#but it is a *growing* illegal industry in a country *where there is legal prostitution available*

[mire-7viii]

This is what's happening in the Netherlands.

Municipalities see illegal sex work hundreds of times a year.

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Mattress on the floor.

The working conditions are very variable. "From workspaces that are very professionally and neatly furnished to spaces where there is only a mattress on the floor in a polluted room," says the municipality of Sittard-Geleen.

Examples of workplaces that the municipality of Tilburg found during inspections: (see pictures above.

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Many sex workers move around and camp somewhere else every week. "They often come from abroad and live out of a suitcase," notes the municipality of Dordrecht.

The origins of the sex workers (usually women) are extremely diverse, but most come from South America, Eastern Europe or the Netherlands itself.

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Chances of being caught are small.

Amsterdam has the feeling that the illegal circuit is growing. "A conservative estimate is that approximately 6,000 sex workers were active on regular sex advertising websites in Amsterdam last year, the vast majority of which involved illegal prostitution. During inspections we regularly find abuses and exploitation."

Due to a lack of supervision, many municipalities see illegal prostitution as a risk. "The earnings are high, the chance of being caught is small and there is no prospect of voluntariness or [whether the sex workers are underage or not]," according to the municipality of Almelo.

Enforcement officers regularly wonder whether prostitution is forced. For example, Amersfoort came across a Romanian sex worker without papers and a tattoo with the name of a suspected pimp. Sometimes someone other than the sex worker speaks, which municipalities find suspicious.

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Different perspective.

It rarely happens that someone admits to working under duress. "There are often suspicions of a network, but not much information emerges in conversations or interrogations," says the municipality of Assen. "It also plays a role that sex workers sometimes have a different perspective on exploitation," says the municipality of Hilversum. Female sex workers often come from abroad to earn money for their families. "They have more income here than in their home country, even if they have to [pay a part of what they earn.]"

When municipalities discover illegal prostitution, they often choose to warn sex workers and possibly offer help. They can also close properties or impose a so-called cease and desist order on the owners.

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Link to the full article below. It's in Dutch, but it isn't long so an online translator will go a long way for you to get the gist of it:

[writing-prompts-for-friends]

Questions to Help World Build

I’ve realized I have a big problem with my writing. I am awful at world-building. Like, I just start writing without thinking about the world. And since I write fantasy. Well. That’s pretty no bueno and leads to all kinds of problems down the road. So I did some brainstorming with my friends and we created a list of over 100 questions to help think about our stories’ worlds and make them more concrete. Thanks to everyone who chimed in and gave me a hand! 

A traditional Japanese clock, wadokei, that counted hours from 9 to 4, starting from sunrise, and then starting once again from sunset. (1-3 were not used for religious purposes.) They’re super interesting and confusing. You should definitely check them out.

Temporal

Is your story set in the past, present, or future?

Specifically, what year(s), month(s), day(s)?

Are days 24 hours? Or does time pass differently in this world?

How many months are there in a year? Is it a seven day weekday? Does the concept of weekends exist?

Have most existing societies developed a timekeeping device?

Is there a way to communicate across long distances?

The concept of time zones is still relatively new to our world. Prior to the late nineteenth century, timekeeping was a purely local phenomenon. Each town would set their clocks to noon when the sun reached its zenith each day. Do standardized time zones exist across the world?

Geographical

From a planet perspective, is it Earth? If it is not Earth, or an alternative version of Earth, what is it like? Is gravity the same? Does it have a moon or multiple moons? Can you see other planets? Is it closer or further from the sun? If so, what impact does that have on the climate and passage of time?

What town, state, region, country, continent, planet does this story take place in? What are its bordering/nearest neighbors? Draw a world map if you want.

What kind of land is it? Landlocked? Mountainous? Along the sea? Desert? Tundra? Tropical forest? Plains? Agricultural? Industrial?

What kind of plants and animals are common to the area? Are there any that do not exist in the real world?

What are the most common crops and livestock in various regions? What geographic features influence certain regions ability to grow/raise their crops and livestock (positively and negatively)? Are the regions diets strongly influenced by what they are able to grow themselves, or do other circumstances (like strong international trade) allow them to have more varied selections? How does religion influence what is considered ‘normal’ to eat?

What, if any, natural disasters are common to the region? Earthquakes, floods, tornadoes, monsoons, blizzards?

How many seasons does it have? Are any longer than others?

What is the typical weather like for those seasons?

Does the region have any unusual geographical features that set it apart? Perhaps there is some weird thing like Devil’s Tower just chilling out. Or hot springs because of volcanic activity?

Is it easy to travel from place to place within the area? Is it difficult to travel because of terrain/technology issues, or because travel is strictly regulated?

Main Locations: Cities

Many stories take place within one city. In Neil Gaiman’s Sandman, a character remarks, “So, if a city has a personality, maybe it also has a soul. Maybe it dreams.” What personality does this city have? What soul does it have? What does it dream of when it slumbers? If your story takes place within a settlement, town, or city, give these questions some thought.

Exactly where is it located within the lands you conjured up in the above Geography questions? Does it have a bay? A river? Does it butt up against mountains? Draw a map of the city.

How big is the city? Is it compact, or sprawling?

How old is the city?

What is the history of the city? How did it come to be? What tumults and triumphs has it seen?

What is the population? Is it currently increasing, decreasing, or remaining the same?

Does the town have any claim to fame? Any tourist attractions? What are they? What’s the story behind them?

If it’s a big enough city, how many and what kind of districts does it have? Residential, Commercial, Industrial, etc. Where are they?

Are there any areas that are deemed unsafe? If so, where are they and why are they unsafe?

Is there public transportation? What kind, bus, tram, train, subway, monorail? Is it good?

How do people get around this city if not by public transportation?

Are the roads narrow or wide? Crisscrossing in a methodical grid or higgledy-piggledy?

What are the buildings like? What materials are they made of? If they’re wooden, are they new wood, old wood? If they’re painted, what colors? If they’re stone, what stone? If they’re brick, is it new red brick or blackened, crumbling brick? If they’re glass and metal, are they sparkling with new hope or dull and jaded?

Are there many skyscrapers? Or are most buildings 1-3 stories tall? What does the skyline look like?

Are there many parks?

How is the city powered? Coal? Hydroelectric? Wind? Nuclear? Has it always been so?

What is the city’s main source of revenue? Agriculture? Tourism? Manufacturing? Mining? Something else? A combination? Dive deeper into this. If it’s agriculture, what do they grow? Tourism–what is famous? etc. This will help to determine what a lot of people do for a living.

What are the demographics? Ethnicity, age distribution, distribution of upper, middle, and lower class, etc.

How many schools are there? Universities? Are any of them good? Do they specialize in anything? Do schools even exist? Perhaps there are clans that teach their children everything they need, for example, or education isn’t viewed as important.

Are there any particular landmarks within the city that standout?

How many and what kind of restaurants are there?

Are there supermarkets, open air markets, or both?

Where do young people go to spend time? What about adults?

Do people there bustle or do they amble?

What are the nights like? Does the city grow quiet, or does it grow rowdy?

What does the city smell like?

If you had to give your town a color, one that represented its personality, what color would it be?

Main Locations: Houses (or buildings, but mainly houses)

There are many stories that have a house or headquarters or hospital or some sort of building as their main setting. These questions will mostly be geared towards helping you figure out a house, but you can apply these to other buildings too probably.

Exactly where is the house located within the city or outside the city? How does your character usually get there? Draw a map. 

What year was the house built?

Was this house built by the current family or their ancestors? Who else lived in the house before the current dwellers? What were they like? Did they leave their mark on the house somehow?

What style is the house? Bungalow? Cabin? A shed? A cave? (makes the following questions mostly useless if so lol)

How many stories is it?

What is it made of? Wood? Brick? What color is it?

Does it have a lot of windows?

Are the curtains usually open or drawn? Are thee curtains at all?

What does the front door look like? 

Is there a porch?

You enter the front door. Or maybe you don’t. Maybe you use the side door because the front door is for show or something. Anyways. You enter the house. What room do you step foot into?

Draw out the floor plans for each floor. How many rooms are there? Where are they? How big are they? How are they connected? What color are they? What style of decor?

Is there a basement? Is it used or is it just a home for spiders and darkness and unwanted things? How about an attic? Crawlspace?

How many bathrooms? 

Are there any rooms that only certain people are allowed to enter? If so, why? 

What is the flooring? Carpet? Wood? Tile? Linoleum? 

What does the house smell like?

Government/Military/Economy

In other words, “the boring stuff,” if you ask me. But this is a very important aspect of any world. 

What sort of government is in place? Democracy, oligarchy, etc? Is it a just or corrupt government?

How are goods exchanged? Bartering? Money? Coins and bills? Credit cards? A specific kind of sea shell? Lol

What are the police like? Strict? Lax? Is there a curfew?

Do taxes exist? If so, do the people feel as though they are heavily or unduly taxed?

