Slavery, and Greece

Modern slavery is everywhere – indeed, it is estimated that there are 30 million slaves around the world, involved against their will in child trafficking, forced labour, domestic servitude, sexual exploitation and criminal activity. Too often these victims are treated just as property or assessed cold-bloodedly for their worth; always it is about the convenience of others, or money. Is this how the Greeks are feeling now? [caption id="attachment_2944" align="alignright" width="265"] Slavery in ancient Greece[/caption] Coincidentally, a BBC documentary is about to be aired about how Britain was heavily involved in slavery, almost as much as America and at the same time; and about how the huge pay-out for British plantation owners demanding compensation for the loss of their slaves amounted to an incredible 40 per cent of the annual budget. The slaves themselves got nothing. The numbers were huge, and the callous calculation of the value of human lives seems now offensive, though at the time it was seen as just business. Is this how the Greeks are feeling now? Historical and modern day slavery are marked by an ethos of inhumanity which is deplorable to all of us who think about it. Slaves have the image of being from a sad, forgotten, vulnerable underclass, and it is shocking to think that the bones of a slave culture is being created in Greece, a civilised proud and beautiful country that is known as the birthplace of Western civilisation and that is in the heart of Europe, by powerful western institutions with vested interests. The political determination of Germany, France and others to maintain the Eurozone at whatever cost to the Greek people is overwhelming both common sense and also the economic forces that are likely to blow the EU apart not so far from now: does anyone care about the future of Greece, for Greece’s sake, except the Greeks themselves? Slavery is an ugly word and an ugly concept, but the truth can be brutal – as the Greeks, and all slaves, know.   [byline]    ]]>