I have broken any attachments I had to the Ascended Masters and their teachings; drains your chi!
Joined: Sept 2005 Gender: Female Posts: 2,100
Re: Top 25 Censored news stories of 2006 « Reply #15 on Apr 16, 2007, 10:06am »
Subject: Project Censored Announces On-Line Voting for Junk Food and News Abuse Stories of the Year
Sorry, but the deadline for online voting for your picks has just ended. Nonetheless, here is the list that was offered to choose from....M
Subject: Project Censored Announces On-Line Voting for Junk Food and News Abuse Stories of the Year
Project Censored announces our annual internet voting for Junk Food News and News Abuse Stories of the year. Anyone can vote by selecting your top ten Junk Food Stories and top five News Abuse stories and sending your votes by e-mail to: mailto:censored2@sonoma.edu">censored2@sonoma.edu
Last Day to Vote: April 13, 2007
Results will be published in Censored 2008: Media Democracy in Action, Seven Stories Press, Fall 2007
Classroom teachers may have in-class votes and record the results by sending in your name and campus/high school class voting results.
Junk Food News are the most frivolous unimportant news stories from March 2006-to March 2007 covered by the corporate media.
Junk Food News List Nominations
1. Anna Nicole Smith has a baby
2. Brad Pitt/Angelina Jolie have a baby and adopt others
3. Brittany Spears meltdown
4. Lindsay Lohan stint in rehab
5. Jon Benet Ramsey’s wannabe murderer John Mark Carr
6. Paul McCartney divorce
7. Prince Harry goes to Iraq
8. Paris Hilton/Nichole Ritchie tussle
9. Paula Abdul drunk on American Idol
10. Donald Trump/Rosie O’ Donnel fight
11. Miss USA drinks and takes drugs
12. American Idol contestant(s) in nudie pictures on internet
13. Hillary Clinton and violent video games
14. Astronaut attacks romantic rival
15. New Orleans Saints move back into Superdome
16. Superbowl candy kiss between two men
17. Gavin Newsom’s affair with his aide
18. Cheney’s gay daughter has baby
19. James Brown’s widow fights for inheritance
20. The “war” on Christmas and Easter
21. People camp out for days to get a PS3 game system
22. Madonna’s adopted African baby
23. O.J. Simpson’s how to commit a murder book
24. Lawsuits against the movie “Borat”
25. Kate Hudson/Owen Wilson get together
News Abuse Stories are serious topics over-covered in the corporate media.
News Abuse List Nominations for 2006-07
1. The death of Anna Nicole Smith
2. The Death of crocodile hunter Steve Irwin
3. Katie Couric takes a co-anchor spot on network news
4. Racehorse Barbaro’s broken leg
5. E-coli in spinach
6. The poisoned Russian spy
7. Oprah Winfrey’s school for girls in South Africa
8. Two boys kidnapped in the St. Louis area and are subsequently rescued
9. Michael Richards racist meltdown
10. Mel Gibson racist meltdown
11. Duke University’s lacrosse teams alleged involvement in a rape
12. Mark Foley and congressional page sex scandal
13. Rising and falling gas prices
14. Television shows that catch pedophiles in “sting operations”
15. Election year hoopla (Rush Limbaugh makes fun of Michael J. Fox, the election horse race)
16. Amish schoolhouse murders
17. Regis Philbin has heart bypass surgery
18. Nancy Grace grills woman, woman then commits suicide
19. Woman dies drinking too much water in a water drinking contest in Sacramento
We are people from diverse philosophies and faiths who find common ground in the nonviolent struggle to bring about a more peaceful and just world. We work to raise the moral questions involved in the issues of war, poverty, racism, and oppression.
I have broken any attachments I had to the Ascended Masters and their teachings; drains your chi!
