Member Since: December 11, 2006
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Last Update: December 11, 2006
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What are the pros and cons of slavery? They can be personal, but please add some historical ideas, thanks! (link)
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Article 4 of the Universal Declaration on Human Right as set forth by the United Nations (U.N.), clearly states that “no one shall be held in slavery or servitude” and that “slavery and the slave trade” will be disallowed in all forms. This position of the U.N. clearly means that Slavery – in any way shape or form, will not be accepted or tolerated by the United Nations. This article would provide those who find themselves in any form of slavery or servitude a way towards freedom. Wives who find themselves trapped by an abusive husband, countries invaded by imperialistic super-powers, and convicted felons forced to do community service would all fall under those who should be protected by this article.
Slavery of any form dates back to prehistoric times and seems to be clearly based on the way man enslaved animals for food and labor. Since the beginning of recorded history, slavery was evident all over the world. Early cultures, that lived in China, Egypt, India, and Mesopotamia all practiced slavery. The first recognizable code of conduct or laws known as the Hammurabi Code, included provisions for slavery. Most of the time in prehistoric cultures, slaves were women. This was due to the fact that men would die in battle leaving the women behind for labor or child birthing. The Hammurabi Code explained how to return slaves to owners upon escape, taking slaves for child birthing, children of slaves being slaves, but never once is any one race or religious group singled out.
A rare few number of cultures actually incorporated slavery as the major labor force of the culture. The grandfather of all slave societies was found in ancient Greece between the 6th and 4th centuries. In Athens a sizable majority of the population were slaves. In turn, Rome would become economically and culturally dependant on slavery. The earliest slaves were no different than their owners from an ethnic standpoint. In fact, the first ethnicity to be taken from their home lands were Eastern Europeans.
When the Europeans came to colonize the North American continent during the fifteenth century, they not only knew of, but participated in the use of slavery. They had used African and Slavic people as slaves for a couple centuries before in Italy. Then half a century before Columbus “found” the New World, Africans had been exploited as slaves off the coast of West Africa on islands where once again sugar was being produced. The Chinese had used slaves for centuries and in fact even today, much of the labor in China could be considered Slave Labor.
The Greek philosopher Aristotle developed the notion of the "natural slave." Slaves, in his view, lacked the higher qualities of the soul necessary for freedom. In the Christian world, the most important rationalization for slavery was the so-called "Curse of Ham." According to this doctrine, the Biblical figure Noah had cursed his son Ham with blackness and the condition of slavery. In fact, this story rested on a misunderstanding of Biblical texts. In the Bible, Noah curses Canaan, the ancestor of the Canaanites, and not Ham. But the "Curse of Ham" was the first justification of slavery based on ethnicity. It was not until the late 18th century that racism provided the basic justification for slavery.
The idea of slaves being of African decent is a very British and American view point. As history has shown, the hot beds of white and black violence can be seen in areas of the world that maintain British influence. The United States, Canada, Australia, South Africa, England, France, Spain, and Italy all have had extensive slave outlets that focused on African peoples. Ironically, Germanic countries did not have much slave trade and later in history, the Nazi’s ethnic cleansing was geared more towards non-German Caucasians and not necessarily those of African decent.
In the United States, slavery did not face a formal challenge until the American Civil War. Historically the first individuals to stand up against slavery were Moses and Cyrus Cylinder but they were not abolitionists. Abolitionists stood for the end of any and all slave activity. In England and Scotland in the late 1700’s oppositions to slavery were brought about in the form legal actions that many believe formed the basis for future Abolitionist movements. Canada was the first country to ban slavery in 1810. England did not end it’s involvement in the slave trade until laws were passed in the early 1800’s with the abolishment of slavery by an Act of Parliament coming in 1833. France and Portugal followed suit in 1948 and 1969 respectively, but the United States took the loss of over half a millions lives in the Civil War before American slaves were emancipated. The Thirteenth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution effectively ended slavery in the United States in 1865.
In December 1966, the U.N. adopted the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rightsaration of Human Rights. That covenant was derived from the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. In March of 1976, after being ratified by 35 nations, Article 8 of the treaty banned slavery. By November 2003, 104 nations had ratified the treaty. The end of slavery as a cultural tool is only a recent change in human cultures, unfortunately many capitolistic cultures have figured out ways of maintaining slavery without the practices being viewed as such.
While there are no countries that officially recognize slavery, this does not ensure that slavery is dead and gone from this planet. There are tens of millions of people all over the world who lives in states of slavery, most of whom are children. Practices such as bonded labor, criminal punishment by forced labor, and child labor still exist all over the world, there are even trading of slaves in slave markets.
Some positive statistics have emerged recently about slavery, yet we are not nearly as close to the end of slavery as we should be. Currently the largest number of people in slavery at any time in the history of the world exists today and is between 200 and 25 millions people. While that is an unsuitable statistic, the smallest percentage of the total human population that has ever been enslaved at once exists today.
To have Article 4 be legally binding and in effect in the United States, a lot woul have to change. The entire judicial process of reforming criminals would have to change. Many laws that allow parents to decide how they raise a child would need to be revisted. The biggest change woul have to come from the federal government of the United States. Just because a person is not someone else’s property does not mean that they are not slaves. All Americans are slaves to the American Culture. The entire culture of greed, corruption and consumption would need to collapser for Article 4 to be comepletely adhered to.
Economically slavery is a joke. Slaves used to be worth as much as $38,000 in today’s currency, but today the high end is $1000. This makes the economics of modern slavery unmanageable. The cost of otaining and subsequently selling slaves today is so hard to do that the most profitable form of slavery has been the emergence of what is called Disposable Slavery. The Slaves are mainly young girls and women who can be used as prostitutes for quick and controlable profit and then once they have contracted AIDS they are left to die or sent to be forced labor such as the Coal Mines in China.
Slavery will inevitably run it’s course and one day will no longer exist on this planet. Why do you ask? It’s a simple answer based on economics. It makes more sense to have a happy, healthy, educated workforce, to in turn maximize profits. Why economics? Slavery has always been about economics. The losing warriors who were captured would in turn reduce the amount of work that the members of the winning faction were burdened with. This allowed the winning faction to grow more crops, store more food, find more land, all basic economics.
Other than the economic aspects of slavery, one must remember especially in this time of religious conservatism, the moral implications of allowing slavery are unallowable. Slavery goes against all inherent right of each person who has ever lived, is alive today, and who will live in th future. While many religions in individual texts and scripture allow slavery, it has been a common belief in most religions that slavery should never be tolerated.
Article 4, with out a doubt should be ratified by the entire global community. It is a vital part of human rights. Without a guarantee of the right to personal freedom, one’s right to life, liberty and security of perosn can become nullified, as all other articles. This would happen as it did in the past where slaves are not considered people, but property. Many ancient societies considered slavery a matter of bad luck or accident. Slaves in these societies were often war captives or victims of piracy or children who had been abandoned by their parents. While those things still happen in isolated parts of the world, they are universally looked upon as violations of basic rights. The total implementation of Article 4, on a global scale can only bring a better and more prosperous future for all of mankind.
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