| WWW,
April 2008 - The makers of this documentary
have traveled over several different
continents in search for the most raw form
of slavery: forced labor by people being
held captive.
Slavery has
many forms, and Babylon is specialized in
each and every one of them. From the subtle
forms of mental slavery of the sheeple
to the most raw type: forced labor by people
who are held captive under the most terrible
conditions.
This
documentary deals with that last form. It's
a fate that threatens the lifes of millions
of people, especially children. It's a fate
that has to do directly with an economical
and political "development" called
"globalization".
In fact,
"globalization" and
"slavery" are connected like
Bonnie and Clyde. Those who have heard
Reggae Music, will know how true this is as
the Movement of Rastafari has been
instrumental in pointing out to this
historical fact.
The video
takes us to several parts of the planet, and
also shows us things and places that have to
do with the colonial slavery that helped
build the "New World" after
Christopher Columbus "discovered"
it.
We're taken
to plantations, we see the wounds on the
bodies of young men who had just recently
been set free out of slavery after working
on Cacao-plantations in Africa's Ivory Coast
sometimes for well over 5 years. We find
out, that the average price of a young boy
is around 20 British pounds and we even go
to the market place and see this
transaction.
There has
obviously been contact with the United
Nations during the process of producing the
documentary. The UN and globalization itself
aren't identified as the culprits, but these
world organizations responsible for
globalization (like the World Bank) are
being criticized for the things they do.
An idea of
the World Bank is to drop guaranteed prices
for Cacao, making sure that farmers get less
while the consumers in the west pay more.
And so, farmers are being held under an
economic form of slavery themselves, as they
will not get the money they need to pay
their workers.
India is
visited and we witness a raid on a place
where carpets for export are produced by
little children. Children are stolen,
kidnapped, parents don't know where they are
and hope that these raids may bring back
their children to the surface.
The video
also takes us straight to the "Free
World" and "discovers"
how slavery is very much alive today as
well, even though it's often said how
slavery is abolished. People working for the
World Bank themselves turn out to have
slaves working in their homes, diplomats and
members of royal families are doing the very
same thing.
As said,
the documentary doesn't point out to
globalization and the United Nations as
major -and conscious- culprits of the
contemporary forms of slavery it exposes,
unfortunately.
The makers
have extensively interviewed a professor
from a United Nations work group on
contemporary slavery. This professor boldly
states that the UN and multinationals will
"end slavery" when the
"consumers" "demand" it.
Towards the
end, there's even a visit to Brazil where
people are working under the most terrible
conditions, but (quote) "it's not
slavery"...
However,
all the information necessary to connect
these dots are provided. The result is an
impressive documentary that definitely sheds
light on one of the most raw forms of
slavery.
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