Nick McAvoy | Slavery in the city of liberty

Slavery. Not somewhere else. Right here.

Earlier this semester I went to a presentation of the Not For Sale Campaign, a movement launched in February with the aim of abolishing worldwide slavery within our lifetime. Going in, I felt that while this was probably a worthy cause, it was more a global issue than a national one. Beyond that, I didn't see the relevance.

Imagine my shock then, to hear that approximately 20,000 people are smuggled into the United States every year, to say nothing of the thousands who are already here. Imagine my further shock to discover that Philadelphia was identified in 2004 by the Department of Justice as one of the top four cities in the nation for human trafficking.

So what do I mean by a slave? Quite simply, it's someone who is forced to work without compensation under threat of violence or coercion. Most are women, many are children, and a large proportion work in the commercial sex industry. They come from all over the world.

Why Philadelphia? "There are corridors of traffickers who get together," said Not For Sale president and University of San Francisco professor David Batstone.

If the network has "easy distribution.lots of customers, a big population [and] high demand; it's easy for them to have a ring that would stretch on the eastern seaboard."

That doesn't mean victims simply pass through Philadelphia. "[Philadelphia] is a final destination, particularly for the commercial sex industry," Batstone said.

You need look no further than the erotic services section of craigslist.org for compelling evidence of sex trafficking in the area. Lurking among generic ads for prostitution are posts which advertise things like Russian women new to the country who don't know English. Googling the phone numbers leads to interesting results, like an office supplies and stationery store on Vine St. whose number advertises "hot young Korean girls at your service."

It seems ridiculous that prostitution and trafficking are so blatantly available, but it's the truth. I didn't know about it, and I wouldn't be surprised if you didn't either.

As a result, traffickers don't need to be very careful.

"It's almost an act of impunity right now," Batstone told me. "Today it's their recruits who are fearful. The traffickers have no fear."

The good news is that there are no better people to fight the problem than students like us. "I thought the first strategy for building a movement was to get University faculty and students involved in trying to move it from invisibility to visibility," Batstone said.

Very little is actually known about the patterns and practices of trafficking so research needs to be done before action can be taken. That's right, research --- that thing you've gotten pretty good at doing for your classes.

To facilitate this awareness, Not For Sale is soon launching two wikis (think wikipedia) from their Web site - notforsalecampaign.org.

One will investigate whether companies use slave labor, and the other will focus on student research across the country. Students will be able to post any information they find to these sites.

And yes, University faculty can help as well by providing guidance and recruiting new students to make the school's efforts sustainable, Batstone said. Once liberated, victims still need help, especially because many of them can't speak English. Catholic Social Services, the only federally funded services provider for trafficking victims in Philly, needs volunteers for interpretation, legal advice and organizing food drives. Bilingual students, take notice.

A hundred and fifty years after the Civil War, slavery still exists. And abolition is as great a cause now as it was then. By fighting human trafficking, we can walk in the footsteps of those who made possible the freedoms enjoyed by millions today.

Nick McAvoy is a College senior from Phoenixville, PA and a blogger for The Spin. He can be reached at mcavoy@dailypennsylvanian.com.

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