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Chinese slave im busted; 33 mentally disabled men set bee
By Sari Schutrum-Boward
Staff Writer
Thirty-three mentally disabled men,
who were forced to work as slaves at a
building site were rescued by police forces
from a Chinese slave-ring on March 20.
According to BBC News, at least three
people who are suspected of keeping the
slaves are detained.
"They took people from the country,"
said Associate Professor of Political Science
George Guo. "Once they arrived in the city
they were sent to work in the construction
field, and there was no way to go back."
BBC News reported that the men were
discovered in a dirty room in Hulan,
a city in the north-eastern province of
Heilongjiang.
"I assume Hulan is an extremely politi
cally and economically backward place
where people do not get sufficient educa
tion," said sophomore Xiaoyi Zhang, a
China native, and a former Guilford stu
dent in an e-mail interview. "They have
to sell labor at an extremely low price to
just stay alive, which leads to rich people
coming in and seizing them for labor
exploitation."
According to The Beijing Times, the
police said "Many of the 33 detainees
could not speak coherently, or clearly
remember their names or where their
families lived."
One detainee has been there for three
years.
The men were rounded up at the bus
and train station. They were swayed to
get into cars by gangs who were offering
work.
"This was an organized crime," Guo
said. "They buy the men tickets and once
the men arrive they are immediately
approached and gone forever."
The Beijing Hmes reported that anyone
who attempted to escape were beaten and
terrorized.
"These men will most likely suffer from
post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), due
to the seriousness of the trauma," said
Debra Taylor part-time lecturer in psychol
ogy in an e-mail interview. "PTSD can last
for several months to many years, depend
ing on the nature of the trauma and how
well the person is able to deal with the
trauma."
According to BBC News, college stu
dents raised attention to the ring when
they called the police after witnessing a
man who jumped to his death from the
seventh-floor window.
Zhang said that it is difficult to com
pletely control slavery.
"I think China is becoming more
regulated in such issues," Zhang said.
"However, to completely clear out slavery
takes a considerable amount of time and
effort because slavery today takes differ
ent forms and scales. It is hard for people
to spot and identify them when it happens
underground."
According to BBC News, a local website
reported that the city's government donat
ed money to the victims who wanted to
return home, and arranged jobs for those
who wanted to work in the city. The men
with the serious mental disabilities were
sent to local asylums.
"I think these men should be allowed
to return home, as it should help them to
restore feelings of safety and comfort,"
Taylor said. "However, these men should
receive treatment before beginning a new
job, especially since employment was the
source of the trauma."
A year ago, China announced a nation
wide crackdown on enslavement and child
labor when a man was sentenced to death
and 28 others were jailed after they were
involved in a slave labor scandal that had
hundreds of people in a brick factory in
northern China.
Shelini Harris, assistant professor of
religious studies and peace and conflict
studies, who teaches a human rights class
said in an e-mail interview that slavery is
illegal in China.
Harris said that Article 4 of the Universal
Declaration of Human Rights specifically
prohibits slavery.
The article states, "No one shall be held
in sl’avery or servitude; slavery and the
slave trade shall be prohibited in all their
forms."
According to Harris, slavery is forbid
den in the International Covenant on Civil
and Political Rights (ICCPR), article 8.
The article states that "1. No one shall be
held in slavery: slavery and the slave-trade
in all their forms shall be prohibited. 2.
No one shall be held in servitude. 3. a) No
one shall be required to perform forced or
compulsory labor ... "
First-year China native, JoJo Jun Gao,
rarely hears this type of case on the news.
"The slave-ring case is very unusual in
China," said Gao in an e-mail interview.
"If it is usual you would see it on the news
everyday or it would not make the news
at all. It is against the law to hold slaves
in China. It is a criminal case. It does not
reach to the higher decision-making inner
circle."
Zhang believes that while China is still
The providence of
Heilongjiang,
where a slave
ring in the city
of Hulan was
busted last month,
is highlighted on
this map of China.