Where is the intersection between theology and law? Is it common to have religious leaders in positions of power? Are laws based around religious ideology, or is there an effort to keep them separate?

Is there an organised structure devoted to halting criminal acts? Are they corrupt? Who runs the organisation? How does their reputation change based on demographic? What is the history of the organisation, and how does that history influence how it operates today?

Regarding potentially criminal acts, what is the elgality of prostitution, sex work, ect.?

What about drugs and other illicit substances? Alcohol, illicit drugs, recreational use. Legality, festivity, age limits, etc.

Underbelly. How prevalent is crime, what sort of crime (scaled from pickpocketing to human trafficking) is there? Are there areas that have bad reputations because of it?

Regarding war, are there currently conflicts in the world? Are they international or civil wars? How common is it to have an active war? What is the history of war? What does current warfare look like (Is it dudes in metal suits swinging swords? Have longbows been invented? Gunpowder? Tanks? Missiles?) Is military service mandatory or voluntary? How is the military seen? Is there a sense of patriotism for the military, or does the common man fear it?

Is there stigma around certain genders entering the military? Are come genders regarded as better recruits than others? Is it illegal for some genders to enter the military? Does a person's sexuality affect their ability to serve?

How has religion influenced war? Have there been holy wars in the past? Do any religious institutions hold their own military forces?

Cultural/Historical

I’ve put these together because events in history lead to cultural change. You can apply these questions not only to the world/country, but also the city or even the neighborhood, workplace, or school that your story takes place in.

What is the history of the region? Who was it settled by? Was another group of people displaced? After that, did any new cultures come in? Did they get along?

Were there ever any wars or serious conflicts in the region? What was the cause and what was the outcome of the war if there was one?

In our world, the internet, social media, and film/tv are massive cultural drivers. They determine the latest fashions, jokes, topics, and expressions. What are the big cultural drivers in your world? Books? Plays? Radio? Oral tradition?

Is it a collectivistic or individualistic society?

What languages are spoken by your characters? Is multilingualism common?

What sorts of cultures can be seen? Do any clash? Do any mesh?

What sort of foods are most common?

What superstitions do people hold? Is there a version of “knock on wood” or throwing salt over your shoulder after a funeral? What are the roots of these superstitions?

Are there religions? If so, what are they? Do any conflict with each other? Are zealots or extremists an issue?

Does slavery or indentured servitude exist?

Are there any class or caste systems? If so, what are they, and what does an average day look like for a member of each class/caste?

How does a person's appearance change from country to country? Do certain countries have very distinct fashions? If so, are the fashions influenced by religion, surrounding countries, the cultural majority or international trade partners?

How does a person's clothing relate to their social standing? Is it very easy to assume someone's roll by appearance alone? Are there punishments for dressing above or below your social standing?

Does the society place a great deal of importance on a person's presentation, or is the society more lenient on such things?

Is there an emphasis on conformity to a dress code, or is individuality encouraged? How strictly is clothing regulated by gender binary? Is it commonplace to see a man and a woman walking down the street in the same cut of clothes? Is there a social stigma when a person does not conform to the most common form of dress for their gender?

How are sexual rights viewed? Does the LGBTQ community have the same rights as people outside the community? How are sex acts between people of the same sex viewed? Is it legal? Taboo? Are there cultures that encourage those relationships in some circumstances (like how the romans were down with guys with guys in the military)?

Are there any groups of people that are victims of prejudice? If so, who are they, who holds these views against them, and what views specifically are they?

In regards to gender, do certain societies hold differing beliefs? Is there a commonly accepted number of gender identities or does it change regionally? Is the most common gender spectrum a binary, or do certain racial and cultural differences allow for a wider range to be seen as the baseline?

Are children raised by their biological parents or are children considered to be in the care of the wider community? Is it common/acceptable for extended family to raise children, such as parents needing to study, work, or serve time in the military? Is adoption a common thing in society? Is there a stigma around adoption/being adopted? Do cultural or religious views impact how adoption is seen by the wider community? What is adoption like for a single perspective parent? When adopting, is interracial adoption accepted/common, or is it seen in a negative light? Are some societies more open to adopting children outside of their own race?

How is sex and virginity viewed? Does religion influence it? What is the age of consent? What is appropriate on a first, second, third date? Is sex something that is talked about openly, or something taboo? Are you supposed to wait until marriage? Do couples stay monogamous while dating? Do some regions place higher importance on virginity than others? Do some place higher importance on one gender’s virginity than others?

How is marriage viewed? Are arranged marriages a big thing, or are people free to choose? Is monogamy common? How is a marriage symbolized? A wedding ring, or something different?

How is divorce viewed? What is the divorce rate? Can people remarry?

Magic and the Supernatural

If magic or spooky stuff doesn’t exist in your story, disregard this section.

Does magic exist? If so, who can use it? What are the limitations to their magic? What things are they capable of using their magic to do? What things are they incapable of doing?

Are there laws against what kind of magic can/cannot be used? What sort of laws? Who enforces them? What are the punishments for breaking said laws if they exist?

How does the existence of magic affect religion? Are there religious institutions that infuse magic into their worship? Are there religious sects that see magic as immoral and in direct opposition to their faith? Have there been conflicts in recent or ancient history between religion and the supernatural? Do some sects employ people to hunt and/or enforce law over the supernatural?

Assuming that magic does exist, is it taught? Are there different schools of magic? Is there a system of ranking for magic users based on their skill level?

Do non-magic users look towards magic users with respect or fear?

What role does magic play in this world? Has technology not advanced because magic solves many problems? Or has technology advanced and the use of some magics has become unnecessary?

Are there any mythological creatures/monsters, such as vampires, demons, skinwalkers, dragons, or other creatures of your own creation? Are they common? Do people believe in their existence? Do people worship them? Where can they be found? Do they interact with humans? Do humans fear them or try to put up with them as they do nature?

Do the dead continue to exist in some form, such as ghosts or zombies or the like? Can the dead be summoned or brought back to life?

Are there human/supernatural hybrids? Perhaps a half-demon half-human, for example? How are these people viewed by their peoples, and by society as a whole?

How has the supernatural influenced war? Do armies tend to have a mix of regular and supernatural soldiers/weapons? Have there been wars between the supernatural/magical and those without? How does magic influence a person standing in a mixed army? Is it more likely for a magical being to be promoted than a non-magical being? Conversely, are supernatural being forced into service and seen as pawns?

The End!

Please feel free to reblog and share, and add on any questions you think should be added!

[comrade-meow]

Prostitution is Sexual Violence

The phenomenal worldwide spurt in prostitution, sex trafficking and sex tourism particularly in the third world countries in the wake of globalisation and economic liberalisation has generated increasing interest and international debate on the question in the past two decades or so. While some organisations activists and feminist groups are demanding the abolition of prostitution and sex trade, some others are aggressively campaigning for the legalisation and recognition of prostitution as a profession. The advocates for legalisation demand that it be give the status of an industry and the sex must be considered similar to the any type of work and prostitutes be considered as sex workers.

The issue has assumed importance in the context with even the ILO calling for economic recognition of prostitution as legitimate work.

In India too, several NGOs had taken up the issue; some have held a conference of sex workers as in Kolkata in 1997, ‘98 and again 2001 and put forth arguments demanding legalisation. A few have opposed the demand for legalisation as they felt it would only legitimise the violence on women and the sale of human bodies.

What should be the standpoint of the proletariat with regard to the question of legalisation of prostitution? Would legalisation of the profession improve the position of the prostitutes? What are the root causes behind the phenomena of prostitution? And why has it taken a phenomenal leap in recent years? What is the correct solution to the problem? Let us deal these questions.

A brief historical background

Historically, the origins of prostitution can be traced to the emergence of the class society and the so-called civilisation when, for the first time, woman become subordinated to man. Lack of property rights, segregation from social production and division of labour along gender lines have made the woman powerless and totally dependent on men from childhood to old age. In a class-divided society, economic and social power was naturally in the hands of the class that owned the chief means of production.

The vast majority of the non-propertied classes had to live by selling their labour. Their body has been the only asset these non-owning classes possessed and it is only by pressing their body into service in exchange for a wage or remuneration in kind that their very physical survival could be ensured. Prostitution too arises from the compulsions in a class divided society to sell one’s body for the sake of one’s subsistence. Unlike men of the labouring classes women do not have the opportunities to take part in similar productive activities due to relations of patriarchy enforced by society. Thus, since each class is internally divided along gender lines, and the power accrues to the man of each class due to relations of patriarchy, women are rendered powerless and socially and economically vulnerable.

Thus even when women enjoy the benefits and privileges, of the class they belong to, they do not have an independent status of their own. Their class status is accrued only by virtue of their attachments to the men of that class, either as daughters, wives, sisters or mothers. Once the support of the men of her family is withdrawn, she becomes propertyless even if she belongs to the middle class, thereby leading to a life of insecurity and even poverty. This social and economic vulnerability of women arising out of gender inequalities in class societies plays a significant role in sustaining prostitution.

