slavery

The United States has once again surpassed its own world record for incarcerating the highest percentage of its population. According to a report released by the Bureau of Prison Statistics, one out of every 32 adults was in prison, in jail, on probation, or on parole at the end of 2005.

Zapping the Zanj: Towards a History of the Zanj Slaves' Rebellion
Revised on: 16 October 2002. This is an ongoing investigation. Credible sources regarding the Zanj are hard to come by. Melancholic Troglodytes would appreciate any assistance from readers.

The government acted to move against the use of slave labour in Shanxi and Henan provinces, freeing 600 people, 10% of whom were children. However government action appears, at least in part, to be motivated by workers action. A blog set up by parents in Henan reports having freed 40 children from slave labour using direct action.

Introduction

There were eruptions against the convict labour system in the South, in which prisoners were leased in slave labour to corporations, used thus to depress the general level of wages and also to break strikes.

Any discussion of racism needs to examine the roots of racism in order to understand it and to struggle against it effectively. There are basically three explanations for the existence of racism.

The United States government's support of slavery was based on an overpowering practicality. In 1790, a thousand tons of cotton were being produced every year in the South. By 1860, it was a million tons. In the same period, 500,000 slaves grew to 4 million. A system harried by slave rebellions and conspiracies (Gabriel Prosser, 1800; Denmark Vesey, 1822; Nat Turner, 1831)

A black American writer, J. Saunders Redding, describes the arrival of a ship in North America in the year 1619:

Sails furled, flag drooping at her rounded stern, she rode the tide in from the sea. She was a strange ship, indeed, by all accounts, a frightening ship, a ship of mystery. Whether she was

Concentration camps have always existed. Every time that capital feels the need to get rid of some of the labour-force commodity, proletarians are gathered into camps and forced to work. First this is to keep them under control, to prevent them from organising themselves against unemployment and growing poverty.

Spare a thought during this years Consumer Christmas Hellish-day season for those who won’t be pulling a cracker round the family table.