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"There may be times when we are powerless to prevent injustice,
but there must never be a time when we fail to protest." Elie Wiesel
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Child slaves still working in China’s brick kilns
JUST SIX MONTHS AGO....
Straight from Asiasnew.it:
CLICK IMAGE FOR FULL STORY
Abducted in one place and taken far away, China’s child slaves are sold for as little as US$ 45, beaten into submission and forced to work. The police however shows little concern for the missing person reports filed by parents who have to look for their children on their own across the country.
Beijing (AsiaNews/Agencies) – “Guo Jiyong, the son of Zhang Aihua,” travelled “to Zhengzhou to sell snacks, and to deliver lunchboxes to construction sites. He was stuffed into a sack by three men, thrown into the back of a truck, and taken off to the brick kilns to be sold,” Wang Changyi told Radio Free Asia. The slavers “were selling people at 300 yuan (US$ 44 ) each” and kidnapping “seven or eight people a day,” said Wang, a farmer from Henan who lost his son to slave traders, as he described the flourishing slave trade in China. Little seems to have changed in the People’s Republic since cases of slave labour came to light in June 2007 when it was revealed that brick kilns in Shanxi and Henan were employing child slaves.Guo was forced to work for two and a half years in an illegal brick kiln in Nanyang. During that time he saw people beaten to death for trying to escape. Then, one night he escaped with two other inmates. They were caught and killed. He was able to make it home. READ FULL ARTICLE
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Beijing (AsiaNews/Agencies) – “Guo Jiyong, the son of Zhang Aihua,” travelled “to Zhengzhou to sell snacks, and to deliver lunchboxes to construction sites. He was stuffed into a sack by three men, thrown into the back of a truck, and taken off to the brick kilns to be sold,” Wang Changyi told Radio Free Asia. The slavers “were selling people at 300 yuan (US$ 44 ) each” and kidnapping “seven or eight people a day,” said Wang, a farmer from Henan who lost his son to slave traders, as he described the flourishing slave trade in China. Little seems to have changed in the People’s Republic since cases of slave labour came to light in June 2007 when it was revealed that brick kilns in Shanxi and Henan were employing child slaves.Guo was forced to work for two and a half years in an illegal brick kiln in Nanyang. During that time he saw people beaten to death for trying to escape. Then, one night he escaped with two other inmates. They were caught and killed. He was able to make it home. READ FULL ARTICLE
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MODERN DAY SLAVERY
by Betsy Seeton
Take a piece of paper. Write down these numbers. Two. Seven. Comma. Zero. Zero. Zero. Comma. Zero. Zero. Zero. Now read it. That's how many people are slaves on the planet. And children are half of all the people trafficked (bought/sold, stolen, forced, kidnapped) worldwide for sex and domestic slavery. Those are the statistics. And if you’re not living in a cave or on some remote, internetless (I know that's not a real word) island somewhere, you’ve probably seen or heard them before. But have you stopped long enough to think about that for a moment? Really think about it?
Hmmm.. actually, no amount of pondering helps much. 27,000,000 is simply one of those numbers that is unfathomable no matter how long you roll it around in your head. Just say that number out loud. Say 27,000,000. Twenty ... seven ... million. I can't even picture 27,000,000 of anything. It’s a number that’s hard to envision in any meaningful way. Add to that, the idea that half of those forced into the sex trade are children??! It’s beyond a head shaker and a mind blower. It leaves me utterly stunned. I suspect that's where some people give up trying to make a difference. Those are the people I want to reach the most.
