Homeless being turned into 'modern slaves' by criminal gangs, says charity

[Judi Lynn]

Source: Observer

Homeless being turned into 'modern slaves' by criminal gangs, says charity
Gangs are preying on vulnerable people sleeping rough in UK cities and forcing them to work for nothing
Jamie Doward and Alex Binley The Observer, Saturday 17 September 2011

Rough sleepers are being turned into "modern-day slaves" by criminal gangs operating across the country, according to one of the UK's leading charities helping people living on the streets.

Thames Reach says it is aware of reports that gangs are targeting homeless people in London, Birmingham, Manchester, Southampton, Dover, Leicester and Luton.

The revelation comes after a raid on a travellers' site in Bedfordshire by police last weekend that led to the arrest of four men and a woman on suspicion of slavery offences. Police said the alleged "slaves" were mostly English, but some were of eastern European origin. Detectives said they were all vulnerable and were either homeless people or alcoholics who had been recruited by "gangmasters" offering money.

But according to Thames Reach this was not an isolated incident. The charity said it has been contacted by 22 central and eastern European rough sleepers who had run away from gangs this year. It said some were fearful for their lives.



Read more: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/sep/18/slavery-homelessness-gangs-immigration-europe

[dkf]

1. Geez forced to work in a bakery? How odd.

"He was then driven to a house in Birmingham where he lived alongside nine other victims of the four-strong gang who were taken each day by minibus to work at a bakery in Luton."

[lonestarnot]

2. Wonder if he ate free donuts?

Guess not. x(

[Bluenorthwest]

3. How is that odd? Forced labor is forced labor. Do you think

slaves in the American South did not do kitchen work? You expect slaves only in cotton fields? In the US most who are forced into labor are forced domestic labor, locked in homes, doing housework in the 'burbs.

[dkf]

8. I would think criminal gangs forced people to sell and transport drugs or something.

Are they now running bakeries?

[fishwax]

12. traffickers bring forced labor to a lot of environments, including agriculture and service

[NYC Liberal]

13. I assume the criminals get paid for providing the labor/slaves.

That's why they do it.

[Go2Peace]

16. People need to travel and understand the world more.. Yes organised

criminals run enterprises all over the world.

Notice you don't hear as much about the various "mafia"s anymore? They are integrating into big business.

[malaise]

4. This in 2011

What a planet!

[sam11111]

5. nt

Nt

[Name removed]

6. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[WinkyDink]

7. "UK" would be helpful, in the thread title.

[The Backlash Cometh]

9. It's a symptom of anarchy.

[readmoreoften]

14. It's a symptom of living in a system that sees people as mechanisms for profit: capitalism.

[The Backlash Cometh]

15. Yes, and the absolute form of capitalism is anarchy.

Money buys all.

[Starry Messenger]

10. But Communism was defeated so that's all that matters.

Now those folks are free to be homeless slaves. :sarcasm:

[fishwax]

11. "rough sleepers"

Haven't heard that term before.

It sounds like this is (at least partly) an immigration scheme, similar to the smuggling/slavery rings that are occasionally uncovered here in the states. But then it also talks of one person who was targeted while he was homeless as well.

[Xithras]

17. It's one of the oldest terms for homelessness around.

What we might call "living on the streets", the British call "living rough". Rough Sleeping is simply their term for sleeping on the sidewalk or in an alley.

The term has only made minor inroads into American English. The term "rough-housing", for example, goes back to the 1800's when homeless men would squat in abandoned buildings (or sometimes be offered otherwise unused buildings as shelter). Because they tended to be loud and lawless places with lots of fighting, the term "rough-housing" became attached to the concept of people being loud and fighting. When people fought, they were "acting like they lived in a rough house."

The statement that someone has led a "rough life" was also originally a British term, which just meant they'd lived a life punctuated by homelessness. In the U.S., the term simply became synonymous with "tough life".

There's some indication that it may trace it's roots back to the French word "ruffian", or may even go back to the Old English word "Ruh", which meant untamed and uncultivated (probably as in "People who live in the wild-lands and woods").

Yes, I'm a word geek. No, I didn't know the history off the top of my head and had to look it up :)

[fishwax]

18. interesting, thanks for the history

"Yes, I'm a word geek. No, I didn't know the history off the top of my head and had to look it up :)"

I enjoy words as well, so I appreciate the effort :hi: