Thursday, February 16, 2006

until everybody is free

while my coworker diana swapped offices with me this morning to make a phone call in private (i have a door now, remember), i surfed the internet for a bit at her desk. and i was heartbroken. no, heartbroken can't even describe it.

i read through articles on the US refusing to shut Guantanamo Bay prison camp despite a UN report calling for its immediate closure, looked through the new Abu Ghraib photos released (some of the photos are terribly distressing and offensive, so don't click on the link if you don't want to see them) and just listened to an interview with kevin bales, president of the anti-slavery organization, Free the Slaves, about the issues he thinks about every day ...

Vivek Pandit, an Indian anti-slavery campaigner, writes simply, "Nobody is free until everybody is free."

We know too much to not learn more.

There are an estimated 27 million slaves alive today. The majority, up to 20 million, are bonded laborers in India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Nepal.

Today's slave population is over five times greater than the population of the island of Ireland.

About 14% of Haiti's under-18 population, or 300,000 children, are restaveks - children working as domestic slaves. Thirty percent receive only one meal per day.

An estimated 40,000 women and young girls from Burma are forced in the sex industry in Thailand each year.

The CIA and US State Department estimate that over 50,000 women and children are trafficked into the US each year.

Whether it's slavery, or responding to the needs of victims of torture, or learning how to think about abortion (see anne lamott's article here), there is something to be learned.

in the meantime, i think i'll try to get a few folks together on the 27th of february for anti-slavery day. i know that if i think i'm alone in thinking about it, i'll forget it. i need to be held accountable. i know too much.

3 Comments:

At 11:27 AM, Blogger cory said...

thanks for this post mary. my reaction to these images is much the same as it was to the first round...why are we not rioting in the streets? why are we as americans not outraged? why are we not calling for change at the highest levels? it all just makes me feel so helpless. i guess i'll just go back to wiping the big mac grease off my iPod.

 
At 2:56 PM, Blogger rebstar said...

thank you for your post, dear mary.
i'm always moved, in some way, after reading your words.

i am genuinely sorry to be so flippant on this particular comment, but may i PLEASE be moved from the slackers list?? i posted! (go read it!) :) :)

 
At 1:15 AM, Blogger Jared said...

Great comments, great links. I know more. Thanks

I finished my Syriana rant. It briefly touches on similar issues.

 

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