BS: Slavery in China

Subject: BS: Slavery in China
From: beardedbruce
Date: 14 Jun 07 - 05:22 PM

China Rescues Brick Kiln Slave Workers

AP - Thu, 14 Jun 2007 16:07:58 -0400 (EDT)

Police in central China have rescued 217 people, including 29 children, who had been forced to work as slaves at brick kilns, official media reported Thursday.

More than 35,000 officers were mobilized to raid 7,500 kilns in Henan province during a three-day campaign that ended Tuesday, the Xinhua News Agency reported. They detained 120 suspects, it said.

The crackdown came amid a national furor sparked by reports on the Internet of efforts by 400 Henan fathers to track down missing sons they believe were sold as slaves.

In an open letter on the Internet, the fathers accused authorities in Henan and neighboring Shanxi province of ducking responsibility and turning a deaf ear to their pleas. They claim around 1,000 children were being forced to work at kilns under extremely cruel conditions.

Incidents of forced work in factories and elsewhere are frequently reported in China, and child labor is thought to be common, especially in the poorest and most remote parts of this vast country.

However, Xinhua said police on Saturday rescued 16 children at kilns less than 46 miles north of Zhengzhou, the provincial capital of Henan, one of China's most densely populated provinces. The province has been dogged by a reputation for corruption, crime and poor governance.

Xinhua said laborers at the Henan kilns were abducted or lured there with false promises, then beaten, starved and forced to work long hours for no pay. Those too sick or weak to haul bricks would be whipped, it said.

Xinhua said Henan and Shanxi police were planning joint operations against the kilns and human traffickers.

"We must do everything we can to fight human trafficking and rescue those held captive," it quoted Henan police chief Qin Yuhai as saying.

Subject: RE: BS: Slavery in China
From: SINSULL
Date: 14 Jun 07 - 10:32 PM

A slave ring was found in a single family house in Jackson Heights, a middle class neighborhood near LaGuardia Airport in NYC. Deaf children were brought from Mexico with a promise of an education in the Lexington School for the Deaf. Instead they were forced to work begging on the subways and not fed if they didn't meet quotas. The women were raped and several were pregnant when rescued. They had gone to the police but no one could read sign language.

There are brutal animals everywhere.

Pay attention. If something doesn't look right in your nice comfy middle class neighborhood, look into it.

Subject: RE: BS: Slavery in China
From: Georgiansilver
Date: 15 Jun 07 - 02:18 AM

Sad to say that slavery in some form or other is still practiced today in all parts of the world...agree with Sinsull...pay real attention to what is happening around you....if you see something suspicious....report it.
Best wishes, Mike.

Subject: RE: BS: Slavery in China
From: beardedbruce
Date: 15 Jun 07 - 09:32 AM

There was a case a few years back in Greenbelt, MD. An illegal immigrant was being kept in the back of a shop, as a worker with no pay.

I agree that slavery is happening all around the world.

Subject: RE: BS: Slavery in China
From: Peace
Date: 15 Jun 07 - 12:16 PM

"Slavery and the Link to Chocolate

Slave traders are trafficking boys ranging from the age of 12 to 16 from their home countries and are selling them to cocoa farmers in Cote d'Ivoire. They work on small farms across the country, harvesting the cocoa beans day and night, under inhumane conditions. Most of the boys come from neighboring Mali, where agents hang around bus stations looking for children that are alone or are begging for food. They lure the kids to travel to Cote d'Ivoire with them, and then the traffickers sell the children to farmers in need of cheap labor (Raghavan, "Lured...")."

We support that by buying chocolate bars, etc., from companies that deal with these folks.

Subject: RE: BS: Slavery in China
From: Rapparee
Date: 15 Jun 07 - 01:52 PM

Some years back the Smithsonian Institution decided to allow a limited number of reproductions of certain quilts in its collection to be made. The company chosen -- without bidding, without an announcement that the repros were coming -- had the quilts made in prisons in China.

The US quilting community hit the ceiling and went right through it! No attempt was made to contact the Cabin Creek Quilt Cooperative in West Virginia or the quilters on the Sioux Pine Ridge Reservation, both of which could have done the job better and cheaper, helped economically depressed people in the US, and avoided putting money in the pockets of Chinese prison wardens utilizing slave labor for the task.

I don't think that the SI will make that mistake again.

Subject: RE: BS: Slavery in China
From: gnu
Date: 15 Jun 07 - 02:58 PM

In a community near Moncton, New Brunswick, Canada, a few years back, over 30 slaves from Taiwan were found in a small house. One had defied his master and had his eyelids cut off. That kinda aroused suspicion.

The latest case I heard of involved Chinese slaves working in the marijuana fields north of Moncton. Expendable if caught. And, there are a lot that don't get caught.

SINS said it right... we've got slavery right here in River City.

Subject: RE: BS: Slavery in China
From: Rapparee
Date: 15 Jun 07 - 03:09 PM

"As I would not be a slave, neither would I be a master."
                                        -- A. Lincoln   

I detest slavery and those who engage in it, and will not knowingly buy from any business that supports it.

Subject: RE: BS: Slavery in China
From: Peace
Date: 15 Jun 07 - 03:12 PM

Bravo, Rapaire.

Subject: RE: BS: Slavery in China
From: gnu
Date: 15 Jun 07 - 03:15 PM

Sooo, Walmart is out?

Subject: RE: BS: Slavery in China
From: GUEST,mg
Date: 15 Jun 07 - 05:19 PM

http://www.swappinlies.com/

A song about the chocolate slaves. mg

Subject: RE: BS: Slavery in China
From: Rapparee
Date: 15 Jun 07 - 07:23 PM

If the items are made in a slave-using country and I know it, yes.

Marlin may exploit its workers (although I doubt it), but they're not kept as slaves. (Gnu knows what I'm talking about.)

Subject: RE: BS: Slavery in China
From: Rapparee
Date: 15 Jun 07 - 07:24 PM

Which, by the way, is one of the reasons I don't buy Norinco....