Bronze Age Reasoning at its Best

In writing this article, I would firstly like to pay tribute to the late Asami Nagakiya, a Japanese citizen, but arguably, a Trini at heart; a lover of Trinidadian culture, especially our steel pan. I further want to mention and to remember the victims of rape, murder and gender based violence, regardless of whether the victims were male or female.

 

Background

On February 10, 2016, the body of Asami Nagakiya, a Japanese citizen was found in the Queen’s Park Savannah, in Port of Spain. After an autopsy was conducted, it was found that she was strangled to death. Tributes have been pouring in as this young lady’s love for Trinidad and Tobago culture saw her travelling from her home country of Japan, to T&T to participate in the festivities as well as to play steel pan (the national instrument) with a local steel band.

The Mayor of Port of Spain, His Worship Raymond Tim Kee, on commenting about the death of the young woman, commented that “…women have the responsibility to ensure that they are not abused.” (He neglected to point out however, the role and responsibilities of men to NOT rape and commit murder).This comment, and other comments in his statement, has prompted widespread backlash, as well as support, dividing the country’s opinion on this issue.

The full video of his comments may be viewed  here (courtesy CCN TV6).

At the time of speaking, the goodly mayor began making assumptions about the victim being raped. However, at the time of speaking, the autopsy performed indicated that she was strangled to death. No rape was mentioned. However, the mayor continued that you must “let your imagination roll” thus, ignoring the facts of the report conducted.

The mayor’s comments went on to be covered by The Washington post, The Japan Times and the Antillean Media Group.

Article taken from the Saturday Express. February 13, 2016.

“I apologize, but people agree with me”

Women’s rights advocates, feminists, politicians and civil society have harshly condemned the words of the mayor. Subsequently, he issued an apology via a statement which included the following:

“His Worship the Mayor unequivocally apologises to women and the national population who were offended by remarks attributed to him following the death of Carnival visitor and mas player, Asami Nagakiya. Mayor Tim Kee says his comments were completely misconstrued and one particular headline unfortunately stated ‘PoS mayor criticises women’ drawing fire even before the article was read. Mayor Tim Kee said he advised women to take responsibility and protect themselves, as so many women are the victims of abuse at the hands of others.”

The statement went on  saying that the mayor “…has also received calls of support from several women agreeing with him on the lack of modesty displayed by some women and girls on the streets during Carnival.”

Many have rejected this apology offered by the mayor, saying that instead of being heartfelt, he paid lip service, opting to eventually revert to his original stance. An online petition circulating calling for the resignation of Mayor Tim Kee has garnered (at my last check) approximately 6000 signatures.

Religious leaders to the rescue!

The mayor’s comments about this matter, which barely acknowledged the horrendous crime that took place, were targeted at women’s behaviour, symptomatic of a wider issue of women-shaming in our country. We needn’t look any further than the evangelical right wing that operates in this country, or religious leadership in general. I feel like I must quote verbatim from an article by the Trinidad and Tobago Newsday, titled Religious Leaders support Tim Kee:

“Pentecostal Pastor Dr Winston Cuffie, in a strongly worded statement, condemned the behavior of women during Carnival, saying Carnival highlights that women are their own worst enemies…Cuffie continued, ‘Carnival is all about the sordid, callous denigrating and exploitation of women by the dragging of their dignity, worth and value into the gutter. And the saddest part of this, is that the most ardent accomplice to this crime is the woman herself.’

Sat Maharaj, Secretary General of the Sanatan Dharma Maha Sabha, stated unequivocally, that Tim Kee was right and did not need to apologize. Maharaj commented, ‘I agree with him (Tim Kee) that women’s vulgar and lewd behavior make them vulnerable to sexual crimes.’ ”

Interestingly, not one of these religious leaders attempted to condemn those who were doing the ‘exploitation.’ None of these religious leaders admonished MEN for not having self control, putting the blame squarely on the shoulders of women, thus exonerating men. In other words, they accepted it as fact that men are horny, randy individuals who, by nature have no self control, thus making it the woman’s responsibility to not get raped. Such an  insinuation is an insult to every decent, law-abiding, respectful man who stands up for the rights of women, and I am appalled that the religious leadership of this country would spout such patriarchal and misogynistic vitriol, all the while trying to convince us, that they speak in defence of women.