Joined: Sept 2005 Gender: Female Posts: 2,100
Re: Top 25 Censored news stories of 2006 « Reply #17 on Apr 9, 2008, 3:51pm »
HORRIFIC HIDDEN US CASUALTIES OF IRAQ WAR
The link below has been disabled [small wonder!] You can find lots of links to the same from 2007 if you search...I've posted one of those from 2007 after the 1st article...then an essay which brings the point home. I've got a family member being sent back to Iraq for another year's service; he joined the reserves way before 9/11 and any hint of the original invasion, after a lengthy military career, which he enered as a dumb kid just out of high school looking for a way to support his wife and coming child. The recruiter was sooo nice to show up at my parents' home to brainwash him into service!... Excuse me if I'm pissed; he's in his 40's and his family, grandchild included, need him here....Michelle
HORRIFIC HIDDEN US CASUALTIES OF IRAQ WAR posted on 9:44 PM, March 3, 2008 Since Gulf War 1 - 73,846 US Dead, 1,620,906 Disabled 12-11-7
1,620,906 PERMANENTLY DISABLED (near top of page 7)
US DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS ISSUES OFFICIAL REPORT CONFIRMING 73,000 U.S. TROOPS KILLED IN IRAQ SAME GOVERNMENT AGENCY REPORT CONFIRMS 1.6 MILLION "DISABLED" BY THE WAR
From Peter Marshall E. Boomhower eboomhower@juno.com
George Walker Bush has presided over the worst defeat of the United States Military since Vietnam and has deliberately skewed reporting of the deaths and injuries to conceal the facts.
Department of Veteran's Affairs, in conjunction with the Joint Chiefs of Staff, has released the truth because they need the American People to know our military is literally, destroyed.
They cannot release these horrific numbers via the chain of command because they are under orders to conceal the truth at all costs, so they let slip a report which now cannot be "un-slipped."
Here are the facts and a link to the government source to prove these facts:
More Gulf War Veterans Have Died Than Vietnam Veterans.
The Department of Veterans Affairs, May 2007, Gulf War Veterans Information System reports the following:
Total U.S. Military Gulf War 1 and Gulf War 3 Deaths: 73,846 * Deaths amongst Deployed: 17,847
* Deaths amongst Non-Deployed: 55,999
Total "Undiagnosed Illness" (UDX) claims: 14,874
Total number of disability claims filed: 1,620,906 * Disability Claims amongst Deployed: 407,911 * Disability Claims amongst Non-Deployed: 1,212,995
Percentage of combat troops who filed Disability Claims 36%
Soldiers, by nature, typically don't complain. They don't want to be perceived (by idiots) as being weak, or complainers, or looking to get out of work/danger. In other words, the real impact of those who are disabled from the US invasions in Iraq, Afghanistan and other Nations, is not fully reflected in the official Veterans Affairs numbers.
Why are the government numbers of 3,777 as of 9-7-7 are so low? The answer is simple, the government does not want the 73,846 dead U.S. soldiers killed in the Gulf to date to be compared to the 55,000 U.S. soldiers killed in Vietnam, lest we all conclude Iraq = Vietnam.
What the government is doing is only counting the soldiers that die in action before they can get them into a helicopter or ambulance. Any soldier who is shot but they get into a helicopter before he dies is not counted.
73,846 dead U.S. soldiers for this scale operation using weapons of mass destruction is not high - we expect the great majority of U.S. soldiers who took part in the invasion of Iraq to die of uranium poisoning, which can take decades to kill.
More than 1,820 tons (3-million, 640 thousand pounds) of radio-active nuclear waste uranium were exploded into Iraq alone in the form of armor piercing rounds and bunker busters, representing the worlds worst man made ecological disaster ever. 64 kg of uranium were used in the Hiroshima bomb. The U.S. Iraq Nuclear Holocaust represents far more than fourteen thousand Hiroshima atomic bombs.
That's 14,000.
The nuclear waste the U.S. has exploded into the Middle East will continue killing for BILLIONS of years and can wipe out more than a third of life on earth. Gulf War Veterans who have ingested the uranium will continue to die off over a number of years.
From a victors perspective, above any major war in history, The Gulf War has taken the severest toll on soldiers.
