A Petition To Free 27 Million Slaves(Chuck Norris On Ending Slavery In The 21st Century Alert)

A few years ago, National Geographic reported that there are 27 million slaves in the world today – more than any other time in human history.

In the 18th century, English traders were capturing and selling tens of thousands of Africans as slaves every year – at least 12 million were brought to the Americas and West Indies. (Muslim traders exported as many as 17 million slaves.)

The transatlantic slave trade was a very lucrative business, and very few in that day thought it inhumane. That's what made William Wilberforce and a small band of other abolitionists so unique.

William was born in Hull, England, on Aug. 24, 1759, the third child of Robert and Elizabeth Wilberforce. His father died when he was just 8 years old.

In 1780, at just 21 years of age, Wilberforce was elected to Parliament (the House of Commons). He quickly found his calling in social reform, especially after Easter of 1786, when he "experienced a spiritual rebirth" as an evangelical Christian, something which greatly opened his eyes to the abominable acts of human oppression, including the plight of "boy chimney sweeps."

Despite very serious health problems, for nearly 20 years, Wilberforce passionately pursued liberty from human domination, in particular the abolition of slavery. He explained:

So enormous, so dreadful, so irremediable did the [slave] trade's wickedness appear that my own mind was completely made up for abolition. Let the consequences be what they would: I from this time determined that I would never rest until I had effected its abolition. Between 1789 and 1805, Wilberforce and fellow abolitionist Thomas Clarkson brought over 12 anti-slavery motions before Parliament. Unfortunately, for a host of reasons, from greed and prejudice to the fear of populace response, all were defeated. At the same time pro-slavery groups grew so fast that a friend worried Wilberforce would be "carbonated by Indian planters, barbecued by African merchants and eaten by Guinea captains." Still, Wilberforce and the other abolitionists managed to obtain 390,000 British citizens' signatures for an anti-slavery petition.

Finally, in 1807, a bill to abolish the slave trade was finally passed by Parliament, though it would not be enacted throughout the British Colonies until July 26, 1833, just three days shy of Wilberforce's death.

Of course, eliminating the English slave trade was not a single man's doing. Though Wilberforce is regarded as a primary political leader of the movement, others played a pivotal role, including Thomas Clarkson (1760-1846), Hannah More (1745-1833), Olaudah Equiano (1745-1797), William Pitt the Younger (1759-1806) and John Newton (1725–1807), to whose preaching Wilberforce was exposed earlier in his life when he attended Newton's church. Wilberforce would later reflect upon Newton by saying he often found himself "reverencing him as a parent when I was a child."

On July 24, 1725, John Newton was born in London. His mother reared him in Christianity until almost the age of 7, when she unfortunately died of tuberculosis and left him with his father, about whom Newton said, "I was with him in a state of fear and bondage." Shipped to boarding school for a few years, he was then forced to sail with his father for years, then with the Royal Navy.

Eventually, he would attempt to make a fortune at slave trading, but, in the end, became a servant himself at the hand of a brutal taskmaster. He recollected this period of his life by saying he was "once an infidel and libertine, a servant of slaves in Africa."

While returning to England in 1748, the ship he sailed was caught in a turbulent storm and all onboard seemed doomed to perish. He prayed for mercy to God, about whom his mother taught him as a child. When the seas miraculously settled, Newton converted to Christianity, though he would not so easily convert from sailing slave-trading ships. (Though some contemporaries criticize his Christian practice in light of his reluctance to immediately leave behind sailing for slave traders, they overlook how entrenched and accepted slavery was as a form of commerce in his day.)

In 1754, Newton was caught up in the English Christian revival, abandoned slave trading and heeded the words of such men as George Whitefield and John and Charles Wesley. For years afterward, Newton tried to become a minister and, finally, in 1764 became a parish priest.

For the remaining part of his life Newton was intensely sorry for his involvement in the slave trade, seeking penance through his work as an abolitionist, alongside none other than William Wilberforce. William would periodically consult the wisdom of Newton, who, on one pivotal occasion, strongly advised him to remain in Parliament and serve God where he was, instead of doing so as a cleric. He followed Newton's advice, and the rest is abolition history.

Near the end of Newton's life, at 82, he was still echoing his regrettable association with the slave trade, saying, "My memory is nearly gone, but I remember two things, that I am a great sinner, and that Christ is a great Savior." Of course, his most well-known words of repentance are found in the classic hymn of the church, "Amazing Grace," which he inspirationally penned in 1772:

Amazing grace, how sweet the sound
That saved a wretch like me,
I once was lost, but now am found,
Was blind, but now I see.

In 1807, the same year the House of Commons passed the bill to abolish slavery, Wilberforce's friend and spiritual mentor, John Newton, died as well.

March 2007 marks the 200th anniversary of the abolition of the slave trade in all of Great Britain. A calendar of events for the whole year is offered for all to see at wilberforce2007.

To observe this hallmark, Bristol Bay Productions Friday released the movie, "Amazing Grace," which powerfully retells the story of Wilberforce, Newton and the abolition of slavery in the United Kingdom. The movie is also spurring on a worldwide movement, "The Amazing Change," a campaign to carry on Wilberforce's vision. I encourage everyone to see the movie and participate in "The Amazing Change."

