Slum dwellers are recruited in the cities with promise of steady work and good pay, then moved in cattle trucks hundreds of miles to charcoal camps. On arrival they are told they are already in debt for their transport and the food provided on the journey. The boss takes the identity card and labor card as collateral. He charges for food and lodgings. When the forest around the camp has been consumed in two or three years and the operation closes down, most are still in debt and simply abandoned.
Bales offers no simple formula to end slavery.
While the labor supply exceeds the worker needs of society, we will have slavery. But, he argues, the strategies that work best to stop overpopulation are the same that are needed to wipe out slavery. They are education and social protection against poverty in old age and illness. Gary MacEoin lives in San Antonio.