So far, more than one million people have been slaughtered in the illegal invasion of Iraqi by the U.S.. This is genocide of the highest order.
Iraqi birth defects are up 600% - the same will apply to U.S. Veterans.
Statistics and evidence published by the government and mainstream media in no way reflect the extreme gravity of the situation.
Those working for the government and media must wake up and take responsibility for immediately reversing this U.S. Holocaust. Understanding who is manipulating all of us is critical for all of us.
For those of you who doubt the veracity of this story, who naively believe it can't be true because if it were true, you would have heard it from the government or from the main stream media, can see the proof yourselves directly from the United States Department of Veteran's Affairs web site -Source:
This story is 100% accurate. 100% true. 100% verifiable.
From the bottom of page 9:
1. The total number of service members ever identified by DoD with possible low-level chemical warfare agent exposure serving in units in the hazard areas at or near Khamisiyah, Iraq is 145,472 as of June 30, 2006.
In this report, VBA displayed compensation and pension statistics on 145,456 service members. VA and DoD have completed their fourth quarter 2006 review of service member records. However, there is a possibility of future changes, if needed, based on further review by DoD.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 73,846 U.S. TROOPS DEAD; 1,620,906 PERMANENTLY DISABLED U.S. DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS ISSUES OFFICIAL REPORT CONFIRMING 73,000 U.S. TROOPS KILLED IN IRAQ SAME GOVERNMENT AGENCY REPORT CONFIRMS 1.6 MILLION "DISABLED" BY THE WAR! George Walker Bush has presided over the worst defeat of the United States Military since Vietnam and has deliberately skewed reporting of the deaths and injuries to conceal the facts. Department of Veteran's Affairs, in conjunction with the Joint Chiefs of Staff, has released the truth because they need the AMerican People to know our military is literally, destroyed. They cannot release these horrific numbers via the chain of command, so they let slip a report which now cannot be "un-slipped."
WOW! This really is dynamite. Everyone download it RIGHT NOW, before it vanishes.
Checking the document source: http://www.va.gov United States Department of Veterans Affairs (Legit.)
How to get to the document from the home page? Can't find via attempts via the top & left menu bars. On the site's top bar, search: GWVIS Bingo! 1st result is:
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Microsoft Word - DRAFT GWVIS Report May 2007 6-7-07.doc Department of Veterans Affairs Gulf War Veterans Information System May 2007 Release Date: June 30, 2007 Gulf War Veterans Information System May 2007 May 2007 GWVIS Report Table of Contents Section One . 14 Gulf War Veterans Information System May 2007 1 Section One GWVIS Report Introduction Overview The Gulf War Veterans Information System (GWVIS) provides the best http://gov/rac-gwvi/docs/GWVIS_May2007.pdf- 382k - July 05, 2007
Phrases: Gulf War Veterans Information System Research Advisory Committee on Gulf War Veterans Illnesses Committee Gulf War Veterans Illnesses Committee
So, its a valid url, only the actual doc is not linked to from the public docs list page.
Looking at the meetings around time of GWVIS_May2007.pdf report:
Committee meetings July 18-19, 2007 Agenda April 24-25, 2007 Agenda November 6-7, 2006 Agenda, Minutes August 14-15, 2006 Agenda, Minutes May 15-16, 2006 Agenda, Minutes December 12-13, 2005 Agenda, Minutes etc.
Note lack of 'Minutes' from last two meetings of April and July 2007! Why?
