Slavery: A Global Investigation
May 19, 2008
Slavery is officially banned internationally by all countries, yet despite this there are more slaves in the world today than ever before. In the four hundred years of the legal slave trade around 13 million people were shipped from Africa.
Today there are an estimated 27 million slaves - people paid no money, locked away and controlled by violence. Multi-Award winning documentary makers Kate Blewett and Brian Woods - this terrible exploitation with their own eyes.This film explores three separate industries where slaves are still to be found: the carpet industry in northern India, the cocoa industry in the Ivory Coast, and domestic slavery in Britain and the U.S. At present, approximately 4000-5000 children are missing from Northern Bihar, India. Amongst the missing is Huro, a boy who disappeared at six years old, and hasn’t been seen by his family in over five years.
The cocoa industry of Cote d’Ivoire produces nearly half the world’s supply (over 100 million tons) grown on thousands of small plantations where young men are worked up to eighteen hours a day, unpaid, and beaten if they try to escape. Kate and Brian interview slaves still working in the plantations, as well as a group of young men who had been rescued just days before. Most people imagine that slavery is only found in the developing world, a long way from Western democratic capitals. Kate and Brian found slavery in both Washington and London. A woman named Dora in Washington and another named Reshma in London both tell stories of cruelty, long hours and no payment. Both wish, in their own courageous way, to bring to the public’s attention the wrong that has been done to them in order to prevent such abuses happening in the future.”
For more on the issue and much more go here.
Rick Razack
- Coolies: How Britain Reinvented Slavery
- “Happy Emancipation”: Now who was the brain behind this in Trinidad?
People who read this, also read...
Comments
2 Responses to “Slavery: A Global Investigation”
Got something to say?
I’ve only watched half of this so far, but it breaks my heart to see this.
Very sad words, “Of course the work is hard, who can say that the work is not hard.”
At the back of my mind I know people are suffering across the world, but to actually see it and hear them speak of it really hits home.
[...] the four hundred years of the legal slave trade around 13 million people were shipped from Africa.http://baiganchoka.com/blog/2008/05/19/slavery-a-global-investigation/Read all &39"Treo 850"&39 posts in Crave - CNET NewsWell, it looks like they&39re [...]