The slave ring was
holding at least 33
mentally disabled
men for work on
a construction
site.
ROYALALBERTAMUSEUM.CA
transforming into socialism there are some
problems that have not been fixed.
"I am rather surprised," Zhang said.
"Such phenomenon rarely happens under
socialist institution. Socialism is intended^
to help build a harmonious society, where
people love one another and bear equal
rights. However, China is still not yet fully
transformed into socialism, and is still in
the beginning phase; therefore unfavor
able things can easily happen, such as the
slave-ring."
Guo hopes that the media coverage will
continue to push the government into
reacting to these cases.
"The government is passive right now,
but they face a challenge from the media
coverage," Guo said. "The government
has a passive attitude. This will still take
time." Harris believes that people ignore
the fact that we still benefit from slavery.
"People choose to ignore where their
cheap food and other material items
come from, and would rather think that
slavery has been eradicated," Harris
said, "rather than face the fact that their
privilege is predicated on other people's
enslavement and misery."
Iraq War turns five; more than 4,000 O.S. casualties
By Jake Blumgart
Senior Writer
March 20, marked the fifth
anniversary of the on-going
Second Gulf War. Four days later
the official number of United
States military personnel war
dead passed 4,000. Ninety-seven
percent of those killed died after
President George Bush declared
major combat operations over.
"The Iraq War is our longest
sustained engagement in quite
some time," said Lisa McLeod,
assistant professor of philoso
phy, who is currently teaching
a course on just war theory and
pacifism. "It is longer than our
engagement in Korea, in the First
or World War Two. It is going to
be hard in the long run for this to
look like a good idea."
Despite the much-vaunted
troop surge that committed an
additional 21,500 U.S. soldiers
to the conflict, violence remains
endemic throughout the country.
The most recent fighting between
Coalition forces and the Shiite
paramilitary group the Mahdi
Army is ongoing and has cost
240 lives across the country since
March 25.
"(The war) is a shambles, it
really is like Vietnam all over
again," said visiting assistant
professor of political science
Robert Duncan. "Our arrogance,
our hubris never ceases to amaze
me. We are trying to impose
democratic idea of government
while completely disregarding
centuries old cultures, religions,
and tribal identities in the area.
We'll be there until the next elec
tion when we get some sanity in
the White House."
According to many pundits,
the cost of the war cannot only be
calculated in blood and treasure.
Perceptions of American prestige
and "moral capital" abroad are
at an all time low.
"America after the invasion
of Iraq is no longer the super
power it was before," said John
Simpson, World Affairs editor
for BBC News in an opinion col
umn for that news service. "We
have seen how hard it is for the
Americans to deal with a few
thousand lightly armed volun
teers ... The U.S. state depart
ment finds it much harder nowa
days to be taken seriously when
it criticizes other countries for
their use of torture and arbitrary
arrest."
Opposition to the war at home
remains high. The legitimacy of
the war and the duration of the
occupation dominates the presi
dential campaign. Ending the
war is a priority for both demo
"Despite the much-vaunted troop surge that commit
ted an additional 21,500 U.S. soldiers to the conflict,
violence remains endemic throughout the country."
cratic candidates.
"We need to begin this with
drawal (from Iraq) immediately
because this war has not made
us safer," said presidential hope
ful Barack Obama in his Jan.
28 response to George Bush's
State of the Union address. "The
only way we're finally going to
pressure the Iraqis to reconcile
and take responsibility for their
future is to immediately begin a
responsible withdrawal."
According to BBC News,
tens of thousands of protesters
marched against the war in cit
ies across the United States and
66 percent of American adults
polled by CBS News oppose the
war.
Presumably, these numbers
reflect the views of Guilford's
students, faculty and staff. On-
campus anti-war activism has
been scarce, with the exception
of Quaker-led candlelight vigils
to mark the fifth-year anniver
sary.
^'It is surprising to me that
Guilford students haven't been
more vocal," McLeod 'said.
"Guilford, like America, suffers
from a lack of engaged public
discourse either local or global."