Extracts of April meeting Agenda:
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Meeting of the Research Advisory Committee on Gulf War Veterans’ Illnesses April 24-25, 2007 VA Headquarters, 810 Vermont Ave., N.W., Room 230 Washington, D.C. Agenda Tuesday, April 24, 2007 2:40 – 4:30 Committee discussion: 2007 RAC-GWVI report Dr. Lea Steele, Res Adv Cmte Gulf War Illnesses 4:30 – 5:00 Public comment page break Wednesday, April 25, 2007 8:00 – 8:30 Informal gathering, coffee 8:30 – 10:00 Committee discussion: 2007 RAC-GWVI report Dr. Lea Steele Res Adv Cmte Gulf War Illnesses
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- So the report was discussed in the April 2007 public meeting. But no minutes published. Too hot to handle! Can imagine the massive faction fights going on. Previous meeting's Minutes include the presentation papers. So they couldn't publish the minutes for this meeting (and therefore the subsequent meeting also) or they'd have had to include the 2007 RAC-GWVI report. Also too damning to leave just that one out. So... they are stuck. But someone put the report on their server anyway, just with no link from the public docs index.
And now... its out.
Lets see if this ever makes it to the mainstream media.
I've always had the impression, from comparing Iraqi Resistance reports, official Centacom bodycounts, reports of coffin numbers flown back to the USA, and assorted other indicators (including the bodycount under-reporting that is documented to have occured during the Vietnam war), that the offical figures were around a factor of ten too low.
So at a 'lie factor' of 10 to 1, I'd have guessed the true death toll to be around 40,000. But no! 73,846 isn't far off twice that again! So the 'lie factor' is more like 20 to 1.
This graph of official casualties over time is FAR too linear. Given the various factors that should be making it more uneven, such as seasonal variations of attacks, major US offensives, the 'Surge', etc. This graph demonstrates that Centacom has been manipulating the figures to keep them below an averaged rate of 'deaths per day' that they consider politically acceptable. Or at least manageable.
Source:http://www.iraq-war.ru/article/142288 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Remember: They Are Liars
By William Rivers Pitt
8 April 2008
No one is such a liar as the indignant man.
- Friedrich Nietzsche
George W. Bush, Dick Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld, Paul Wolfowitz, Condoleezza Rice, along with a slew of administration underlings and a revolving-door cavalcade of brass hats from the Pentagon, have been making claims regarding Iraq for many years now.
They claimed Iraq was in possession of 26,000 liters of anthrax, "enough to kill several million people," according to a page on the White House web site titled Disarm Saddam Hussein.
They lied.
They claimed Iraq was in possession of 38,000 liters of botulinum toxin.
They lied.
They claimed Iraq was in possession of 500 tons, which equals 1,000,000 pounds, of sarin, mustard and VX nerve agent.
They lied.
They claimed Iraq was in possession of nearly 30,000 munitions capable of delivering these agents.
They lied.
They claimed Iraq was in possession of several mobile biological weapons labs.
They lied.
They claimed Iraq was operating an "advanced" nuclear weapons program.
They lied.
They claimed Iraq had been seeking "significant quantities" of uranium from Africa for use in this "advanced" nuclear weapons program.
They lied.
They claimed Iraq attempted to purchase high-strength aluminum tubes "suitable for nuclear weapons."
They lied.
They claimed America needed to invade, overthrow and occupy Iraq in order to remove this menace from our world. "It would take just one vial, one canister, one crate slipped into this country," went the White House line, "to bring a day of horror like none we have ever known."
They lied.
"Simply stated," said Dick Cheney in August of 2002, "there is no doubt that Saddam Hussein now has weapons of mass destruction."
Liar.
"Right now," said George W. Bush in September of 2002, "Iraq is expanding and improving facilities that were used for the production of nuclear weapons."
Liar.
"We know for a fact," said White House Press Secretary Ari Fleischer in January of 2003, "that there are weapons there."
Liar.
"We know that Saddam Hussein is determined to keep his weapons of mass destruction," said Colin Powell in February of 2003, "is determined to make more."
Liar.
"We know where they are," said Donald Rumsfeld in March of 2003. "They are in the area around Tikrit and Baghdad, and east, south, west and north somewhat."
Liar.
"The Iraqi people understand what this crisis is about," said Paul Wolfowitz in March of 2003. "Like the people of France in the 1940s, they view us as their hoped-for liberator."
Liar.
"No one ever said that we knew precisely where all of these agents were," said Condoleezza Rice in June of 2003, "where they were stored."
Liar.
