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Here’s more from Disposable People by Kevin Bales. This section was about Brazil. I’m going to post it in several sections over the next few days. At the end of part four there are a specific things to pray for about human trafficking in Brazil.

The rise of modern slavery in Brazil has coincided with the destruction of the rainforest. Just like a natural disaster can cause destruction and disease in a city, “environmental destruction and economic disaster can cause an existing society to collapse—and the disease of slavery can grow up in the wreckage.”

As ecosystem are uprooted people are displaced. Those displaced workers have no means to support themselves. Some stay, some head to cities. Those in the cities join the already large ranks of the urban unemployed, creating a ripe crop of people vulnerable to being enslaved.

These people, most of whom used to live in and off the forest, are now taken captive to destroy it. This type of slavery is temporary: Once the land is stripped the people are discarded—often far from home and with no resources.

History of Slavery in Brazil
When Europeans, mostly Portuguese, came to Brazil they brought slavery. They enslaved the native people, but they weren’t numerous enough to meet the demands of their masters and many succumbed to diseases from Europe. To solve the problem of slave supply, the settlers began importing African slaves. It was closer to bring slaves to Brazil than to the Caribbean and The United States. Ten times more Africans were brought to Brazil than to the U.S., but since death rates on Brazil’s sugar plantations were so high, Brazil’s total slave population was never more than half that of the U.S.

During the time of the international abolitionist movement, Brazil simultaneously enacted laws limiting slavery and worked to increase the racism that drove slave culture. The intent of the laws was to appease the international community, especially Britain. Eventually, though, Brazil became the last country in the Americas to abolish legal slavery.

An economic boom in the 1960s and 70s brought people to the cities in hopes of factory work: This created huge slums of expectant workers. Inflation destroyed the nation’s savings, and foreign debt shut down the economy. Now Brazil has the greatest division of wealth of any country (along with Paraguay).

This economic and social climate is ripe for slavery.

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