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Live Talk: Slavery in Our Times

Newsweek Web Exclusive

Hannah Barol, NY: Hasn't this been a problem throughout human history? So -- not to be cynical -- but what should we think we can stop it, now or ever?
Michael Korzinski, PhD and Lucy Kralj, RGN: Yes, slavery has been a problem for as long as history can account. This does not mean that we should roll over in defeat and do nothing to counter this horrific problem. Wilberforce succeeded in the abolition of the slave trade after many generations of more subtle campaigning. We have an obligation to take action and the existence of the slave trade throughout history does not legitimize its perpetuation. All things excellent are difficult as they are rare (Korzinski, 2008)

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Washington, D.C.: Why is it so hard to get convictions of the human traffickers?
Michael Korzinski, PhD and Lucy Kralj, RGN: Traffickers are generally part of highly sophisticated criminal networks operating on national and international levels. Women in captivity have been profoundly traumatized, terrorized, and terrified throughout experiences every bit as sophisticated as those endured by survivors of state sponsored torture. The women are forced into submission with the perennial threat that should they escape or give evidence they or their loved ones will be subjected to retribution or death. The nature of the trauma also has an impact on memory and recall which often renders the gathering of evidence extremely complex and in need of extremely sensitive and expert handling. Furthermore, ,the women live with such acute shame about their experiences that giving testimony can tretraumatise. This is why the care and protection of the women MUST come first, if we are ever to hope to gather evidence required to identify and bring down the criminal networks.

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Des Moines Iowa: i appreciate what emma thompson is trying to do, but how much good, really, are celebrity activists? does she wonder about that?
Michael Korzinski, PhD and Lucy Kralj, RGN: Good point. However, the installation Journey was only made possible through the creativity and collaboration between |Emma and a client of the Helen Bamber Foundation. Elena had exited the trafficking situation and was working as a legal secretary. No one in the office new that she had been trafficked. One day the women in the office were speaking about trafficked women as whores and prostitutes. Elena felt as if she had been raped again. She stood there in silence. What she wanted more than anything was for these women to know for just 5 minutes what the experience of being trafficked was really like. Maybe then she thought they would not be so cruel. The people out there need to know that we are human beings and not animals. Emma was able to translate one woman's story representative of countless others into an experience which speaks to thousands.

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Posted By: Gen_This!!! @ 04/12/2008 3:06:06 PM

Tracing a thread between articles from the past several issues (yes I religiously read all my Newsweeks cover-to-cover) I wanted to raise the question of what any of us can ethically do to eradicate the exploitation of women. Obviously like any other American, I cherish the liberties and rights of every citizen and am outraged to hear about situations like Elena's--which Emma Thompson wrote about last month in the March 17 issue--the increasing number of opium brides in Afghanistan???last week???and the "concerned citizens" of Iraq who are not only essentially extorting the U.S. but also enforcing medieval and discriminatory practices towards women???current. Frankly, I would like to see this sort of abuse stopped permanently. And yet, I inevitably realize that forcing our cultural norms on places such as the Middle East, though seemingly right, are in a sense no less victimizing to those we would be dominating by forcing them to abandon their cultural norms to appease our consciences. My question then is how can we discuss these injustices seriously without inflating ourselves into a neo-imperialist version of 19th-century Britain's "Great White Hunter," and how can we seek justice for the victims of sex slavery (in all its shades of meaning) without caging ourselves in the hypocrisy, racism, nationalism and culturalism of a "White Man's Burden" philosophy?

On some level I suspect that Nietzsche's well worn phrase applies more immediately in situations like this. As we self-righteously glare at the Abyss of culturally inherent abuses, it???s not only staring back. It's practically undressing us with its eyes.
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Posted By: Gen_This!!! @ 04/12/2008 3:05:12 PM

Tracing a thread between articles from the past several issues (yes I religiously read all my Newsweeks cover-to-cover) I wanted to raise the question of what any of us can ethically do to eradicate the exploitation of women. Obviously like any other American, I cherish the liberties and rights of every citizen and am outraged to hear about situations like Elena's--which Emma Thompson wrote about last month in the March 17 issue--the increasing number of opium brides in Afghanistan???last week???and the "concerned citizens" of Iraq who are not only essentially extorting the U.S. but also enforcing medieval and discriminatory practices towards women???current. Frankly, I would like to see this sort of abuse stopped permanently. And yet, I inevitably realize that forcing our cultural norms on places such as the Middle East, though seemingly right, are in a sense no less victimizing to those we would be dominating by forcing them to abandon their cultural norms to appease our consciences. My question then is how can we discuss these injustices seriously without inflating ourselves into a neo-imperialist version of 19th-century Britain's "Great White Hunter," and how can we seek justice for the victims of sex slavery (in all its shades of meaning) without caging ourselves in the hypocrisy, racism, nationalism and culturalism of a "White Man's Burden" philosophy?

On some level I suspect that Nietzsche's well worn phrase applies more immediately in situations like this. As we self-righteously glare at the Abyss of culturally inherent abuses, it???s not only staring back. It's practically undressing us with its eyes.
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Posted By: Gen_This!!! @ 04/12/2008 2:48:14 PM

Tracing a thread between articles from the past several issues (yes I religiously read all my Newsweeks cover-to-cover), I wanted to raise the question of what any of us can ethically do. Obviously like any other American, I cherish the liberties and rights of every citizen and am outraged to hear about situations like Elena's--which Emma Thompson wrote about last month--the increasing number of opium brides and the "concerned citizen" of Iraq who are not only essentially extorting the U.S. but also enforcing medieval and discriminatory practices towards women. Frankly, I would like to see this sort of abuse stopped perminantly. And yet, I inevitably realize that forcing our cultural norms on places such as the Middle East, though seemingly right, are in a sense no less victimizing to those we would be dominating by forcing them to abandon their cultural norms to appease our consciences. My question then, is how can we stop these injustices without inflating ourselves into neo-imperialist versions of 19th-century Britain's "Great White Hunter," and how can we seek justice for the victims of sexist cultures, without caging ourselves in the hypocracy, racism and culturalism of a "White Man's Burden" philosophy?

On some level I suspect that Nietzsche's well worn phrase applies more immediately in times like this because in this case the abyss is not just staring back. It's practically undressing us with its eyes.