Investigators warn that low-cost manicures in Berlin and across German cities are often sustained by labor exploitation and human trafficking networks, particularly involving Vietnamese workers.
Tag: slavery
Cyber slavery rings are growing across the region, trapping young jobseekers in brutal scam compounds — and fueling a global criminal enterprise.
Some call it “Grandparent Slave” syndrome, where grandma (and sometimes grandpa) are increasingly forced into caregiving duties that leave them exhausted and can even affect their health.
The rescue of 163 Chinese workers from a BYD plant in Brazil reveals the persistence of labor exploitation in the 21st century. This case, alongside reports of politicians with slave-owning ancestors facing similar accusations, underscores how Brazil’s colonial legacy continues to shape its present.
The end of the Great War, the death of a prominent Palestinian figure and the birthday of an Academy Award-winning actor.
For centuries, European colonial powers and Arab traders kidnapped millions of Africans as slaves. Local tribes in Benin and other West African countries often helped and became rich themselves. Now the descendants of the slave traders are coming to terms with this troubling history.
Greta Thunberg tapped into an growing area of scholarship when she wrote recently that to save the planet, we first need to dismantle ‘colonial, racist, and patriarchal systems of oppression.’
Over the past few years, a growing awareness of the colonial histories of individuals or racist connotations of certain names has led to renamed landmarks and torn down statues. But in the Netherlands, activists may be taking the process to a whole new terrain: products.
In 2020, Salt Lake City abruptly terminated its K9 unit for pursuing and apprehending suspects. Not much changed. In fact, a lot of the evidence around using police dogs is sketchy, and the practice has worrying connections with racial terror.
On the same day that Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte officially apologized for the Netherlands’ involvement in the trans-Atlantic slave trade, in neighboring Belgium, a parliamentary committee was unable to garner enough political support to apologize for decades of brutal colonization in central Africa.
Chicken waffles, mac and cheese, cornbread… these iconic African American dishes aren’t just trending on Netflix — they’re also making a name for themselves in the capital of haute cuisine.
As France and its overseas departments mark 200 years since Napoleon’s death, his role in spreading slavery to the islands of Guadeloupe and Martinique is prompting more and more to reverse his heroic legacy.
-OpEd- BUENOS AIRES — Anti-racism protestors who’ve demonstrated in recent weeks, and in countries all over the world, are taking their frustrations out on historic figures, toppling or defacing statues of people who embody past injustices. And one of the more typical targets in all this is the man who, back in 1492, famously sailed […]
Anti-racism and anti-colonial protests sparked by the police killing of George Floyd raise new questions about how societies fill their public spaces.
A report turns much-needed attention to a dark and long-ignored chapter in Swiss history.
The accusation is serious: North Korea is sending forced laborers to Poland to be able to send money back to the regime. No one wants to take responsibility.
The economic collapse has created opportunities for Colombian gangs to exploit Venezuelan women and transport them abroad.
MONTREAL — In the aftermath of Charlottesville, New York City mayor Bill de Blasio announced that he was considering taking down a statue of Christopher Columbus because it could be offensive to Native Americans. If you were to believe it, this statue risked arousing hate, like so many symbols associated with European expansion and American […]
-Essay- Does anyone even read Henry David Thoreau anymore? Today, July 12, marks the 200th anniversary of the American poet and philosopher’s birth. And much is being said and written about him — not all of it flattering. His work is “anecdotal,” some say. Or “irrelevant,” “juvenile” even. To answer the initial question, I do. […]
The minority Yazidi people were killed and taken captive by the Islamic State. Once held as sex slaves and child soldiers, several survivors tell of the psychopathic madness of the jihadists.
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How UNESCO Got It Wrong In Africa
-Analysis- PARIS — Since 1972, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, or UNESCO, has maintained a “World Heritage List” of sites that it deems to have an exceptional value. This list, which aims to preserve the world’s cultural and natural heritage, has sparked global tensions and drawn criticism that it doesn’t give adequate […]
Among the Berber slaves of Mauritania, property of Arab masters despite their shared Muslim faith.
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Sitting In History
My wife was sitting in the opulent mansion of the Madewood plantation, near New Orleans — its antebellum elegance in stark contrast with its troubled history of slavery.
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On This Day – January 31
You may know torch songs from Rihanna, but what about Enheduanna? In ancient Mesopotamia, she wrote the very first love songs, holding back very little. Watch her burn …
To remember the iconic canopied path of the Oak Alley Plantation in Louisiana, I took both this picture and a piece of bark that had fallen down. I keep it in my living room, next to an ornate leaf from the Taj Mahal which had also fallen down — I’m not that kind of tourist! […]
Demographically and economically, Africa is well poised for success. But it needs to find new forms of growth and governance – and an end to bloody conflict – to realize its potential.
In the Democratic Republic of Congo, a crackdown on trafficking rings is not enough – there is also the question of parental responsbility. And extreme poverty.
How many slaves are there around the world? What’s the (government-set) price of marijuana in Uruguay? Can an online video game star be a millionaire? Take a tour of the news by the numbers…
What the death of an overworked young German financial trainee tells us about the drunken carousel of the 21st century economy.
SAINT-DENIS – Those going through the Legion d’Honneur Square, not far from the Cathedral Basilica of Saint Denis, in the northern Seine-Saint-Denis suburb of Paris, will perhaps wonder about the presence of a globe-shaped monument in the middle of a flower bed. As they come closer, they will see that names, surnames and numbers have […]
Across the border from Mali, the former French colony of Mauritania is prime territory for Islamist leaders, as poverty and radical preachers lay the groundwork for Jihad.
LE NOUVEL OBSERVATEUR (France), THE GUARDIAN (UK) Worldcrunch PARIS – Spanish fashion retailer Mango has issued an official apology for advertizing a necklace on its French website as “slave style,” blaming it on a “translation error.” Screenshot of the incriminating ad on Mango’s French website now removed French actresses Aïssa Maïga and Sonia Rolland quickly […]
FRANCE – They are the “invisibles.” Behind closed doors, they cook, clean, take care of children and the elderly. They are often the victims of abuse – sexual and physical – they are underpaid and overworked – sometimes for more than 65 hours a week, they don’t get benefits and rarely have organizations to defend […]
FRANCE INFO, SLATE AFRIQUE (France) Worldcrunch PARIS – A French woman of Guadeloupian origins, Rosita Destival, has filed suit against the French state for not having emancipated one of her ancestors after the legal abolition of slavery. The woman’s lawyer cites the 2001 bill stating that slavery was now considered to be a crime against […]