Film links 19th century slavery to contemporary bondage

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/2012/11/09/slavery-film-freedom-center/1696137/

Source: USA Today



STORY HIGHLIGHTS

• "Journey to Freedom" has been shown at 10 U.S. embassies around the world
• The documentary features an American slave in the 1800s and a modern day Cambodian man
• Some 27 million people are trapped in forced labor, sex trafficking and domestic servitude

10:06PM EST November 9. 2012 - CINCINNATI -- The 150th anniversary of the Emancipation Proclamation will be Jan. 1, and Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton wanted to tie President Abraham Lincoln's executive order freeing slaves to the State Department's efforts worldwide to raise awareness of contemporary slavery.

Today, an estimated 27 million people are ensnared in forced labor, sex trafficking and involuntary domestic servitude. The Department of State's first move in linking that to historic American slavery was to contact Cincinnati's National Underground Railroad Freedom Center.

"The Freedom Center is the definitive place in the United States to think about slavery, and it's the one authoritative voice of slavery old and new," said Luis C. de Baca, Clinton's senior adviser and director of the State Department's Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons.

The result is "Journey to Freedom," a 35-minute documentary film that tells parallel stories of the capture and enslavement of a 19th century American black man and a 21st century Cambodian. It leans on the Freedom Center's expertise and, in the process, elevates the center's standing as an authority on historic and contemporary abolitionism.

The film was supposed to premiere Oct. 30 in Washington, a screening postponed until Nov. 27 because of Hurricane Sandy. A Freedom Center showing, originally scheduled for early November, is delayed indefinitely.

The film already has been seen at 10 U.S. embassies around the world.

"The United States has been through this and, in some respects, we're still going through it," Jo Ellen Powell, U.S. ambassador to Mauritania, where the film was shown, told The Enquirer.

"We want to help Mauritania become a free country, and what we can share to help them get through it is our own history. It's not a pretty part of our history, but it's a history the Freedom Center presents so powerfully."

An estimated 600,000 Mauritanians have been abducted into slavery, giving it the world's largest proportion of its population -- 20 percent -- being forced to work against its will.

A Mauritanian woman, Fatimata M'Baye, co-author of her country's anti-trafficking law, was one of 10 Trafficking in Persons Heroes honored by Clinton in June in Washington.

Another was Vannak Anan Prum, the Cambodian man abducted and forced to work for four years on a Thai fishing boat until his escape.

A week after the ceremony, M'Baye and Prum were at the Freedom Center for a tour and interview. Each of the 10 people is briefly profiled in the film, which was paid for by the State Department and Google Inc.

Prum and Solomon Northup, a black man born free and lured from his home in Upstate New York and into slavery for 12 years in Louisiana, are the film's main characters. Their similar narratives form its spine.

Producers researched potential historical characters at the Freedom Center to bring to life in "Journey to Freedom." An actor portrays Northup, sold into slavery in 1841 at age 33 after he had accepted a job as a violinist in New York City. Traders drugged and chained Northup. He woke in a slave pen in Washington, D.C., beginning what he would later describe in his memoir, "Twelve Years A Slave," as "dismal phases of a long, protracted dream."

Northup's story of escape and later activism as aide to fugitive slaves on the Underground Railroad in Vermont is being made into a 2013 theatrical release co-starring Brad Pitt.

"This guy's story is so similar to modern ones," said Luke Blocher, Freedom Center director of strategic initiatives and "Journey to Freedom's" executive producer, who traveled with the crew to Cambodia.

Prum, living in 2006 in poverty with his pregnant wife, met a job agent who promised him work with as many as 100,000 Cambodians in Thailand. Instead, the agent sold him into forced labor on a fishing boat. Even after swimming to supposed safety, Malaysian police sold him to a palm oil plantation, where he worked for another year before landing in jail after a fight with other workers.

After his return to his family, Prum, like Northup, recorded his experiences. Prum created a set of drawings, and he presented copies as a gift to Clinton in June. She donated them to the Freedom Center.

The documentary advances the Freedom Center's goal to link chattel and contemporary slavery, begun in full in October 2010 when it opened "Invisible: Slavery Today," the first permanent, museum-quality exhibit dedicated to the topic.

Related articles

• Open your eyes - slavery abounds - Nation | The Star Online
• Girls, Human Trafficking, And Modern Slavery In America | ThinkProgress
• Forced labour in India: Toil and trouble | The Economist

Braun: Human trafficking a dark, expansive international issue | NJ.com

http://blog.nj.com/njv_bob_braun/2012/09/braun_human_trafficking_a_dark.html

Source: NJ.com

Sunday, September 30, 2012

By Bob Braun/Star-Ledger Columnist 

Patti Sapone/The Star-LedgerDebbie Marulanda, director Refugee Resettlement & Human Trafficking with Catholic Charities meets with a client in her Newark office in this December 2007 file photo.