Women with no assets and few options have to rely on the sale of their bodies to maintain themselves and their dependents. Those who have been forced into prostitution are generally the destitute, the deprived sections of the society, belonging to the lower castes, and the tribals. The simple fact that hardly 1%of the property in the world is owned by women today shows the acute vulnerability and powerlessness of women.

Prostitution is created and sustained by the male dominated society where male sexuality and masculinity are socially constructed by patriarchy and female sexuality is controlled and denigrated. Masculinity is proved by man’s ability to access several women. Within feudal society, prostitution was restricted, to be found for example around temples, institutionalised in the form of the devadasi system. The development of market forces transformed prostitution into a trade. Prostitution centres grew in port cities; around the colonies of migrant male workers; and around cantonment and military barracks.

Natural calamities such as famines, floods, earthquakes and epidemics or social and political upheavals such as wars led to large-scale displacement of populations and to a phenomenal increase in the number of prostitutes as more and more uprooted, hapless women were left with no other options of livelihood.

Thus the colonial era gave an impetus to the sex trade by pushing millions of women to sell their bodies in the areas where migrant male work force or military troops were located. But it is the development strategies pursued by the various governments of the Third World countries in the neo-colonial phase that has seen it grow by heaps and bounds. Big dams and mining and industrial projects, break up of subsistence economies by modern technology leading to pauperisation of entire communities, cyclones, floods and families resulting from indiscriminate deforestation and so on, has uprooted millions of people from their homes and a large number of women have been forced to seek a refuge in prostitution to eke out a living.

For instance, there are 2-3 million prostitutes in 400 red light areas in India (Indian Express 6/10/2000). 30% of prostitutes in the country are children whose numbers are increasing by 8 to 10% annually. Almost 80% of the prostitutes belong to the lower castes and tribals who are forced into the profession for sheer survival. Among others a considerable section of women are forced into prostitution due to patriarchal oppression in the family and society victims of rape by the male chauvinists, deception by lovers, victims of rape in communal riots and atrocities by the police and the state’s armed forces and so on. It is estimated that every year the sex traffickers in connivance with the police bring around 100,000 poverty stricken Nepalese women and children to Indian brothels from Nepalese villages.

Globalisation and Sex Tourism

The single most important factor, however, is the promotion of the sex-tourism in Third World countries. Tourism in Third World countries, particularly in Asia, become a growth industry in the 1970s and in vigorously promoted as a development strategy by international aid agents like the World Bank, IMF and USAID. Between 1960 and 1979, tourist arrivals in South East Asia increased 25-fold. The revenues accrued to these countries on account of tourism was £3 billion in 1979. Thailand, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore of South East Asia and Kenya, Tunisia, Mexico, Srilanka, Peru, countries of the Caribbean etc., have made tourism one of their main areas of production. Asian, African and Latin American women are the main export product who attract male tourists from Japan, the US and Europe. For instance, as many as 50,000 women and children from Asia, Latin America and Eastern Europe are brought to the US under false pretexts and are forced to work as prostitutes or abused labourers or servants, according to a CIA report.

According to a report about 2 to 3 lakh women are working in the sex trade in Bangkok, camouflaged as massage parlours and hotels. Another estimate puts the figure even higher – about 10% of Bangkok’s women are believed to be engaged in sex trade despite the official ban on prostitution. In Manila, the capital city of the Philippines, the number of prostitutes is estimated to be around 1,00,000.

Burgeoning flesh trade leading to a veritable explosion in numbers worldwide in the past two decades is the fall out of the policies of globalisation and economic liberalisation adopted by most countries of the world. The development strategies pursued by the South East Asian countries during the 1970s have been repeated in India during the 1990s. Three major reasons can be cited for the quantitative and qualitative jump in the sex trade.

Firstly, the sex trade is now organised on a global basis just as any other multinational enterprise. It has become a transnational industry. It is one of the most developed and specialised industries that offers a wide range of services to the customers, and has most innovative market strategies to attract clients all over the world. The principal players and beneficiaries of the sex industry are cohesive and organised. The intricate web of actors involved in the sex trade today includes nor just the prostitutes and the client, but an entire syndicate consisting of the pimps, the brothel owners, the police, the politicians and the local doctors. The principal actors connected to the sex trade are not confined by narrow national or territorial boundaries in the context of a globalised world. They operate both legally as well as clandestinely and it is believed that the profits according to the organisations of sex-industry currently equal those flowing out of the global illegal trade in arms and narcotics.Moreover like any other multinational enterprises, such as the tourism industry, entertainment industry, travel and transportation industry, international media industry, under ground narcotics and crime industry and so on.

Thus the magnitude, expanse, organisation, role of capital accumulation and range of market strategies employed to sell sexual services make the contemporary global sex industry qualitatively different from the old practice of prostitution and sex trade.

The second factor, which makes sex trade qualitatively different today, is that it has become a chosen development strategy by several Third World countries. The World Bank, the IMF, the Asian Development Bank and several other imperialist aid agencies have encouraged the development of tourism and entertainment industry in Third World countries with the aim of meeting their balance of payments and debit deficits. As a result, sex tourism and sex entertainment have developed at an amazing speed and have acquired national and international legitimacy under globalisation as never before.

The third factor that has led to the burgeoning of the flesh trade is the neo-colonial exploitation of the cheap raw materials and resources of Third World by imperialist capital. The countries, which have undergone structural adjustments under the dictates of World Bank and the IMF, are forced to export their raw materials and cheap resources. Women and children constitute an important component of the resources of Third World countries and hence are considered a prime export item for the "development" of these countries. Women and children, whose labour is exploited beyond acceptable human rights standards, have become one of the prime tools for capitalist accumulation. The migration and traffic in women from areas of low concentration of capital to high concentration areas i.e., from rural to urban and from the less developed areas of Asia, Africa and Latin America (and now Eastern Europe in) to the industrial countries.

This has become possible due to massive population and development of large sections of the population in the Third World countries who are left with no other options than to sell their bodies and labour in order to eke out a living. And it is the women and children who form the principal composite of these newly deprived and dispossessed sections due to globalisation. International capital through the vast media network at its disposal – the print and electronic media, the internet etc – is able to mould the minds of the people living in an already patriarchal, male-dominated world in favour of commodification of the female body from the crudest to the most sophisticated of ways. Capitalism had transformed relations between human beings into callous cash relationships; it had commodified every aspect of human life including human body parts, female reproductive work and virtually every thing on the earth. Capitalism has no ethics other than amassing profits. It had converted woman into a sex object and placed her in the market for sale. Under globalisation, this had reached levels unknown in human history due to the sheer magnitude and power of the principal players and wrought havoc on the lives of the vast majority of the wretched of the earth.

We thus find from the foregoing that today prostitution has been transformed into global flesh trade – a multinational or transnational enterprise that fetches enormous profits to the governments of several countries, to the multinational syndicate of capitalists, pimps, mafia gangsters, politicians and the police while the women are helpless victims in this bizarre drama. The annual turnover of prostitution business worldwide runs to billions of dollars. No wonder, the imperialist agencies, the NGOs funded by these agencies, the governments of some of the countries, and the media controlled by the imperialist sharks, have begun canvassing for legalisation of prostitution. Of course, all in the name of the welfare of the prostitutes. Quite a few progressive and liberal democratic organisations and individuals also sincerely endorse the stand for legalisation from a humanitarian standpoint. . Seeing the way the existing laws in India, the Immoral Traffic Prevention Act, 1986 and provisions of the IPC (1860) are framed and utilised they argue that the oppression of prostitutes can be done away with. They think that by legalising prostitution, women professing the trade will have all the legal rights like any other industrial workers and will be free from the harassment of the pimps, police and the clients.

Let us now analyse the arguments put forth for the legalisation of prostitution and whose interests these actually serve.

Arguments in favour of legalisation

Vesya Anyay Mukti Parishad (Kolkata) which is an association of prostitutes that had come into existence during the latter half of the 90s, is among the most vocal proponents of legalisation. The following are a few of its arguments. "Prostitution is a way of life like any other. It is not created for the benefit of the men rather it is primarily for the women who live off it. Women in prostitution make money out of the sex and are the breadwinners of their families.

"We believe that we are more empowered than most women within male-dominated patriarchal structure. The relationships we share with the men from our families are more honest and equal because the purdah of double standards is not necessary.

"Economic independence from men is a reality that we enjoy with pride and dignity. Brothel owners, goons, the police and the self-appointed crusaders of morality in society harass us, try to curb our independence and are forever trying to douse our spirit.

"We demand the eradication of all laws concerning prostitution which are oppressive and help in further criminalizing the trade.

"We believe that we challenge and undermine structures of power by using a part of our womanhood – our sexuality as a source of our power and income.

It wants to distinguish between "trafficking, which is criminal issue and adult prostitution."

"We believe that making money from sex is not selling a part of our body which is in no way different from selling our brains or physical labour.

"We protest against a society that deems our work contribution as less prestigious than other traditional forms of work.

