Modern Slavery

[Paddy]

There’s a lot of talk on here about the sins of modern capitalism, but one of the worst sins of today’s economic systems is the persistence of modern slavery.

An estimated 50 million people were living in situations of modern slavery on any given day in 2021, according to the latest Global Estimates of Modern Slavery. Of these people, approximately 27.6 million were in forced labour and 22 million were in forced marriages.

The most vulnerable — women, children, and migrants — remain disproportionately affected. More than 12 million of all people in modern slavery are children, and women and girls account for over half of them (54 per cent). Migrant workers were three times more likely to be in forced labour than non-migrant workers.

…

The ten countries with the highest prevalence of modern slavery [as of 2021]:

1 North Korea
2 Eritrea
3 Mauritania
4 Saudi Arabia
5 Türkiye
6 Tajikistan
7 United Arab Emirates
8 Russia
9 Afghanistan
10 Kuwait

…

The 10 countries with the largest estimated numbers of people in modern slavery include some of the world’s most populous. Collectively, these countries — India (11 million), China (5.8 million), North Korea (2.7 million), Pakistan (2.3 million), Russia (1.9 million), Indonesia (1.8 million), Nigeria (1.6 million), Türkiye (1.3 million), Bangladesh (1.2 million), and the United States (1.1 million) — account for nearly two in every three people living in modern slavery and over half the world’s population.

Although that report details some positive progress in some places, overall the picture had got worse worldwide between 2016 and 2021.  The way the world is going, I wouldn’t be at all surprised if it’s worse again with the next report, especially with all the new vulnerable refugees from Ukraine, Palestine, Lebanon, Sudan etc.

Not sure if Trump’s election means anything for all this. Hardly the kind of thing he’d be concerned about, anyway.

[Neven]

How do you define slave? Is someone who lives in a kind of Matrix, but unaware of that Matrix, a slave? Is someone doing a BS job all of their life a slave? Are people living in cities slaves?

[Paddy]

Here’s the definition used in that report for you:

In the context of this report, modern slavery covers a set of specific legal concepts including forced labour, debt bondage, forced marriage, other slavery and slavery-like practices, and human trafficking.

Although modern slavery is not defined in law, it is used as an umbrella term that focuses attention on commonalities across these legal concepts. Essentially, it refers to situations of exploitation that a person cannot refuse or leave because of threats, violence, coercion, deception, and/or abuse of power.  For example, their identity documents might be taken away if they are in a foreign country, they may experience threats or actual violence, or their family might be threatened. 

Countries use varying terminology to describe modern slavery, including the term slavery itself, as well as other concepts such as human trafficking, forced labour, debt bondage, forced or servile marriage, and the sale or exploitation of children. These terms are defined in various international agreements and treaties, which many countries have voluntarily signed onto and ratified into law. The following are the key definitions most governments have agreed to, thereby committing to prohibit through their national laws and policies: 

Human trafficking 

Human trafficking is defined in the UN Trafficking in Persons Protocol as involving three steps. 

Recruitment, transportation, transfer, harbouring, or receipt of persons; 
by means of threat or use of force or other forms of coercion, of abduction, of fraud, of deception, of the abuse of power or of a position of vulnerability or of the giving or receiving of payments or benefits to achieve the consent of a person having control over another person; 
with the intent of exploiting that person through: prostitution of others, sexual exploitation, forced labour, slavery (or similar practices), servitude, and removal of organs. 
The recruitment, transportation, transfer, harbouring, or receipt of a child for the purpose of exploitation shall be considered “trafficking in persons” even if this does not involve threat, use of force, or coercion.

Forced labour 

Forced labour is defined in the International Labour Organization Forced Labour Convention, 1930 (No.29) as “all work or service which is exacted from any person under the menace of any penalty and for which the said person has not offered himself voluntarily.”  The ILO conventions C29 and C105 list precise exceptions under which labour can be imposed by state authorities.

