Five for Freedom

The Power of the Consumer/ As bizarre as it may sound, all of us use products and eat food tainted by slave labor.  It is an inescapable fact--whether it is a shirt whose cotton was harvested by exploited kids in Uzbekistan, tomatoes from the fields of Immokalee, Florida (yes, OUR Florida), or tin used in the circuitry of any number of our electronic devices mined by hand by victimized children in the Congo.  To be clear, we’re not talking about people simply breaking their backs trying to raise their land out of ashes as the ancestors of any developed nation did.  We’re talking about men, women and children being actively oppressed by force, fraud and coercion. Basically, the majority of goods we buy today are subsidized to a certain degree by the slave labor of vulnerable people all around the world.  But in case the suffering of others is not compelling enough, consider the other side of the equation.  Because of globalization, slave labor anywhere is a drag on the labor market as a whole (i.e. lower wages for everyone--my global economics friends feel free to chime in here.) So let’s talk about what we can do about it. Where and what we spend our money on says a lot about who we are and what we stand for.  If you notice, the money graphic I used above has the feel of a waving flag.  Whether we like it or not, our bank statements are like our own little banners of allegiance.  The buck starts and stops with us, the consumers.  Boycotting is not the answer, but proactive, positive-reinforcement is a big piece of it. I wish I could say it was as easy as buying equally-priced Product B with the big “Slave-Free” logo on the box.  Unfortunately, the reality is much fuzzier and complex.  Even the “Fair Trade Certified” standard is not without its detractors.  However, complexity should not give us license to rationalize away all responsibility.  Anything we do that tells a manufacturer or a retailer, “It matters to me!” is a firm step in the right direction. [Please don’t think the irony is lost on me--as a product designer for a major retailer, I am well aware of my seemingly precarious position in this issue.  I simply have all the more reason to educate myself and look for opportunities to make a difference.] Our opportunity to make an impact as consumers is twofold.  The first is to buy “slave-free” products when possible.  For food products at your local grocer, the easiest way is to look for products with either the Fair Trade Certified label or the Rainforest Alliance label.  For a larger selection of products, you can either shop curated, socially-responsible marketplaces like Roozt.com (mostly clothes and fashion) or Ten Thousand Villages (jewelry and home accessories), or you can seek out specific, socially-responsible brands like The Body Shop (beauty products) and Tegu (building block toys.)  For a more “relevant” list of brands, Not For Sale has an app called Free2Work that gives each brand a grade based on their level of commitment to responsible sourcing.  These are just a few examples, but the list of options comes up decidedly short in light of all the types of products we “require” these days.

The second and broader opportunity for us as consumers to make an impact is to tell companies directly that we care about all the stakeholders throughout their entire supply chain.  This way you can impact the retailers or brands that are most relevant to you.  The Internet and mobile devices are making this a much simpler and effective method than it used to be.  Chainstore Reaction is an online tool made by Call+Response that lets you easily send letters to specific brands, as well as see if they have already responded to previous inquiries.  Perhaps the most powerful tool available at the moment is the Made In A Free World app created by SlaveryFootprint.org  It is a location-based smartphone app that enables you to select the store you happen to be in and send them a form letter.  Trust me, the fact that you’re a real, live customer in their store means a lot more than a random email from some fringe activist.

The Power of Conversation/ The last tool I’ll mention is the lowly chat amongst friends or acquaintances.  We have the ability to influence those around us more than we realize.  Why not help create awareness about this important issue?  It’s not something that will come up everyday, but when it does don’t be afraid to mention why you bought a certain product, or to ask someone else to participate in a petition for legislation, or suggest they watch a documentary like NotMyLife or Nefarious.  It may seem awkward at first, but that’s likely because of a lack of awareness and precisely the reason to mention something. This is the fifth and final entry in the Five for Freedom campaign. I can't thank you enough for your commitment to reading along and considering such a heavy issue over the past month.  I hope you’ve been affected in an eye-opening, but empowering way.  If you have, or even more so if you haven’t, I’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments section below. -Jonathan

