Check out our new website! We’ve added more: stories from the frontlines, slaves and activists speaking out in their own words, stories from the heroes next door fighting slavery, films, research, even a music video! www.freetheslaves.netUP NEXT: FTS will be making an exciting announcement in 2 weeks! Hint: It’s global.
It’s good.
You’re part of making it happen!
Free The Slaves
Dear Friends,
A few years ago a little germ got hold of my brain.
I had been looking closely into the lives of slaves all around the world, and coming to understand the reach of this global problem. Then I started to meet with and work with freed slaves, to hear their stories of struggle and liberation. At first, these success stories seemed like a little band-aid on a big wound. But the more stories I heard, the more new freedom I saw with my own eyes, the more I could to see that freedom was possible. Then the little germ bit.
The Big Questions What if we took these lessons of freedom and spread them around the world? What if we listened carefully to freed slaves about how to help others to freedom? What if we looked at successes in communities, businesses, governments, the UN, and figured out to scale them up? All of a sudden I could see: there is no silver bullet to end slavery, there is a big box of different silver bullets, each one designed for a particular country, type of slavery, or product chain.
I got excited and started digging. How much would this cost? Where do we start? How long will it take? Is it really possible to bring slavery to an end after 5,000 years?
The Answers
I’m writing to tell you that I found answers to these questions, and to tell you about my new book Ending Slavery: How We Will Free Today’s Slaves. This is a book full of stories of liberation and hope as well as stories of how things have sometimes gone wrong. It sets out a plan, a plan to bring slavery to an end, forever.
Hard Lessons to Learn
Some of this book was hard to write. In 2000 I worked in Nepal and pushed hard for immediate action on bonded labor slavery there. I didn’t understand how much work is needed to prepare slaves for freedom and to protect them after liberation. When the government caved in and announced a new law, we were unprepared. The slaveholders turned on the slaves and lives were lost. It was a hard and bitter lesson about how not to eradicate slavery.
Yet, I have also been filled with joy to see families coming to freedom after generations of slavery. In the liberation of each slave we can see the liberation of all slaves.
Dream Freedom And I began to have a dream, that if we all work together, my son can grow up in a world without slavery. I dreamed that we can make a watershed in human history, with slavery on one side and freedom on the other.
Many Thanks
Many of you have been with me since Disposable People was published in 1999. I thank you from the bottom of my heart, the growing global anti-slavery movement has been nurtured by your thoughts, help, work and prayers.
Cassandra Clifford is the Founder and Executive Director of Bridge to Freedom Foundation, which works to enhance and improve the services and opportunities available to survivors of modern slavery. She holds an M.A., International Relations from Dublin City University in Ireland, as well as a B.A., Marketing and A.S., Fashion Merchandise/Marketing from Johnson & Wales University in Providence, Rhode Island.
Cassandra has previously worked in both the corporate and charity sector for various industries and causes, including; Child Trafficking, Learning Disabilities, Publishing, Marketing, Public Relations and Fashion. Currently Cassandra is conducting independent research on the use of rape as a weapon of war, as well as America’s Pimp Culture and its Impact on Modern Slavery. In addition to her many purists Cassandra is also working to develop a series of children’s books.
Cassandra currently resides in the Washington, D.C. metro area, where she also writes for the Examiner, as the DC Human Rights Examiner, and serves as an active leadership member of DC Stop Modern Slavery.
Areas of Focus:
Children's Rights; Human Rights; Conflict