State-imposed forced labour

State-imposed forced labour refers to forced labour imposed by state authorities, including involuntary labour exacted by government officials, as means of:

political coercion, education, or as a punishment for expressing political views;
punishment for participating in non-violent strikes;
mobilising labour for the purpose of economic development;
enforcing labour discipline; or
discrimination based on race, social status, nationality, or religion.
While some circumstances may justify a state's ability to impose compulsory work on citizens for specific tasks — for example, to perform civic or military obligations or to enforce penal sanctions — the scope of this ability is limited by conditions set in international conventions such as ILO Forced Labour Convention, 1930 (No. 29) and ILO Abolition of Forced Labour Convention, 1957 (No. 105). Imposing compulsory labour outside of these limitations may result in an activity being regarded as state-imposed forced labour.

Forced commercial sexual exploitation

Forced commercial sexual exploitation refers to forced labour imposed by private agents for commercial sexual exploitation and all forms of commercial sexual exploitation of children, including the use, procuring, or offering of children for the production of child sexual abuse material.

Slavery and slavery-like practices 

Slavery is defined in the 1956 Slavery Convention as the status or condition of a person over whom any or all of the powers attaching to the right of ownership are exercised. In a later treaty, states agreed that there are also certain “slavery-like practices”: debt bondage, forced or servile marriage, sale or exploitation of children (including in armed conflict), and descent-based slavery. 

Debt bondage 

Debt bondage is a status or condition where one person has pledged their labour or service (or that of someone under their control) in circumstances where the fair value of that labour or service is not reasonably applied to reducing the debt or length of debt, or the length and nature of the service is not limited or defined. 

Forced or servile marriage 

The following are defined as practices “similar to slavery” in the 1956 Slavery Convention. Any institution or practice whereby: 

a woman, without the right to refuse, is promised or given in marriage on payment of a consideration in money or in kind to her parents, guardian, family or any other person or group;
the husband of a woman, his family, or his clan, has the right to transfer her to another person for value received or otherwise; or
a woman who, on the death of her husband, is liable to be inherited by another person. 
Child marriages, as a form of forced marriages, also fall within the definition of practices “similar to slavery” pursuant to the 1956 Slavery Convention. Child marriages refer to any marriage or union where at least one party is under the age of 18. These marriages are considered to be a form of forced marriage as at least one spouse cannot express full, free, and informed consent, pursuant to a joint general declaration published in 2019 by the UN's Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women and the Committee on the Rights of the Child. Despite these, in many countries, children aged 16 and 17 are able to marry in exceptional circumstances provided they have judicial and/or parental consent.

Worst forms of child labour 

Drawing on the ILO Worst Forms of Child Labour Convention, 1999 (No. 182), the term “worst forms of child labour” for the purpose of these estimates is comprised of: 

all forms of slavery or practices similar to slavery, such as the sale and trafficking of children, debt bondage and serfdom and forced or compulsory labour, including forced or compulsory recruitment of children for use in armed conflict; 
the use, procuring or offering of a child for prostitution, for the production of pornography, or for pornographic performances;
the use, procuring or offering of a child for illicit activities, in particular for the production and trafficking of drugs as defined in the relevant international treaties.

As for your various questions
- Awareness of the world around us is a complex and continuous spectrum, not a “we can see and they are blind” phenomenon. It’s too easy to fall into the cognitive trap of believing yourself too clever if you assume other people are stupid.
- What defines a BS job? All jobs come with some degree of BS.
- People living in cities get access to a lot of amenities and social support that those in rural environments cannot access as easily. The world abounds with examples of people either thriving or being thoroughly exploited and victimised in both environments.

[John_the_Younger]

About 20 years ago I read an article about slavery and semi-slavery in Ivory Coast (West Africa) cocoa bean production.  People voluntarily enter (or are tricked into) no-pay (or functionally no-pay) employment so that they won't stave to death; coercion keeps some people there.  True for some farmers, garment manufacturers, sex workers, housekeepers and spouses around the world.  The Wikipedia article on slavery has a section on Forced Labor "(frequently referred to as 'modern slavery')".  The 13th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution abolished slavery and involuntary servitude, except as punishment for a crime.  Some claim, therefore, that the U.S. hasn't, actually, abolished slavery.

