Siddharth Kara on the Take Part Blog

Siddharth KaraSiddharth Kara, author of Sex Trafficking: Inside the Business of Modern Slavery, has begun writing for the new social activism Web site and blog Take Part.

In an ongoing series of blogs, Kara will provide detailed information on why the business of contemporary slavery has ascended in the post-Cold War era and the best ways we can abolish each mode of slavery, starting with sex trafficking.

In abolishing sex trafficking, Kara argues, “awareness and outrage are not enough. We must shed the propensity for sensationalism and initiate a more effective, analysis-driven response based on a granular understanding of the business of all forms of contemporary slavery, and none is a more sophisticated than the business of sex trafficking.” While the business of sex slavery continues to grow and despite the many obstacles to its eradication, Kara offers two points of hope:

“First, we do not have to ameliorate these supply-side drivers in order to make a considerable impact on slavery levels worldwide. The demand side of many modes of slavery, especially sex trafficking, is vulnerable to disruption, and I will outline how we can do so in blogs to come.

Second, take heart in the very first abolitionist movement which commenced when 12 men met in 1787 at a printing shop at 2 George Yard in London. Their mandate was preposterous —to abolish slavery in the British Empire at a time when even the Church of England had slaves. These men toiled tirelessly without telephones and blogs, traveling thousands of miles by horseback, ship, and foot to gather the information and support they needed to succeed. It took 50 years before a bill abolishing slavery in most of the British empire passed both Houses of Parliament. Only one of the original 12 crusaders lived to see that day. We, as the inheritors of this work, need not convince the world that slavery is wrong. That battle is won. We need only to use our collective will to organize a foundation of knowledge and better recommendations that must be bellowed to those in power with sufficient numbers and persuasiveness of argument, to convince them that slavery must be abolished, once and for all!

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