Doug Ross @ Journal

Ending Slavery

Far, far from the halls of academia and the coffee houses of the lower east side, slavery still exists. The motive for slave-traders is strictly profit. But the stunning lack of a media spotlight on the issue -- in our own country -- contributes to this ongoing crime against humanity.

In West Africa, children are bought by slave-traders in Benin and Togo for about $50 each. They are then sold into slavery as domestic servants or worse in oil-rich countries such as Nigeria for about $350.

Former UK conservative leader William Hague reports that even now, in 2005, the slave trade is worse than ever:

"The distressing truth is that there appear to be more slaves in the world today than there were transported across the Atlantic in the entire period of the trans-Atlantic slave trade."

As Thomas Sowell points out, the conservative right fought slavery in the 18th century. As today's mainstream media and the left as a whole remain utterly, vexingly silent on this issue, it is up to the right to continue to act as a champion of freedom for today's enslaved peoples.

To me the most staggering thing about the long history of slavery -- which encompassed the entire world and every race in it -- is that nowhere before the 18th century was there any serious question raised about whether slavery was right or wrong. In the late 18th century, that question arose in Western civilization, but nowhere else... A very readable and remarkable new book that has just been published -- "Bury the Chains" by Adam Hochschild -- traces the history of the world's first anti-slavery movement, which began with a meeting of 12 "deeply religious" men in London in 1787... The dozen men who formed the world's first anti-slavery movement saw their task as getting their fellow Englishmen to think about slavery -- about the brutal facts and about the moral implications of those facts. ...Even more remarkable, Britain took it upon itself, as the leading naval power of the world, to police the ban on slave trading against other nations. Intercepting and boarding other countries' ships on the high seas to look for slaves, the British became and remained for more than a century the world's policeman when it came to stopping the slave trade. ...The anti-slavery movement was spearheaded by people who would today be called "the religious right" and its organization was created by conservative businessmen. Moreover, what destroyed slavery in the non-Western world was Western imperialism. Nothing could be more jolting and discordant with the vision of today's intellectuals than the fact that it was businessmen, devout religious leaders and Western imperialists who together destroyed slavery around the world. And if it doesn't fit their vision, it is the same to them as if it never happened. ...The review of "Bury the Chains" in the New York Times tried to suggest that the ban against the international slave trade somehow served British self-interest. But John Stuart Mill, who lived in those times, said that the British "for the last half-century have spent annual sums equal to the revenue of a small kingdom in blockading the Africa coast, for a cause in which we not only had no interest, but which was contrary to our pecuniary interest." It was a worldwide epic struggle, full of dramatic and sometimes violent episodes, along with inspiring stories of courage and dedication. But do not expect Hollywood to make a movie about anything so contrary to their vision of the world.

Thomas Sowell: Ending Slavery