Okay. Moving on. So the horrific reality is that 27,000,000 is the number of human beings who are at this very moment living lives as slaves. And I mean slave in every sense, in every horror of the definition, and every imaginable way and then some. These people (mostly women and children) have no choice about the way they live their lives. Not 'no choice' as in you have a crummy job you want to change and you wish your car was newer. I mean NO CHOICE and they're brutalized in countless ways all the time. Many have no choice over their own bodies. They have no say about who touches them or how. Many are repeatedly raped day in and day out. They are often beaten, starved, and in addition to the physical abuse, most are emotionally tormented. They do not have control over where they work, how long they work, or where they live or when or what they get to eat -- if they get to eat. (Continued after the video shows below)
Below is a MUST, MUST SEE video... less than two minutes
CLICK WINDOW FOR VIDEO
IGNORANCE IS TO BLISS
WHAT BOONESFARM IS TO WINE
WHAT BOONESFARM IS TO WINE
REAL BLISS COMES FROM ING.
LEARN..ING DO...ING CHANG...ING CAR[E]....ING FEEL...ING
LEARN..ING DO...ING CHANG...ING CAR[E]....ING FEEL...ING
I think for a lot of westerners, the idea of slavery is pawned off on the idea of it being "over there" somewhere across the ocean --- happening to people who live differently. (Not true. It's right here in the U.S. of A. But where shouldn't matter anyway.) Somehow the idea that it might be a cultural thing keeps it from being a real thing and keeps it from being an outrage. This is one (incorrect) theory anyway. If it's cultural, then it's sort of excusable even if we don't get it. It's like how a generation of Americans grew up in the 1960's mesmerized by the pages in a National Geographic magazine where seeing bare breasted African women with their men clad in loincloths all dancing around a fire pit was just what they did over there.
For most Americans, it seems the whole concept of slavery died out in the 1800's. Any discussion of it now as a 21st Century "thing" just isn't sinking in. If it did sink in, people would be outraged. They'd be so outraged they'd demand slave free products be provided by every company. They'd shake down massage parlors. They'd go after the truck stops. They'd be attending rallies en masse. Laws would protect the victims versus criminalizing them. Information would spread faster than Michael Jackson's untimely death and action would follow. But there is no mass outrage. There is little demand for slave free products. Most people have heard somethingerother about slaves and something about fair trade. But it's a shoulder shrug mostly. (A little too much indifference if you ask me. On the other hand, there are a lot of ills in the world. I get that it can be totally overwhelming.)
Perhaps some have heard something about kids in the cotton fields and working the cocoa farms. But that's what they do over there, right? The family needs the money so let the kids work, right? (OMGosh NO!!! And I will rant on about that in other links.) To top it off, I think a lot of westerners are struggling to maintain their own lifestyles, so quite frankly, there isn’t enough time or energy to get dragged down by something as dark and seemingly hopeless as slavery. (Of course, I don't see just the misery. I see how we can change it. I have hope. Really. I devote much of my "free" time and more to that end by building and writing for my website, all for the hope that something good will come from this.)
Speaking of good, the good news here is that if you've actually read this page to this point, you're someone who's likely going to change this world in wonderful ways. I mean it. Few will ever read this stuff. Most of my friends never have. I might get an accidental click here and there on a page or two, but since I'm not talking about Hollywood stars, who's having sex, who lied, or telling you how to lose weight and how to look younger.... well.. this just won't make it very far. (Thank you for your time if you have read this much.)
Here’s one more statistic. After illegal drug sales and arms trafficking, human and animal trafficking are the most profitable criminal activities in the world, generating over $40 billion annually. The sale of humans and animals are fueling a whole underground world of illicit activities including terrorism.
As for animals, tens of thousands upon thousands are dying senseless deaths each year from heartless, greedy poachers. I'm hearing numbers that would blow you away. Elephants are being killed to dangerous levels to supply the insatiable demand for ivory. (Yes, it's still banned, but it's still craved.) The U.S., in particular, has a killer appetite for ivory. Tigers and rhinos are vanishing at alarming rates to supply the demand for superstitious medical remedies in China. (The tiger penis is served up in elite Chinese restaurants for $5,000 a plate for its beliefs in “Viagra” results.) All kinds other species are killed for their pelts (fur and leather), while so many others - birds, reptiles, and all kinds of animals -- are sold into captivity as exotic pets for the entertainment of humans. Find out how you may unwittingly be supporting both human and animal trafficking.....
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