With the second annual Abolitionist Sunday to be held across Australia later this year, World Vision’s STEVE COOKE says “righteous anger” is growing about the millions of people still being bought and sold as commodities…
Last year I was in India visiting a number of community development projects facilitated by World Vision to alleviate poverty and injustice. The people working in these projects, both the World Vision staff and the community members were inspiring – something I am constantly reminded of as I visit projects around the world. However, God used this particular opportunity to reinforce a lesson I’d already learnt, but time had somehow robbed it of its potency. The lesson was the power and integrity of “righteous anger”.
Journeying through the tight lanes of vast slums, I was struck afresh by the determination and productivity people who work much, much harder than I do from day-to-day. Yet despite their determination, they rarely received the fruits of their labour in full. People work tirelessly for a wage they know will not be enough to provide for their families; but what choice do they have?
CHILD LABOUR: Children can be forced to take on hard and dangerous jobs just to make ends meet in poor communities.
What’s more, some people in poorer communities become victims of human trafficking, and children take on hard and dangerous jobs when, by all standards of childhood, they should be learning in schools or playing with other neighbourhood children. Many somehow balance their work with reduced hours at school, but most accept the reality that school is just not possible when every effort is needed to contribute to a household income.
I felt angered that children were not receiving every opportunity to enjoy childhood. I felt angered that wonderfully loving parents are forced to accept such duty from their kids – it certainly wasn’t what they had planned. I even felt angered on behalf of the factory owners whose desire is not to equate “childhood” to “cheap labour” but who are snared in an industry demanding ever cheaper and quicker production.
This anger, however, is not the kind that corrupts or erodes, but the kind of anger that motivates, inspires and dreams of a different way. I understand more about the anger Jesus must have felt in the temple when He witnessed something intended for good, a temple built to glorify God, being desecrated by those who sought their own gain. In the same way today, men, women and children who are made in the image of God are being desecrated for someone else’s gain.
Human trafficking is an enormous global industry where people are reduced to commodities – bought and sold for their productive capacity in manufacturing, agriculture, household service, or even for prostitution in the sex industry. Worldwide, it is estimated that 27 million people have been trafficked, some of whom reach Australia.
This is slavery today, and despite heroic effort over centuries to end the practice, it still flourishes and is as much a part of our global economy as it was 200 years ago. Once more, this evokes anger within me, along with motivation and inspiration for change, rather than spite or judgement. I credit this “righteous anger” to God’s shaping my own heart to closer reflect His will and heart for the poor.
A few years ago the movie Amazing Grace depicted the lifelong battle of William Wilberforce and other abolitionists who fought to end legal slavery in the British Empire. The film wonderfully portrays scenes of Wilberforce publicly denouncing slavery and fighting for the humanity of those whom society had deemed unimportant. He was angered, infuriated, by the indifference the majority of his neighbours felt for African slaves who bore the same image of God that they did – created for His glory, not theirs.
However, this anger did not cripple his heart or cause him to disengage from his society. Instead, he engaged even more by incorporating his righteous anger into his political life and fought for a more just society that valued every person as God values them. Over the years public support for the anti-slavery movement grew, but fell just as rapidly when people became preoccupied with issues that seemed more threatening to their own safety rather than the safety of others. The righteous anger felt by Wilberforce, set alight by his understanding of the Gospel, often put him on the outskirts of society were other social leaders dared not go – his words were counter-cultural and inconvenient.
“What would it look like if Christian’s once again embraced the abolitionist spirit and shed light on the ignorance and apathy that has let slavery thrive uncontested in our global society for so long?”
In his book Holy Discontent, Christian pastor Bill Hybels discusses the incredible alignment of spiritual fervour and frustration with injustice. He states that “what wrecks the heart of someone who loves God is often the very thing God wants to use to fire them up to do something that, under normal circumstances, they would never attempt to do.”What would it look like if Christian’s once again embraced the abolitionist spirit and shed light on the ignorance and apathy that has let slavery thrive uncontested in our global society for so long? What if a movement could begin, driven and inspired by a righteous anger, where our society began to celebrate childhood more fully and cared deeply for those living with the inhibiting circumstances of poverty and injustice?
Thankfully, we are beginning to see such a movement. Last November, thousands of Christians in churches around Australia recognised Abolitionist Sunday, part of World Vision Australia’s Don’t Trade Lives campaign which aims to finally bring an end to human trafficking and slavery. Abolitionist Sunday was an opportunity for churches to reclaim the spirit of the Abolitionist movement of 200 years ago and develop an inspiring righteous anger about people being bought and sold as commodities. On top of this, thousands of Christians are now buying ethically by ensuring the products they buy have not been made using child or trafficked labour.
I’m excited to see this movement growing, and even more excited to see how God will use such a group of passionate disciples, standing together with those suffering exploitation and injustice – becoming the next generation of abolitionists.
Abolitionist Sunday in 2011 will be held on Sunday, 21st November; visit www.donttradelives.com.au to find out more.
Steve Cooke is a Melbourne-based advocate for global justice and works with World Vision Australia’s advocacy team. He works with Australian churches and Christians to better understand the issues facing developing nations and make informed responses to poverty and injustice.
