Of Human Bondage: The New Realities of Slavery and Consumerism

OF HUMAN BONDAGE:
The New Realities of Slavery and Consumerism
Guy Kirby Letts
“Wipe the sleep of slavery from your eyes.”—Tecumseh
A barrage of new studies have recently come out showing that slave, indentured, and child labour have not been so widespread since the turn of the 20th century. It is estimated that some 27 million people today are currently enslaved, and even though slavery is illegal in every country, it is a rapidly growing practice throughout the world.
Whether we are speaking of child prostitutes in Canada, enslaved brick-makers in
Pakistan, or domestic slaves in France, they are all the result of an expanding global economy.
Those who live their lives in violence and servitude, despair and bondage are the very same people who make it possible for us to fulfil our insatiable appetite to consume and ‘shop till we drop’. A can of Coke, a sporty pair of Nikes, a new Honda, the latest fashions at the GAP, or this weeks number one hit on CD, virtually all of our petty desires, wants and ‘needs’ are made abundant and affordable through the misery of others.
The chain of events goes something like this: 1) greedy transnational corporations and shareholders want larger profits, while national governments in ‘overdeveloped’ countries want increased economic growth; 2) all three groups (usually the same people) require increases in the consumption of goods in order to fulfil their ceaseless objectives; 3) to maximize increases in consumption, goods must be desirable, readily available and inexpensive; 4) the mass production of inexpensive goods and services requires the use of cheap labour—the cheaper the labour, the cheaper the good; 5) cheap labour is acquired by exploiting the poor, the desperate, and the vulnerable; 6) the increased demand for profits demands an increase in cheap labour which facilitates the global practice of slave labour. Nevertheless, while preaching the virtues of freedom from the comfort of our excessive decadence, we delight in the fact that we, and we alone, are the masters of our good fortune.
There is, however, a more insidious form of slavery that also operates to maintain the present order of things. While cheap labour is a necessary component in maintaining the cycle of greed, so too is the practice of consumption. Though it is less obvious and operates covertly, consumerism itself acts to enslave our minds, bodies, and identities on a daily basis.
Reproducing the practices of consumption requires the corporate reformulation of desire whereby our natural desires are redirected to conform to market commodities. Sexuality, for instance, takes the form of a shampoo, loneliness gets transfigured into phone sex, and the freedom of mobility can be found in a new car or cell phone.
Advertising is a crucial component in the decoding and recoding of our desires. The business of advertising works to destabilize our identities, our perceptions, and our ability to reason. We are constantly told that we aren’t skinny enough, pretty enough, smart enough, popular enough, or rich enough, but products X, Y, and Z will magically transform our ugly selves and our wretched lives. We must wear the right clothes, listen to the right music, and drive the right car in order to be accepted and liked by others. To ‘fit in’ we end up hiding behind thick masks of makeup and drunken personas. The good life indeed. The fact that such products don’t work, however, is testimony to our ongoing consumption. These attacks on our personhood are

not only demeaning but create deep insecurities which lead to and reinforce low self-esteem, loneliness, depression, anxiety, anorexia, and bulimia, to name just a few.
In order to combat suspicion, the state/corporate order tells us that not only is consumption a good thing, but consumerism itself is a democratic practice through which freedom, liberty and equality are realized. But how much freedom do we have when we are manipulated into buying products we don’t need. Where is the liberty when you’re stuck in rush hour traffic in your new car. And what do we mean buy equality if it is at the expense of someone else’s freedom. If we were not the passive recipients of persuasion would we continue to eat foods with carcinogenic additives, would we think that exploiting and sexualizing children was cute, or would we believe that Ford was better than Chevrolet?
The politics of consumerism acts to enslave both producers and consumers. Until we become conscious of our own slave mentality the number of enslaved labourers and consumers will continue to increase and with it, the continued decrease of our own humanity.
For Further Readings:
Alan Tomlinson (1990) Consumption, Identity and Style.
Andrew Ross (1997) No Sweat.
Arnold Itwaru (2000) Negative Ecstasy.
David Broad & Wayne Antony (1999) Citizens or Consumers?
David Howes (1996) Cross-Cultural Consumption.
Edward Herman & Noam Chomsky (1988) Manufacturing Consent.
Gary Teeple (1995) Globalization and the Decline of Social Reform.
Herbert Schiller (1989) Culture Inc.
Jeremy Brecher & Tim Costello (1994) Global Village or Global Pillage.
John Tomlinson (1991) Cultural Imperialism.
Judith Williamson (1978) Decoding Advertisements.
Kevin Bales (1999) Disposable People.
Leah Hager Cohen (1997) Glass, Paper, Beans.
Michael Hardt & Antonio Negri (2000) Empire.
Michael Parenti (1993) Inventing Reality.
Paul Du Gay, (1996) Consumption and Identity at Work.
Saskia Sassen (1998) Globalization and Its Discontents.
Shirley Steinberg & Joe Kincheloe (1998) Kinder-Culture.
Slavery Convention of the League of Nations (1926).
Supplementary Convention on the Abolition of Slavery… (1956).
The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948).
Timothy Luke (1989) Screens of Power.
Zygmunt Bauman (1998) Work, Consumerism and the New Poor.