Even our Prime Minister, the Honourable Dr. Keith Rowley, while admitting that the mayor may have “misspoken” continued by saying that there were no grounds for his removal. A photo of a Facebook comment made by Point Fortin mayor Clyde Paul has, at the time of writing, begun to circulate on the web. It continues to prove my point, and the point made by many in opposition to what the PoS mayor has said.

Facebook comments allegedly made by Point Fortin Mayor, Clyde Paul.

It is my hope that civil society does not let this issue rest, and that good sense prevails, and that national dialogue is started.

Protesters at Woodford Square in Port of Spain. Photo credit: Naseem Rahman

It is sad that many think nothing of a man wearing nothing but his boxers walking out into his porch (or even from yard), but cry foul if a woman should do the same in her underwear. It is sad that the accusations of lewd behaviour were directed to the women and not to the men. It is sad that the leadership of this country espouses Bronze Age beliefs and feelings towards women. It is sad that many women in this country accept and defend the patriarchal double standard that exists in T&T.

The picture below is my response to a woman who espoused these beliefs. I tried to be as respectful as I could, and address the issue.

 

 

Here are some articles and opinion pieces for further reading:

1. Autopsy reveals Japanese pan player strangled
2. Trinidad Carnival murder victim’s ‘vulgarity and lewdness’ helped lead to her death, mayor says; petition calls for resignation
3. No, women are not responsible for their murders
4. Women march to City Hall: Mayor Tim Kee must go
5. Carnival Death: Tim Kee says women must protect themselves from abuse
6. Religious leaders support Tim Kee

Columbus Day: Getting Over Colonialism

As a citizen of the Caribbean, I have never celebrated Columbus day. In fact, it is not a recognized holiday in any part of the Caribbean. In the United States, on the other hand, the holiday is celebrated with a plethora of sales, parades, and accompanying fanfare. In recent years, more and more dissenters have been coming out against the celebration of this holiday.

Should Columbus Day bear any significance to me as a Trinbagonian? At the risk of sounding like a broken record, permit me to briefly restate what we know to be true about the advent of Christopher Columbus and his ‘discovery’ of the Americas: wealth for some, but for many others, hundreds of years of oppression, brainwashing, violence and death, cultural eradication, legacies of which still last to this day.

Routes taken by Christopher Columbus on his four voyages across the Atlantic. Source: Keith Pickering

Given the many atrocities that were committed in the wake of Columbus’ journeys to the Americas, it still shocks me that many still choose to ignore them. Perhaps it is a fear of having to acknowledge that the rise of one civilization came as a result of the enslavement of several others.

And while the argument can be made that we cannot go back in time and judge history using our present-day value system, the opposite can also be said: that the practices that we thought were right and absolute, even condoned by God, back then, but have now been abandoned, cannot have any basis in today’s society: racism, sexism, and supremacy in all its forms, to name a few.

At what point do we stop throwing our hands up in the air shouting “colonial legacy!” and start taking responsibility for our own actions and our own destinies? When do we decide to just get over it? These are loaded questions, and questions that I have been asked before. The answer is that we cannot simply get over it. Maybe when white privilege ceases to exist, when unarmed black Americans are no longer shot for no valid reason, when cultural imperialism and neocolonialism cease to push the chosen religion down the throats of the unsaved heathen, when history is taught from the perspective of the oppressed and not the oppressor, or perhaps when a formal apology is offered for the enslavement and degradation of native peoples, the importation of slaves, and the importation of indentured labourers for the gains of the superpowers at the time occur, then can such a process of ‘getting over it’ begin.

