In April I was in Newlyn in Cornwall taking photographs of this sleepy little picturesque fishing village.
It wasn't on my schedule to visit but I had heard on the news that morning that a boat had been seen discharging 30+ people into the back of a van on the quayside. It transpired that these men, women and children were from Vietnam and were modern slaves being trafficked into Cornwall, England.
Newlyn Harbour
I don't like the term's modern slavery or human trafficking as that seems to diminish an act that should be called just what it is Slavery. Slavery has always been a facet of human life and trying to pretty it up just seems wrong to me.
Newlyn Harbour entrance
How many millions of people worldwide are still enslaved? This led me down a very deep rabbit hole with all kinds of twists and turns. I will spare you the pain but will add links if you want to do your own research. Short answer. It is at epidemic proportions and many countries still do not prosecute slavers?
Imagine 30 men, women and children stuffed into the back of this truck. What kind of human being could do this to another?
[Source]
The main culprits of this trade are of course businesses that exploit these people and people that use prostitutes. In the UK there are regulations that force businesses to check into the background of workers but obviously there are far to many companies that are ignoring the rules to reap profits off of the backs of these unfortunate people. It seems like every day a new group of slaves are discovered working on farms and factories right here in Britain.
When a government or potential government tells you that they want to control immigration and 'cut the red tape and deregulate the market' this is what they really mean.
Every society needs rules to protect the vulnerable and the ill informed. And god knows we all have a lot of ill informed people right now.
Follow the horror - resources for teachers
Below are links to organisations that are trying to educate the populations of both host countries and slave destination countries. You may be surprised to find which countries are actively pursuing and encouraging the slave trade.
There is a ranking system that shows which countries are trying to stop slavery and those which are not. Tier 1 countries have strong laws against slavery while tier 4 countries have no laws at all.
Regardless of the laws. Many tier 1 countries still have an active slave trade including the U.S.A., U.K. and all of Europe. Arabia, Africa and Asia have even less legal protection for people being enslaved. In fact many of these countries could not operate without slave labour.
Scholarly articles on modern slavery
This post could run on forever but I will spare you that dubious pleasure. My contribution to #wednesdaywalk initiated by @tattoodjay.
Every one of us has a role to play in this slavery business whether it is getting cheap products from child labor or enjoying a holiday in some exotic location because the local population is enslaved. We are all culpable.
P.S. The four men that were caught transporting these slaves have shown us a real world example of the prisoners dilemma (a hot topic on steem) Two have spilled the beans and pleaded guilty in the hopes of getting a lighter sentence. The other two are probably going to get the longest sentences.
As for the people that were about to be enslaved? They will probably be deported back to Vietnam where they will no doubt have to hide from the friends of the slavers and the money lenders that finance this trade.
**When you make migration difficult you create the conditions for the slave trade to exist. Building walls and barriers is an act of barbarism.
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Camera settings below are for the first image only as this is the primary photograph.
| Category | (Landscape photography)
| Camera | (Canon EOS 70D)
| Exposure | (1/400)
| f Stop | (f/8)
| ISO | (100)
| Focal Length | (Canon 30 mm)
| Location | Cornwall, England | |