"We believe that despite living within a capitalist patriarchal society and having the experienced the freedom of living outside the patriarchal system, it is almost impossible for us to contemplate entering such a system with its inherent double standard, lopsided value system and inequalities."

One would be surprised to see the above statements coming from an organisation of the prostitutes themselves. It appears as if the prostitutes have chosen to be what they are by free choice, that choosing is a form of rebellion against the patriarchal system and oppression in the family and society at large. Through these arguments not only are they juxtaposing the individual right with the structural circumstances but they are also reducing human rights to the rights of the individual. The arguments not only justify the profession but also try to lure more and more women into the flesh trade in the name of women’s liberation. These so-called associations of sex-workers are obviously organised by NGOs or individuals with imperative trends and seek to give the sex trade a further boost in the name of voluntary choice.

The stark reality is that the overwhelming majority of the prostitutes are there not by choice but due to destitution, deprivation, displacement ostracisation and deception; that many have been victims of sexual assault either at home or work place or in the street;that quite a few of them have been bought from starving parents by unscrupulous pimps even before they reach their puberty, administered steroids like Benetradin to make malnourished children artificially plumpy just as they fatten cattle and chicken to yield more meat; that some of them are made into ‘servants of god’ (devadasi) against the law and the will of the young girls and packed off to brothels to serve as slaves to sex-starved, sadistic clients; that given an alternative option for decent livelihood there would be hardly any one left in the profession. The question for free choice does not arise. Here it is to be noted that the emphasis is being given to free choice because they want to make a distinction between becoming a prostitute willingly and trafficking. The main campaign against trafficking is being led by the needs of the imperialist western countries where there is a shortage of white prostitutes. In the US for example too, over 70 % of the prostitutes are non-white.

In fact this argument is being promoted to make it easy to legalise the import of prostitutes to the imperialist countries and other centres of tourism.

Sangram (Sangli-Maharashtra), a voluntary organisation working among prostitutes, is even more aggressive in championing the cause of the profession.

"In the work place, she is more than equal to the male client and very often controls the conditions of the transaction. Women ‘keep’ many malaks and refuse to be treated as the exclusive property of the man. Here, women in prostitution are shown to "liberated" and as working independently on her own terms. It is shown as an alternative for women to free themselves from patriarchal stranglehold.

Citing the powerlessness of women to even retain their names after marriage, Sangram glorifies the ‘Freedom’ that is supposed to be inherent in prostitution.

"In class based and male dominated society, women are forced to occupy a secondary status that is totally male-centred, even the power to name herself is denied to her as, in several parts of the country, she is even given a new first name of her marriage, forcing her to discard her old identity and adopt a new one.

"Women in prostitution are in different position. Even if a woman in prostitution opts to stay with one man and conduct her ‘dhandha’ (profession) she does not change her name. She continues to occupy her own residence and in fact, it is the man who comes to stay with her. In this case, the tables are reversed: it is done on her terms. "Women in prostitution pose tremendous challenge to the family structure, system and its values. They actually challenge patriarchal ‘values’ that govern sexuality

The perverted logic of these apologists for sex trade sees the prostitute as a free and independent agent who controls her body and sexuality and challenges the family and patriarchal values. Contrary to their argument the institution of prostitution is as much a creation of patriarchy as the present-day family and co-exists with it. It is based on the freedom socially available to men but denied to women.

As Engels succinctly put it, it is "the absolute domination of the male over the female sex as the fundamental law of society". She is a victim of patriarchal oppression within the profession. Once a woman enters the trade, there is no way out. She is completely at the mercy of the sex-starved customer, the pimp and the police. Physical assaults and rapes are a daily occurrence. More than half of the prostituted women in the Third World countries had contracted HIV/AIDs. A 1985 Canadian report on the sex industry reported that the women in prostitution in that country suffer mortality rate 40 times the national average. It could be even worse in countries like India. All this proves that the argument that once prostitution is legalized it can be more effectively regulated making it safe for all those involved, that the spread of HIV can be slowed, that sex workers can have access to health and so on, are sheer fraud. The fact is that all forms of sexual commodification, whether legalised or not, lead to an increase in the level of abusive and exploitative activity.

The interest of the State in permitting legalisation is not the prostitute and her rights but to check the spread of sexually transmitted deceases. It involves heavy regulation of prostitution through a whole host of zoning and licensing laws. Zoning segregates the prostitutes into a separate locality and their civil liberties are restricted outside the specified zone. Licensing means issue of licenses, registration and the disbursement of health cards to the women. Legalisation makes it mandatory for the women to undergo medical check-ups regularly or face imprisonment.

Legalising prostitution is legalising violence:To describe prostitution as sex work and a prostitute as a sex worker means to give legitimacy to sexual exploitation of helpless women and children. It means ignoring the basic factors, which push women and children into prostitution such as poverty, violence and inequalities. It tries to make the profession look dignified and as a ‘job like any other job’.

It is the organised commercial sex industry that is the staunchest advocate for legalisation of prostitution on the plea that ‘sex work’ is viable work – a job like any other job. Creating the nation that sexual exploitation and abuse are ‘work’ createsa shield to the industry from the critics and will multiply their profits by boosting the sex trade through legalisation.

By considering women in prostitution as workers, pimps as businessmen, and the buyers as customers and thereby giving the entire sex industry recognition as an economic sector, the governments are planning to abdicate all responsibilities for providing decent employment to women. They are thus pushing more and more women into sex trade by creating the notion that sex work is like any other work.

Legalisation of prostitution is not a solution because legalisation implies men’s self evident right to be customers. Accepting services offered through a normal job is neither violent nor abusive. Legalising it as a normal occupation would be an acceptance of the division of labour, which men have created. A division, where women’s real occupational choices are far narrower than men’s. Legalisation will not remove the harmful effects suffered by the women. Women will still be forced to protect themselves against a massive invasion of strange men, as well as the physical violence.

Legalisation means position of regulation by the State to ensure the continuation and perpetuation of prostitution. It implies that they have to pay taxes, i.e., the prostitute needs to serve more customers to get the money needed. Legalisation means that more men will become customers, and more women are needed as prostitutes, and more women, especially women in poverty, will be forced into prostitution. Legalising prostitution will only increase the chances of exploitation. The experiences of the countries where prostitution was legalised also show how this had given big boost to the trade and had increased sexual abuse. For instance, in Australia and in some states in the US where legalisation was implemented, it was found that there was an alarming increase in the number of illegal brothels too along with an increase in the legal trade.

Commercial sexual exploitation devalues the lives of all women and girls by promoting misogynistic beliefs and attitudes among the males. It teaches the males that female bodies are sexual merchandise to be traded, used and discarded, and consequently, it aggravates gender inequality in all areas of society. It leads to a spurt in acts of sexual violence and harassment against women in the work place and in the domestic life. It violates human rights of all women and children whose bodies are reduced to sexual commodities to be bought and sold in the market.

The so-called safe sex that is said to emanate from legalisation and guaranteeing the rights of the prostitutes is a myth. It ignores the inherent power dynamics of sexual exploitation and that the sexually exploited women or child has no other option than to acquiese to the customer’s demands since she is not in a position to demand the usage of condoms by the customer. Any resistance means more violence.

Trying to make a distinction between prostitutions by choice or consent and forced prostitution or trafficking which all the champions of porstitutes’ cause have been trying to do, is an exercise in futility since in practice it is extremely difficult to prove cases of forced prostitution. The traffickers and pimps can easily conceal evidence of coercion and manufacture evidence of consent from the prostitutes themselves.There are two important international human rights conventions that address the question of prostitutes and trafficking in women: the convention on the Traffic in persons and the exploitation of the prostitution and of others, and the Convention for the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination Against Women, 1949. But these conventions, despite the stringent clauses against pimps, procurers and traffickers, have no enforcement mechanisms and have not been ratified by many countries. And as we have seen, it is almost impossible to get evidence from the sexually abused women and children given the power of the sex industry managers.

And now, burying these conventions, the ILO has called for the economic recognition of prostitutes as legitimate work in its controversial report of 1998.

We must reject all arguments for legalisation of prostitution and the notion that engaging in sex trade and selling town’s body for the sexual gratification of others in exchange for money is work.

Legalisation of the sex trade is vigorously advocated by the imperialists, by imperialist sponsored NGOs and individuals and by the Third World governments, only in order to preserve the institutions of prostitution and thereby serve the imperialist interests in commodification of women.

Prostitution is violence against women. It is an insult to the self-respect of women, violation of their basic human rights. It is criminal to call violence and sexual abuse against women as work. It is criminal to call the sale of one’s body for the sexual gratification of others as work. It is criminal and callous on the part of governments to abdicate responsibility of providing decent employment to women and children and pushing them into the sex trade in the name of legalisation of prostitution.

Our demands should be to abolish prostitution and trafficking in women and children, provide gainful employment to all those engaged in the sex trade and punish those responsible for encouraging the sex trade and indulging in any form of discrimination against women.

