Smart, Subtle Slavery
My previous
blog A Return Gift [i]
was about the recent US deportation of illegal immigrants to India. Some
readers were outraged at the inhuman treatment of deportees during the flight,
some others argued that the illegal immigrants deserved no sympathy since they
had knowingly and willingly violated immigration laws.
My brief
response to a conversation in a WhatsApp group was:
‘Animals and
humans routinely migrated in search of new territories till the emergence of
Nation States, a fiction of recent origin. Every human is a migrant once we
consider a longer timeline.
How quickly
we forget the colonial times when adventurers and traders came in and became
owners of vast territories!’
Slave Trade
As I write
this, the rugged stone sculpture of five slaves at Stone Town, Zanzibar
suddenly comes to mind; and the adjacent dungeon where slaves were stuffed like
animals and starved to weed out the weak and non-sturdy. The altar of the
Anglican Cathedral in Stone Town is believed to stand where the slave market’s
whipping post once stood, where captives were beaten to determine their
strength and endurance before sale.
Stone Town,
Zanzibar is now a UNESCO Heritage site.[ii]
The
transatlantic slave trade, lasting from the 16th to the 19th century, was one
of history’s largest forced migrations. It began with Portuguese and Spanish
traders transporting enslaved Africans to work in their American colonies.
Britain, France, the Netherlands, and other European nations followed suit and
became deeply involved, fuelling the triangular trade system under which:
1. European
merchants transported goods (e.g., textiles, weapons, alcohol) to Africa.
2. They exchanged
these goods for enslaved Africans, who were forcibly transported across the
Atlantic (the Middle Passage).
3. The enslaved were
sold in the Americas, and plantations produced goods (e.g., sugar, tobacco,
cotton) that were sent back to Europe.
Over 12.5
million Africans were forcibly taken to the Americas – the Caribbeans, Brazil,
and the country that later became the USA.
Slavery: New Avatars
Slave
trade’s contribution to prosperity of western capitalism, though foundational,
is too embarrassing to be remembered or discussed enough. But slavery is not
dead and buried. Now, it is smart, subtle, politically correct, and
law-abiding, too.
Capitalist
economies still import workers, but they now prefer intelligent, educated, and
highly-skilled workers – nurtured, educated, and skilled at the expense of
poor, third-world countries.
What has
changed from the times of forced slave trade? Now, no need for abduction,
coercion, buy-and-sell transactions. Allurement suffices. Selling the ‘American
Dream’ for example; luring talents by sponsoring scholarships. Once these
dreamy-eyed immigrants land there, the magic land has enough charms to ensnare
them for life. The only dream they chase thereafter is to upgrade from student
or worker visa to Green Card to Citizenship. The immigrants swear by the
lifestyle, culture, and constitution of the host country and happily contribute
to their economy through their intelligence, high-skill, tireless work, and
taxes.
Slavery is
now manifest in new avatars – Outsourcing, Work Visas, Global Capacity Centres, Call Centres, to name a few – euphemisms for hiring
third-world talent at the cheapest wages with no need to comply with
working-hours regulations applicable to native citizens. Projects must be
completed in time regardless of the number of working hours required from the slave
workers.
Although
slavery as an institution has been abolished, its long-term impacts persist in
several ways. The lasting economic, social, and institutional legacies that
originated in historical systems of slavery continue to shape contemporary
life.
In many
parts of the world, forced labour, human trafficking, and exploitative working
conditions in agriculture, mining, manufacturing, domestic work, and other
sectors are modern forms of slavery. These practices reflect the persistence of
exploitative labour dynamics in a globalized economy.
Global Free
Trade advocates for the removal of barriers and the equal treatment of all
trading partners, but the reality is that historical contexts, economic power
imbalances, and institutional structures have led to outcomes that often favour
developed economies.
Slavery is
not dead and buried; it has gone incognito; now it is smart, subtle, and
subterranean. Politically correct, and irrefutably legal.
***
Notes
Throughout
American history, numerous banks, institutions, and public figures have had
direct or indirect connections to slavery - ranging from financial involvement
in the slave economy to personal ownership of enslaved individuals.
Several
American institutions, including universities and churches, have historical
ties to slavery. Many Ivy League universities were built or funded by wealth
generated through slavery. Harvard (2022), Yale (2024), Princeton, Brown (2006),
Columbia, Penn, and Dartmouth have actively researched and acknowledged these
connections. Brown was the first to formally investigate, while Harvard and
Yale have recently issued public apologies and financial commitments.
In an examination of the genealogies of America’s political elite, Reuters found that at least 119 of the country's most influential leaders – presidents, lawmakers from the last sitting Congress, governors and Supreme Court justices – have a slaveholding ancestor. (Reuters, June 27, 2023)
True
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