Life is tough in many places, and the rich like to get richer...

[Rodius]

The entire working class is in a form of slavery.

We are given easy access to debt that binds us to the job which is far paid less than it produces while we are increasingly being forced into rental accommodation that is inherently unstable and only avoidable at the whims of the owner.

The owner class continually attempts to make it easier to pay less or fire anyone who doesn't abide by the owner class rules which are always to the owner class advantage. Any attempt to improve the conditions of the working class is met with threats and intimidation that is not policed well or severely underfunded because the owner class wants it that way.

There is no opt out option. We might think we are free, but freedom is the ability to opt out of a system. We cant leave our own country without the permission of the owner class, we cant decide to live in a forest unless we are allowed to, we cant decide to own our own land without oversight of the owner class.

If we are going to discuss slavery, we need to include the super massive situation of the working class people in every country because the working class is slavery with a velvet glove and hardly anyone understands that they are slaves.

This is modern slavery on a grand scale.

And while the old version of slavery still exists and it truly terrible, it is very rare in percentage terms and while the actual number is high and needs to be reduced to zero, it is historically low. Yes, do something about it, but if we are to have a serious discuss of modern slavery, we need to define it in a modern way as well.

[The Walrus]

Must be terrible where you live.  Fortunately, we have much more freedom here, with the ability to move from job to job, negotiating pay and benefits.  Sometimes, the “owner” has the upper hand, other times the “worker” does.  That is the beauty (or pain) of capitalism, and a major advantage over other economic systems.

[Rodius]

Must be terrible where you live.  Fortunately, we have much more freedom here, with the ability to move from job to job, negotiating pay and benefits.  Sometimes, the “owner” has the upper hand, other times the “worker” does.  That is the beauty (or pain) of capitalism, and a major advantage over other economic systems.

I didn't say the conditions were terrible, I said we were enslaved by them.

And you have as much "freedom" in the US as anywhere else in the world. The US isn't hardly the only country to share the same freedoms you have.

The point is the freedom is an illusion.
If you cant opt out, you are enslaved.

The only thing capitalism has done is improve the lot of the enslaved, which is better but far from ideal. The rick get richer, the poor remain poor even when the standard has risen. But be aware, freedom is an illusion designed to keep us passive.

And a passive masses leads to terrible leadership that make it worse and worse for the masses.

All you are is the converted and a believer of the illusion. You are part of the system that enslaves you and empowers those who have the power to not only keep it, but add to it.

[Paddy]

People get exploited and social inequalities are huge all over the world, certainly. Although to widely varying extents, and you’d expect the quality of life for people on the bottom third of incomes in countries that rank in the ten on indexes like the IHDI will be very different to the quality of life on the bottom twenty (hence a lot of international migration). 

However, the kind of treatment covered in this report is really at the extreme end.

[johnm33]

Inside a city or perhaps within it's 'watershed' individual prosperity depends on the polity and it's fair enough that it can raise taxes as it deems necessary. In a country there should be a different perspective, taxing only those transactions and priviliges which are dependent on state law and lawfullness. If you have nowhere within a polity where you can escape the burdens of such levies then you are the property of that state, an unatural state that almost no-one consented to. The state may extend and divide the privilige of your ownership to any number of it's willing servants and this may look like freedom, but since you can never sever it's parasitic umbillical cord how free can you be. My understanding is that even when US citizens leave the country they are still subect to taxation, I can't think of a more certain indication of ownership.

[Paddy]

Inside a city or perhaps within it's 'watershed' individual prosperity depends on the polity and it's fair enough that it can raise taxes as it deems necessary. In a country there should be a different perspective, taxing only those transactions and priviliges which are dependent on state law and lawfullness. If you have nowhere within a polity where you can escape the burdens of such levies then you are the property of that state, an unatural state that almost no-one consented to. The state may extend and divide the privilige of your ownership to any number of it's willing servants and this may look like freedom, but since you can never sever it's parasitic umbillical cord how free can you be. My understanding is that even when US citizens leave the country they are still subect to taxation, I can't think of a more certain indication of ownership.

