I went to the Freedom
Summit this past weekend. It was a conference on “human
trafficking” (a.k.a. slavery... I honestly don't know why they
use that term). While I was vaguely aware that slavery still exists
in other countries, I was surprised to find out both the scope of the
problem — about 27 million slaves worldwide — and that
it's still present in the US — about 200 thousand slaves,
including several slave-trade rings in the bay area.
The conference itself was an explicitly Christian event. The main
thesis was that individual Christians and the church as a whole are
called to fight injustice wherever it occurs, and slavery is one of
the greatest injustices of our time. Francis Chan's preaching
was spectacular, and he really convinced me that action is required.
But of course, I'm a coward. I know that Christianity is
supposed to radically change my life, but my life is actually pretty
comfortable right now, and I'm afraid of what that change would
bring. So as of now, I'm only doing cowardly things to fight
slavery, like raising awareness by blogging about it.
So what can be done to fight slavery? The most straightforward is
missions to set slaves free, mostly by getting police to break up
slave-trade rings, and to help them find an honest living once
they're free. But this is an endeavor for the brave. (Well, sort
of. You can always google for sketchy massage parlours in your area,
investigate them, surveil them, and get them busted for sex slavery.)
Aside from that, you can give logistical or financial support to
groups which do this, most notably International Justice Mission and Agape International
Missions.
On another front, it's important to break the economics of
slavery. Unfortunately, the biggest sector of slavery in the US and
worldwide is sex slavery, and other than not visiting brothels
there's not much you can do about that economically. But
agricultural slavery is easier: you can buy fair trade,
particularly for coffee and chocolate.
To fight industrial slavery, there's a similar effort called
free to work. Free to work companies
pledge to avoid slave labor in their contractors and suppliers as well
as their own factories. Because this is a fairly high bar and free to
work is a fairly new effort, only a a couple dozen companies have
taken the pledge, but that's changing. And you can help it
change by asking your workplace to take the pledge.
And of course, if you're both cowardly and lazy like me, you
can at least get the word out. Blog about it, facebook it, tell your
friends, or wear something orange to show your support. More
information at Not For
Sale.
