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Slavery
THE ISSUE: A ccording to www.antislavery.org and www.iabolish.org, there are 27 million slaves in the world today—more than at any other time in history, including when the slave trade was seen as a legal and viable business option by most Western nations. For those who associate slavery with the days of yesteryear (think Uncle Tom’s Cabin and Huckelberry Finn ), Mende’s book, Slave , was published in 2005 and serves as a slap in the face. Her stor y is not a one-off . Francis Bok, also Sudanese, tells a similar tale of pillaging raiders and forced servitude. One could be forgiven for thinking that these people lived hundreds of years ago, but that’s simply not the case. “Oh, but isn’t that just what happens over there?” some might ask. Think again. “Civilised” nations are not exempt from this disgrace. In fact, these days there are slaves on every continent but Antarctica. Of ten the people in these situations are working to produce goods and services consumed by the Western world. An American steel company will pay $US1 million compensation to a group of Thai labourers brought to California to retrofi t a bridge in 2002—the workers were forcibly detained and had passports confi scated. Their situation was discovered when they fl ed their “masters” (who chased them down the street) and took refuge in a Los Angeles temple. How is it that we can still allow people to live in conditions where they are treated as commodities rather than people? RESPONSE: Simply put, slavery is wrong. Laws are in place around the world designed to prevent slaver y and human traffi cking.The United Nations passed the Supplementary Convention on the Abolition of Slavery, the Slave Trade and Institutions and Prac tices Similar to Slaver y in 1956. Unfortunately, hardly any people who break these laws and acts end up being held accountable for it. Although we’re called to be servants as Christians, part of serving others is helping them to be free, not only from sin and the various things that can make us slaves in that, but also in life. We’re here to make life better for people. All slaves were set free ever y seven years in Jewish law. Jesus tells us to love our neighbour—including ever yone in need rather than only those next door. Luke 4:18 says, “ The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom to for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to set the oppressed free” (TNIV). As God revealed more and more of His character to His people, we can see that slavery was something He was only willing to tolerate for a while. In fact, this kind of action seems to be the worship God most enjoys. He asks in Isaiah 58:6, “Is not this the fast that I have chosen? to loose the bands of wickedness, to undo the heavy burdens, and to let the oppressed go free, and that ye break every yoke? Is it not to deal thy bread to the hungry, and that thou bring the poor that are cast out to thy house?” (K JV). ACT: LINKS: |
Mende Nazer, a young Sudanese girl belonging to the Nuba tribe, had a peaceful farming childhood—until the slave traders came, and her world dissolved into a nightmarish bloodbath, and her childhood years were wasted in captivity.  |
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