Looking Towards an Answer

It seems that everywhere I look, the once oppressed, and arguably still oppressed, are fighting back in droves:

In Canada, the Truth and reconciliation Commission recently asserted that Canada practiced cultural genocide against indigenous peoples, a long known truth to the indigenous communities, now made official for the entire world to see.

Efforts have been underway in recent years by representatives of indigenous nations in the United States to abolish the celebration of Columbus day, and have it replaced with Indigenous Peoples’ Day. While this gesture would not change the past, it is undoubtedly a move in the right direction towards acknowledging the worth of indigenous peoples, something that colonialism sought to take away from them. Too often it is forgotten that they were here even before we were, and that their lands were forcefully seized in the name of God and King.

Here in the Caribbean, 15 nations have banded together in the hope of suing Great Britain, Holland and France for slavery reparations. When slavery was abolished, the businesses that stood to lose profit were financially compensated, whilst the compensation received by those under the whip was their freedom. UK Prime Minister David Cameron, on his recent trip to Jamaica encountered a particularly awkward moment when Jamaican Prime Minister Portia Simpson Miller brought up the topic of slavery and reparations. PM Cameron’s response was to say that he did not think that reparations were the answer and that we should look ahead. Perhaps reparations may not be the answer, perhaps it is just part of the answer.

Consider now an international system that sends the message that the Global South needs to achieve a level of development equivalent to the Global North, whilst ignoring the centuries long head start that they themselves had, built on the income generated from the slave trade. Forget reparations, is it too much to ask for a simple apology?!

I often go back and forth in my mind, pondering these questions, wondering if they will ever be answered, if it is all a waste of time, and should I just ‘get over it.’

Once the Oppressed, now the Oppressors: Our Myopic Religious World View

Fred Phelps Jr. of Topeka, Kansas laughs at counter protestors as he
demonstrates against the consecration of Reverend Gene Robinson as the
first openly gay bishop of the Episcopal Church outside the ceremonies
in Durham, New Hampshire, November 2, 2003. Some fear that Robinson’s
consecration will cause a split in the worldwide Anglican Church.
REUTERS/Jim Bourg
JRB – RTR64FB

Background

I didn’t think that I would be writing another entry so soon after my post on Columbus Day, but recent events in the realm of Trinidad and Tobago politics have compelled me to speak out. I refer of course, to the recent comments in parliament referring to one male Member of Parliament as a “princess,” a thinly veiled attempt to call out the MP on his alleged homosexuality. It is not public knowledge whether the Member is gay or not, and I daresay that it is nobody’s business. The slur was not isolated, as later that day, another MP added fuel to the fire via Facebook. The second MP in question has since said that his Facebook account was hacked.

A number of local NGOs have spoken out against such words and behaviour and have called on the leader of government to start meaningful dialogue on the issue of homosexuality.

It should be noted that homosexuality was stricken from the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders in 1973 by the World Health Organization. (And even if it were not stricken from this list, and still considered a mental disorder, is this how we are supposed to treat those with mental disorders? Mock them? Make fun of them? Bully them and taunt them?) It is now common knowledge to many, definitely NOT to all, that homosexuality is NOT a mental disorder nor is it a psychological condition. However, this news is yet to reach many countries across the world, Trinidad and Tobago being one of them.

Worldwide laws regarding homosexual relationships and expressions.

But God Says so!

Christians are quick to point out that the Bible, believed by many to be divinely inspired, provides the final word on how this, and many other issues should be handled. “Gay people are an abomination!” “Men should not be with men! The Bible says so!”

As the descendant of a slave,  I find it especially sad that religion, backed up by the Bible, was used to condone slavery and to justify its existence. I look around today at my fellow citizens, also descendants of slaves, some of indentured labourers, who now use the very same religious reasons to isolate, discriminate against, and hate an entire section of society. The once oppressed have now become the oppressors of today. The reason given is that homosexuality is unnatural, yet when furnished with evidence that homosexuality is common in the animal kingdom (indeed hundreds of species practice it), it is conveniently ignored. Of all these species, including us, guess which is the only one that practices homophobia?

