slave labor – Engaging Peace

Let’s face it! There has been a lot of recognition of the degrading and commercializing of Christmas. The endless Christmas carols crowding into our airwaves, the nonstop commercials for sales and Santas, the constant pressure to buy, buy, for what used to be truly a holy day.

Something similar, though still on a smaller scale, has happened to Labor Day—a day intended to celebrate working people—a celebration proposed by and achieved through the work of labor unionists, many of them immigrants. Hmmm, labor unionists and immigrants, I wonder why there is such reluctance on the part of media and politicians to remind the public of those roots.

Yes, Virginia, the “holiday” that provides U.S. citizens with one of those increasingly rare three day weekends, now heralded as signifying the end of summer, back to school, barbecues, and flag-waving parades, originated as a national holiday in the triumph of a labor union protesting inhumane treatment of workers during an economic recession.

Fortunately, there have been several good essays published reminding us of the significance of Labor Day. Check out the following:

Ron Ashkenas, in Forbes magazine, suggests that to put meaning back into Labor Day, “perhaps Labor Day should recognize the productivity and contributions of office workers, knowledge workers, and those in service industries along with union workers, whether they are steelworkers, hospital workers, or government employees.”

Mary Kay Henry, in The Nation, explains why, for American workers, Labor Day is “a reminder of the struggles we have won—and those that lie ahead.”

In The Monitor, Harrington and Olivares remind us what to celebrate today: “Labor Day is when we should pay respect for the self-sacrifice, jailing, beatings and sometimes death [American workers] endured. Their struggles for justice and dignity brought about the 6-day work week and then the 5-day work week. They helped to narrow standard working hours to 10 hours daily and then eight hours. They brought about the minimum wage and overtime pay and they gave rise to the idea of national health care.”

And, in an article that should really get you up and paying attention, Richard Eskow, on Truthout asks “How Much Will the War on Unions Cost You This Labor Day?” He provides a detailed and convincing answer. Read the article and learn how important it is to all of us for working people to continue fighting for a better future.

Many obscenely rich, disgustingly greedy, dangerously powerful people and their followers, in and outside the military-industrial complex, with its underpaid (and sometimes slave) workers overseas, have been “laboring” hard (spending fractions of their wealth) to take away those hard-won achievements. Let’s stop rewarding the rich for their greed and honor the people who really did make America great—the working people. Not just today but every day.

Our guest author for a new series on the Cambodian genocide and its aftermath is Dr. Leakhena Nou, who has done extensive research on Cambodians both in Cambodia and the Cambodian diaspora.

An estimated two million Cambodians died under the Khmer Rouge between 1975 and 1979. Over one-quarter of the population perished due to forced evacuation, forced labor, rape, execution, torture, starvation, and disease, among other crimes committed against the vulnerable.

Choeung Ek commemorative stupa filled with skulls. Photo by Quadell, in public domain.

Under the leadership of Pol Pot, the Khmer Rouge instituted an oppressive policy of radical social engineering aimed at achieving the “super great leap forward.” This secured the Khmer Rouge’s place as one of the most brutal regimes of the 20th century.

The Khmer Rouge forcefully evacuated the inhabitants of Phnom Penh and other cities, marching them to the countryside, where they worked as slave laborers in agricultural work camps. City dwellers, lacking any farming experience, often died of starvation and/or torture in labor camps.

In addition to depopulating the urban centers and imposing a farm-based economy, the Khmer Rouge also confiscated all private property, banned religion, and shut down all social institutions, including schools and hospitals.

In its attempt to create a classless society, the Khmer Rouge quickly and systematically wiped out Cambodia’s intellectual, economic, cultural, and social elites.

Khmer Rouge soldiers executed artists, teachers, lawyers, doctors, journalists, and other members of the “intelligentsia,” along with anyone who displayed any vestiges of ethnic, religious, or class distinction. People were murdered simply because they wore glasses–a sign of presumed wealth, high social status, and education.

After sweeping the more populated cities, the Khmer Rouge forced surviving members of the targeted groups into labor camps, where they were often literally worked to death, tortured, and/or eventually executed at prisons such as Tuol Sleng (Security Prison “S-21”) or in the infamous Killing Fields such as Choeung Ek.

Leakhena Nou, Associate Professor of sociology at California State University at Long Beach and director of the Applied Social Research Institute of Cambodia

What’s it all about, Alfie et al.?

The Khmer Rouge genocide (Part 1)