Slavery

Slavery

Question # 1 What is slavery?

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.

Sources International agreement in the League of Nations Slavery Convention of 25 September 1926. http://www.yale.edu/glc/queens/abstracts/allain.pdf http://www.ohchr.org/Documents/Publications/slaveryen.pdf, p. 4. http://www.lawvideolibrary.com/docs/Definition%20of%20Slavery.pdf

Slavery is the state of being under the control of another person.

Sources http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/slavery http://wordnetweb.princeton.edu/perl/webwn?s=slavery

Question # 2 How was slave trade organized?

The slave trade was not controlled by any state or government. It was organized and financed by the free market according to supply and demand. Slave trading companies sold shares on the Amsterdam, London and Paris stock exchanges. Investors in the slave trading companies were middle-class Europeans, who lived far from the plantations.

Slave trading companies bought slaves in Africa, sailed to America and sold slaves to plantation owners. For the money, they bought plantation products such as sugar, cocoa, coffee, tobacco, cotton and rum which they sold in Europe. https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2407692503 Page 331.

For a plantation owner in America, it was wiser to invest in slaves from Africa than in slaves from Europe or Asia. Why? Over generations, Africans had acquired partial genetic immunity to diseases such as malaria and yellow fever.

Paradoxically, this genetic superiority - in terms of immunity translated into social inferiority. Even though slaves were freed, racist myths that justified slavery persisted. Separation of races was maintained by racist legislation and social custom. https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2407692503 Pages 140-141.

African slave trade was banned in 1857.

Source http://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/religions/islam/history/slavery_1.shtml#section_8

Question # 3 What does it cost to free all slaves?

Today, there are about 27 million slaves in the world

Sources http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HUM2rCIUdeI http://bigthink.com/ideas/24524 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HUM2rCIUdeI http://whatmatters.mckinseydigital.com/social_entrepreneurs/teaching-the-world-to-change

Source Kevin Bales: How to combat modern slavery http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HUM2rCIUdeI