NEWARK — Call it modern-day slavery. That’s what President Obama called human trafficking last week, just a few days before the Rutgers Law School in Newark held an all-day symposium on the same topic — and the participants in the conference were eager to echo the drama and urgency provoked by the chief executive’s words.

"We should call it slavery," said Kevin Ryan of Fair Haven, the president of Covenant House, an international organization that shelters exploited and abused young persons, many of whom were rescued from prostitution.

"Trafficking is a euphemism — it’s slavery for sex and slavery for labor," said Ryan, the former state commissioner of children’s services who broke down several times describing his work with children in the United States and five foreign countries.

The conference, sponsored by the law school’s Human Trafficking Prevention and Prosecution Project, had been planned for months before Obama spoke at the Clinton Global Initiative on Tuesday and announced an executive order requiring federal agencies to coordinate efforts to end the worldwide exploitation of men and women. The president called trafficking an "outrage" that "must be called by its true name — modern slavery."

His words gave both timeliness to the conference, co-sponsored by the Bergen County Prosecutor’s Office, and also license to use the word slavery to describe a complicated phenomenon that is both like the historic slavery of Africans here and very much unlike it.

Rutgers law professor James Gray Pope, who introduced a discussion on trafficking of people for cheap labor, said slavery was "just one step away" from current efforts by international corporations to reduce their costs by moving plants to nations where workers are unprotected and work for what seems like virtually nothing.

"If your sole mantra is ‘Keep labor costs low,’ then it’s just a few steps down to enslaved labor," he said. He was referring to places like Haiti where some workers might get paid, not in wages, but in food and shelter.

Still, human trafficking is not exactly slavery of the sort that was the subject of the Emancipation Proclamation, issued by President Abraham Lincoln 150 years ago in the midst of the Civil War.

Human trafficking could be the abuse and exploitation of workers from low-wage countries. But it also could be — as it was in a recent federal case in New Jersey — the importation of young women from Togo who were sexually abused and made to work as hair braiders for virtually nothing. It also could be the abuse of domestic servants brought here by United Nations diplomats and kept as virtual prisoners.

It also might be, as described by a representative of the Southern Poverty Law Center, the international operations of labor recruitment firms that supply American companies with skilled but cheap labor that weakens the power of domestic unions.

"They were trapped and they had no place to go — they were desperate and in debt," said Daniel Werner of the plaintiffs in a lawsuit his center brought against companies that imported hundreds of South Asian welders to repair damage to oil rigs in the Gulf of Mexico after Hurricane Katrina.

Or human trafficking — at least as defined by federal law — could be practiced on a much smaller and more personal scale, like that found in the complicated relationships between women and their male friends who hire their lovers out as prostitutes, often to pay for the drug habits they share. Complicated for a variety of reasons — not the least of which is that these women may not view themselves as victims.

John O'Boyle/The Star-LedgerDr. Wade Horn, assistant secretary of the US Department of Health and Human Services, speaks as the Most Reverend John Myers, Archbishop of Newark, looks on during a press conference announcing an effort to eliminate human trafficking. The effort is concentrating the resources of law enforcement and religious groups in this 2004 file photo.

"The men will lure them into a relationship and push them into prostitution. They’ll say, ‘You’re doing this for us, honey,’ and so the victims don’t self-identify as victims," said Scoles. "They feel guilty about what they’ve done, they’ll feel foolish. They will blame themselves, not the men who got them into it."

Scoles conceded that, without the help of the women who worked as prostitutes, prosecuting their pimps under anti-trafficking statutes can be difficult if not impossible.

"A lot of the victims will go back to prostitution, go back to the traffickers — they often keep an emotional attachment to them," Scoles said, comparing the women to victims of domestic violence who return to the men who beat them.

"Until the victim is ready to get help, there is little we can do to prosecute."

But that’s only the beginning of how complicated the netherworld of human trafficking can get. Bridgette Carr, a professor at the University of Michigan Law School, contended that efforts to end sex trafficking will not end until there is what she called a "paradigm shift" in social attitudes so that women working as prostitutes are thought of, not as perpetrators or criminals, but as victims.

"We have to begin thinking of these women the way we think of victims of sexual abuse," said Carr. "We would not prosecute sexual abuse victims as criminals."

