Sue Bower
Jefferson City
Dear Editor:
In researching whether the "Babylon" referred to in Revelations might refer to another place in today's world, I discovered that Asia and the Arab world produce all the goods/animals ascribed to the falling Babylon (some of which are pearls, fine linen, silk, ivory, myrrh, olive oil, cattle, cinnamon). Yes, Asia is a major source of cattle and sheep. Slavery was one of the "goods." Slavery has existed since before the recording of human history.
Did you know that Portugal started "slavery?" Slavery did not come to the U.S. - at least in a major way - until the 1700s, with progressive European countries utilizing slave labor prior to that. Even in the 1700-1800s, America had only 3.26 percent of the slaves (Digital History). In fact, most of America's slaves came from the Caribbean and South America. Most slaves were people conquered by war and were considered "products" of war; many were sentenced criminals, bandit victims, or women forced into marriage. Many slaves served Muslim countries and "progressive" countries. During the Atlantic slave trade era, most slaves were kept in Africa, and most slave traders during this period were Africans enslaving fellow Africans. Their slaves were "needed" for soldiers, servants, work in agriculture, and for brides. Many were convicts.
The leading slave-holding countries today include:
India (where, according to a 2017 report, the caste systems segregates drinking fountains, prevents education, encourages debt bondage); China (abandonment of migrant children, the Falun Gong, for work in prisons and factories for cheaply made goods); Pakistan (bonded servitude); Bangladesh (corruption and forced marriages, drug production), Uzbekistan (state-sanctioned); North Korea (where 1/10 are slaves, prison labor camps, state-forced enslavement, forced marriages); Russia; Egypt; Iran; Iraq; the Philippines; Mexico and others.
I site the Global Slavery Index as well as inverse.com. Slavery has been and continues to be a worldwide enterprise.