Christianity, as backed up by the Bible, is also fraught with instances which clearly dictate that men are supposed to be superior to women. Look no further than the Roman Catholic church, a male dominated institution that ex communicates women preachers. If society were to be run by these teachings, women would still be considered property of men, and perhaps not allowed to to work, or even to vote! The legacy of this still lives on today, as women are still not afforded the same rights as are men.

It is interesting to note here as well that for every clinic that has opened up, claiming to “cure gay people” not one has been successful at doing this. For those who would have others “pray the gay away,” the simple fact remains that this does not work.

It is strange that there are many in society who have never spoken to a gay person, never bothered to educate themselves about sexual orientation, never tried to understand it, yet denounce it from the top of their voices, speaking from a place of complete ignorance. They do not see a whole human individual, but rather, all they see is someone who is gay, who deserves to be mocked. Tell me, how is this different from judging a person solely based on the colour of their skin, or the texture of their hair?

To those who vehemently oppose homosexuality, insisting that it is a choice, as though one flips a switch and immediately becomes gay, I say this: no one would choose to be gay, because choosing to be gay would be akin to welcoming discrimination, hate and even violence. If still unconvinced, I challenge all straight people out there to choose to be gay for a day; choose for a day to be attracted to persons of the same sex; choose to be discriminated against and to be on the receiving end of hate speech and hate actions. Tell me how it goes. The only choice involved with respect to homosexuality, is the choice to accept oneself.

Many of my gay friends are some of the STRONGEST, NICEST people that I know. Having experienced first hand, discrimination and hate, they go the extra mile to make sure they do not treat others in the same way in which they have been treated. I CANNOT say the same for many religious, self-proclaimed morally upstanding community members, including those who are close to me.

How many times will religion get it wrong? How many times will those who claim to be morally superior, continue to discriminate and hate in the name of an all-loving God? You say that you are absolutely sure that homosexuality is a sin? There was a time when we were absolutely sure that slavery was A-OK, and that women only served one purpose: to serve men. You say that your religion compels you to speak out against homosexuality? Then it should also compel you to love one another unconditionally as well.

If your religion prohibits you from having same sex relations, or marrying someone of the same sex, then don’t do it! But please, keep your religious views to yourself, as religion is something profoundly personal.

Research was done by Caribbean Development Research Services (Cadres). It used a stratified random sample of T&T and analysed data from 1,176 questionnaires from interviews done in October 2013.

A Message to our Leaders

If you are using your position of leadership to segregate instead of to unify, then you are doing it wrong! If you are using your position of power to spread hate instead of spreading love then you should take a step back and reassess why you are a leader in the first place. A government must be prepared to fully understand issues before making up its mind. A government must be prepared to make the tough, and even unpopular decisions.  Let me put that in another way— A government must be prepared to listen with an open mind, listen to the facts, and then govern fairly! The role of the state is to allow equality of treatment for all. Where discrimination exists, it is to be vanquished. The T&T government is not a religious institution that is bound to uphold the writings of any particular religion. There are millions of people around the world who do not subscribe to any religious tradition, yet they know right from wrong, they are perfectly good people who are kind, compassionate and loving.

No one is born a racist, it is a learnt behaviour. Similarly, no one is born a homophobe; homophobia is taught.

It is clear that religion has been wrong many times before. Is it possible that it can be wrong again?

Useful links

1. MSJ: New Government, Old Politics
2. NGOs Respond to bullying in Parliament

NGOs Condemn Youth Minister’s Parliamentary Bullying, Praise National Response, Call on PNM to Discuss Homophobia

Source: NGOs Condemn Youth Minister’s Parliamentary Bullying, Praise National Response, Call on PNM to Discuss Homophobia

To vote or not to vote?

