there are so many thoughtful people who suddenly feel a sense of relief when the concept of “debt” is introduced into a discussion of modern slavery. “Oh. Ok,” we say to ourselves. “It’s not real slavery—it’s just some substandard and exploitive labor situation that’s probably sad and unfair, but it’s not the kind of slavery where you lose all your freedom and are forced through violence to work for another person.” Well, unfortunately it is. Slavery is about the total coercive control of another human being; in bonded labor, nothing could make that control more clear than the owner’s power to
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