To the extent children are involved, participants agreed, that certainly should be true — and under-age prostitutes often are still prosecuted as juvenile delinquents. But what about women who are not coerced into prostitution, who take on the livelihood voluntarily — should they be treated as victims?

"Not every woman who is a prostitute has been coerced into it," said Min Liu, an assistant professor at Kean University who attended the conference. The audience, predominantly women — as were the presenters — included many representatives of organizations established to help victims of traffickers.

And what would happen if prostitution is legalized as it is in some European countries and, on a limited basis, in Nevada? Could anti-trafficking laws be used to prosecute the employers of women who are engaging in a legal activity?

"That touches on a raging national debate about whether sex workers should be treated as any other group of workers and allowed to work — or whether women who must consider prostitution as employment are ever really free to make that choice," said another participant, Frances Bouchoux, a senior associate dean at the Rutgers Law School-Newark.

"Those who are trying to resolve the real, practical problems associated with trafficking feel there is no sense trying to resolve that theoretical debate."

Related articles

• Kristof: Voices of the voiceless | The Salt Lake Tribune (trafficking-monitor.blogspot.com)
• Human Trafficking Devastating The Sinai - Analysis (eurasiareview.com)
• Can you walk away? (trafficking-monitor.blogspot.com)
• Living Safe: Human smuggling, trafficking are criminal enterprises, not border issues - Your Houston News: Living (trafficking-monitor.blogspot.com)
• The "Others" by Florida Coalition Against Human Trafficking (trafficking-monitor.blogspot.com)

Can you walk away?

Can you walk away?:

“Slavery is founded in the selfishness of man’s nature – opposition to it, in his love of justice,” President Lincoln said in an 1854 speech. This weekend, President Lincoln’s Cottage has partnered with Polaris Project to launch an exhibit that will open people’s eyes to the realities of modern slavery and human trafficking.
Can You Walk Away? Modern Slavery and Human Trafficking in the United States is part of a year-long commemoration of the 150th anniversary of the Emancipation Proclamation, which was developed at Lincoln’s Cottage.
I was able to attend a preview event of the exhibit, where Erin Carlson Mast, the Director of President Lincoln’s Cottage explained that the Cottage has an obligation to explore the modern impact of Lincoln’s presidency and his ideas. Looking at how slavery manifests today is a key element of that.  “Plenty of Americans see slavery as an issue that was resolved during the Civil War or by the 13th Amendment in the war’s aftermath, not as a growing humanitarian crisis,” said Mast.
I was involved in some of the exhibit planning, but I still found myself moved by the exhibit. I walked into a dark room, and was immediately introduced to the issue with video footage of interviews with survivors. After watching a woman explain how she was forced into domestic servitude in Falls Church, VA,  or a girl describe how she was forced into the commercial sex trade, I then saw three books along the wall, each illuminated by a single spotlight. These books explain: What is modern slavery?  Who is vulnerable? How do we end human trafficking?
After reading this information, I could then tear off a card attached to the wall to learn how I can personally help combat trafficking. Some of these actions include reporting a tip to the national human trafficking hotline at 1-888-373-7888, sending a postcard to President Obama or signing up for the email lists of Polaris Project and President Lincoln’s Cottage. It’s rare for a museum to have such an interactive piece – visitors can actually remove something from the display itself! And it’s definitely my favorite aspect of the exhibit.
At the preview, Polaris Project Executive Director Bradley Myles expressed his appreciation for being invited by Lincoln’s Cottage to partner on this exhibit. He then described why so many people consider human trafficking a modern form of slavery.  “Those who traffic vulnerable people for profit are actively looking to take away that person’s freedom. They use force, fraud and coercion to manipulate people into the sex trade, to work in factories and fields, to become domestic servants.”
According to the UN, at least 12 million people are held against their will in compelled service across the globe. While Mast acknowledged that there are clear differences in slavery past and present, she also emphasized that, “Fundamentally, the same issue is at stake: People’s right to freedom.”
Bradley Myles said he hoped visitors will understand that they are an important part of the solution. He outlined some of the progress that has already been made in recent years. President Obama named January Human Trafficking Awareness Month. In 2000, Congress passed the first federal law against human trafficking. Forty-eight states now have criminal laws against trafficking. And of course, our own hotline has helped some 5,500 trafficking survivors connect to services all over the country.
“Doing this work for the past ten years, we have learned that when we show people the realities of what victims of human trafficking face every day, it is nearly impossible to walk away without wanting to join the growing movement to fight these human rights abuses,” said Myles.
You can visit the exhibit at the Robert H. Smith Visitor Education Center at President Lincoln’s Cottage during their hours of operation: 9:30am-4:30pm Mon-Sat, 10:30am-4:30pm Sunday. Tours of the Lincolns Cottage itself are available on the hour.
For more information on President Lincoln’s Cottage, visit: www.lincolncottage.org.

