Today is Day One of Week One of
the Omer. That is Day One of the Omer. The theme of the Week is Slavery.
As promised, I’m going to write about Slavery this Week. After all, the whole point of Pesach is to
remember that we were slaves. And to
rejoice that we no longer are slaves.
But you may know that there are still many people in the world who are
held in actual, physical slavery.
Remember the 276 Nigerian
schoolgirls who were kidnapped a year ago last week? 57 managed to escape, meaning over 200 of
them are still being held – assuming they’re still alive. Last week on the first anniversary of their
abduction, Boko Haram, the group that took them, released video of 15 of
them. So at least 15 are still
alive. But who knows what happened to
the rest?
Boko Haram. No, it’s not a 1980’s punk band. The name means ‘Western Secular Education is
Forbidden.’ Boko is actually West African for ‘falsehood.’ It is an Islamist terror group, a cousin of ISIS,
operating in West Africa. They took the
schoolgirls, all Christians, as an expression of their contempt for any kind of
education other than Islamic. And,
perhaps, to use as pawns in bargaining for freedom for some of their terror
operatives who have been captured and jailed by the Nigerian government.
But Boko Haram – which is believed
to be forcing at least some of the girls into marriages with their terrorist
captors – is not the only force that is keeping alive the disgusting institution
of slavery in the world.
I have seen it first-hand, in the
Persian Gulf Emirates and Sultanates.
Yes, I’m talking about those ‘western-leaning,’ ‘moderate’ Muslim
countries located on the south shore of the Persian Gulf. Kuwait.
Qatar. The United Arab
Emirates. Employers in these countries
entice poor, low-skill workers in some of the most impoverished countries in
the world – countries like Pakistan, Bangladesh, India, Sri Lanka, the
Philippines – to sign on to work in their wealthy sheikdoms. Then they exploit the hell out of them,
paying them far less than promised, with working and living conditions far more
arduous than promised, for longer terms than promised. They snatch the workers’ passports, holding them
in extended bondage that amounts to virtual slavery. I saw it when I was deployed to the Persian
Gulf to support Operation Iraqi Freedom.
The legions of workers doing the manual labour of various sorts on our
US bases, were provided through contracts with local employers who sent
exploited third-country nationals to work for us. We US military personnel, separated from our
homes and families to bring hope for the future to the people of Iraq, were
forced to close our eyes to the enslavement of Pakistanis, Bangladeshis, and
others to do the housekeeping for us.
When I once enquired as to why we accepted this status quo, I was told
that the workers were paid and treated much better than those working in the
cities of these sheikdoms. That was
little comfort.
I’ll give one more example of present-day
slavery, this in a non-Islamic country so you don’t accuse me of fomenting
Islamophobia. The Red Army of the
People’s Republic of China is considered to be running the world’s largest
string of gulags peopled with slave labour for the producing of the many
cheap products with which China floods the planet. The factories are manned by Chinese who have
been imprisoned for various crimes. The
army takes custody of them and put them to work for slave wages and under
duress in the world’s largest operations of its sort.
My first thought for this time of
counting and preparation then, is that whilst we are no longer slaves to
Pharaoh, many others in the world are slaves to various pharaohs even in our
time. And the truth is that we can
do something about it, to make sure that at least we as individuals are not
supporting it. Actually, we can do somethings.
First, we can avoid flying on the
airlines of these Gulf Emirates and Sheikdoms, and cease stopping over in their
countries when we do, and stop raving about what wonderful Arab Disneyland’s
they are. I get it that it is difficult
to fly to Europe from Australia without passing through these places, but it can
be done. Why would someone want to
support slavery? Fly via Singapore, or
Bangkok instead.
Likewise, we can stop dreaming of
visiting China, and taking a selfie atop the Great Wall, and avoid buying
Chinese products. I know, I know…so much
of what we have on offer, comes from China!
But that’s our fault, every one of us who has bought for price alone
rather than checking the source. And even
though China seems to have a monopoly on certain products, that monopoly is not
absolute. There are usually alternatives
from countries that are not guilty of slavery.
In the same way, we can insist on
Fair Trade coffee, tea, and chocolate among other commodities. We can at least show as much compassion for
exploited workers in the world’s poorest countries, as we do for caged hens and
stalled cattle in our country.
You don’t often hear calls for ‘social
action’ of this sort from me. That’s
just not the usual focus of my teaching.
But if we are truly grateful for our own liberation from slavery, how
can we contribute, even indirectly to someone else’s? Maybe it’s time to truly celebrate our
passage from slavery to freedom by trying harder not to provide, through our
economic choices, support for those places that still enslave
others. Chag sameach!
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