- The trafficking of young women and children across borders and even across the globe for the sex trade in Western democracies or in Eastern nation states
- The use of child labour to produce cheap fashion clothes, or designer label clothes for affluent Western markets
- The trade tarriffs and barriers, and the economic clout of multi-national business corporations
- Forced labour in oppressive regimes where human rights legislation has no moral purchase
These are examples of modern slavery.
So when Sepp Blatter, the President of the Federation of International Football Associations (FIFA) refers to the Christiano Ronaldo transfer saga and describes the lot of modern professional footballers as examples of ‘modern slavery’, I can only conclude that the person who utters such crass nonsense suffers from ethical myopia and may even be morally blind, and in need of urgent corrective surgery to the conscience.
Christiano Ronaldo last year signed a five year contract with Manchester United, his current employer, worth £30 million pounds. He was not compelled to sign. The amount is obscene but that’s the way of professional European football. A contract has both a legal and a moral function – it enables a relationship of trust and purchased loyalty, based on agreed cost and reward. Hard to define this as slavery. But let’s see.
How many hours would a child in India have to work sewing on buttons for Western high street clothing manufacturers, to earn one millionth of Ronaldo’s £6 million a year basic? £6 = 600 pennies; according to a recent Panorama programme some of those who hire out the children receive at best 10 to 20 pence per day? At twenty pence a day, that’s a pound a week – though if they work 7 days a week it could be £1.40. OK so in any case it would take thirty days to earn £6. £72 per year with no days off. Which means if the child works without any break, it would take 83,333 years to earn Ronaldo’s basic annual pay. That, Mr Blatter, is modern slavery.
What would that same £30 million over 5 years do to buy the freedom of women trafficked into the sex trade? Or what would it mean for coffee growers, banana growers, all those families whose goods are hoovered up by the consumer greed that has become epidemic? Go do some google searching – get the figures – do the math as they say in USA.
The Bible says some hard things about slavery, oppression of the poor, causing the little ones to stumble.
“He has shown you humanity what is good. And what does the Lord require of you but to act justly, and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God”.
The Bible also says some pertinent things about impertinent foolishness such as that of Sepp Blatter
“A fool takes no pleasure in understanding,
but only in expressing his opinion.” (Proverbs 18.2)
Oh, and a wise man once remarked, “He who mocks the poor insults his Maker”. (Proverbs 17.5)
A wise elderly saint once said she could find a verse in the book of Proverbs for most every kind of foolishness – me too!
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