Slavery was banned in early 19th century but different forms of slavery continued. Globalisation made slavery a commonplace practice where people in the developed and under developed worlds cooperated in exploitation of the poor. The 21st century ushered in an era of exploitation of the poor based on ‘corporate greed’ on an unprecedented scale, and slavery in one form or the other continued to be in practice,
Hewlett-Packard has come out with a new sales gimmick. They want to document minerals used in their product so as to curtail imports from conflict zones. The main target is Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) where raw minerals (gold, zinc and tungsten) are sent to smelters in Russia, Indonesia, China and others to be used in high tech manufacture. The sale of these minerals is used in fuelling death and destruction in the home countries. These are called ‘Conflict Minerals’. In DRC an estimated 5 million people have been killed in the last 15 years (Hardy, Quentin. HP to push for end to ‘conflict minerals’. Global Edition of The New York Times, April 17, 2013). There is no mention of sale of guns to killing machines of warlords in different countries.
We all know the tale of ‘Blood Diamonds’ and their role in deaths of the poor in Africa. The instruments for the killings were provided by the west making profit both ways. However, there is significant awareness of this bloody trade and restrictions put on it.
Opium production in Afghanistan that had plummeted during Taliban rule is again on the rise and shall in all probability peak this year. For the grower it is a very lucrative crop since most of the exports goes to western countries. Opium is also sustaining a corrupt Afghan government and arms suppliers of the west. It is fuelling the conflict in Afghanistan and filling the pockets of western drug Mafia based in various countries. Shall we label this as ‘Blood Heroin’?
For decades the US, Russia and Europe has been supplying arms and armaments at a cost to ruthless dictators all over the world at a huge profit. These armaments were used against their own people. Saddam Hussain of Iraq used toxic gas provided by the United States against his own ‘unruly’ people. Israel takes the cake. Arms and ammunition including phosphorus bombs provided by the US were used against unarmed Palestinians in Gaza more than once. Indiscriminate bombing of Afghanistan in 2001 to get a few hundred al Qaeda members and leaders, and pulverising of Bagdad where a million people were killed to get Hussain keeps the American armament industry flourishing. To regulate and make exports of arms more transparent, which is worth $85 billion annually, a proposal was put in the UN in 1996 to control arms trade. The Arms Trade Treaty was ratified in June 2013 by 62 countries at the UN. The major arms exporters including the US are still sitting on the fence (‘Over 60 countries sign arms trade treaty’, Our Correspondent, Dawn, June 4, 2013). Now there is talk of Sarin gas use by Assad forces/rebels in the civil war in Syria. We need to ask as to what is the source of the gas. This colourless and odourless gas was first synthesised by Germany in 1938 but was never used during WW II. Shall we label this gas ‘Blood Armament’?
It is claimed that human trafficking (modern slavery) worth $650 billion annually worldwide is a disturbing trade. People from the poor countries are sent to richer states at a price where they become slaves with no recognition as human beings. These illegal migrants are used as cheap labour. Many women are pushed into sex slavery.
Modern slavery is also exploitation of the poor in their own country to maximise profit for the rich. The west has its manufacturing outlets in the poor countries where the local factory owners produce products (mainly T-shirts) at pittance to be sold to shops in the west at 10 times the price. The horrible state of manufacturing in the poor countries was highlighted by the collapse of Rana Plaza in Bangladesh where 1,127 textile workers were killed and 2,000 injured. Recently, fire in Baoyuanfeng Poultry Plant in the north-east China killed 119 workers (Buckley, Chris. ‘Scores die in fire at Chinese plan’, International Herald Tribune. June 4, 2013). The culprits are the rich of the poor countries and their partners in the west who would do anything for profit.
There is another sinister worry of ‘Blood Money’. Dictators stack trillions of dollars with horrendous human rights record in the rich developed world. According to one report, individuals, banks and corporations in the west and their partners in the poor countries have $32 trillion parked in offshore safe havens around the world. This is estimated at 44 percent of the world GDP (Kiemle, Julien, ‘Trillions in ‘treasure islands’. Dawn Economic & Business Review. June 3-9, 2013). Politicians, army men and moneyed class of people in the third world including Pakistan use tax havens to hide their black money. Besides tax-free bank accounts these people have purchased the most expensive real estate in the rich countries and no questions have ever been asked. Russians stacked their money in offshore accounts in Cyprus. This is ‘Blood Money’ treated as kosher by UK, Singapore, Luxembourg, Cayman Island, Cook Island, Liechtenstein, Bermuda, British Virgin Islands and Switzerland making them the most corrupt countries in the world. The people of the poor countries are starving and loaded with huge amounts of government debt borrowed from domestic banks, IMF, ADB and WB. No wonder people of the third world are reluctant to pay taxes to the corrupt incompetent governments.
We live in an unfair world where the powerful exploit the poor within the state and internationally. Despite religious injunctions and human rights bodies the powerful crush the weak in our ‘global village’. We have yet to evolve from primitive ‘man’ into a decent human being and somehow control our greed.
The writer is a freelance columnist