The topic of slavery has been brought up in this thread on the use of bondservant as opposed to slave to translate the Pali word dāsa. I don’t think arguing about whether to use more, or less, emotional terms to translate a Pali word representing problematic ancient Indian social stratification does any good. And I thought perhaps it might be more productive to have a conversation on how to end modern day slavery with people actually posting what they do in their lives, perhaps especially in the context of charity, to end modern day slavery.
I try to donate to effective charities that focus on ending extreme poverty around the globe but had never come across any charities within the effective altruism movement concerned specifically with modern slavery. A brief search though of “effective altruism slavery” led me to the Giving What We Can website page on Human Trafficking & Modern Slavery. The info on there is outdated, dating from 2016, but they recommend Freedom Fund as the best charity to combat modern day slavery. It seems that it might cost up to $687 to free one person from slavery, which is actually not that expensive. Nevertheless, I haven’t done enough research yet to determine how effective a use of money it is compared to other interventions for people suffering extreme adversity.
Anyway, I’d encourage you to take a look at the links I’ve posted and I’d encourage you to take some concrete action to help end modern day slavery and to post about it on this thread. Also, feel free to post your thoughts on what might be the most effective ways that you and larger society can help end the sad state of affairs that is modern day slavery.
As for me, since I haven’t done enough research, basically none, I’m not going to drop $687 into the the Freedom Fund right now. But for starters I’ll donate $100 and will keep an eye on further research and responses on this thread. I guess you’ll mostly just have to take my word for it but I’ve copied and pasted the text from my donation confirmation email minus identifying details and PayPal’s right to refund text.
Hello, [name deleted]
PayPal
You donated $100.00 USD to The Freedom Fund
Donation Details
Date: April 16, 2018 at 1:31:15 PM PDT
Transaction ID: 3831-5203-[deleted]
Purpose: TOGETHER WE CAN END MODERN SLAVERY - $100
Donation to: The Freedom Fund
Donation from: [email deleted]
Donation amount: $100.00 USDFunding Sources Used (Total)
VISA x-[deleted]
$100.00 USD
Amount you paid:
$100.00 USD
The transaction will appear on your credit card statement as PAYPAL *FREEDOMFUND.
Also, here’s a generic link that I was returned to from PayPal: Freedom Fund Donation Confirmation
I look forward to any and all future posts.
