Slavery and human trafficking

Hello all,

I'm wondering if anyone can direct me to some good resources for an Austrian view of how to combat contemporary slavery.

I'm a newbie here and would like some help. I recently joined a book club and the first book is "Ending Slavery" by Kevin Bales. Now, I can't think of a topic more at the core of libertarian philosophy, but from my early readings of this book, it seems like he comes at the problem from a collectivist's perspective.

I live in the San Francisco Bay area so I'd like to be able to offer the other members of the club some solutions that don't involve moral contradictions about self ownership.

Shane:

Hello all,

I'm wondering if anyone can direct me to some good resources for an Austrian view of how to combat contemporary slavery.

I'm a newbie here and would like some help. I recently joined a book club and the first book is "Ending Slavery" by Kevin Bales. Now, I can't think of a topic more at the core of libertarian philosophy, but from my early readings of this book, it seems like he comes at the problem from a collectivist's perspective.

I live in the San Francisco Bay area so I'd like to be able to offer the other members of the club some solutions that don't involve moral contradictions about self ownership.

Eastern Europe and Russia are big in human trafficking. What do they all have in common?
Many African countries are also big in human trafficking. What do they all have in common?
Hint: Look at what type of government they had.

It is said that Western nations exploit the poor of nations such as China and Vietnam. What do China and Vietnam have in common? Why are they poor? Hint: Look at their government. 

Daniel is absolutely right.

I would like to point out that many of us would consider indentured servitude a form of slavery, but Austrians do not. Thinkers like Walter Block state that slavery contracts are completely within the bounds of a libertarian society, so that if one person agreed to be another's slave this would be legitimate. I suppose you can debate the definition of a slave but whatever.

As far as "how do we stop slavery", this is a difficult question. Daniel's suggestion is that if these societies were more classically liberal, they would not have such problems.  I don't know if I consider this a plan. I think its more of an ends than a means.

It is consistent with libertarian ethics to say that since the govs in china/africa/wherever have violated the NAP, they forfeit its protection and can be dealt with violently. So war is legitimate to libertarians as long as it is funded non-coercively and does not violate the rights of innocents. So no carpet bombing! That means you obama...

I don't like to suggest war. I feel like it is uncreative, destructive and expensive. However governments typically don't go down without a fight, especially not dictatorships. So it seems like war is the only answer.

Or maybe i'm just still waking up

One of the unstated rules of war is that you don't assassinate the other side's high command. Something tells me that rule'd go out the window in an anarchy vs state conflict.

BioTube:

One of the unstated rules of war is that you don't assassinate the other side's high command

Why don't you go back to 1776 and be a british general so mel gibson can shoot you and make his career as an american badass

BioTube:

Something tells me that rule'd go out the window in an anarchy vs state conflict.

Killing the leaders is probably preferable from a libertarian standpoint, as they are the biggest initiators of violence.

Thanks for the help guys, you've given me some good starting points.

I was thinking that the concepts of marque and reprisal might be applicable to this.

Instead of asking how to combat slavery, instead you should ask: why is it that people can be kept in slavery? Wouldn't a slave attempt to escape at any opportunity?

Stranger:

Instead of asking how to combat slavery, instead you should ask: why is it that people can be kept in slavery? Wouldn't a slave attempt to escape at any opportunity?

This does raise an interesting point. While governments may be responsible for a lot of slavery and human historically, private firms could concievably participate in this too.

Obviously animals are kept in zoos and on farms... whats to stop this from happening to humans in the absence of a government? Although you could argue that farms are effectively governments to their animals.

Just a thought. I guess it demonstrates that getting rid of government does not stop it from rising agian.

Well what does the book say and what sort of slavery are we talking about specificaly? I am only aware of modern slavery in the context of forced prostitution.

Marko:

Well what does the book say and what sort of slavery are we talking about specificaly? I am only aware of modern slavery in the context of forced prostitution.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slavery#Contemporary_slavery

Now onto fuzzier examples. Being put in jail and working on a gang is obviously slavery. If one is punished for violating an unlibertarian law, this counts as illegitimate slavery. Also, garnishing 50% of our wages is not full blown slavery, but it is certainly a step towards it, especially since we have next to nil control over the USG. Indentured servants are often a point of contention as well, though libertarians typically agree that if both ends of the contract are held up it is legitimate even if it binds one into slavery. Though it contemporary examples of indentured servants, the contract is almost always immediately broken by the "employer".

Forced prostitution is covered in the book. Another example is young Indian boys being forced to work carpet looms. There are also cases of children in Ghana being forced to do dangerous fishing work. Many of the cases are of individual foreigners trafficked into countries where they don't speak the local language and being forced into servant work. There are also instances of plantations or quarries manned by people held in debt bondage.

The book in some places kind of lumps child labor in with slavery, which I don't feel has to be inherently bad.