King Leopold's Ghost

Out of sight mind is very convenient.   If we don’t see what is really going on it is easier for us as consumers to sleep at night.   Capitalism, colonialism and slavery are still practiced today, but in foreign countries and in a different manner.   Before reading King Leopold’s Ghost, when I thought of slavery I thought of the transatlantic slave trade or Africans working as slaves in the US.   After reading the book my eyes were open to a whole new perspective on slavery, capitalism and colonialism.  

When buying a product from a local store, one rarely inquires of the origin of the product’s raw materials as well as the working conditions / living conditions of the employees who created it.   Our clothes, toys, accessories, and many other items have more history than we decide to realize.   Take the designer imitation shoes you bought on sale from Payless for $10.   Did ever wonder why or how you could get such a “Great Deal!”   If the tag says “MADE IN CHINA”, it was produced for very cheap labor possibly by children working and living in conditions we would find unbearable for ourselves.   In a way it is slavery, because in poor countries jobs are often scarce and pay is bad.   If you have a job you will go to extremes to keep it, not because you like the job, but because you need it to survive.   The owner of the business knows that and therefore he or she has a control over your life.   This form of slavery is linked directly to capitalism and communism first because capitalism is motivation due to a potential profit.   Second because of the Dictators who run the country in such a way to allow those sorts of businesses to stay in production.

King Leopold managed to deceive many countries into thinking that his interest in Africa was that of a humanitarian wanting to spread the word of god, when in reality it was his plan to enslave the people to harvest rubber and other raw materials of the region.   I think that morally this was very wrong and it should...