We must mobilise the women who are engaged in Prostitution against the State demanding employment while fighting against all forms of oppression and harassment by pimps, traffickers and the police.

We must educate the women caught in the vicious web of Prostitution that it is only by dismantling this exploitative system based on class and gender inequalities and the worst form of patriarchal control that they can be free, independent and in a position to determine their destiny.

-  Prostitution is Sexual Violence, Women in the Chinese Revolution

[thelastyetfabolousmidwestmadman]

Dark Side Of The Rising Sun Part 1

Yo what’s up!

After the success of my previous post, I’ve decided to bring a follow up where I talk about the many dysfunctions and issues facing Japan that I’ve learned in my research. Detective Conan often shows the criminal justice system of Japan in a positive light while in reality it has many issues due to the culture.

Now let me make this clear: Japan has many great things about itself that should never be ignored. However, these are real flaws that have or need to be addressed with many Japanese also recognizing them as problems.

Now I had to split this into parts as this is rather ungainly to put it all at once. If you have any questions please ask and I’ll do my best to answer them.

 Suicide

Japan has one of the highest suicide rates in the world with about 15.2 deaths per 100,000 people.

This is due to many factors such as Suicide not being considered a sin as well as historical connotations of it being a honorable way to go.

It is also considered a act of revenge, apology, and protest.

It is mostly caused today by factors such as unemployment, alienation and intense social pressure.

Japanese society is overall tolerant of Suicide but this is changing in recent times.

Another factor is the need for acceptance over individuality.

People with mental illness are often discriminated against, stopping potential help.

Internet Suicide Clubs where anonymous people make/plan suicide pacts and commit group suicide are a major issue.

If you kill yourself via Shinkansen, your family will be fined heavily. It is also the cause of half of the train delays and referred to as a human incident.

Tall buildings have mandatory suicide fences to prevent people from jumping off. When they succeed, they take off their shoes before hand.

It is common for suicidal people to take insurance policies and wait a year or two to go through with it so their families would be okay.

Ikka Shinju or family suicides are when the entire family kills themselves together due to Asian views of the family. When the parents kill their children before themselves, this is called Muri-Shinju or murder suicides.

Oyaku Shinju or parent-child suicide are where a single parent kill their children along with themselves.

Drownings, overdoses, hangings, and jumping off places are the most common form of suicide.

Judiciary

Traditionally, the judge is hated more then the lawyer is in the west as the Judge is often viewed as a symbol of the Japanese nobility judging the common man.

If you are sent to trial, you are certain to be convicted regardless of innocence due to the countries 99% conviction rate. (Really makes Eri’s work more awesome and badass doesn’t it?)

The Japanese supreme court is one of the most conservative in the world, rarely ruling against issues that are blatantly unconstitutional and anti human rights. As a result, one of the more positive proposals for amendments of the Constitution is the creation of a separate Constitutional Court.

If you are sent to death row, you will never be told in advance when you are going to die.

Culturally, once arrested the person is automatically considered guilty.

Police are often reluctant to overturn convictions as they insist that only guilty are arrested and convicted.

The law when a child is considered criminally responsible is 14.

Judges are often pressured into making convictions as their careers are negatively affected by a not guilty verdict.

Prosecutors are given the choice not to pursue a case regardless of sufficient evidence.

Prisoners in Japan, while somewhat treated better then much of the world due to it’s focus on rehabilitation instead of punishment, have to follow strict military style regulations from minor things such as being forced to fold the bed, or to wash your face to more draconian measures such being beaten if you don’t march or sit the wrong way.

In turn, many have inadequate access to medical care as they don’t have many options for their healthcare.

It can take months or years before you are tried, meaning that a right to a speedy trial is completely nonexistent.

“Periods of reflection” where inmates are forced to be handcuffed, gagged and placed in solitary, are often not recorded by the warden.

Foreigners are forced to speak and write in Japanese.

Drug Use

It is considered vastly socially unacceptable to do narcotics in Japan.

Most drug addicts are even considered to be not human.

If a celebrity is caught doing drugs, his career is automatically fucked and he is blacklisted from the industry, as well as erased from current projects.

The most commonly sold drug is methamphetamine. This started after World War II due to Meth being legal for soldiers to consume in order to stay up late on petrol as well as from occupying Americans. After the was, it became a huge epidemic for 12 years.

Marijuana use has risen among youth. Despite it having little danger as well as medicinal uses, it is widely considered evil, with the law having no tolerance.

Overall, Japan has little drug use compared to the rest of the world due to the cultural taboo and strict laws. However, there are signs that it is being vastly under counted,

Most illicit drugs are imported from Taiwan and South Korea due to it being near impossible to grow it natively but it is becoming increasingly hard to do so.

Drugs overdoses are criminally under diagnosed.

Epidemics often occur due to low periods of economic growth and recessions. (Examples include the postwar period, the 70′s, and the Lost Decade after the Bubble Economy burst in 1989)

It is common for your family or doctor to call the police once you admit there is a problem. Then you are forced to take a urine sample and if it tests positive you are immediately arrested.

A lot of doctors open pharmacies to add to their income. As a result, many oversubscribe prescription drugs.

Hypocritically, Alcoholism is completely tolerated and not treated as a addiction due to alcohol being considering purifying in Shinto, a cure, and Japan having a intense drinking culture.

Child Abuse

For the most part, physical child abuse is considered a private issue and often ignored. While things are slowly getting better, Japan still has a long way to go. (Imagine if Kogoro did what he did to Conan in the west. Child services would be on him like a fly swatter.)

Child services often return the children to their parents even if they say their abusing them as the counseling centers need the parents to admit to their abuse.

It is a complete myth that Japan’s age of consent is 13. That is only the lowest one could set it. Most prefectures are set at 16 or higher. In turn, child molestation of those under 12 is heavily punished. However while vaginal rape of children is illegal, basically just about everything else as long as it’s statutory is basically alright.

Enjo Kosai or compensated dating is the practice of Teenage Girls to go on dates with older men in exchange for money and gifts. While not necessarily always leading to prostitution is treated as such and the girls are often blamed if they are hurt in the process.

Child sex trafficking of migrants is a serious issue and they are often treated as criminals and sent home without counseling.

Adoption of children is rare and frowned upon so many of them have to gro up in centers.

Children of unmarried couples are discriminated against due to the violation of the traditional Ie system and do not have the same protections or privileges of married couples because of its Koseki system.

Men are not obligated to pay child support and it’s near impossible to get them to legally as they can simply hide their finances by not telling them. Plus only one person can be named on the custody sheet.

Child Pornography was effectively decriminalized until 2014. No seriously.

Sexual Harassment/Assault

Domestic violence victims are disabused from coming forward due to the idea of bringing shame to their family.

Stalking cases are rarely taken seriously by the police

OH THERE”S WAY MORE BUT THIS LIST IS DARK ENOUGH SO LET”S SAVE THIS FOR A LATER DATE.

Working Conditions

Idols are heavily exploited and forced to follow strict rules such as having no social life, banned from having a boyfriend, etc. This is because they are supposed to sell a image of innocence and be there exclusively for their fans.

Anime creators are often forced to work long hours with little pay. This has resulted in a slump in the industry with very few new hires so they are forced to rely on the older animators whose health may fail sooner rather then later.

Funds are rarely given to films with artistic intent or that are political in nature, resulting the film industry suffering compared to the more internationally regarded South Korea.

Police Corruption

Until recently, Japanese police would work with organized crime to lower crime. The only reason they stopped was not out of concern for the everyday citizen but because they were embarrassed by the Yakuza when they began to show up more publically.

The media is often laughably compliant to the police, with they rarely offering a critical lens.

Police have undue influence on the Pachiko industry, with many retired officers being hired as muscle and for advice.

It is quite common for officers to embezzle from their slush funds.

In a effort to cover up crime, police often refuse to investigate mysterious or suspicious deaths, preferring to label them as accidents or suicide.

Police are often anti migrant and sexist to a fault.

It is neigh impossible to get a wiretap going due to rigid privacy laws.

Even the police can’t fire weapons as you need approval to even loose your gun so many officers have never fired a bullet.

Government Incompetence/Corruption

Voter Apathy is super high, with many elections having hilariously low turnout.

Many politicians have Yakuza connections, with the gang members serving as bodyguards and canvassing for votes.

Votes in the countryside are worth two compared to urban ones.

A lot of politicians are completely out of touch and constantly have to resign for gaffes (racism, sexism, historical revisionism, etc.)

Political acts are based on group consensus so it can take a long time to get meaningful reform done.

Criticism and debate is ironically frowned upon, with open criticism within a party being effectively banned.

Cronyism is common. While for the most part Japanese politics is based on expertise, many politicians are awarded ministries based on their support for the leader.

The NHK (Japanese version of the BBC) is largely neutral and free but the current Japanese government can dictate what it is to focus on temporarily.

Press Clubs are often given exclusive access to interviews and information from the government, so they get biased preferential treatment.

