooks.

Bales said owning a slave is cheaper today than ever. Accounting for inflation, a plantation owner in the Antebellum South would have had to pay about $45,000 in today’s money for a slave. Now, a few hundred dollars, or maybe $1,000, will do it. With about 600 billion or more of the world’s population living in areas where laws are weak, the supply is virtually endless. And that makes slaves disposable, too, adding to the human crisis.

In the United States, slaves tend to work in the sex trade, but domestic and agricultural slavery exists, as well.

Just Google “human trafficking” on almost any day and you’ll see recent news stories, such as the arrests of 114 people in Polk County, Fla., last month or the arrest of three men in Fayetteville , N.C., this week after police found them forcing a 17-year-old girl to prostitute herself from a Days Inn.

The Utah attorney general’s office has assembled a task force to go after the problem here, and it stays busy. The director, Russell Smith, has assured me his crew never sits around wondering what to do. Last summer, they arrested 71 people in connection with human trafficking rings in Utah.

The worldwide refugee crisis only adds to the problem. As Bales puts it, “When all of a sudden you’re living at home, you’ve got a flat in Aleppo, you’ve got a job, and then the next thing you know bombs start coming down and all you can run away with is your kid and the clothes on your back … you are incredibly vulnerable.”
And yet Bales remains optimistic.
That may be because he searches for solutions. His latest book, “Blood and Earth: Modern Slavery, Ecocide and the Secret to Saving the World,” draws a strong connection between widespread slavery and environmental degradation. One potential solution, he said, is to tie the problem to global climate change and use international carbon credits to reforest areas hurt by slavery. Another is to make slavery a household concern through public awareness campaigns.

Yet another involves local governments and utilities. “You train people who read meters like electric meters and gas meters,” he said. “You train building inspectors and fire inspectors on this issue, and they start finding cases for you.”

Ultimately, Bales finds that every success story, no matter how small, is a reason for optimism.

“You begin to realize that one slave coming to freedom shows that any slave can come to freedom.”
0 Comments

Your comment will be posted after it is approved.


Leave a Reply.

    RSS Feed

    Search this site


    Like what you read here?

      Please subscribe below, and we'll let you know when there is a new opinion.

    Enter your email address:

    Delivered by FeedBurner

    Picture

    The author

    Jay Evensen is the Senior Editorial Columnist of the Deseret News. He has nearly 40 years experience as a reporter, editor and editorial writer in Oklahoma, New York City, Las Vegas and Salt Lake City. He also has been an adjunct journalism professor at Brigham Young and Weber State universities.

    Archives

    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013
    January 2013
    December 2012
    November 2012
    October 2012
    September 2012
    August 2012
    July 2012
    June 2012

    Categories

    All
    Campaign 2012
    Congress
    Crime
    Culture
    Iran
    Oil And Gas
    Poverty
    Steroids
    Taxes
    Utah
    Washington
    World Events
    World Events

    Links

    Deseret News
    Newslink
    Marianne Evensen's blog

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.