It's difficult to believe that 27 million adults and children are still enslaved to oppression, despite that it is outlawed in most countries and that in 1948 the United Nations issued a Universal Declaration of Human Rights (Article 4): "No one shall be held in slavery or servitude; slavery and the slave trade shall be prohibited in all their forms."

What is modern slavery? Bonded and mandatory labor, slavery by descent, forced marriage and cruel child labor conditions serve as a few examples. As the anti-slavery website summarizes:

Women from Eastern Europe are bonded into prostitution, children are trafficked between West African countries and men are forced to work as slaves on Brazilian agricultural estates. Contemporary slavery takes various forms and affects people of all ages, sex and race. Yet the global community is positioned to do so much more now than it could in times gone by. There are at least 10 things you and I can do right now to help end slavery, including the signing of a worldwide petition.

We've been left an anti-slavery legacy and baton to bear from freedom fighters like Wilberforce and Newton. They made a particularly powerful team in stopping the slavery two centuries ago, and so can we today. Will you help?

Let's get to it! It's time to be a "Wilberforce" and "Newton" for a new generation!

WTO NEWS: 2006 PRESS RELEASES

Press/388
November 13, 2006

Listen to Voice of America broadcast about this proposal, Dec. 11, 2006

WTO Announces Formalized Slavery Model for Africa

US Trade Representative to Africa, Governor of Nigeria Central Bank weigh in at Wharton Philadelphia - At a Wharton Business School conference on business in Africa, World Trade Organization representative Hanniford Schmidt announced the creation of a WTO initiative for "full private stewardry of labor" for the parts of Africa that have been hardest hit by the 500 years of Africa's free trade with the West.

The initiative will require Western companies doing business in some parts of Africa to own their workers outright. Schmidt recounted how private stewardship has been successfully applied to transport, power, water, traditional knowledge, and even the human genome. The WTO's "full private stewardry" program will extend these successes to (re)privatize humans themselves.

"Full, untrammelled stewardry is the best available solution to African poverty, and the inevitable result of free-market theory," Schmidt told more than 150 attendees. Schmidt acknowledged that the stewardry program was similar in many ways to slavery, but explained that just as "compassionate conservatism" has polished the rough edges on labor relations in industrialized countries, full stewardry, or "compassionate slavery," could be a similar boon to developing ones.

The audience included Prof. Charles Soludo (Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria), Dr. Laurie Ann Agama (Director for African Affairs at the Office of the US Trade Representative), and other notables. Agama prefaced her remarks by thanking Scmidt for his macroscopic perspective, saying that the USTR view adds details to the WTO's general approach. Nigerian Central Bank Governor Soludo also acknowledged the WTO proposal, though he did not seem to appreciate it as much as did Agama.

A system in which corporations own workers is the only free-market solution to African poverty, Schmidt said. "Today, in African factories, the only concern a company has for the worker is for his or her productive hours, and within his or her productive years," he said. "As soon as AIDS or pregnancy hits—out the door. Get sick, get fired. If you extend the employer's obligation to a 24/7, lifelong concern, you have an entirely different situation: get sick, get care. With each life valuable from start to finish, the AIDS scourge will be quickly contained via accords with drug manufacturers as a profitable investment in human stewardees. And educating a child for later might make more sense than working it to the bone right now."

To prove that human stewardry can work, Schmidt cited a proposal by a free-market think tank to save whales by selling them. "Those who don't like whaling can purchase rights to specific whales or groups of whales in order to stop those particular whales from getting whaled as much," he explained. Similarly, the market in Third-World humans will "empower" caring First Worlders to help them, Schmidt said.

One conference attendee asked what incentive employers had to remain as stewards once their employees are too old to work or reproduce. Schmidt responded that a large new biotech market would answer that worry. He then reminded the audience that this was the only possible solution under free-market theory.

There were no other questions from the audience that took issue with Schmidt's proposal.

During his talk, Schmidt outlined the three phases of Africa's 500-year history of free trade with the West: slavery, colonialism, and post-colonial markets. Each time, he noted, the trade has brought tremendous wealth to the West but catastrophe to Africa, with poverty steadily deepening and ever more millions of dead. "So far there's a pattern: Good for business, bad for people. Good for business, bad for people. Good for business, bad for people. That's why we're so happy to announce this fourth phase for business between Africa and the West: good for business—GOOD for people."

The conference took place on Saturday, November 11. The panel on which Schmidt spoke was entitled "Trade in Africa: Enhancing Relationships to Improve Net Worth." Some of the other panels in the conference were entitled "Re-Branding Africa" and "Growing Africa's Appetite." Throughout the comments by Schmidt and his three co-panelists, which lasted 75 minutes, Schmidt's stewardee, Thomas Bongani-Nkemdilim, remained standing at respectful attention off to the side.

"This is what free trade's all about," said Schmidt. "It's about the freedom to buy and sell anything—even people."

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