Part of the problem that you get with larger countries, especially as you get further from their centre of power, is precisely this - being ruled by and paying taxes to a very distant and typically disconnected authority. Still not exactly similar to the kinds of treatment that people get when they are trafficked and kept in debt bondage etc.

[Neven]

Determining what exactly is slavery isn't easy, because we basically don't know what the purpose of life is, or what constitutes a 'good' life. One could argue that nature or the environment is turned into a slave, so that men can live in (material) freedom.

But leaving that aside, let's say that the definition in that report is more or less correct, what does this then mean? Does this mean that efforts should be made to eradicate modern slavery everywhere, not just in the part of the world where the report was written? Wouldn't such a seemingly valiant and just endeavour be vulnerable to manipulation, in order to achieve less noble goals?

Which, in a sense, brings us back to definition.

[Paddy]

Eradicate this? To do that, you’d have to first eradicate all the many things that leave people vulnerable to it, such as war. Come back when you’ve done that.

Reducing it might be possible, however, if we can move gradually to a more peaceful and stabler world and try and reduce the amount of people in extreme poverty, since both conflict and poverty leave people vulnerable to being trafficked or otherwise exploited.

[El Cid]

I think wikipedia' definition is pretty much accepted:

"Slavery is the ownership of a person as property, especially in regards to their labour. Slavery typically involves compulsory work, with the slave's location of work and residence dictated by the party that holds them in bondage. "

And no Neven, you and most Westerners are most definitely NOT slaves. And yes, there is still slavery in many (mostly less developed countries). And it's quite a shame - considering their terrible plight -  to call yourself a slave.

[zenith]

There’s a lot of talk on here about the sins of modern capitalism, but one of the worst sins of today’s economic systems is the persistence of modern slavery.

capitalism and slavery get along quite well, your smart phone is the product of slave labour and sweat shops. adam smith would be appalled at what capitalism has become, just as the founding fathers of the us republic wouldn't recognize the place as it's an empire.

the irony of using amazon as the source is not lost on me.

Bullshit Jobs: A Theory Hardcover – May 15 2018
https://www.amazon.ca/Bullshit-Jobs-Theory-David-Graeber/dp/150114331X

"From bestselling writer David Graeber, a powerful argument against the rise of meaningless, unfulfilling jobs, and their consequences.

Does your job make a meaningful contribution to the world? In the spring of 2013, David Graeber asked this question in a playful, provocative essay titled “On the Phenomenon of Bullshit Jobs.” It went viral. After a million online views in seventeen different languages, people all over the world are still debating the answer.

There are millions of people—HR consultants, communication coordinators, telemarketing researchers, corporate lawyers—whose jobs are useless, and, tragically, they know it. These people are caught in bullshit jobs.

Graeber explores one of society’s most vexing and deeply felt concerns, indicting among other villains a particular strain of finance capitalism that betrays ideals shared by thinkers ranging from Keynes to Lincoln. Bullshit Jobs gives individuals, corporations, and societies permission to undergo a shift in values, placing creative and caring work at the center of our culture. This book is for everyone who wants to turn their vocation back into an avocation."

[johnm33]

Part of the problem that you get with larger countries, especially as you get further from their centre of power, is precisely this - being ruled by and paying taxes to a very distant and typically disconnected authority. Still not exactly similar to the kinds of treatment that people get when they are trafficked and kept in debt bondage etc.

I agree but find it far more insidious that the 'remote authority' continues to borrow against it's power to hold it's citizens freedom and their property in jeopardy for non compliance to it's demands. Since there is no way to avoid this it's clear there is no individual soveriegnty. IF instead of serving the 'rods'/oligarch dynasties of the fasces which orders society the state faclitated the lives of it's citizens then perhaps one could consider that as a voluntary submission to servitude but with no manumission possible it must still be considered as a form of slavery. When what the state actually does is to create and facilitate a never ending series of compulsory 'tollbooths' and gifts monopolies to it's fasces 'rods' as effortless profit centers and there is no volunteering in or out. Like boiling frogs the fact of growing up into and used to this does not make it freedom it is merely a steady immoral crawl into a regulated insect colony style of living not really suited to primates where everyone is enslaved by the processes of society.

