Journey to Justice Part 4: The fabric of exploitation

The more I've read about issues of exploitation such as human trafficking and forced labour, the more I've realised that these issues can't be examined in isolation. The factors which make up the circumstances which drive people into slavery all contribute to the fabric of exploitation which is all around us, every day. The problem of poverty and desperation is not going away. Wars and conflicts create refugees and internally displaced peoples, who become desperate for means of survival, and outside the protection of laws for civilians. The rate of child labour has apparently doubled in Lebanon since the conflict in Syria has created an influx of refugees. The International Labour Organization (ILO) study 'Profits and Poverty: The Economics of Forced Labour', found that forced labour reaps at least $150 billion in annual profits for businesses around the world. Perhaps this is one of the reasons why 'despite decades of increasing global awareness of child labour, and the forced labour of children and adults alike, the world is still so far from stamping it out.' (Kielburger) Kielburger argues that western consumers just don't ask enough questions about where products come from. He argues that the more pressure companies feel from customers, the more attention they will pay to ethical sourcing.

Just a quick search on Google brings up some fairtrade clothing sites and they don't seem overpriced:
http://www.fabandfair.co.uk/
http://www.traidcraftshop.co.uk/c-232-fair-trade-and-organic-clothing.aspx
http://www.peopletree.co.uk/

This site provides links to fairtrade products available at major high street retailers and supermarkets:
http://www.fairtrade.org.uk/products/cotton/stockists.aspx

It's no longer a niche product that's hard to find, but buying fairtrade clothing will probably result in a change of habits - not just popping into town and picking the first thing off the rail. I'm challenged to change!

Journey to Justice Part 3: a voice for the voiceless

'Speak out on behalf of the voiceless,
and for the rights of all who are vulnerable.
Speak out in order to judge with righteousness
and to defend the needy and the poor.' (Proverbs 31:8-10)

I would love to think that our society is progressive, that our history may be full of primitive blood lust and violence, but that we've become more civilised and just over time.

I don't want to undermine where progress has been made, such as various reform acts passed to protect children in the Victorian era, or Wilberforce's abolition campaign in the C18th.

But the fact is, we create laws to justify the unjustifiable. The Abortion Act made abortion legal if two doctors agree that an abortion would cause less damage to a woman's physical or mental health than continuing with the pregnancy. The majority of abortions carried out are done on the basis of mental health. However, there is no real recognition that abortion actually creates mental health problems, as this truth is rather inconvenient for 'women's rights' and all the other 'pro-choice' arguments (though I would say that many women who have an abortion don't really feel they are making a 'choice' at all, but acting in desperation in difficult circumstances). The increasing number of post-abortion counselling services testifies to two generations of women who have used their 'right' to abort and lived with terrible feelings of loneliness, depression, guilt and shame afterwards. Medical terminology may dismiss an early-stage pregnancy as nothing more than 'tissue', but at 8 weeks' pregnant, your baby is 2cm long, complete with fingers and toes and a heart beating at around 160 beats per minute. I went through a miscarriage where the baby stopped developing at 8 weeks. The loss of this 'tissue' was utterly devastating and I know I am not alone in experiencing that pain. Obviously I didn't choose to miscarry, but does a woman with a crisis pregnancy who makes that decision to abort at 8 weeks really understand how she will feel afterwards?

The unborn child is totally dependent on its mother to protect it, and abortion violates that natural principle, that instinct, of motherly protection.

I know this is a sensitive issue, but I can't stay silent on it.

The sad fact is, that we use laws to supposedly protect and prevent (eg. people arguing that back-street abortions result in much more harm than if abortions can be made legally available) when they are just to make things more convenient. Around 40 women died per year through illegal abortions before the 1967 Act. Since the Act was passed, the number of abortions per year has risen to over 200,000 in the UK. Yes, we've saved those 40 women per year... At the cost of how many unborn lives?

I would apply the same principle to the sex industry. We want to protect prostitutes, and in the UK prostitution is legal, but soliciting and running or owning a brothel are crimes. Many brothels operate through legitimate businesses, licensed as saunas or massage parlours. A recent study found that 40% of prostitutes in the UK are foreigners from Eastern Europe or South East Asia- prime locations for young girls to be trafficked and exploited due to their poverty and corrupt policing. What fuels our appetite for the sex trade? Pornography. And this 'legal' so-called art form or means of sexual expression has so spiralled out of control that suddenly politicians are starting to panic and try to ban certain forms of it. This quote sums it up well for me:

'Pornography... (serves to) normalize and sexualize violence and dominance and portray women as constantly sexually available. It conditions consumers to separate sex from relationships, human connection, intimacy, and proximity (as in, sex isn’t about being near someone, it’s about being isolated and alone.) In essence, it feeds the flesh and starves the soul, bringing about no real fulfilment, only hunger pangs you no longer know how to satisfy.' (Hope for the Voiceless)

We've got to stop tolerating the fabric of exploitation that is woven throughout every area of our society, and it starts with our own personal choices. What kind of consumers are we? And what kind of society have we created through our own desire for increased convenience and less accountability; our passion for our rights, at the expense of the rights of others? I don't find these questions easy, I find them deeply unsettling. There are no simple answers.

Journey to Justice Part 2: Enlarge my heart

There seems to be a tacit agreement that our hearts have a limited capacity to love and care for others. When disasters strike, we watch a few harrowing images and then turn off the news. We think that we've seen enough, that our hearts can't take any more. It would be unreasonable to keep on feeling emotion for all those who are suffering.

But the Bible gives us no get-out clauses for sharing God's heart for justice, and loving others as He loves:

'The Lord is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and rich in love. The Lord is good to all; He has compassion on all He has made.' (Psalm 145:8-9)

'The righteous care about justice for the poor, but the wicked have no such concern.' (Proverbs 29:7)

“Administer true justice; show mercy and compassion to one another. Do not oppress the widow or the fatherless, the foreigner or the poor. Do not plot evil against each other.” (Zechariah 7:9-10)

'Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience.' (Colossians 3:12)

'This is how we know who the children of God are and who the children of the devil are: anyone who does not do what is right is not God’s child, nor is anyone who does not love their brother and sister. For this is the message you heard from the beginning: we should love one another... This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters. If anyone has material possessions and sees a brother or sister in need but has no pity on them, how can the love of God be in that person? Dear children, let us not love with words or speech but with actions and in truth.' (1 John 3:10-18)

There are no limits on God's love; how, then, can we place limits on our own love for others? If we are searching within our own hearts for a selfless, sacrificial love for others, we won't find it. But if we ask God to give us His heart, ours will overflow with grace and compassion.

Yes, there is loads of messed-up stuff in this world. Yes, it seems overwhelming. But we can't hide our heads under the Christian duvet and just wait for Jesus to come back with our fingers in our ears. We have to hear the cry of the poor and needy; we have to respond. We have to love in deeds and action, not just with words and grand sentiment. It's tough. It's so hard to avoid hypocrisy. But if we give up, we've lost sight of God's heart and that's a terrible, scary place to be - even more terrible and scary than facing the truth about the sin and brokenness in our world, and the Saviour who is the only One who can heal it.