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More from Disposable People by Kevin Bales.

A Culture of Division
“It is a feudal land overlaid with the thinnest veneer of twentieth-century capitalism.”

Society is set up with fierce loyalties that create divisions that breed conflict. People are bound first by blood ties to their immediate and extended family, then by their caste status. Although caste restrictions are no longer directly enforced (lower castes are not directly prohibited from certain jobs), they are so engrained in the culture that it’s nearly impossible to for lower castes to rise in status. The lowest castes, and therefore the worst jobs, belong to Muslims Sheikhs (who converted to more “recently”—two-hundred to three-hundred years ago) and Christians. These groups are the most likely to be in the bonded labor, and therefore at risk to being enslaved. One kiln owner told Kevin Bales that the system of debt bondage “work[s] in favor of these simple Christian, saving them from the responsibility of having to manage their own finances and keeping their wild impulses under control.”

As outsiders it might be easy to feel offended that Christian are more often enslaved, since our society identifies more heavily with Christian values. However it is much more effective and right to place our indignation in the fact that this is yet another faulty and oppressive “us vs. them” scenario.

Pakistan is also plagued by fighting between Muslim sects. Over half the population is under 18, and public education is severely deficient, so extremist religious education thrives to feed the conflicts.

As Pakistan, in reality and in facade, become more modern, these generations-old tensions become tighter because all sides are now in conflict with the modern world, in addition to all other conflicts. It’s not surprising, then, that violence abounds at all levels in Pakistan.

“One of the more horrific outcomes of this feuding is the incidence of rape and torture of women.” Obviously this victimizes and hurts women, but it also causes shame for whole families. Because men are ashamed to admit that they were powerless to protect the women in their families, it becomes disgraceful (and nearly impossible) for women to speak out and secure legal action for what’s happened to them.”

The System of Labor
The already abysmal working conditions are made even worse by the system of debt that holds families to their work and makes them extremely vulnerable to exploitation. In and of itself work at a kiln is not slavery. It becomes slavery when kiln owners are dishonest about debt and abuse and threaten workers to maintain the workforce.

If everything goes well and the whole family is working diligently, families can sometimes stay even with their debt. Any added expense is a major setback. Debt only gets worse if there is an illness or injury in the family. Both of those are likely as their work is dangerous and crowded living conditions make them prone to tuberculosis, typhoid, malaria, cholera, and diarrhea. If a family tries to eat less to make progress on their debt, they can’t work as well and lose income that way.

This system when it functions as it’s designed isn’t slavery. It’s not a happy and prosperous way of life, but it’s not slavery.  Workers are paid an agreed upon wage for their work. Even when indebt they are free to leave the land. The kiln owners don’t even charge interest on their debts. If they’re not happy with the situation with one landowner, they can even ask another landowner to buy their debt from their present landowner in hopes of finding a more profitable and comfortable life.

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