Traditional, conservative seders can focus too much on the importance of the jewish people in bondage, and often they gloss over the people left out of that scenario. A more progressive seder will include women left out of most haggadoth and will focus on current oppression and injustice. For an example of a feminist seder check out the Ms Magazine article, http://msmagazine.com/blog/blog/2011/04/19/seder-time-an-orange-a-tambourine-guacamole/. This post, however, will focus on Freedom Seders, and oppression through the ages. Freedom seders have a bittersweet history. The first Freedom Seder was a year after MLKs assassination. On april 4th 1969 the first freedom seder took place, with over 800 jews, black, christians etc. (http://www.theshalomcenter.org/node/562) Freedom Seders celebrate peace, inclusion, liberty and can be curtailed to whatever specific cause the hosts feel like celebrating or promoting. This is without a doubt the best way to celebrate a holiday. It has been said that judiasm is about more about actions than beliefs. A progressive seder, that celebrates tradition while working towards freedom for all, is what religion should be about.
Its most important for jews to remember that the slavery and oppression depicted in the passover story is not a unique event. Oppression has existed on every continent, in every era. Rome and Ancient Greece promoted in freedom and enlightenment, but it was the same kind of freedom that is in the US consititution; the kind where freedom excludes slaves and women.
Europe in the middle ages had its fair share of slavery as well;
And of course, the passover story tells us that there was slavery in ancient egypt, but the slaves were not only jews.
Throughout the Middle East and Africa, old artwork depicts brutal slavery.
And then there is the well known slave institution in the US.
Most people have a personal reference point when they hear words like slavery or oppression. It is important for everyone to recognize that this is a global issues, and has been present all over the world for as long as we can trace. It is still prevalent today, though its face has changed.
Today slavery comes in serval forms, through human trafficking. Sex slaves come from every country, and are sold in every country, for an average of 90 $ per slave. There is also a considerable amount of slave labor, and most troubling of all, child slavery.
Sex slaves are forced into prostitution, and are not permited to keep their earnings. Often they are stricktly controled and ostracized from the community. This keeps them dependent on their captors, pimps, masters, owners... The imagry of slavery has changed. Instead of being packed on to slave ships, women and other sex objects are figurativly packaged in a different way:
The fresh meat image is unnerving but at least it raises awareness of the issues.
Like other forms of slavery, sex slavery is not new. Although it is easier now that technology is contributing to a world wide market, sex slavery is an old practice.
One the most horrific abuses of power is when children are forced into sex slavery.
Sex slavery is not the only type of slavery children are sold for. In many countries that suffer from civil unrest children are taken in as part of their gurrilla armies.
I cannot think of a more devastating way to ruin a child's innocence than through sex slavery or forced warfare. And then there is the common labor slavery, and children from poor countries and poor families are particularly vulnerable to that.
The objective of these images and depressing captions is to drive home the point that the world is not free. Passover should be a time to celebrate the accomplishments we as a people have made towards freedom, and to acknowledge that we are far from our ultimate goal.
To stop all kind of slavery is ... so important for all the world. Good pictures and stories about this important and sad topic here.
ReplyDeleteWOMEN should lead the world, all the problems don't vanish but men had already their moment,
thousands of moments....
A Man from Scandinavia