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  • "Slave Next Door" Exposes U.S. Gov't Sanctioned Slavery
    by Kevin Bales and Ron Soodalter · May 14, 2009 · HUMAN TRAFFICKING

    Here's a quick quiz for you: When did the U.S. government last use slave labor to build something?  1776? 1865?  Actually, the answer is 2003.  The following tale of slaves bought with American taxpayer dollars is an excerpt from The Slave Next Door: Human Trafficking and Slavery in America Today.

    Boondoggles, pork barrels, and shoddy work are scandalous, but it was another, uglier issue that brought First Kuwaiti to the world's attention. Some of their contract workers had been trafficked to Iraq against their will, held by force, and paid little or nothing. First Kuwaiti - and by association, the U.S. Department of State - were using slave labor to build the embassy. Taxpayers were footing the bill. The idea of a U.S. subcontractor trafficking enslaved workers into the country where we are waging a war to introduce freedom and democracy, is unthinkable. And yet, in case after case, the construction company hired workers, normally through sub-contractors, from India, Pakistan, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Sierra Leone, Egypt, Turkey, and the Philippines under false pretenses. Falsely promised work in Dubai, they were landed in a combat zone. Once in Iraq contractors confiscated the workers' passports, forced them to live in squalid conditions, and to work long hours for little or no pay.

    But it's not only the government brining slavery to America.  The old slave ship of the 1800s has been replaced by the 747. Victims come from every region and are exploited in every state. They exist specifically to work, they are unable to leave, and are forced to live under the constant threat and reality of violence. By definition, they are slaves. Today, we call it human trafficking, but make no mistake: It is the slave trade.

    This is the kind of knowledge you can't "unlearn"; the only question is, what do you do with the information once you have it? It's a question we must all address for ourselves. We tend to think of our America as the country where slavery has no place; the dire truth is, we are pretty far from freedom, and it will take a lot of work and dedication - by the government, and by us - to make it so.

    You can buy a copy of The Slave Next Door here, and you can take action against slavery here.

    Read More »
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AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY

Kevin Bales and Ron Soodalter

Kevin Bales is President of Free the Slaves, the US sister organization of Anti-Slavery International (the world’s oldest human rights organization), and Professor of Sociology at Roehampton University in London. He also serves on the Board of Directors of the International Cocoa Initiative. His book Disposable People: New Slavery in the Global Economy, published in 1999, was nominated for the Pulitzer Prize, and has now been published in ten other languages. Archbishop Desmond Tutu called it “a well researched, scholarly and deeply disturbing exposé of modern slavery”. A revised edition was published in 2005. In 2006, his work was named one of the top “100 World-Changing Discoveries” by the association of British universities. He gained his Ph.D. at the London School of Economics.

Ron Soodalter has pursued a variety of diverse careers. With a B.A. in American History and masters degrees in Education and American Folk Culture, he taught in various schools throughout New York State, and in New York City's Riker's Island Prison. He then worked as curator of a Colorado history museum, where he served on the Board of Directors of the 10-state Mountain-Plains Museums Conference. As a young teenager, Soodalter was fortunate to have studied Flamenco guitar with the world renowned Carlos Montoya, and has played professionally all his life. Also an accomplished scrimshaw artist, he has been featured in a prominent Manhattan art gallery. Soodalter currently serves on the Board of Directors of the Abraham Lincoln Institute. He has two daughters, Jesse and Melora, and lives with his wife Jane in Chappaqua, New York.

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