Protest4 goes live

Protest4 is the brainchild of a few friends and acquaintances of mine, chief among them the wonderful Si Johnston. Protest4 is mostly about creating the means by which "ordinary" people, who feel powerless to do something about the injustices in society, can find ways of addressing them. Don't protest AGAINST, Protest FOR a better society. It was my privilege to offer a little help with some of the writing and proofreading for the material that will be added to the proceedings.

The big issue Protest4 is focussing on for starters is the shocking and heartbreaking situation of human trafficking - another name for slavery.  People who are powerless in their own cultures, or too naive to know what they are being talked into, are being trapped into slavery, taken far from their homeland and set to work as slave labour for minimal or no money, or forced to work in the sex industry. The stories are appalling - there was a long piece in the Telegraph yesterday highlighting the plight of a schoolgirl from Eastern Europe who was traficked as a sex worker for eight months in England before some young women helped her escape and regain her freedom.

What's the problem here? - not enough people are aware of it; more co-ordination is needed between agencies to tighten the net...
What might the answers be? Protest4 want to underline the fact that if our society provides answers, then sitting back and waiting for the government or the police force or the legal system or someone else to sort it out isn't good enough. It's our world: we need to get involved in whatever way we can.
The Protest4 website has just gone live, and there will be more coming up on there over the next little while.

Comments

[Tim]

As I write Protest4 seems to be down, perhaps it's all the visitors your post has sent... Anyway I'll look again later, it sounds like just what I want as a resource for my Prophets course next semester!

[Tim]

Sorry, Maggi, two minutes later and it's going fine, I am now looking at it, still looks a really useful idea.

[Helen]

I read that article in the Telegraph - truly appalling.

[Frank Durkee]

In the US one of the tactics that has been of some eddect has been unremitting exposure of the issue though direct examples. Combined with continual pressure on the relevant authorities from the very local to the highest levels. Look for as much media coverage as possible.
With that begin to explore alternative possibilities for those caught up in the exploitation. This provides a 'positive' projcetion of your efforts. It is not easy. Success wil be partial at best. Yet Jeremiah said it best "make no peace with oppression".