"I have absolute confidence that there are weapons of mass destruction inside this country," said Gen. Tommy Franks in April of 2003. "Whether we will turn out, at the end of the day, to find them in one of the 2,000 or 3,000 sites we already know about or whether contact with one of these officials who we may come in contact with will tell us, 'Oh, well, there's actually another site,' and we'll find it there, I'm not sure."
Wrong.
"Before the war," said Gen. Michael Hagee in May of 2003, "there's no doubt in my mind that Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction, biological and chemical. I expected them to be found. I still expect them to be found."
Wrong.
"Given time," said Gen. Richard Myers in May of 2003, "given the number of prisoners now that we're interrogating, I'm confident that we're going to find weapons of mass destruction."
Wrong.
"Do I think we're going to find something? Yeah, I kind of do," said Maj. Gen. Keith Dayton in May of 2003, "because I think there's a lot of information out there."
Wrong.
Gen. David Petraeus, commander of US forces in Iraq, is about to give testimony before the Senate regarding the current state of affairs in that battle-savaged country. He is a political general, one of many America has seen and heard over the last five years, one who would leap nude from the Capitol dome before telling the real truth about matters in Iraq ... or who would speak using words fed to him by liars, and thus be wrong.
Remember: they lie. They all lie, from the top man down to the bottom. If their lips are moving, a lie is unfolding. If they say water is wet, get into the shower to make sure.
We are people from diverse philosophies and faiths who find common ground in the nonviolent struggle to bring about a more peaceful and just world. We work to raise the moral questions involved in the issues of war, poverty, racism, and oppression.
I have broken any attachments I had to the Ascended Masters and their teachings; drains your chi!
Joined: Sept 2005 Gender: Female Posts: 2,100
Re: Top 25 Censored news stories of 2006 « Reply #18 on Apr 25, 2008, 2:45pm »
Senator: VA lying about number of veteran suicides By Les Blumenthal | McClatchy Newspapers Posted on Wednesday, April 23, 2008
WASHINGTON — The Veterans Administration has lied about the number of veterans who've attempted suicide, a senator charged Wednesday, citing internal e-mails that put the number at 12,000 a year when the department was publicly saying it was fewer than 800.
"The suicide rate is a red-alarm bell to all of us," said Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash. Murray also said that the VA's mental health programs are being overwhelmed by Iraq and Afghanistan war veterans, even as the department tries to downplay the situation.
"We are not your enemy, we are your support team, and unless we get accurate information we can't be there to do our jobs," Murray told Deputy Secretary of Veterans Affairs Gordon Mansfield during the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee hearing.
Mansfield told Murray and the other senators that he didn't think the VA had deliberately tried to mislead Congress or the public.
Murray remained skeptical, however, saying that the VA has demonstrated a pattern of misleading Congress about the increasing number of soldiers who served in Iraq and Afghanistan and are now seeking help and straining Defense Department and VA facilities and programs.
Murray said she's spoken with VA Secretary James Peake and demanded that he fire the man in charge of the department's mental health programs, Dr. Ira Katz. The senator said Peake has yet to respond to her request.
"I used to teach preschool, and when you bring up a 3-year-old and tell them they have to stop lying, they understand the consequences," Murray said. "The VA doesn't. They need to stop hiding the fact this war is costing us in so many ways."
The existence of the e-mails, uncovered as part of a class-action lawsuit filed against the VA in San Francisco, was first reported by CBS News on Monday.
"Our suicide prevention coordinators are identifying about 1,000 suicide attempts per month among the veterans we see in our medical facilities," Katz wrote in a Feb. 13 e-mail to Ev Chasen, the department's communication director. "Is this something we should (carefully) address ourselves in some sort of release before someone stumbles on it?"
Chasen responded: "I think this is something we should discuss among ourselves, before issuing a press release. Is the fact we are stopping them good news, or is the sheer number bad news? And is this more than we have ever seen before?"
CBS reported that the VA had provided it with data earlier that showed only 790 attempted suicides in all of 2007.
