I believe in the power of
language, freedom of speech and freedom of the press. In recent years I have been shocked by the
frequent use of euphemistic terminology used by governments and repeated by
newspapers and television networks to soften the blow of the horrors of war. Take the phrase, ‘collateral damage’, a term
that cannot begin to explain the horror befalling innocent civilian victims who
are bombed out of their homes by misplaced air-strikes. How about ‘friendly
fire’ as a way of explaining to a young soldier’s family that he was hit by a
stray missile launched by an allied aircraft? Horrors, dressed down in their
significance by nice, tidy, little buzz words.
I don’t have a poem in my folio yet to express how strongly I feel
about this subject, so I will leave you with some words from the most inspired
campaigner for Human Rights in the twentieth century, perhaps in the history of
mankind. His words resonate today as
much as they did in segregated USA.
So where am I going with this?
Well let me explain, our theme this week is ‘Labour’. Now I know that labour is work. I also know that a powerful Labour movement
was formed in this remarkable democracy to protect the lives and welfare of working people. I know that their
struggle for recognition, fair pay, better working conditions and health care
helped to develop Trade Unions, the TUC and The Labour Party. I served as an
elected representative for my own Trade Union, CPSA (Civil and Public Services
Association) for 3 years and remained a member after it became PCS. I don’t
want to talk about trade unionism or the Labour party.
I want to talk about slavery. The
introduction of the The Slavery Abolition Act in 1833 by the
British Government was a turning point in the emancipation of people from all
races within the British Empire. It set out to free workers from forced-labour and
oppression in hundreds of countries, then under British control. My research today has revealed a shocking truth.
In 2012, the ILO (International
Labour Organisation) published new estimates indicating that about 21 million
men, women and children are in forced labour. The vast majority, 90 per cent,
are exploited in the private economy. The 2012 figure is significantly higher
than the ILO’s earlier estimate as a result of better data and an improved
methodology. More reading here...
Significantly, the new estimate
indicates that more than half of the people in forced labour are women and
girls, primarily in commercial sexual exploitation and domestic work, while men
and boys were primarily in forced economic exploitation in agriculture, construction,
and mining.
So
let’s call it by its proper name.
Slavery isn’t just a problem in the developing economies. It is over here as well as over there. It makes a fortune for those who exploit
others and we buy into it every day when we buy food, products and clothing
without knowing who made them, without concern for their working conditions and how much
profit the greedy b*****ds who use them are making. As we know, many multi-nationals don’t even
pay corporation tax in the countries where their profits are made. By this action
they deprive national economies of revenue and those countries own workforce of the welfare it deserves.
We
have the power to influence that. We can
ask questions. Our government has signed
up to help stop this exploitation, tax avoidance and the backdoor
reintroduction of slavery. For your
information I have included a chart taken from the ILO report. Please remember that
a decision to buy or use a product produced too cheaply is the root cause of
modern day slavery. There is no other word for it. Slavery is alive and still dragging down people all over the world. 'Forced labour' isn't confined to the private sector, even in our civilised EU, some governments still use it. So lets take off the blinkers, ditch the euphemisms and shout. Slavery out!
…I have a
dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of
its creed: "We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are
created equal."
I have a
dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia the sons of former slaves and
the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at the table
of brotherhood.
I have a
dream that one day even the state of Mississippi, a state sweltering with the
heat of injustice, sweltering with the heat of oppression, will be transformed
into an oasis of freedom and justice.
I have a
dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they
will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.
I have a
dream today. …
Martin Luther King. 1963.
Thanks for reading. Adele