[zenith]

Agricola
by Cornelius Tacitus (A.D. 98)
https://www.ourcivilisation.com/smartboard/shop/tacitusc/agricola/chap1.htm

"30. 'Whenever I consider why we are fighting and how we have reached this crisis, I have a strong sense that this day of your splendid rally may mean the dawn of liberty for the whole of Britain. You have mustered to a man, and to a man you are free. There are no lands behind us, and even the sea is menaced by the Roman fleet. The clash of battle —the hero's glory —has become the safest refuge for the coward. Battles against Rome have been lost and won before —but never without hope; we were always there in reserve. We, the choice flower of Britain, were treasured in her most secret places. Out of sight of subject shores, we kept even our eyes free from the defilement of tyranny. We, the last men on earth, the last of the free, have been shielded till today by the very remoteness and the seclusion for which we are famed. We have enjoyed the impressiveness of the unknown. But today the boundary of Britain is exposed; beyond us lies no nation, nothing but waves and rocks and the Romans, more deadly still than they, for you find in them an arrogance which no reasonable submission can elude. Brigands of the world, they have exhausted the land by their indiscriminate plunder, and now they ransack the sea. The wealth of an enemy excites their cupidity, his poverty their lust of power. East and West have failed to glut their maw. They are unique in being as violently tempted to attack the poor as the wealthy. Robbery, butchery, rapine, the liars call Empire; they create a desolation and call it peace.

31.(The Slavery Of Britain) 'We instinctively love our children and our kinsmen above all else. These are torn from us by conscription to slave in other lands. Our wives and sisters, even if they are not raped by Roman enemies, are seduced by them in the guise of guests and friends. Our goods and fortunes are ground down to pay tribute, our land and its harvest to supply corn, our bodies and hands to build roads through woods and swamps —all under blows and insults. Slaves, born into slavery, once sold, get their keep from their masters. But as for Britain, never a day passes but she pays and feeds her enslavers. In a private household it is the latest arrival who is always the butt of his fellow slaves; so, in this establishment, where all the world have long been slaves, it is we, the cheap new acquisitions, who are picked out for extirpation. You see, we have no fertile lands, no mines, no harbours, which we might be spared to work. Courage and martial spirit we have, but 'the master does not relish them in the subject. Even our remoteness and seclusion, while they protect, expose us to suspicion. Abandon, then, all hope of mercy and at last take courage, whether it is life or honour that you hold most dear. The Brigantes, with only a woman to lead them, burned the colony, stormed the camp and, if success had not made them grossly careless, might have cast off the yoke. Let us, then, uncorrupted, unconquered as we are, ready to fight for freedom but never to repent failure, prove at the first clash of arms what heroes Caledonia has been holding in reserve."

[Paddy]

Part of the problem that you get with larger countries, especially as you get further from their centre of power, is precisely this - being ruled by and paying taxes to a very distant and typically disconnected authority. Still not exactly similar to the kinds of treatment that people get when they are trafficked and kept in debt bondage etc.

I agree but find it far more insidious that the 'remote authority' continues to borrow against it's power to hold it's citizens freedom and their property in jeopardy for non compliance to it's demands. Since there is no way to avoid this it's clear there is no individual soveriegnty. IF instead of serving the 'rods'/oligarch dynasties of the fasces which orders society the state faclitated the lives of it's citizens then perhaps one could consider that as a voluntary submission to servitude but with no manumission possible it must still be considered as a form of slavery. When what the state actually does is to create and facilitate a never ending series of compulsory 'tollbooths' and gifts monopolies to it's fasces 'rods' as effortless profit centers and there is no volunteering in or out. Like boiling frogs the fact of growing up into and used to this does not make it freedom it is merely a steady immoral crawl into a regulated insect colony style of living not really suited to primates where everyone is enslaved by the processes of society.