2015-the year of elections: Guyana, Trinidad and Tobago, and Canada. Here in T&T, the big day is September 7 and the country is rife with political tensions, rooted firmly along racial lines with the Kamla Persad-Bissessar led People’s Partnership (PP) capturing the majority of the Indo-Trinidadian support and the Dr. Keith Rowley led People’s National Movement capturing the majority of the Afro-Trinidadian vote. Alas, as the polls go, the undecided voter shall determine who goes into office for the next five years. (At the time of writing, a poll commissioned by Nigel Henry/ Solution by Solution has the PP at 38%, the PNM at 36%, the Independent Liberal Party (ILP) at 1% and the undecided voter at 25%. With a margin of error of +/- 2%, the poll reflects a statistical tie between the PP and the PNM).

Given this information, the pressure is on from both leading parties to capture the undecided voter. Yet, the more the major political parties try to target these voters, the more unsuccessful they seem to be. A recent call from the former president of the senate, Timothy Hamel- Smith urges voters to ‘spoil’ their ballots by ensuring that they make a mark other than an ‘X’ as an act of protest since, for the undecided voter, neither of the prevailing parties seems to be right. (In Trinidad and Tobago, there exists no ‘None of the Above’ option on ballot papers.) The Elections and Boundaries Commission must make a note of all the spoilt or rejected ballots and have this information available to the public. The desired effect is to show voter dissatisfaction with each political party up for election.

This call has been met with various reactions: some of endorsement, some of disdain. The traditional wisdom has always been “If you don’t vote, you have no right to complain or comment on what is going on in the country.” I often heard these words parroted at anyone showing any inclination of not wanting to vote in a general election. I accepted this conventional wisdom as true for a very long time.

The conventional wisdom is WRONG.

In short, those who are undecided are undecided for a reason: they disagree with the policies of each of the major political parties; they think that neither is fit to be the next government. However, as it is, the electoral system does NOT allow for such persons to express this view on Election Day. What is such a person to do? If we defer to the conventional wisdom, such a person would have to bite the bullet and vote for the lesser of two evils. However, if the voter is adamantly opposed to each of the political parties, what is she left to do? Well, abstain, or submit a ballot that will be rejected in the final count.

Einstein defined insanity as “doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.” In the Trinidadian context, history has shown us that with the change in government comes no real positive change in the country’s development. (I recognize that many readers may have an issue with this statement but in my defence, I don’t use material indicators such as infrastructure to measure development. I maintain that if one gives a government unrestricted access to the treasury, then of course that government can build roads, bridges and hospitals! Instead, I judge governments on what they do to unite our people, how they tackle crime, how they fight corruption and how they prosecute those caught red handed with their hands in the treasury, to name a few).

How then can we demonize those who choose not to participate in a democracy that is failing them? Short of abstaining from voting as a form of protest, the next best option is indeed to spoil the ballot in protest.

Additionally, such persons who decide to either abstain from voting or to nullify their ballots are therefore in a position to criticize more effectively the prevailing system of government than someone who has participated in the flawed system. After all, such a person has long recognized that neither party brings any real change.

I am curious to hear your opinion on this topic as I do recognize that it is controversial.

Feel free to comment below.

My First Research Paper Presentation

In this short video, I present my findings after conducting research into Canada’s Seasonal Agricultural Workers Program. I argue that the dignity of workers is violated because of the treatment that they receive and the conditions under which they are employed, as they are seen primarily as economic commodities.

Kim Kardashian, Consumerism and Colonialism

In this two-part episode, I talk a little bit about Kim Kardashian’s photos from papermag.com, beauty and self-esteem, and then proceed to link it to our consumer culture and colonialism.

PART 1:

PART 2:

A good article to read- “Growing up ‘too black’ in Trinidad”

 

The Highway, Hunger Strike and Wayne Kublalsingh

A hotly debated issue in Trinidad and Tobago right now is the extension of the Sir Solomon Hochoy Highway, particularly part of the route that goes from Debe to Mon Desir. In this clip, I share some of my thoughts about the issue and some possible traffic solutions. (I was sick while filming this video so please forgive my constant throat-clearing)

Thanks to the blog ‘Bad drive’ for your posts. They have been informative (especially the statistic about car ownership in T&T).