Okay I guess the point of this list is to bring attention to these issues and expand the opportunities of where to go when it comes to dark DC fanfiction. Don’t worry, here’s a cute Conan to make you smile!

[the-uldah-business-league-ffxiv]

The Ul’dah Business League

The Ul’dah Business League is a newly founded organization with the mission of making the greater Thanalan region the premier locale to conduct commerce through fostering cooperation and growth among its many businesses and industries. Through bringing together the leadership of multiple businesses together, including the new, the established, the big, the small, the growing, the thriving, the perennial, the innovative, and the experimental—we aim to build a better and brighter Ul’dah, fulfilling the promise of our nation’s motto, “For Coin and Country”.

We will be holding our inaugural meeting on Sunday May 17th, 3:30 PM EST at the Cactuar Grove Country Club (which is located in the Mists, Ward 13, Plot 45, because the UBL is just that rich we decided to make the Mists our country club).  We invite any and all business leaders that operate legitimate, legal businesses within Ul’dah to join us for our first meeting where we will discuss upcoming plans to better the business environment of Ul’dah, the future election The Ul’dah Business League Board of Directors, and other items of interest.  

If you wish to join The Ul’dah Business League, please make your way to the nearest Ul’dah Business League office (see discord invite at the end of this post).  

OOC:

The Ul’dah Business League is a new community group founded with the idea of building and encouraging legitimate and legal business related roleplay within Ul’dah.  Nothing against all the various crime related organizations out there!  However, there’s plenty of support for that, and we felt the legitimate business groups could use some love and support too.   

Criteria for joining the Ul’dah Business League is as follows:

- You must ICLY own or be a representing member of an IC business organization located within Ul’dah or the greater Thanalan region. If you also have a location in another region or city state, that’s fine, but there MUST be a business location within Ul’dah as well.

- That business must be legitimate and legal. At the current time, means no businesses centered on drugs, illegal prostitution, sex trafficking, etc. There are currently many other organizations within the RP community for that. This one is for businesses that would ICly be legitimate and legal. That said, if your business has an illegal side to it that does cater to the above, that’s fine. However, please keep that part out of the Ul’dah Business League.

Still interested in joining?  The join us in The Ul’dah Business League discord and plan to attend our first event on May 17th! 

Discord Link ~ https://discord.gg/JqjGDVs

@for-gold-and-glory​ @balmungrpcalendar​ @crescent-ffxiv​ @sylastair​ @aegir-ffxiv​

[piermanwalter]

Thief’s Apprentice: Civil Servant Triumvirate

What does it take to keep a city of immortal skeleton wizards functioning? These revenants are the antithesis of the bros: a semi-legitimate politician who won’t fall for petty scams, another large sealed container, and a guy who breaks into houses and attacks people but legally.

The Mayor of Veilheim

Although elected by the literate class as The Mayor, The Mayor isn’t a Veilheimer or even from Surenia. His outsider status is celebrated as bringing an end to cultural and political stagnation, but has caused some problems. Counter to Veilheim customs, he still treats his children and grandchildren as family even though he died decades before. The Mayor’s continued contact with them is seen as unnecessary interference with the affairs of the living. Integration between living and dead society has swung back and forth throughout history, although recently the living in Veilheim have gone from viewing the world outside the living district as another plane of existence to coming and going as they please (only if they are plaguebearers) within a few generations, as orchestrated by The Mayor. 

The Mayor’s political platform is normalising death so the living die happier and produce less madmen. Under his rule, living apprenticeship under dead Masters has increased, a few living businesses such as perfumers and the Rambush family distillery now serve the dead, and skeleton prostitution is decriminalised (for health and safety reasons it’s still illegal for anyone who’s not a skeleton to be a prostitute). The Mayor also implemented the infamous and controversial Destitution Inducing Tax Law, which reduced 1000 of the richest Veilheimers being taxed 0.1% of city budget per year to 100 of the richest Veilheimers being taxed 1% of the city budget per year. The repercussions of this law will be discussed later. With increased working population and ending a few monopolies, Veilheim’s self-sufficiency caused some diplomatic issues with other cities, such as Villa Princeps and Alhambra, which used to count on Veilheim for trade. The Mayor dealt with this by decreasing staple food and fabric imports, but increasing imports of luxury items from outside.

As well as being a functional statesman, The Mayor is also a great wizard. As covered before, magic is the energy derived from souls dying outside the body. Wizards can’t perform magic on their own, but can effectively use magic items, objects with pieces of mage souls in them. To use a magic item, a wizard needs to convince the soul piece inside to die for their sake. Thus wizards are all monstrously manipulative. The Mayor keeps a stash of magic items from his home country that nobody else can use because the souls inside all speak a different language. 

During the uncertain early years of his reign, The Mayor resorted to a lot of secret crimes to stay in wealth and power. After things stabilised, The Mayor has been able to stay in power via legitimate means for a long time and has worked to erase his history, but some elements of his criminal past come back to haunt him, including you. Some of his deals have gone on for so long with people so dangerous he hasn’t figured out how to end them yet. 

Noble Porter

About 10 years ago, a pirate crew attacked the city and were all arrested. While awaiting trial, some pirates died in the cell and went mad, killing and eating the rest, forming into one single creature composed of at least 8 pirates. Temperament stabilised by being made of so many people, the resulting being’s imposing size and treasure-protecting pirate instincts led to new employment. Noble Porter, most noble of porters, delivers state documents within Veilheim and also to other cities by putting them in the big cabinet. The key is delivered separately a few days earlier to the document’s recipient. Then Noble Porter finds you and kneels so you can reach the cabinet and unlock it. Noble Porter’s head is literally and metaphorically filled with state secrets. Noble Porter is constantly surrounded by guards and seems physically incapable. Despite Noble Porter’s helpless appearance, don’t forget the composition of at least 8 pirates who spent their lives killing and looting and died cannibalising each other.

Noble Porter has a very nondescript personality, can’t speak, and takes a very long time to make decisions. Noble Porter must always be referred to without pronouns, since Noble Porter lacks the mental faculty to comprehend anything other than the proper title. It’s easy to infer complete stupidity from this, but Noble Porter has a surprisingly good idea of the general vibe and often bails out of suspicious situations before they begin. How much Noble Porter likes you is determined by how long it takes you to unlock the cabinet. If you use the wrong keys too much or unlock the wrong drawer first, Noble Porter won’t like you. Noble Porter may also relock locks, change pin combinations, and shuffle documents into other drawers. It usually takes a few minutes to get the cabinet open, but you can use this to your advantage by robbing people while they are distracted. This has inevitably led to Noble Porter liking several specific nobles because they get delivered important documents a lot. This is about as fair and efficient as the standard workplace email. How has Noble Porter managed to accumulate the wealth and prestige prerequisite to being a noble without any language skills? Pirate hoarding instincts.

If Noble Porter doesn’t like you, documents will take much longer to be delivered. If Noble Porter likes you, documents will be delivered quickly and sometimes Noble Porter will deliver extra handwritten nonsense letters and random objects. These nonsense letters are starting to become a currency in high society. Noble Porter is also married to Cylinder Locksmith, who has an unfair advantage because she installs the locks into the cabinet. Is she purposefully being exploitative? It’s hard to tell.

Tax Collector

Despite being rich and influential, Tax Collector is seen as being on the same level as other Collectors, such as Rag Collectors, Dung Collectors, Ash Collectors, etc. Tax Collector has been around for at least 500 years and thus has cultivated an extensive legacy of terror. As per Veilheim’s traditional tax policy, if someone can’t or won’t pay taxes, their share will be paid by increasing taxes for other taxpayers and also Tax Collector will drag them out into the street and stab them, after which they are ridiculed by the general public and reviled by other taxpayers who had to pick up their slack. It’s possible to regain some clout by stabbing Tax Collector back. This happens often enough that it’s legal to stab him as he’s stabbing you (it’s still illegal to stab him at any other time). If you are a chronic tax evader, instead of stabbing you in front of your house, Tax Collector will drag you into the judicial district and stab you in the main square. It’s considered a great honor if Tax Collector stabs someone with the same thing you stabbed him with. Sometimes there are multiple rounds of tax collecting, where Tax Collector collects taxes from those who can pay, stabs those who can’t, then calculates how much extra needs to be paid, collects that from those who can pay, stabs those who can’t, and so on until he reaches a monolith of riches who pays for like 18% of the city budget.

Aside from tax collecting, Tax Collector is also involved with antiforgery, crime scene investigation, and tracing the origin of stolen goods. His giant soul from old age and also work experience makes him an excellent alchemist. Alchemy is the study of how souls affect chemistry. For example, if a chunk of limestone is mined by someone and put on the back of a donkey and unloaded by someone else, then burned into quicklime by a different person, the resulting calcium oxide still carries tiny fragments of the souls of three people and one donkey. Not nearly enough to be a magic item or affect its physical behavior, but still enough to be detected by an alchemist. If you touched something, Tax Collector knows. 