Unless you’re literally on the frontlines of the fight against modern slavery and a first-hand witness to its atrocities, it’s easy for modern slavery to seem unreal--like it’s something you’d read in a fictional New York Times Bestseller.  Because there are no overt evidences of slavery within our daily lives, it’s easy to think there isn’t anything an average suburbanite can do about it. What I’ve found is there are far more opportunities than I would have thought there were when I first started reading about modern slavery.  I won’t bore you with an exhaustive list here, but I will try to cover at least some of the bigger ones between this week and next. The Power of the Constituent/ With election season upon us, the significance of a citizen’s vote is fresh in our minds.  But as far as actually affecting policy goes, placing a singular vote amounts to hardly a whisper.  Given that for each office you usually have only two options to pick from, it is highly unlikely that the agenda of the candidate you choose aligns perfectly to your own. One way you can raise the volume of your voice is to add it to a larger group’s action surrounding a specific topic.  As they say, “the squeaky wheel gets the grease.”  Frequently, groups like IJM provide easy ways to add your name to petitions on the national level that they hand deliver to the appropriate officials.  They also hold “call your senator”-type campaigns periodically where you enter your address on the site and they automatically list your representative(s) and give you their phone number and a script to read.  For convenience, I usually call after-hours and simply leave a voicemail.  If this type of involvement interests you, a great place to start is to join a brand new online community created by IJM called The Freedom Commons (see below).

The Power of Charity/ Thus far I have downplayed the act of monetary charity in order to retain as much of an audience as possible, because let’s be honest, everywhere we turn there’s someone asking us for money.  However, I would be remiss not to stress the fact that all of the organizations out there doing incredible work on behalf of modern slavery victims depend on donations from normal people like us to keep going.  If you haven’t already, please consider giving just $5 to IJM.  It will make more of an impact than you think.  And I want to give a huge “THANK  YOU!” to those of you who have already given. Charitable action (i.e. direct, personal involvement or volunteerism) is likely the most rewarding way to fight injustice, but also the most difficult to find opportunities for due to the sensitive nature of dealing with victims of human trafficking.  Here is a partial list of some potential types of opportunities:

Victim care package drives

Translation services

Event volunteering

Learning to identify and report potential cases of human trafficking

Direct assistance for victims

Provide pro-bono services for non-profit organizations

If you are interested in some type of direct involvement, contact me and I will let you know when I discover opportunities like these. The Power of Prayer/ In a society with so many differing worldviews, I believe the basis for defending the oppressed is found in the fact that a) we are all equally-valued, unique creations of God and b) He told us to:

Is not this the fast that I choose:

to loose the bonds of wickedness,

to undo the straps of the yoke,

to let the oppressed go free,

and to break every yoke?

-Isaiah 58:6

For this reason, I believe there is great power in pleading to God to intervene in the lives of the oppressed, since He made it clear it is something He cares deeply about.  If you would like to make this a part of your own prayer life, I would suggest signing up for the Prayer Partner ministry of IJM.

I see the young girl huddled on the brothel floor / I see the man with a passion come kicking down that door

”When the Saints”, Sara Groves

When I first started to learn about modern slavery, it was understandably depressing. And while the problem is still overwhelming, I am continually encouraged by all the people and organizations I’ve come across that are doing inspirational work. There’s no way I can cover each of them here, so I am simply going to highlight the different types of activities and roles that make up the overall anti-slavery movement. The most obvious is what is called “frontline work”. This encompasses the full spectrum of casework—investigation, coordination with law enforcement, rescue missions, legal prosecution of criminals, and the aftercare and restoration of victims. The gravity and emotion of this kind of work cannot be overstated. This is where you come face to face with the individuals and each of their heart wrenching stories—all the dramatic highs and lows of successful rescues and restorations and the pain of those who couldn’t be helped. IJM is one of the most prominent players in this area. Their primary philosophy for rescuing victims and bringing about lasting change is to leverage and bolster the rule of law. They have field offices in fifteen different cities around the world with staff comprised of everyone from counselors to lawyers and even “operatives” (how cool is that?) Free the Slaves and Right To Be Free are two other organizations who are directly involved in frontline work. If an actively enforced rule of law is one of the most critical elements of far-reaching, permanent change, then the legislation of robust laws with real “teeth” is extremely important as well. IJM, Free the Slaves and Polaris Project are all very active in this area. The Polaris Project website describes these types of activities very well:

We work to advance state and federal policy related to the crime of human trafficking - creating protections for victims while seeking accountability for human traffickers and others that contribute to human trafficking. The Policy Program tracks, drafts, and analyzes legislation; drafts model laws and guidelines; provides and presents testimony; and engages the public through policy advocacy and grassroots outreach.