How cheap is gas in Trinidad, really?

An interesting article. I would recommend following this blog!

Bad Drive — news on transportation, traffic, and transit in Trinidad and Tobago.

In Monday’s Trinidad Guardian, Marc De Verteuil of the environmental advocacy group Papa Bois Conservation penned a column that took a strong stance against national gas subsidies. (Or, depending on your viewpoint, a totally misguided stance.)

From the Guardian:

Government spends about $6 billion on motor-vehicle mobility in the form of fuel subsidies. This makes it a bigger de-facto priority for the government than education, health or national security. Money well spent, or money wasted?

Let’s have a look at what the subsidy was supposed to achieve. It has a long history, being introduced in the 1970s as the Petroleum Levy and Subsidy Act. It was introduced to protect consumers from sharp price increases, and as a way to distribute oil wealth to the citizenry. It has been very successful at insulating consumers from price increases. T&T can boast of having some of the cheapest fuel in the world. 

But…

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The West and the Rest

 

Let’s talk Human Rights

The top 20 spots on the International Human Rights Rank Indicator go to the usual suspects: Sweden, Canada, Finland, the United States, Norway, New Zealand etc. Coming in 50th is China, India at 124 , Thailand at 176 and the Philippines at 199. The list considers 21 different human rights and ranks each country according to how well it scores in each of the 21. However, the list does not consider one country’s/ group of countries’ influence on other countries to maintain, improve or worsen their human rights practices.

However, before I go on, I want to talk a little bit about slavery. As long as our history goes back, we have witnessed the use of slaves by people who needed free labour, sex and other services. Throughout the years, from the Israelites in Egypt, to the Africans in the Atlantic Trade, slaves have been a key part in the building up of empires. These slaves always filled a need that existed for example, labour. In today’s society, slavery is far from over and many people in different parts of the world today wake up in the morning knowing that they have to work 12-16 hour shifts in an unsafe environment, only to be paid pittance (if they are even paid at all).

When we use the word ‘slave,’ we immediately conjure up images of men and women labouring out in a field under the blazing sun, under the supervision of some master with a whip. Slavery takes many different forms and is often times very well hidden for the public, which makes it very difficult to investigate. Here are some useful definitions of slavery using international conventions:

• The Slavery Convention (1926) says that “slavery is the status or condition of a person over whom any or all of the powers attaching to the right of ownership are exercised.”
• International Labour Organization (ILO) Forced Labour Convention (No. 29),  from 1930 defines forced labour as “All work or service that is exacted from any person under the menace of any penalty for which the said person has not offered himself voluntarily.”
• Universal Declaration of Human Rights, 1948, says:  “No one shall be held in slavery or servitude; slavery and the slave trade shall be prohibited in all their forms.”
• Supplementary Convention on the Abolition of Slavery, The Slave Trade, and Institutions and Practices Similar to Slavery, 1956, lists modern forms of slavery: “Debt bondage, serfdom, forced marriage and the delivery of a child for the exploitation of that child are all slavery like practices and require criminalisation and abolishment.”

Mmm, chocolate!

The chocolate industry is a multi-billion dollar industry, yet it has been built up on what can be legally called ‘slavery.’ (One billion dollars is 1000 millions. Just think about how much money that is). The cocoa bean is used to make chocolate. These beans come from places in Africa like Cote d’Ivoire. I recently saw a video of a cocoa bean farmer who didn’t even know what chocolate was. All he did was harvest the beans with his worker and sell it so that he could take care of his family and his workers. He is one of the lucky ones. He makes 7 euros a day. This money goes into taking care of his family and workers. I say that he is lucky because at least he is paid, unlike many children who work in the chocolate industry as well as in many other industries while not receiving any pay. When watching the video, I was shocked to learn that something that is as common as chocolate was unheard of by the farmer. He never gets a chance to consume the very fruit of his labour. The pittance that he is paid is a needle in the haystack compared to what he would be paid if her were working for minimum wage in a country such as Canada. Picture for a moment that you live in Toronto, and you go to work for more than 8 hours and you are paid a total of CAD $10.21 (which is 7 Euros). That is not even the minimum wage for one hour’s worth of worth.