After his workload of 1000 people a year was reduced to 100 people a year by the Destitution Inducing Tax Law, Tax Collector is much more involved in normal law enforcement, turning him from an annoying figure among high society to widely reviled by all. As intended by the law, 1% of Veilheim’s yearly budget is enough to drive someone to destitution. Because productive property (things like food, tools, buildings of labor, working animals, and industrial materials) are counted for tax purposes as much less than other things like leisure buildings, precious metals, and jewels, people on the verge of being in to top 100 rush to convert their riches into raw flax, iron bars, and live sheep. Those unfortunate(?) enough to still be considered rich after this often have their life’s work erased. If revenants don’t die, to maintain a functioning economy they must be killed financially. The young by comparison are still afraid of this, but old revenants driven by greed to accumulate as much as they can often lose the will to live after they can no longer grow their wealth as fast as they used to and even the biggest diamonds makes them feel nothing.

Tax Collector! Render me destitute and give my life meaning again!

Then there are people like Noble Engineer and Sporadic Miner who are so absurdly rich that paying 1% of the city’s yearly budget doesn’t significantly affect them.

[feelingcrazee-blog]

Psychological Benefits of Visiting the Best Brothels

Brothels come on the top list in adult entertainment options in most of the modern cities in the world today. It is a place where people often go to indulge in a drink and explore the various experiences with prostitutes. Whether you are a first timer or a regular to brothels, the mission of the best brothels in the city is to offer high quality adult entertainment and services to its customers. In most of the countries, brothels are considered to be illegal and are not given a legal sanctity yet. The psychological impacts of visiting brothels are many. In fact it is considered to be the number one entertainment medium to offer complete peace of mind to the client. 

There are many countries where the brothel industry is legal. These are the countries where you can find some of the best brothels in the world. To speak technically, any place where prostitution takes place is a brothel. For cultural as well as legal reasons most brothels call themselves as bars, massage parlors, studios, strip clubs etc. 

The best brothels are places which are much more than just providing sexual services to their clients. In fact, the sexual services come much later on. As a client visiting these places can get you a number of other benefits and psychological stimulants which nothing else can provide. Let us understand how positively the brothels can impact psychologically. 

Confidence in physical intimacy can increase: Getting physically intimate is not as simple as it sounds to all men. Some men do face less confident in getting intimate with the women of their dreams. Most of the time these are associated with psychological states of mind which can be changed by intervention. If such problem grows it can ruin their personal and love life. An unconventional solution will be visiting some of the best brothels which will bring you in contact with courtesans and attractive ladies who can help you out of the situation once and for all.        

Confidence issues while interacting with woman: Interacting with a woman is much more than just sharing a bed with them. Dating is a social game that requires a lot of confidence and the right timing. There are many people who find it intimidating in interacting with a lady. Especially if   you are someone who is in profession such as the defense where you are majorly far from the civilian social norms. This is once again a   psychological problem that can be solved by the expert women in the best     brothels of the country.          

Improves depression state: Many people who are suffering from depression can also visit these brothels. People fall in  depression because they do not get something which they have expected to get. Exploring the brothels in the city will bring you out from this depressive state of mind. If you are in search of a good listener the ladies are totally in game. They will hear you out for as long as you want.        

Helps relax and unwind the mind: The best brothels in town are some of the most effective places to unwind and relax the busy mind. Our lives are busy and this gives us very less time to find time for ourselves. We hardly get time to sit and relax and think about nothing. The girls in the brothels are professionals and have long experience to help people get everything from a good massage, various kinds of sexual pleasures, games and every idea which pleases the customer.

Do not worry about security or confidentially as the best brothels in town take special care of client safety. Women chosen in such brothels are regularly monitored in relation to hygiene aspects. So next time you are not good in your mind you can try out something like this.

[myalibiau]

Understanding The Procedure of Licensed Brothels

The place where people visit and engage in any sexual activity with prostitutes is known as a brothel. There is no certified place that should be called a brothel in particular, but the place where prostitution is being gone on is qualified to be called brothels. This is the name given in old times, but now due to cultural reasons and social concerns, these are often gone by different names such as massage parlors, strip clubs, bars, and many more. There are many countries like Australia where licensed brothels exist, and it is prevalent among them.

Going with The Trends

It has been seen over the years that this industry is resistant to economic slowdowns and always benefitted economically. The licensed brothels are often affected by the current environment and the increasing competition growing every year. There is new household work started, which has resulted in the economic slowdown of this industry and affected many of them.

The studies have shown that legal sex practices in the licensed brothels are safe. The only problems seen over time are emotional attachment and social anxiety, which are more significant than genuine health risks. Even though there are licensed brothels, but at many places, these are highly unaccepted by their people, and their downfall starts.  

Attention to The Low Points Before Buying Licensed Brothels

Several things should be considered before going for significant investments. The state legislation legalizes brothels, but several challenges are faced because the public does not accept it easily. To establish a brothel, one must take permission from the local authorities, which sometimes is extremely difficult. The manager of your licensed brothel should also own a license, and then only he or she can manage it.

After all, the legal procedure here comes the investment part; designing and fitting processes is very draining and time-consuming. One should have the sufficient back up ready to get the proper investment for the following. There are several other restrictions like one brothel that cannot have more the six rooms, and these changes according to the location and depends on the legal authorities.

Attention to Some Details

While designing the place, every small thing should be kept in mind because that is one of the critical ways to build a loyal customer. From the entrance to the exit, it should be appropriately designed.

There are different ways in which one licensed brothel can operate. One can hire permanent workers who will be getting the payment at the end of the month from the manager, or contract workers can be employed as well where the customer meets the worker and decide the pricing and every other thing. In the end, the brothel should get their part from the worker. It can be treated as a short period hotel stay dedicated to sexual activity.

Security aspects should also be kept in mind. As security is essential because these places are very vulnerable. Often, clients decide not to pay where the security comes into the picture, and bodyguards should be employed to provide resistance to nuisance.

Conclusion

It is a big business that has a good amount of investment and a good return, but there are lots of competitions that legal brothels have to face. The significant opponents are illegal brothels. It is easy to set up the illegal ones but always at a high risk of legalities, and often you can end up paying fine more than your entire profit earned while running illegal brothel service if found out by the authorities. So, choose the best one which is suitable for you.

[jobinterviewghost]

Prostitution is a respectable career, say Thai hookers

A group of women sit around a table making dreamcatchers with colourful bits of yarn, chatting about their families, work and the thick smog enveloping Chiang Mai city in northern Thailand.

Just another workplace scene, except the women are all sex workers who meet their clients at Can Do Bar, which they own as a collective, benefitting from health insurance, fixed hours and time off – which are typically denied to sex workers.

The bar was set up in 2006 by Empower Foundation, a non-profit founded in Bangkok’s Patpong red-light district for sex workers who are still stigmatised despite widespread tolerance of Thailand’s thriving sex industry.

Thousands of Thai and migrant sex workers have learned from Empower to negotiate with bar and massage parlour owners for better conditions, and to lobby the government to decriminalise their work to improve their incomes, safety and wellbeing.

“People say we should stop doing what we do, and sew or bake cookies instead – but why are only those jobs considered appropriate?” said Mai Chanta, a 30-something native of Chiang Mai, who has been a sex worker for about eight years.

“This is what we choose to do, and we feel a sense of pride and satisfaction that we are just like other workers,” said Mai, dressed in a calf-length skirt and a t-shirt that reads “United Sex Workers Nations”.

Millions of women across the world choose sex work to make an income. Yet only a few countries – including Australia, New Zealand, Germany, the Netherlands, Senegal and Peru – recognise it as legal, leaving prostitutes elsewhere vulnerable to abuse.

In Thailand – where stigma against sex work is deep-rooted as across much of Asia – prostitution is illegal and punishable by a fine of 1,000 baht ($32) and customers who pay for sex with underage workers can be jailed for up to six years.

There are 123,530 sex workers in Thailand, according to a 2014 UNAIDS report. Advocacy groups put the figure at more than twice that number, including tens of thousands of migrants from neighbouring Myanmar, Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam.

RAIDS

Thailand’s modern sex industry is believed to have been established with the setting up of Japanese military bases during World War II. It expanded quickly during the Vietnam War, when U.S. troops came to Bangkok for their recreation breaks.

Over the years, the country has come to be known for sex tourism, with large numbers of male visitors frequenting bars, massage parlours and karaoke lounges that have multiplied as tourist numbers soared.

Although prostitution has been illegal since 1960, the law is almost invariably ignored as the lucrative business provides pay-offs to untold numbers of officials and policemen.

But sex workers in Thailand have struggled to grow a movement to demand their human, civil and labour rights, in the same way others did, from Canada to Australia, in the 1970s.

Since a military government took charge in 2014, Thailand’s ubiquitous brothels have been hit by a spate of police raids as tourism authorities pledged to transform the country into a luxury destination for moneyed tourists.