"How do we trust what you are saying when every time we turn around we find out that what you are saying publicly is different from what you are saying privately?" Murray asked Mansfield. "How can we trust what you are saying today?"
Mansfield responded that the situation was unfortunate and didn't "send the right message" to Congress or the public.
"I know Dr. Katz is a dedicated public servant," he said. "There isn't a lot the VA should be keeping secret."
Murray pointed to a RAND Corp. study released last week that found that 320,000 troops who served in Iraq and Afghanistan suffer from traumatic brain injuries and 300,000 troops suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder or major depression.
Of those with PTSD or depression, Murray said, only half have sought treatment, and only half of those have received treatment that was "minimally" adequate.
"I think we ought to be worried," Murray said, adding that, as with Vietnam-era vets, some of the more violent symptoms might not show up for 50 years.
"They can be walking time bombs for decades," Murray said. "I hope everyone in the VA understands this."
Mansfield said the VA is spending $3 billion on mental health programs this fiscal year and has 17,000 mental health workers.
"We want to make sure we take care of these individuals," he said.
We are people from diverse philosophies and faiths who find common ground in the nonviolent struggle to bring about a more peaceful and just world. We work to raise the moral questions involved in the issues of war, poverty, racism, and oppression.
We are people from diverse philosophies and faiths who find common ground in the nonviolent struggle to bring about a more peaceful and just world. We work to raise the moral questions involved in the issues of war, poverty, racism, and oppression.
Kindly also post Top 25 Censored news stories of 2007 and 2008 as well.
Hey there, irfan! Welcome to the FH Forum and thank you for joining.
Actually, the Censored news stories of 2007 were listed by Anwaar at the beginning of this thread...It says 2006 but they are the 2007 stories. I don't know why he listed it that way, other than the dating of articles is a bit confusing....If you will notice below, the top stories of 2009 are just out.
There is a link for the 2008 stories, above at Reply #16, But I will list them here:
Top 25 Censored Stories for 2008 #1 No Habeas Corpus for “Any Person” #2 Bush Moves Toward Martial Law # 3 AFRICOM: US Military Control of Africa’s Resources # 4 Frenzy of Increasingly Destructive Trade Agreements #5 Human Traffic Builds US Embassy in Iraq #6 Operation FALCON Raids #7 Behind Blackwater Inc. #8 KIA: The US Neoliberal Invasion of India #9 Privatization of America’s Infrastructure # 10 Vulture Funds Threaten Poor Nations’ Debt Relief # 11 The Scam of “Reconstruction” in Afghanistan # 12 Another Massacre in Haiti by UN Troops # 13 Immigrant Roundups to Gain Cheap Labor for US Corporate Giants # 14 Impunity for US War Criminals # 15 Toxic Exposure Can Be Transmitted to Future Generations on a “Second Genetic Code” #16 No Hard Evidence Connecting Bin Laden to 9/11 # 17 Drinking Water Contaminated by Military and Corporations # 18 Mexico’s Stolen Election # 19 People’s Movement Challenges Neoliberal Agenda # 20 Terror Act Against Animal Activists # 21 US Seeks WTO Immunity for Illegal Farm Payments # 22 North Invades Mexico # 23 Feinstein’s Conflict of Interest in Iraq # 24 Media Misquotes Threat From Iran’s President # 25 Who Will Profit from Native Energy?
