on 30/5/01 9:10 PM, Gautam Mukunda at [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
>> Behalf Of William T Goodall
>> on 30/5/01 2:21 AM, Gautam Mukunda at [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
>>>> Behalf Of William T Goodall
>>>> William T Goodall
>>> Conscription, of course, is not slavery.
>>
>> Yes it is.
>
> And saying so makes it true, of course. Here's the thing about
> slavery - you don't get paid. You have no rights. You can be bought
> and sold.
Slavery has existed in many forms in most societies through most of history.
Slaves don't necessarily not get paid - in some societies slaves could own
property and make money. Freedom through self-purchase was sometimes
possible. (And people could sell themselves (or be sold) into fixed terms of
slavery to pay debts (termed indenture in the USA to distinguish it from the
harsher slavery of the blacks.)) Slaves frequently had rights (lesser rights
than freemen, but rights nonetheless.) As for being bought and sold - see
below.
> Amazingly enough, _none_ of these are true about
> conscripts. Conscripts are paid. They do have rights.
Not valid points as shown above. And conscripts have lesser rights since
they are subject to military law.
> And they
> can't be sold.
[1] Governments have a monopoly on conscription so the issue of buying or
selling conscripts doesn't arise.
[2] "The Anti-Slavery Society for the Protection of Human Rights in London
estimates that debt bondage (in which impoverished, illiterate people work
for very low wages, borrow money from their employers, and pledge their
labour as security), serfdom that is called contract labour, sham adoptions,
servile forms of marriage, and other forms of servitude still oppress more
than 200 million poor people in the developing world."
These people can't be sold either but it still looks like slavery to me.
> They aren't owned by anyone. They are citizens,
> engaged in the ultimate duty of citizenship - protecting the existence
> of their society by risking their own lives in its defence.
I think it is up to *me* to decide when and where I risk my life, and anyone
who acts otherwise needs some ungentle re-education.
--
William T Goodall
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
http://www.wtgab.demon.co.uk
