Slavery is as big an issue now, as it has been through all of man’s history. Many of the so-called “developed” as well as “transitional” nations would be hard pressed to believe slavery exists. It seems in more educated societies we know nothing. Annually 600-800 thousand people are reportedly trafficked across borders, not including those unaccounted for and those trafficked within one country.1 So it is most likely over one million humans become slaves every year. In the society we perceive as ours (of our time and work) it is amazing this is still taking place. Slavery in America is an important issue but it is always seen as a thing of the past. So is there a way we can stop this modern day slavery?

Slavery is more then labor. It is a psychological ownership as much as it is a physical one. Slavery is the affirmation of class (I will later explain this more thoroughly), slavery is the explanation for many human tendencies. I am appalled to hear of the hardships of miners in Brazil, Mexican immigrants, east European women, children in Uganda, laborers in India. But my passion comes only from my own experience, and my fear comes only from what I can imagine. Does a Brazilian miner fight harder to escape slavery than a CEO in America fights to make money? This answer I do not know. I suppose if killing someone is the most extreme measure a human can take to get what he wants drug dealers think money is very important. It is this measure of what is hardship that I intend to make very muddy.

Slavery(link to dictionary) is most often defined as the ownership of another human being. This raises one very important question. What is ownership? Can a building you own be swept up in a tornado? Can your favorite pair of socks be lost? Can your slave run away? Ownership is defined in the dictionary as “1. The state or fact of being owner of a thing. 2. Legal right to the possession of a thing.”3 The first definition is weak because it is vague and only leads to another word worthy of definition. The second definition is the one on which my eyes focus. The phrase “legal right” is very revealing to this definition because it recognizes that possession, as we know it, can only be proved through written law. If you own your computer it is only the written law that can prove you own it. It is harder when something is not written clearly in law. For example, does a parent own their child? It becomes even harder when the law leaves something untouched. Do you own your own soul?

What is it that he is questioning, you may be asking? What is the meaning of slavery, that is my answer. Slavery is often depicted as a violation of a basic human right, the right to a free life. This type of though says that when you are a slave you cease to be free. What I am saying is no line exists, at which, when crossed, your life is a free one. No life is free from hardship, everyone is a slave to something. Some people are slaves to their parents, some are slaves to society, some are slaves to their boss, some are slaves to mother earth. One’s free will can never be recognized in life.

From this my mind deduces one thing. Slavery is not a result of the people that support it because good men and bad men will always exist. Slave owner’s should not be the focus. It is probably impossible to erase all bad men off the earth. It is just as hard to make all bad men on this earth into good men. It is just as hard to free every slave on earth. All these solutions are being enacted right now. The problem lies under the surface; the class system.

It is my economical belief that there is only so much wealth in the world. There are two places that wealth is held; through legal possession and in the earth or the unknown. Every piece of known wealth can be accounted for through a percentage of the earth’s total. Every dollar that you earn means indirectly, through hundreds of interactions and through time, that same percentage of wealth is lost somewhere else (could be a penny in one hundred places). This is relevant because as we as humans strive to become wealthy, and there is a friction between every human on earth. This means unless we are all equal (I’m not a communist, I swear) there will always be class systems. It seems almost primitive that class systems give rise to slavery:

A battle is lost and the victory is suddenly more powerful. What does he do with the losers? He makes them into slaves. A rich farmer wants help to labor over the fields. He sees a poor man in the streets. He takes him as his slave. Even the lower classes can help increase slavery. Because they recognize they have less wealth than others they will go to desperate measures to stay alive. After all, slavery loses it’s sinister air when you realize that possession is only defined through law. A homeless man has to fight against the elements for his life every night. He decides to sell himself into slavery. A family has many children who they cannot feed. They decide to sell one into slavery so they can feed everyone else.

These circumstances are mild compared to some of the violent scenes that happen every day. I only write them to illustrate how class is the reason for slavery. A poor man could kidnap a rich man and make him his slave but because he is the one that is struggling, he doesn’t jeopardize the rich man’s life.

So the only solution I see is erasing the class system. If we can donate money to areas of the world that have less wealth than us we can bring them out of their problems with slavery. This is very much the philosophy of communism, and when it was attempted corruption didn’t allow it’s ideals to be realized. So all we can do for now is take a socialist approach and donate more money to countries such as Uganda, and donate money within our own countries. I live in America, and I think if our country has the capability to give even more than we do now. But are we as Americans, so far separated, willing to give up our position of power? I think not. Slavery will never die and will always serve as a reminder of the brutal effects of the human class system.