"No one organization in our movement can do the job in alone...This isn't the time for organizational conflicts. This isn't the time for ego battles over who's going to be the leader. We are all leaders here in this struggle...We must set out to be that David of Truth set out against the Goliath of Injustice."

The fact that we still have slavery in the 21st century and that it is actually one of the fastest growing illicit trades is one of the biggest stains on humanity conceivable-- abhorrent on every level. It is indeed a “Goliath of Injustice”. As it stands today, the modern abolitionist movement is still a fledgling movement, albeit one that is slowly but surely beginning to take flight on a global level. However, if we are to successfully defeat the Goliath of slavery in our lifetime, what we need is a large-scale, highly-organized social movement-- one proportional in size and influence to the criminal networks who perpetuate slavery.

I write this letter, not as a leader in the modern abolitionist movement, but simply as a local activist attempting to educate those in my community about modern slavery-- just as so many others out there are doing. When I and Global Gain’s other founding Board members decided to form our organization, we knew the slavery issue was one we wanted to get involved with. We have since done so in a variety of ways. As a result, I have had several opportunities over the past two years to speak with many of the most influential individuals in the anti-slavery space. Many of the stories they have shared with me, I regret to say, have been downright dispiriting. They also provide the impetus behind this letter.

It seems that the infighting which sadly characterizes so much of the social sector is every bit as prevalent, if not more so, in the anti-slavery space. In short, disharmony reigns. For someone like myself, who has tried to make a career out of helping others collaborate in productive ways, this is very discouraging, but quite frankly, not all that shocking. Indeed, it seems things have changed very little since Martin Luther King Jr. was struggling to keep the Civil Rights Movement unified-- “organizational conflicts” and “ego battles” were the heart of the problem then, just as they are today.

One could characterize today’s modern abolitionist movement as a seriously disjointed medium-scale effort comprised of factional groups overly concerned with obtaining funds and recognition at the expense of the one and only thing they should truly care about-- results! However, results will not come when individuals and groups outwardly aligned with one another are inwardly bickering, or even worse, sabotaging one another.

If current levels of friction among key participants in this space are as serious as many suggest, we as a movement have every reason to be alarmed. My aim is not to over-dramatize the urgency of the situation. It is far more urgent that we put an end to slavery in our lifetime than it is to come together and make peace with one another. However, just as a house cannot exist without the conglomeration of thousands upon thousands of carefully formed and neatly arranged bricks, results will not happen without a large-scale, higly-unified movement that fully leverages the respective grassroots bases, high-level connections, and overall collective wisdom of the distinct entities and personalities that comprise it. Like buildings, social movements, too, must be built upon solid foundations. When they are not, they are in grave danger of serious inefficacy at best and complete failure at worst. We, therefore, must halt the infighting before it is too late. It is much easier to put out a small stovetop fire than a large kitchen fire, and fortunately there is still a window of opportunity to unify the movement before it becomes irreparably factionalized.

While the current state of affairs is disheartening, we can take solace in the fact that the overall trends with respect to combating trafficking are overwhelmingly positive. If all of us can continue to build off of this momentum, I firmly believe this movement has the potential to be one of the largest and most successful anywhere in the globe. It is already quickly becoming a movement of many movements. Those seeking to end child labor, forced labor, commercial sexual exploitation, sweatshop factory conditions, and human trafficking in general, are all coming together to create something that no single group could possibly achieve alone.

The bottom line is that interest, awareness, and activism related to this issue has increased dramatically in only a few short years. All over the world, we see creative attempts to forge a massive global movement and make all forms of slavery a thing of the past-- from grassroots approaches like last year’s South Asian March Against Child Trafficking to high-level approaches like the newly-formed UN.GIFT Initiative (United Nations Global Initiative to Fight Trafficking). So infighting aside for a moment, all other signs with respect to this issue are extremely encouraging.

So let us put aside our various trivialities, if not forever, than at the very least until we can collectively build a movement built upon a guiding set of core principles equivalent to a firm foundation comprised of steel and cement rather than mud and straw. To do so would be the most direct route our common goal of ending all fomrs of slavery.

The famous American abolitionist Frederick Adams named his abolitionist newspaper “The North Star”, because the light of the north star helped guide thousands of southern slaves who used the underground railroad to travel north to freedom. If you agree with the content of this letter and would like to join with others who feel equally passionate about the need for increased unity, please add voice your support by signing this letter and calling on other to do the same. Our goal will be to co-create a core set of “North Star Unity Principles” to guide our movement and to ensure that none of us lose sight of the fact that obtaining freedom for all of humanity is the common purpose we all share.

"You know, whenever Pharaoh wanted to prolong the period of slavery in Egypt, he had a favorite formula for doing it...He kept the slaves fighting among themselves. But whenever the slaves get together, something happens in Pharaoh's court, and he cannot hold the slaves in slavery. When the slaves get together, that's the beginning of getting out of slavery. Now let us maintain unity."

Martin Luther King Jr. during his final speech

Sincerely,

Nathan Cryder, Executive Director of Global Gain