Are you by any chance a libertarian in your politics?

Anyhow, although we are getting thoroughly off topic, it’s worth noting that insofar as freedom is measurable, the extent of it varies widely from country to country (I’m not sure I totally agree with this index myself - there should be some degree of negative scoring for countries that demand national service; as this would seem antithetical to freedom, even when it may be necessary for national security).

[Neven]

I listened to a speech by German politician Sahra Wagenknecht yesterday and she said something that I thought could also be an argument pertaining to this discussion:

Not only can countries decide to try to end (modern) slavery in other countries - regardless of whether that is their true motive -, but they can also increase it. Wagenknecht mentioned the sanctions against Syria and the waves of migration it causes, and this reminded me of the slave markets in Libya, a direct consequence of western meddling and the subsequent NATO military operation.

I wonder how much of modern slavery has to do with the barbarism of foreign countries, and how much is related to the upkeep of western hegemony and our consumerist lifestyle.

[Rodius]

Part of the problem that you get with larger countries, especially as you get further from their centre of power, is precisely this - being ruled by and paying taxes to a very distant and typically disconnected authority. Still not exactly similar to the kinds of treatment that people get when they are trafficked and kept in debt bondage etc.

I agree but find it far more insidious that the 'remote authority' continues to borrow against it's power to hold it's citizens freedom and their property in jeopardy for non compliance to it's demands. Since there is no way to avoid this it's clear there is no individual soveriegnty. IF instead of serving the 'rods'/oligarch dynasties of the fasces which orders society the state faclitated the lives of it's citizens then perhaps one could consider that as a voluntary submission to servitude but with no manumission possible it must still be considered as a form of slavery. When what the state actually does is to create and facilitate a never ending series of compulsory 'tollbooths' and gifts monopolies to it's fasces 'rods' as effortless profit centers and there is no volunteering in or out. Like boiling frogs the fact of growing up into and used to this does not make it freedom it is merely a steady immoral crawl into a regulated insect colony style of living not really suited to primates where everyone is enslaved by the processes of society.

Are you by any chance a libertarian in your politics?

Anyhow, although we are getting thoroughly off topic, it’s worth noting that insofar as freedom is measurable, the extent of it varies widely from country to country (I’m not sure I totally agree with this index myself - there should be some degree of negative scoring for countries that demand national service; as this would seem antithetical to freedom, even when it may be necessary for national security).

National Service... I assume you mean military service.
If so, you might find that countries that decide to enter a huge war and cant get enough volunteers will happily set up a draft system and purge the lower classes of their men.

It is bit like asking people if they can help, and if they say no, they are forced to do it. That is what volunteer only military service is really like.

Freedom is an illusion we have bought into. The shackles arent as obvious, the conditions are better, but make no mistake, we are not free.

Slavery in its worst form still happens and needs to be removed but the benefits the first world get are too good.

How about the people in sweat shops who make out cheap clothes?

The people who work the farms as undocumented immigrants who work for bugger all and under threat of removal but provide cheap labor that keeps the price of fruit down?

If this is a discussion about modern slavery, we need to acknowledge that modern slavery doesn't look like the old form of slavery or that it isn't just the extreme worst cases of slavery today.

Modern slavery is the working classes who rent the shelter, cant afford decent food, who have to accept insecure income and if the income is lost they end up on the streets and become outsiders to mock and shame because they lost a job.

But the economy is all that matters.
Listen to how politicians talk about how important the economy is.

I always wonder why we are so willing to accept that people are expendable for economic reasons when it is meant to be the economy that serves the people, not to make us expendable for the good of the economy.

The rich are rich because they milk everyone of their wealth but refuse to contribute to the wellbeing of the people who make them rich.

That is modern slavery... nothing complex about it, easy to understand, and most people believe the illusion is real.

