The language of exploitation vs. slavery
A response to the article "Bangladesh's garment workers face exploitation, but is it slavery?" by Annie Kelly, of The Guardian, 16 May 2013.
https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/poverty-matters/2013/may/16/bangladesh-garment-workers-exploitation-slavery
This article discusses the example of BangIadesh's garment workers, and how it "may be splitting hairs over what is and is not slavery, but mislabelling paid workers as slaves could harm their cause" - for improvement and harm the cause of anti-slavery efforts around the world.
There are two main views about the situation, some wanting it to be labelled as slavery because of the lack of 'real' choices in the surrounding environment of the workers. Whereas others are of the view that while this is unacceptable exploitation, pushing this situation into the box of 'slavery' will not help in the long run. Kevin Bales, a slavery activist and co-founder of Free the Slaves, is concerned with mislabelling paid workers as slaves and the impact it could have on the anti-slavery efforts globally.
Andrew Wallis, chief executive of Unseen, a UK-based anti-trafficking charity says.
"When it comes to how slavery is defined, particularly in the context of supply chains, I don't think we're putting the bar where it needs to be," he says. "In the Dhaka case we have an exploitative situation where technically the workers were free to leave but due to economic factors they actually are not able. Add to that the exploitation around lack of safe working conditions, overwork, underpay, demand from western companies and societies for cheap goods, and you have a pretty toxic mix which comes down to splitting hairs over what is slavery and what is not."
While this example of Rana Plaza, according to the "internationally binding legal definitions of forced labour and slavery", has no case for forced labour, It seems to me that the women who worked there didn't have a real choice. What would their alternative be? No work, no money, absolute poverty. It's not likely they could find better working conditions somewhere else because this issue is rampant throughout Bangladesh and the cotton/garment industry, which is their primary export. (1)
Faustina Pereira, director of human rights and legal aid services at Brac, a Bangladeshi NGO, says that we need to be careful of nomenclature - the definition being
the devising or choosing of names for things, especially in a science or other discipline.
or
the body or system of names used in a particular specialist field.
She states "We should go beyond nomenclature that alienates the players who should be [held] to account."
We need to have more than just good intentions, we need to be careful not to react to such crisis' with our anger, and sense of injustice and even possibly our pride, but instead it is important we respond to such crisis', thinking about the after effects of our response, because it is a matter of life and death for millions of human beings who are not being treated as such.
It has been established that this situation, whether slavery or exploitation and abuse, is unacceptable and needs to be corrected, all parties have agreed on this fact. But if the goal is to lift the people affected out of abject poverty, and improve their standard of living and working, what language will serve that purpose best and help us call the companies and persons responsible to account? I think we need to think implicationally about the affects of our language, our labels (nomenclature), and be sensitive to the situation and the workers and the big picture. If labelling working conditions in Bangladesh as slavery could cause companies to pull-out and run with their tails between their legs rather than be held accountable and fix their mistakes, I am willing to call it exploitation and abuse, which is still an unacceptable wrong and needs to be eradicated just as much as abject slavery.
end note:
(1): Economic Exploitation of Bangladesh By Mahfuz R. Chowdhury
https://books.google.co.za/booksid=e0aJfV5OwzYC&pg=PA66&lpg=PA66&dq=exploitation+rampant+throughout+bangladesh&source=bl&ots=ncK0qISf8g&sig=II2ZzBSynjGRBndJ3cBu8mvy3R4&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwj5lIL925rTAhWIF8AKHb4HCi8Q6AEILTAC#v=onepage&q=exploitation%20rampant%20throughout%20bangladesh&f=false
for more information on slavery classification read this article below:
https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2013/apr/03/modern-day-slavery-explainer