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• 2012 State Ratings Map | Polaris Project | Combating Human Trafficking and Modern-day Slavery (trafficking-monitor.blogspot.com)
• Los Angeles City Council Votes Unanimously To Support Proposition 35, Stop Human Trafficking in California - PR Newswire - The Sacramento Bee (trafficking-monitor.blogspot.com)
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An End to Slavery in Florida? | Sustainable Food | Change.org

by Sarah Parsons November 16, 2010 01:15 PM (PT)

History books tell us that the Emancipation Proclamation ended forced labor in the U.S. In reality, slavery has been alive and well ever since Abe Lincoln's famous speech. As Change.org previously reported, Florida's tomato workers are often subjected to extremely low wages, dangerous working conditions, violence, and even forced labor. Due to the work of one non-profit, however, the country just came a little bit closer to abolishing agricultural slavery.

As Barry Estabrook notes on his "Politics of the Plate" blog, the Florida Tomato Growers Exchange announced today that it joined the Campaign for Fair Food, an initiative organized by the Coalition for Immokalee Workers (CIW), an abolitionist non-profit. The Florida Tomato Growers Exchange is a tomato-production powerhouse, representing virtually all tomato growers in the state. By joining CIW's campaign, Florida Tomato Growers Exchange will ensure that the non-profit's Fair Food Principles will be extended to about 90 percent of Florida's tomato industry. "...today we are pleased to announce that we are coming together as an industry in which it is finally possible to say that real, verifiable change is not only possible, but underway," the CIW's Lucas Benitez said during the signing of the agreement today.

Those Fair Food Principles ensure some much-needed fair labor practices for farm workers. For one, they raise the price paid to tomato farmers by one penny per pound. This might seem like chump change, but as Estabrook notes, it's the difference between earning $50 and $70 per day (or, as Estabrook puts it, "the difference between poverty and a livable (though still paltry) wage"). Embracing the Principles also requires companies to establish health and safety programs for workers, as well as a mechanism to address any complaints. The Florida Tomato Growers Exchange is the third and biggest tomato supplier to sign on to the Fair Food Fight, joining Pacific Tomato Growers and Six L's, which partnered with CIW earlier this year.

The move represents a total about-face for Florida Tomato Growers Exchange, which fewer than 10 years ago vehemently refused to join CIW's Campaign for Fair Food, arguing that paying higher wages would set suppliers at a competitive disadvantage. The tomato supplier even threatened to slap a $100,000 fine on any member tomato farmer that joined CIW's Campaign.

That was before consumers, restaurants, catering companies, and fellow tomato suppliers turned on the pressure, though. In 2005, Taco Bell became the first fast food restaurant to sign on to the Campaign for Fair Food. McDonald's, Burger King, and Subway soon joined the Mexican chain. Food distributors like Compass, Aramark, and Sodexo followed suit, and then tomato suppliers Pacific Tomato Growers and Six L's joined the cause. After pressure and intense lobbying from CIW, the Florida Tomato Growers Exchange finally caved.

Not only is this development beneficial for Florida's farm workers, the victory should serve as inspiration for ethically minded consumers. Big businesses like the fast food industry, food distributors, and produce suppliers don't just care about producing meals as cheaply as possible anymore. By collectively organizing and using our purchasing power, consumers can actually push billion-dollar corporations to adopt the ethical practices we hold near and dear to our sustainable foodie hearts.

While fast food restaurants, food service providers, and tomato suppliers are all hopping on the Fair Food bandwagon, one sector of the food industry is slow to embrace slavery-free produce — supermarkets. With the exception of Whole Foods, not a single grocery store has signed onto CIW's Campaign for Fair Food. It's especially alarming that Trader Joe's — a supermarket that claims to care about environmental and social responsibility — hasn't joined the cause. Tell Trader's Joe's that Fair Food tastes better — both for workers and consumers. Sign our petition asking the grocer to join CIW's Campaign for Fair Food.

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Photo credit: Wikimedia Commons

Sarah Parsons is Change.org's Sustainable Food Editor. Her work has appeared in Popular Science, OnEarth, Audubon and Plenty.

Source: Change.Org

An End to Slavery in Florida? | Sustainable Food | Change.org

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