Here are the newest for 2009 from Project Censored:
Top 25 Censored Stories for 2009 #1. Over One Million Iraqi Deaths Caused by US Occupation # 2 Security and Prosperity Partnership: Militarized NAFTA # 3 InfraGard: The FBI Deputizes Business # 4 ILEA: Is the US Restarting Dirty Wars in Latin America? # 5 Seizing War Protesters’ Assets # 6 The Homegrown Terrorism Prevention Act # 7 Guest Workers Inc.: Fraud and Human Trafficking # 8 Executive Orders Can Be Changed Secretly #9 Iraq and Afghanistan Vets Testify # 10 APA Complicit in CIA Torture # 11 El Salvador’s Water Privatization and the Global War on Terror # 12 Bush Profiteers Collect Billions From No Child Left Behind # 13 Tracking Billions of Dollars Lost in Iraq # 14 Mainstreaming Nuclear Waste # 15 Worldwide Slavery # 16 Annual Survey on Trade Union Rights # 17 UN’s Empty Declaration of Indigenous Rights # 18 Cruelty and Death in Juvenile Detention Centers # 19 Indigenous Herders and Small Farmers Fight Livestock Extinction # 20 Marijuana Arrests Set New Record # 21 NATO Considers “First Strike” Nuclear Option # 22 CARE Rejects US Food Aid # 23 FDA Complicit in Pushing Pharmaceutical Drugs # 24 Japan Questions 9/11 and the Global War on Terror # 25 Bush’s Real Problem with Eliot Spitzer
Here's one I wanted to highlight on slavery. It is extremely sad that, in our day and age, this still exists......
Yours in Service, Michelle
# 15 Worldwide Slavery in Top 25 Censored Stories for 2009
Sources: Sojourners, March 15, 2007 Title: “From Sex Workers to Restaurant Workers, the Global Slave Trade Is Growing” Author: David Batstone
Foreign Policy, March/April 2008 Title: “A World Enslaved” Author: E. Benjamin Skinner
Student Researcher: Brandon Leahy
Faculty Evaluator: David McCuan, PhD
Twenty-seven million slaves exist in the world today, more than at any time in human history. Globalization, poverty, violence, and greed facilitate the growth of slavery, not only in the Third World, but in the most developed countries as well. Behind the façade in any major town or city in the world today, one is likely to find a thriving commerce in human beings.
As many as 800,000 are trafficked across international borders annually, and up to 17,500 new victims are trafficked across US borders each year, according to the US Department of Justice (DOJ). More than 30,000 additional slaves are transported through the US on their ways to other international destinations. Attorneys from the DOJ have prosecuted ninety-one slave trade cases in cities across the United States and in nearly every state of the nation.
Commerce in human beings today rivals drug trafficking and the illegal arms trade for top criminal activity on the planet. The slave trade sits at number three on the list, but the gap is closing. According to the US State Department’s 2004 Trafficking in Persons Report, the FBI projects that the slave trade generates $9.5 billion in revenue each year. A report put out by the International Labor Office in 2005, titled “Global Alliance Against Forced Labor,” estimates that figure to be closer to $32 billion annually.
Like the slaves who came to America’s shores over 200 years ago, today’s slaves are not free to pursue their own destinies. They are coerced to perform work for the personal gain of those who subjugate them. If they try to escape the clutches of their masters, modern slaves risk personal violence or reprisals to their families.
Increasingly severe and widespread poverty and social inequality ensure a growing pool of recruits. Parents in desperate straits may sell their children or at least be susceptible to scams that will allow the slave trader to take control over the lives of their sons and daughters. Young women in poverty-ridden communities are more likely to take risks on job offers in faraway locations. The poor are apt to accept loans that slave traders can later manipulate to steal their freedom. Thousands of traffickers lure children from impoverished rural parents with promises of scholarships, free schooling, and a better life. All of these paths carry unsuspecting recruits into the supply chains of slavery.
Though modern day forms of slavery are emerging to suit global markets, bonded labor continues to be the most common form of slavery in the world. In a typical scenario, an individual falls under the control of a wealthy patron after taking a small loan. The patron adds egregious rates of interest and inflated expenses to the original principal so that the laborer finds it impossible to repay. Debt slaves may spend their entire lives in service to a single slaveholder, and their “obligation” may be passed on to their children. Bondage, with no legal standing, is typically established through fraud and maintained through violence.
The United Nations, whose founding principles call for it to fight bondage in all its forms, has done little to combat modern slavery. And though since 1817 nations have signed more than a dozen international antislavery resolutions, very little effect has been realized.
