 |
 |
 |
 |
|
 |
 |
The Soon Coming Judgment Of God Upon America and How To Escape It 206
workers earn.”
601
Closer to home, just across the Mexican border, workers don’t fair much better. A 2001
study conducted in 15 Mexican cities along the U.S. border found that workers earned far less
than required to meet a families basic needs. Along the border there are over 3,500 maquiladora
factories (assembly plants). These factories manufacture products for export to the U.S. and
employ an estimated 1.2 million workers.
“Based on pay slips collected from a number of maquiladora workers, a majority of them
take home less than 55.55 pesos a day, which is 28.6% of what a family of four needs. One
minimum wage salary in Matamoros provides only 19.6% of what a family of four needs.” Two
workers would earn only 57% of the basic needs. The basic needs include the basic nutrition,
housing, clothing, and non-consumable goods.
602
Factory Slaves
Kevin Bales, in his book New Slavery, estimates that there are approximately 27 million
slaves in the world today. He says that the majority of these, 15 to 20 million, are in India,
Pakistan and Nepal. There is also a large concentration in Southeast Asia, Northern and Central
Africa, and in parts of South America. While slavery is concentrated in these areas, it exists in
almost every nation of the world including the United States, Japan and European nations.
Today, in stark contrast to the past, slaves are sold for very little money; they are cheaper
than they have ever been in the past. In some parts of the world they sell for as little as $10. This
is largely due to the worlds booming population. Because slaves have a very low purchase price,
profits are not made by selling slaves but through their labor. The low purchase price and the
availability of potential new slaves create the situation where a slave’s life is a disposable
commodity.
603
Since slavery is illegal in most of the world, there are no readily available
statistics about the use of slaves in the production of goods unless we look at China.
What is known about the use of slave labor in Chinese factories is largely as a result of
efforts of Hongda (Harry) Wu. Mr. Wu is a Chinese American citizen who sought asylum in the
U.S. after fleeing China. Mr. Wu fled to the U.S. after being released from prison. He had spent
19 years in the Chinese Gulag for the theft of the equivalent of $20. As is true with a great many
Chinese prisoners, his real crime was criticizing the government. The theft he was convicted of
was a government fabrication. Mr. Wu has returned to China many times in order to expose the
use of slave labor. In 1995 he was apprehended trying to enter China, he was tried and given a
15-year sentence on the charge of espionage. Later that year he was expelled from China after an
international outcry.
In China, all prisoners “whether sentenced or not, are required by law to engage in forced
labor.”
604
In 1992 Mr. Wu estimated that there had been 50 million people in China that had been
sentenced to labor reform camps over the previous 40 years. He estimated that in 1992 the
population in the labor reform camps was 16-20 million.
605
According to the evidence acquired by Wu, labor reform camps do not reform people into
“new socialist people,” they merely enslave the Chinese people and convert their blood, sweat
and very lives into communist profits.
606
Further, according to Mr. Wu, the Chinese prisons are
all factories or workshops in which the prisoners perform slave labor. Each prison has two
 |