China Slave & Child Labor Caught In Glare Of Olympic Spotlight - 06/20/07

[Omaha Steve]

http://www.laborradio.org/node/6188

China Slave & Child Labor Caught In Glare Of Olympic Spotlight - 06/20/07

China’s Olympic spotlight is threatening to burn out under building pressure concerning rampant slavery and child labor violations. Jesse Russell reports.

China had been hoping to use the opportunity as host of the 2008 Olympic games as an opportunity to show the world a modern country thriving in the new world economy. However, recent discoveries of forced labor camps in Shanxi (shan-she) and Hunan (huh-nan) province have tainted the coming celebrations and distracted from the positive Olympic news reports coming out of Beijing (bay-jing). A report from the Chinese media says that more than 570 workers – including farmers and children as young as eight – have been rescued from working in brick kilns and iron and coal mines. They worked more than 14 hours per day, received little to no pay, and were beaten if they tried to escape. Reports Tuesday morning also suggested that some young girls were forced into prostitution. 168 arrests have been reported so far and while many local officials are now touting themselves as liberators, the media isn’t biting accusing them of turning a blind eye to human slavery for possibly more than a decade. Chinese media, such as the Guangzhou (Gwong-joe) Daily, suggest the trade could not have lasted so long without local government complicity.