Authors David Batstone and E. Benjamin Skinner are, however, impressed and heartened by the effectiveness of nongovernmental abolitionists around the world involved not only in brave acts of liberating slaves, but in launching transitional schools and training facilities for those recently freed.
UPDATE BY BENJAMIN SKINNER
When Foreign Policy published “A World Enslaved” in March 2008, they dropped a rock in a pool. There were few ripples. The mainstream media seems to have trouble grasping and presenting the concept that there are more slaves today than at any point in human history. And for understandable reasons: legal slavery was buried in most countries a long time ago. On a positive note, in its June 4 Trafficking in Persons Report the US State Department began to seriously address forms of slavery other than sex slavery. But the media seems to find little of interest in the bondage of millions who are enslaved in industries other than commercial sex. And such a narrow presentation means that the struggle against slavery in all its forms remains hidden and underfunded.
Despite the media abandonment, a handful of American citizens who had never been exposed to the issue before got involved after reading A Crime So Monstrous: Face-to-Face with Modern Day Slavery, the book that the Foreign Policy piece excerpted. A plastic surgeon in Missouri offered his services pro bono to those survivors who had scars as a result of their slavery; a woman from North Carolina lobbied her elected officials to stop slavery in Romania; a famous visual artist is working on a series of pieces about modern-day slavery, and has offered to give the proceeds from the sales to Free The Slaves, the most effective organization working to combat slavery worldwide; other readers made their own contributions to Free The Slaves or to domestically-focused antislavery organizations like the DC-based Polaris Project. Those few Americans have made commitments that will help turn the tide against modern-day slavery—and carry on the struggle of our ancestors who were slaves and abolitionists.
We are people from diverse philosophies and faiths who find common ground in the nonviolent struggle to bring about a more peaceful and just world. We work to raise the moral questions involved in the issues of war, poverty, racism, and oppression.
Between 700 and 1000 stories are submitted to Project Censored each year from journalists, scholars, librarians, and concerned citizens around the world. With the help of more than 200 Sonoma State University faculty, students, and community members, Project Censored reviews the story submissions for coverage, content, reliability of sources and national significance. The university community selects 25 stories to submit to the Project Censored panel of judges who then rank them in order of importance.
- Story #1. Over One Million Iraqi Deaths Caused by US Occupation
- Story #2: Security and Prosperity Partnership: Militarized NAFTA
- Story #3: InfraGard: The FBI Deputizes Business
- Story #4: ILEA- Is the U.S. Restarting Dirty Wars in Latin America
- Story #5: Seizing War Protesters' Assets
- Story #6: The Homegrown Terrorism Prevention Act
- Story #7: Guest Workers, Inc.: Fraud and Human Trafficking
- Story #8: Executive Orders Can Be Changed Secretly
- Story #9: Iraq and Afghanistan Vets Testify
- Story #10: APA Complicit in CIA Torture
- Story #11: El Salvador's Water Privatization and the Global War on Terror
- Story #12: Profiteers Collect Billions from No Child Left Behind
- Story #13: Billions of Dollars Lost in Iraq
- Story #14: Mainstreaming Nuclear Waste
- Story #15: Worldwide Slavery Spreads
- Story #16: Annual Survey on Trade Union Rights
- Story #17: UN's Empty Declaration of Indigenous Rights
- Story #18: Cruelty and Death in Juvenile Detention Centers
- Story #19: Indigenous Herders & Small Farmers Fight Livestock Extinction
- Story #20: Marijuana Arrests Set New Record
- Story #21: NATO Considers "First Strike" Nuclear Option
- Story #22: CARE Rejects U.S. Food Aid
- Story #23: FDA Complicit in Pushing Pharmaceutical Drugs
- Story #24: Japan Questions 9/11, Global War on Terror
- Story #25: G. W. Bush's Real Problem with Eliot Spitzer
We are people from diverse philosophies and faiths who find common ground in the nonviolent struggle to bring about a more peaceful and just world. We work to raise the moral questions involved in the issues of war, poverty, racism, and oppression.
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