How Abolitionists Are Ending Slavery 144 Characters at a Time

Since the beginning of civilization, people have enslaved other people. Egyptians enslaved Jews, Ottoman Turks enslaved Armenians, and Americans and Europeans enslaved Africans. Even today, after slavery has been made illegal in every country on earth, the rich enslave the poor, men enslave women, and adults enslave children. But in 2010, we have a powerful weapon in the fight against slavery. Twitter. Yes, the 144 character social media tool might just do what all the legislation and international conventions have failed to  — finally end slavery.

Twitter is increasingly becoming the most popular platform for the growing modern-day abolitionist movement. Modern-day slavery is an issue which is often overlooked by mainstream media; the Washington Post and New York Times don't have human trafficking beats. Yet across the world, millions of people still live in slavery as real as what's described in history books. They harvest tea, sugar, and cocoa. They make cell phones, sew blue jeans, and clean private residences. And they are trapped in brothels and sold through online classified services. But even as a global understanding that slavery still exists grows, trafficking victims' experiences are rarely front page news.

Enter Twitter, the 144 character social media site and it's most prolific user, Ashton Kutcher. Kutcher has proven that Twitter can be a tremendous force in building and mobilizing the movement to end human trafficking. At a recent event at the United Nations, journalist Nicholas Kristof pointed out that Kutcher has just over 6 million followers on Twitter, compared to 140,000 who follow the UN. But while Kutcher could use his power only to promote his films or share videos of fainting cats, he instead uses it as a platform to educate people about human trafficking and mobilize them into action.

And he's not the only one. Around the world, abolitionists and other advocates for lesser-known social issues are using Twitter as a platform to create social change. For example, Twitter user @DianaScimone has run successfull tweet-a-thons on 9/9/09 and 10/10/10 to raise money for the fight against human trafficking by mobilizing the Twitter community to action. @endslaverynow drives users to the incredible resource set available from End Slavery Now, including tools to help them fight slavery in their communities. NGOs like @polaris_project and @anti_slavery use Twitter to mobilize their base to action, like writing letters to congress, attending events, volunteering, and of course, signing petitions on Change.org. And groups like @madebysurvivors and @FairTradeUSA use the short-form tool to spread the word about their slavery-free products to consumers looking to make ethical purchases.

The advent of Twitter means that abolition has a platform where activists can exchange information, educate themselves and others, and mobilize each other to take action. For the first time in history, we don't have to wait for the mainstream media to get this issue and take up our cause. We're already doing it ourselves. So, @Twitter, thx for platform to fight #humantrafficking and create #socialchange.

Photo credit: Rosora Ochara