this post was submitted on 01 Dec 2023
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[–] [email protected] 41 points 11 months ago (4 children)

I don't believe that. Chinas prison stats are around 1.69mil (which is oddly on par with the US - per capita not taken into consideration). However, per the Global Slavery Index, there's an estimated 5.8 million people enslaved there. And we know that there were over 1 million Uyghur Muslims, and we really don't even know the extent to which that is happening either.

I'd be willing to bet that there's a lot more slave/prison labor going over there than even we realize.

[–] [email protected] 30 points 11 months ago (1 children)

In the US, we don't call them slaves. We call them prisoners. That's how we stay off the index.

Never mind that we intentionally arrest specific racial groups more than others, and that the laws are such that you can be arrested for almost anything, including things like "looking suspicious while driving and then resisting arrest."

Slavery never left America. We just decided to start including some poor white people too.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 11 months ago

We just decided

At least half of them were forced into it by the government and are keen on reminding everyone else about it with their douchey flags.

[–] [email protected] 15 points 11 months ago

Yeah, I wouldn't put much stock into statistics coming from the Chinese government.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago) (1 children)

Do they count extreme work hours as effective slavery? If so, then I wouldn't be surprised at all if China has more "slavery". If not, then you'll have to quantify your numbers as well. If they're including things that are only effectively slavery, then both countries have millions upon millions more than either of those stats, so where the line is drawn makes all the difference.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 11 months ago

Company towns are effective slavery.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 11 months ago

The GSI is not a reliable index. The Walk Free initiative that publishes the GSI doesn’t use a consistent methodology for every country and will also uncritically accepts reports of human trafficking from unreliable sources.

For example, their report on China includes unverified claims of harvesting organs from members of the Falun Gong, a right wing cult operating out of the US. The Falun Gong also operates the Epoch Times which is a far right conspiratorial newspaper that has promoted Qanon, antivax propaganda, and claims of election fraud in the 2020 US presidential election. You can not trust their testimony on faith alone and yet that’s what Walk Free did.