[squilliam]

I listened to a speech by German politician Sahra Wagenknecht yesterday and she said something that I thought could also be an argument pertaining to this discussion:

Not only can countries decide to try to end (modern) slavery in other countries - regardless of whether that is their true motive -, but they can also increase it. Wagenknecht mentioned the sanctions against Syria and the waves of migration it causes, and this reminded me of the slave markets in Libya, a direct consequence of western meddling and the subsequent NATO military operation.

I wonder how much of modern slavery has to do with the barbarism of foreign countries, and how much is related to the upkeep of western hegemony and our consumerist lifestyle.

One of the biggest lies in the world is that the United States of America ended slavery. Chattel slavery was ended, sure, but they still permitted 'criminals' to be enslaved, and their definition of criminal act broadened to include basically existing as an undesirable free man. The only difference is that the slave was bonded to the state rather than to an individual as private property.

[The Walrus]

I think wikipedia' definition is pretty much accepted:

"Slavery is the ownership of a person as property, especially in regards to their labour. Slavery typically involves compulsory work, with the slave's location of work and residence dictated by the party that holds them in bondage. "

And no Neven, you and most Westerners are most definitely NOT slaves. And yes, there is still slavery in many (mostly less developed countries). And it's quite a shame - considering their terrible plight -  to call yourself a slave.

Much better definition than those who claim workers are a form of slavery.  Expanding the term to include all the workers that someone thinks are underpaid only serves to diminish the term.  Slavery is real, and does exist in several places.  Do not try to compare workers in free countries, whose options may be limited, with slaves, who truly have no choice.

[John_the_Younger]

The only difference is that the slave was bonded to the state rather than to an individual as private property.

Not that big a difference, I think:  in the U.S. private companies pay the State to use the slave labor of prisoners.  Pre-1865, skilled (and, undoubtedly, what was called "unskilled") slave labor was rented out, too.

[johnm33]

I think wikipedia' definition is pretty much accepted:

"Slavery is the ownership of a person as property, especially in regards to their labour. Slavery typically involves compulsory work, with the slave's location of work and residence dictated by the party that holds them in bondage. "

And no Neven, you and most Westerners are most definitely NOT slaves. And yes, there is still slavery in many (mostly less developed countries). And it's quite a shame - considering their terrible plight -  to call yourself a slave.

Much better definition than those who claim workers are a form of slavery.  Expanding the term to include all the workers that someone thinks are underpaid only serves to diminish the term.  Slavery is real, and does exist in several places.  Do not try to compare workers in free countries, whose options may be limited, with slaves, who truly have no choice.

Bold above, what this does not mention is that their whole welfare becomes an intrinsic part of the calculus. Malnourished they lose effectiveness and utility, ill clothed and they become prone to opportunist infections, lacking entertainment and the cost of repressing their mischief escalates. Towards the end of Rome when the oligarch families had stitched up every monopoly it led to many citizens, unable to compete, to volunteer as slaves to perceptably kind masters, and for the state to continually extend citizenship 'rights' to fill the ranks of the Legions.

[Rodius]

I think wikipedia' definition is pretty much accepted:

"Slavery is the ownership of a person as property, especially in regards to their labour. Slavery typically involves compulsory work, with the slave's location of work and residence dictated by the party that holds them in bondage. "

And no Neven, you and most Westerners are most definitely NOT slaves. And yes, there is still slavery in many (mostly less developed countries). And it's quite a shame - considering their terrible plight -  to call yourself a slave.

Much better definition than those who claim workers are a form of slavery.  Expanding the term to include all the workers that someone thinks are underpaid only serves to diminish the term.  Slavery is real, and does exist in several places.  Do not try to compare workers in free countries, whose options may be limited, with slaves, who truly have no choice.

Bold above, what this does not mention is that their whole welfare becomes an intrinsic part of the calculus. Malnourished they lose effectiveness and utility, ill clothed and they become prone to opportunist infections, lacking entertainment and the cost of repressing their mischief escalates. Towards the end of Rome when the oligarch families had stitched up every monopoly it led to many citizens, unable to compete, to volunteer as slaves to perceptably kind masters, and for the state to continually extend citizenship 'rights' to fill the ranks of the Legions.

Rome sounds a lot like what is happening today