• Zanz@lemmy.world
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      21 hours ago

      I think California is the only state that is a current initiative to ban prison slavery. It’s on the ballot this November and it’s important that we vote for it.

    • LoreleiSankTheShip
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      2 days ago

      What happens if you refuse to work? Are they allowed to punish you in any way?

      • Entertainmeonly@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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        2 days ago

        Yes. They cut you off from all human contact. Feed you the most bland food in a bar form literally called nutrabars. Lights are kept on 24 hours a day and you’re left in that place for as long as you refuse to work. Solitary confinement is no longer legal in most places but luckily restricted housing, segregated housing, and special or intensive management are the exact same thing but are completely legal still.

        Oh you want to see other people and get fresh air? Guess you’re willing to work now?

        • Olgratin_Magmatoe@lemmy.world
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          2 days ago

          A thing to note about those kinds of practices. They quite literally give you brain damage. Humans require socialization, they require a day night cycle, they require stimulation. To not have those things will fuck you up, and even if you do eventually get out it will mean that your ability to reintegrate into society is severely damaged. It means you have a higher chance of recidivism.

      • grue@lemmy.world
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        2 days ago

        In addition to what the other guy said, the parole board also looks upon it unfavorably. You don’t want to be a slave? Well then, for your “bad attitude” and “lack of rehabilitation,” get ready to serve your whole sentence instead of only half of it.

  • Crikeste@lemm.ee
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    2 days ago

    Typical Americans. They don’t even know slavery is still legal. No wonder nothing changes.

  • queermunist she/her
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    2 days ago

    Okay, but, also?

    Those migrant workers are so superexploited that they were considered cheaper before anti-imigration policies made them too scarce.

    Slavery was here the whole time.

    • lennivelkant@discuss.tchncs.de
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      1 day ago

      Maybe the issue isn’t ultimately the immigration laws or the prison complex. Maybe they’re just proximate causes, like symptoms of some deeper issue. Maybe it has something to do with greed and exploitation?

      Idk just spitballing here

      • Crikeste@lemm.ee
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        2 days ago

        Imagine thinking that Nazi was the first person to think this, and to laude it as some prophetic thought. God damn, dude.

        • Stern@lemmy.world
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          1 day ago

          Maybe I misread the person you were replying to but where did they infer Kanye was the first person to think that? Beyond that, even a broken clock is right twice a day.

  • Azdalen@beehaw.org
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    2 days ago

    Looks like Nathan just found out that, yes, US Prisons are indeed one of the former remnants of U.S. slavery…

    • Crikeste@lemm.ee
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      2 days ago

      They aren’t a remnant. The constitution explicitly states that slavery is ALLOWED AS A PUNISHMENT.

      What country has the most prisoners again? 🤔

      • Maeve@midwest.social
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        21 hours ago

        That’s probably why we criminalize more and more symptoms of desperation, simultaneously creating more conditions of despair, tbh.

  • underwire212@lemm.ee
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    2 days ago

    Whatchu think wage labor is? Companies lease you for your labor, and can nullify the contract agreement (i.e. fire you) at will. If you work for a wage, you’re a wage slave.

    • stabby_cicada@slrpnk.netOP
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      2 days ago

      On the one hand, yes, I can see your point.

      On the other hand, let’s not minimize American prison slavery by saying “we’re all slaves”. If you strain the definition you can argue all workers under capitalism are enslaved, but even then, some forms of slavery are far more brutal and dehumanizing (and racist. Let’s not forget racist) than others.

      • underwire212@lemm.ee
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        1 day ago

        Ah, I never meant to imply that “all slaves are equally treated just as bad”, thereby minimizing the suffering of others.

        Of course some forms are far worse than others. And of course we want to help those suffering the most.

        I meant my comment as a solidarity statement. Not the straw man you crafted, apologies for the misunderstanding.

      • nieminen@lemmy.world
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        2 days ago

        Yeah, especially since the majority of imprisoned people tend to be non-white (this is an issue with our justice system, I’m absolutely not saying non-whites do more crime, only they’re convicted far more often due to a racist system. A great many are innocent.) this will turn into 1 to 1 a facsimile of slavery from yesteryear. Bunch of white landowners leasing cheap labor (suspiciously predominantly non-white) from people who have no other legal options. Gross.

        • grysbok@lemmy.sdf.org
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          23 hours ago

          It was this argument with my mom that helped me realize she was the sort of racist that doesn’t think she’s racist. We were talking about how black men tend to get a longer sentence for the same crimes than white men. Her stance was pretty much “well, they shouldn’t have done the crime” and I’m like… Mom. Unfair is unfair. Thankfully we’re no longer close for other reasons.

      • explodicle@sh.itjust.works
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        1 day ago

        That’s like living as another slave of a dictatorship, versus living as a free person in a democracy. In context I think they’re talking about typical (dictatorship) corporations.

        • GoodEye8@lemm.ee
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          1 day ago

          He is most likely talking about the typical corporations, but it doesn’t mean he’s right about pointing the finger at wages. Wage labor isn’t the cause of wage slavery and neither is the existence of a company. It’s the authoritarian company structure, which is systemic to capitalism, that is causing an unfair power dynamic between the employer and employee. That power dynamic is what creates wage slaves.

          As far as wages are concerned you can get a wage and not be a wage slave. It comes down to whether the company is with an authoritarian (capitalistic) or a democratic (socialist) structure.

    • Comment105@lemm.ee
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      2 days ago

      Slaves can’t end their own contract at will.

      You people will never understand the difference.

      • underwire212@lemm.ee
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        1 day ago

        I mean yeah I can leave whenever I want…I can “choose” my master so to speak, but unless I want to starve to death I’m forced to choose a master.

        It’s literally just a nicer form of slavery. If you have a gun pointed to your head with the option “choose a master or I pull the trigger”, is that really a choice? I’d argue not.