Fifteen year old Samnang was playing soccer with friends when a man leapt from a passing truck and nabbed him.  His friends got away.  Samnang was drugged.  When he regained conscientiousness he discovered he was being held captive in the dank, cramped hull of a shrimp trawler.  From others around him Samnang learned that he was miles out at sea and would most likely never see the mainland again.  He was warned that if he offered any resistance to the captain’s demands he would be harshly beaten, locked in chains, and denied his daily bowl of rice.  And if he continued to resist he would be shot and tossed overboard.

Samnang couldn’t help but notice the open sores and scars on the hands of the other captives.  Since no gloves were provided, wounds were inevitable when rapidly removing fish with sharp spines and rough scales from the trawling nets.  Constant exposure to salt water prevented the wounds from healing.

No antibiotics were on board to prevent infections in the wounds, but plenty of amphetamines were available so longer working hours could be maintained.

Couldn’t we escape when docked? Samnang wanted to know.

First off, he was told, the boat almost never went to shore.  Instead their catch was offloaded onto larger refrigerated ‘motherships’, and any new supplies needed were exchanged at that time.  When dry-docking was required,  the enslaved crew members were marooned on a remote island while the ship was aport.  Sometimes they were left in cages.

Sept. 30, 2024  CBS Moneywatch

    A new investigation focused on three of the world's largest producers of shrimp released on Monday claims that as big Western supermarkets make windfall profits, their aggressive pursuit of ever-lower wholesale prices is causing misery for people at the bottom end of the supply chain.
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    Supermarkets linked to facilities where exploited labor was reported by workers include Target, Walmart and Costco in the United States, Britain's Sainsbury's and Tesco, and Aldi and Co-op in Europe.
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    The NGO's report stresses that using middlemen to buy the shrimp obfuscates the true sources of shrimp that appear in western supermarkets, so many retailers may not be following ethical commitments they've made about procuring shrimp.

  Is it so important that Costco, Walmart, Red Lobster executives and stockholders make an extra dime?  And who really, if anybody, is seriously being held accountable that slavery still thrives? 

 Obviously Wall Street is happy with the status quo.  Equally obvious, the GOP couldn’t be more smug and satisfied with corporate profits.

 

 The Dems should give a damn about human and worker rights but are too busy arguing over transvestite restrooms.  Meanwhile the glib TV evangelist in his multimillion dollar crystal cathedral preaches a gospel that totally omits every truth Jesus espoused. 

 There has to be multiple universes.  My ho-hum privileged middle class universe continues in its own trajectory, while Samnang’s universe that ignores human rights is in another.  Since the two are galaxies apart,  I can enjoy my Red Lobster endless shrimp dinner.  Samnang’s plight exists in one universe.  My endless shrimp in another.  Never the twain shall meet.

. . . and the band plays on . . .