 Our Thirst for Cheap Goods

We have all heard about the sweatshops in Bangladesh and India etc. that utilize child labour. For companies to make a profit, manufacturing is done in countries that can provide cheap labour, i.e. countries which violate human rights, forcing workers to work long hours in unsafe conditions without adequate pay etc. Legally, these companies may occupy firm ground as they may claim ignorance, but ethically, they are in sinking sand. (On a side note, many companies have begun auditing ‘sweatshops’ to make sure that they comply with human rights conventions, however sweatshop owners seemed to have worked out a way to cheat this audit for example, by getting rid of children on the day that the audit takes place or by having two sets of books.)  The nature of the international system in which we live glorifies economic achievement  and encourages it by using almost any means necessary. Cutting corners, using cheap labour or even forced labour are all ways in which cheap products are brought to us.

Each time I read about child labour or other forms of forced labour, I immediately think about the failure of our international system and the hypocrisy of us in the West. We strive to live with a minimum level of dignity and we give ourselves a nice pat on the back whenever we think about how far we’ve come with respect to health and safety, human rights etc. However, we continue to benefit from cheap products that are made from blood, sweat and tears in the most unethical of ways. Every article that I have read about human rights violations in the creation of goods talks about goods being made for export to Western markets. The world is literally divided into the West and the Rest (please excuse my re-purposing of Samuel Huntington’s famous phrase).

The Profit Motive

Remember those black and white videos that were shown in the United States during the Cold War (that dealt with lovely topics such as ‘Tuck and Roll’ and ‘Communism vs Capitalism’? Maybe you, like myself, weren’t even born yet. However, I have seen quite a few of them while conducting research for a NATO course which I took last year.) The phrase ‘the profit motive’ kept coming up time and time again. Simply put, it is a business’ job at the end of the day to turn a profit. This is the hallmark of Capitalism: growth and maximization of profit. This way of thinking, that is, by putting money above all else, causes us to think in terms of dollar signs only. We begin to assign a dollar value to everyone and to everything. For example, moving manufacturing to a country with lax human rights laws = more profit. We do not see the risk posed to the lives of these people, their misery etc. but rather, we first see profit. I argue strongly against this way of thinking. In this way, humans become superfluous, just another tool used to make profit.

Human rights, though meant to be universal, are far from it. It does matter a great deal where one is born in the world. It could mean the difference between going to school as a child or being forced to work or join an armed militia.

The truth is this: As sad as this issue of human rights is, the fact remains that the west needs slave labour. I cannot emphasize enough how flawed our system is. If each of the countries which violates human rights in its labour practices suddenly decides to pass strict labour and child laws, and then decides to strictly enforce them, our beloved market system would be thrown into havoc. However, if we truly value fellow humans more than we value objects, and as equally as we value ourselves, then this is what needs to happen. I recognize that I am also a hypocrite in making a call like this because I do like purchasing cheap goods (as I am a broke university student) but this needs to happen if we are truly committed to the notion of human rights.

I think that the time for re-examination is now. Does it make sense that a company must only be beneficial to it’s CEOs and shareholders when there are thousands of people working hard and actually putting in the effort to manufacture whatever product is being sold? Does that make sense? Or is it just greed on the part of a few that justify the necessity of cheap labour? Let’s think about that.

 Useful Links

 Amnesty International

International Human Rights Rank Indicator

What is Modern Slavery?

Child Labour and Slavery in the Chocolate Industry