Understanding American peonage slavery is important because it helps us to see Congo slavery as part of the long history of bondage. The close link between conflict, prejudice, and slavery unites the two stories.
It is important to learn about history as to not repeat it. We MUST do better to help everyone going forward, and do our best to educate ourselves as to not fall into the paths of horrible decades ago.
Black markets also need some stability, and with territories carved up and guns pointing at workers instead of other armed gangs, the lean and hungry men begin to grow fat themselves. Step four builds on this new stability that serves only the criminals. Secure in their power, the thugs ramp up production, finding new sources of raw materials and new pools of labor to exploit. Thus the curse has reached its full power. In that lawless, impoverished, unstable, remote region, slavery and environmental destruction flourish.
Nothing will stop those who crave power. They will do anything to get what they want, even if that means becoming someone they aren't. The greed of some lead to the impoverished and slavery of others.
Especially in countries where corruption is rife, slavers act with impunity after environmental devastation, luring and capturing the refugees, the destitute, and the dispossessed. This has happened in countries like Mali, where sand dunes drift right over villages, forcing the inhabitants to flee in desperation, seeking new livelihoods, only to find themselves enslaved.
This is often very horribly true, as those in the top tier hierarchy never look down to see who they are stepping on, only up to see what they haven't conquered yet.
at an incredible human cost.
This shows just how little producers truly care for their own actions. Though they might think they're only hurting others and not themselves, they are wrong. If they keep hurting others and the earth, they will no longer have anything or anyone to sell to.
Henry Ford was making cars by the million, bicycles were pouring out of factories, freight was moving in gasoline-powered trucks, and they all ran on rubber. The Congo had more natural rubber than anywhere else. To meet this demand King Leopold II of Belgium, in one of the greatest scams in history, tricked local tribes into signing away their lands and lives in bogus treaties that none of them could read. He sold these “concessions” to speculators who used torture and murder to drive whole communities into the jungle to harvest rubber.
It seems as though this form of manipulation into slavery for producers is a repeat of history, and has been benefiting from it for decades.
No electricity or running water, no paving on the roads, and good luck if you needed a doctor, but incredibly I had a signal. “This is why I am here,” I thought, “I can’t live without my phone, and people here are dying because of it.”
This is the harsh reality of the situation. Even though there are no basic necessities in sight, all that is left is the phone reception- showing exactly what the priorities are for the producers. Truly sad and sickening.
Especially in countries where corruption is rife, slavers act with impunity after environmental devastation, luring and capturing the refugees, the destitute, and the dispossessed. This has happened in countries like Mali, where sand dunes drift right over villages, forcing the inhabitants to flee in desperation, seeking new livelihoods, only to find themselves enslaved.
This is heartbreaking. Those who find themselves in already devastating situations who are merely trying to find a new home after having to flee their own, then find themselves enslaved and trapped. This is beyond horrifying and heartbreaking to know this is real and probably still happening till this day.
The profits generated when we go shopping flow back down the chain and fuel more assaults on the natural world, drive more people toward enslavement, and feed more goods into the global supply chain.
Just like in the Phone Story game, we see how by buying more of these phones, it further incentivizes producers to keep the horrible cycle of slavery going.
But all this normally happens far from any prying eyes. It’s a hidden world that keeps its secrets.
This is a common producer tactic- if producers can keep consumers in the dark and ignorant, they often times have higher sales and get away with a lot more in today's world, unfortunately.