Australasian Reflections on Modern Slavery

Hocking, BA; Muthu, Y

Australasian Reflections on Modern Slavery

Hocking, BA Muthu, Y

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Publisher:: Canadian Centre of Science and Education
Publication Type:: Journal Article
Citation:: Journal of Politics and Law, 2012, 5 (4), pp. 69 - 85
Issue Date:: 2012-01

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Field	Value	Language
dc.contributor.author	Hocking, BA	en_US
dc.contributor.author	Muthu, Y	en_US
dc.date.issued	2012-01	en_US
dc.identifier.citation	Journal of Politics and Law, 2012, 5 (4), pp. 69 - 85	en_US
dc.identifier.issn	1913-9047	en_US
dc.identifier.uri	http://hdl.handle.net/10453/22726
dc.description.abstract	In early February 2012, a federal judge threw out a law suit brought by PETA claiming that whales were `enslaved by SeaWorld (Note 1). While it met a swift and sorry end, the law suit provides an opportunity for reflection upon what constitutes slavery in the modern context. We are familiar with the Roman Spartacus slave scenario and the classic American Civil War Gone with the Wind slavery scenario but how comfortably do we connote modern exploitative labour situations, where individuals (human not animal), find themselves with no avenue of escape. The most commonly challenged modern slavery situations are those in brothels: to what extent do modern brothels in Australia cohere with our understandings of slavery? In a recent High Court decision, Justice Michael Kirby took a strongly different view from his fellow judges in that regard. And what are we to make of the PETA lawsuit claiming (unsuccessfully) that orcas in SeaWorld are enslaved to humans to do their unwilling bidding as entertainers? As a logical extension of that claim, ought we not view the doomed horses in the English Grand National as slaves? They also do their unwilling bidding as cash cows, many of them dying in agony as part of the very spectacle. Very many situations that potentially cohere with slavery today will not cohere with our traditional understandings and stereotypes let alone our modern and as yet not fully articulated understandings. This is a debate more familiar in the USA yet while Australia has not had an entrenched system of human slavery, an emerging jurisprudence points to modern incarnations while also reinforcing arguments about the effective enslavement of many Aboriginal people during the period of assimilation: a period that gave rise to the `Stolen Generation.	en_US
dc.publisher	Canadian Centre of Science and Education	en_US
dc.relation.ispartof	Journal of Politics and Law	en_US
dc.title	Australasian Reflections on Modern Slavery	en_US
dc.type	Journal Article
utslib.citation.volume	4	en_US
utslib.citation.volume	5	en_US
utslib.for	1801 Law	en_US
pubs.embargo.period	Not known	en_US
pubs.organisational-group	/University of Technology Sydney
pubs.organisational-group	/University of Technology Sydney/Faculty of Law
utslib.copyright.status	closed_access
pubs.consider-herdc	true	en_US
pubs.issue	4	en_US
pubs.volume	5	en_US

Abstract:

In early February 2012, a federal judge threw out a law suit brought by PETA claiming that whales were `enslaved by SeaWorld (Note 1). While it met a swift and sorry end, the law suit provides an opportunity for reflection upon what constitutes slavery in the modern context. We are familiar with the Roman Spartacus slave scenario and the classic American Civil War Gone with the Wind slavery scenario but how comfortably do we connote modern exploitative labour situations, where individuals (human not animal), find themselves with no avenue of escape. The most commonly challenged modern slavery situations are those in brothels: to what extent do modern brothels in Australia cohere with our understandings of slavery? In a recent High Court decision, Justice Michael Kirby took a strongly different view from his fellow judges in that regard. And what are we to make of the PETA lawsuit claiming (unsuccessfully) that orcas in SeaWorld are enslaved to humans to do their unwilling bidding as entertainers? As a logical extension of that claim, ought we not view the doomed horses in the English Grand National as slaves? They also do their unwilling bidding as cash cows, many of them dying in agony as part of the very spectacle. Very many situations that potentially cohere with slavery today will not cohere with our traditional understandings and stereotypes let alone our modern and as yet not fully articulated understandings. This is a debate more familiar in the USA yet while Australia has not had an entrenched system of human slavery, an emerging jurisprudence points to modern incarnations while also reinforcing arguments about the effective enslavement of many Aboriginal people during the period of assimilation: a period that gave rise to the `Stolen Generation.

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http://hdl.handle.net/10453/22726