The Can Do bar in Chiang Mai is part of a collective that is lobbying to give sex workers the same rights as other workers, and decriminalise prostitution in Thailand. April 3, 2019. Thomson Reuters Foundation / Rina Chandran

Increased global efforts to combat trafficking often provide a pretext to crack down on sex workers, human rights groups say.

“Raid and rescue” operations by the police and charities often use laws related to migrant workers and trafficking to fine, detain, prosecute and deport sex workers, said Liz Hilton at Empower Foundation.

“The authorities justify the raids saying there is trafficking, but most sex workers in Thailand are in it because it pays more than many other jobs that are accessible to them,” she told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.

“These women have families to support; legalising sex work would mean they can work with dignity, and without judgment or fear,” she said.

The majority of sex workers are women, who can earn between two and 10 times the daily minimum wage – which is 325 baht in Bangkok – according to Empower Foundation.

A government official said the raids are meant to check trafficking of migrants and underage prostitution and that authorities have provided sex workers with healthcare and vocational training.

“We have discussed legalising prostitution, but it is not an option, as we do not want to be seen as encouraging it,” said Pornsom Paopramot, inspector general at the social development ministry.

“We want to send out the message that sex tourism is not something that we want to be known for. Legalising prostitution will not back that message,” she said.

DEVIANT

Legalising prostitution could reduce the stigma that sex workers are “deviant and immoral”, improve their work conditions and help combat trafficking, said Borislav Gerasimov, an expert with the Global Alliance Against Traffic in Women (GAATW).

Thailand is a source, transit and destination country for trafficking, with an estimated 610,000 people living in conditions of modern slavery, according to the Global Slavery Index 2018 by charity Walk Free Foundation.

The U.S. State Department recognised Thailand’s “significant efforts” to eliminate trafficking with a new task force, and more prosecutions and convictions, by upgrading it to Tier 2 in its latest Trafficking in Persons report.

But while human trafficking is prevalent in industries such as fishing, the government’s pursuit of sex workers is keeping it from better protecting them, said Anna Olsen at the International Labour Organization (ILO) in Bangkok.

“Trafficking for the purpose of sexual exploitation is a serious issue, but it is distinct from sex work,” she said.

“The conflation of the two fails to recognise that working in the sex industry is a practical decision for many.”

The general election in March saw several LGBT+ candidates promising to decriminalise sex work.

The women at Can Do Bar are hopeful, said Ping Pong, a founder member of Empower Foundation.

“When we started, we were told, ‘You are sex workers – you can’t get social security, you can’t get time off.’ But we did,” she said.

“We are not going to sit around waiting for someone else to do things for us. There is a new government now, and we are ready to knock on the new labour minister’s door,” she said. – Thompson Reuters

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The post Prostitution is a respectable career, say Thai hookers appeared first on BangkokJack News.

[oanda-pp]

Inside Mong La, the Myanmar Town Where You Can Buy Drugs, Sex, and Endangered Animals

Mong La is a 5,000-square-kilometer fiefdom in the Golden Triangle that is infamous for the flagrancy of its sin-based industries like prostitution, gambling, and the selling of endangered animals.

A view of Mong La town from a Buddhist Pagoda overlooking the valley on the China-Burma border. Photo by Paul Vrieze

Every day, thousands of Chinese visitors cross the border to Mong La in northeast Myanmar. And it's obvious why: You can get anything here, from bee's nests full of wiggling larvae to liquor served out of vats containing dead cobras to a complete crocodile carcass soaked in wine. And that's just at the first restaurant I visited after rolling into town.

Mong La is a 5,000-square-kilometer fiefdom in the Golden Triangle region ruled by a communist guerrilla turned drug lord. It's infamous for the flagrancy of its sin-based industries like prostitution, drug trafficking, and the selling of endangered animals. Along the town's neon-soaked streets there are dozens of garish hotels, seedy gambling halls and nightclubs, and—further out of town—flashy casinos. Everything here is geared toward Chinese visitors, who cannot legally gamble in their home country: Signs are in Chinese, the currency and phone networks are Chinese, and clocks are set to Beijing time.

These details underscore Mong La's status as not really being part of Myanmar. Though it's inside the country's borders, the area is controlled by National Democratic Alliance Army of Lin Mingxian (a.k.a. Sai Lin). A Wikileaks-published 2005 US embassy cable called him a "regional leader and drug trafficker" with "a James Bondian private police force" that keeps order in Mong La. You can see soldiers all over town manning checkpoints and on patrol, dressed in green uniforms and wielding AK-47 assault rifles and handguns.

Soldiers of the NDAA, the rebel group controlling Mong La, patrol the town in a pickup truck. Photo by Kyungmee Kim

In 2011, Myanmar—which has long suffered from brutal military rule and ethnic conflict—began to transition to a more democratic government. A ceasefire was signed earlier this year with eight of the country's 15 rebel groups, and during historic elections on November 8 democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi's party won a landslide victory. These developments, however, haven't touched the area around Mong La; the rebels who control the Shan and Akha ethnic minority region are not party to the ceasefire, and no one here has voted.

Though isolated from Myanmar in many ways, the mountain valley is easily accessible from China's Yunnan Province. Chinese visitors do not require a passport and the rebels have good connections with Yunnan authorities, though Chinese officials occasionally closed the border in efforts to curb gambling by its citizens. Many of the casinos are Chinese-owned and even allow online betting from people in China, where gamblers can follow a live camera feed of the baccarat tables and pay through Chinese bank accounts, according to Michael Black and Bertil Lintner's 2008 book Merchants of Madness.

China could easily block the flow of tourists, but has refrained from doing so as its local economies are closely tied to the lively trade—and smuggling—of Burmese goods through Mong La. In 2003, reportedly after the daughter of a Chinese high-ranking central government official gambled away more than $150,000 USD in the town, the border was sealed and Chinese soldiers crossed over to shut down several casinos. Lin Mingxian reacted by moving the casinos further south of the border. In 2012, China cut off telecom services to Mong La to prevent online gambling, but the parlors installed satellite dishes as a counter.

Chinese visitors play video games on which they can bet money in a Mong La gambling hall. Photo by Paul Vrieze

Mong La's casinos and hotels were built on the illicit proceeds from the drug trade. Last year Myanmar and neighboring Laos manufactured 762 metric tons of opium, according to the UN (making the region second only to Afghanistan in heroin production), and the Golden Triangle is also Asia's main source of methamphetamine.

Lin Mingxian has long sought to combat Mong La's reputation. In 1997, he declared it "opium-free" and a gaudy pink museum, built next to a Buddhist pagoda overlooking the valley, showcases photos, maps and colorful murals of drug-eradication operations. Despite displays like this, Black and Lintner say in their book that the warlord remains linked to trade and "lives in a palatial Miami Beach-style pink mansion perched above Mong La, resembling the residence of a feudal warlord raised above his jungle fiefdom."

Though reporting and photography in the casinos was restricted, I was able to visit the many dodgy gambling halls in town. Here, the less affluent visitors—mostly chain-smoking, middle-aged Chinese men—were betting on video games, slot machines, and a craps game involving huge dice with animals instead of numbers on the sides.

A car passes by sex workers who ply their trade on a Mong La street. Photo by Paul Vrieze

Prostitution is just as ubiquitous as gambling here—scantily clad women were openly soliciting sex on the street, and in my grubby hotel room a Chinese-language advertisement offered "Girls with good personality who are cheerful and nice," as well as a "mom and daughter combo, [or] older and younger sister combo."

At night, on the streets next to Mong La's market, dozens of young Chinese prostitutes were waiting on plastic chairs in shopfront brothels. As I passed, one approached and uttered a few words in English: "What's your name? My name Sa Sa." Asked her age in English, the girl, who looked like a teenager, said, "25." When asked again in Chinese by my friend, she replied: "I am 17."

Parts of endangered wildlife, including Pangolin scales, antlers, bags of ivory dust, dried elephant skin (right) and what appears to be a tiger paw (center), are on sale at Mong La's market. The items are ingredients in Chinese traditional medicine. Photo by Paul Vrieze

The daytime market in Mong La seems more conventional, with a mix of Chinese traders and local ethnic minority women selling everything from vegetables and meat to clothes and Chinese electronics, but in a corner of the market a more sinister trade was going on.

About a dozen stalls openly displayed a shocking variety of poached wildlife for sale: dried elephant skin, pieces of ivory, skulls and skins of wild cats, deer antlers, a bundle of porcupine quills, and the skin of a scaly anteater known as a pangolin. Cages held live baby monkeys, a large porcupine, and a variety of colorful wild birds. Some traders offered what they claimed was a tiger paw for around $250 USD.

You could find more endangered animals or their byproducts for sale without even trying. Several upmarket shops in the town center sold complete sets of antlers, tiger skins, and a range of animal-based products such as wine. Some restaurants and casinos offered expensive wildlife dishes, including pangolin meat.

Professor Vincent Nijman, of the UK's Oxford Brookes University, has studied the Mong La market. According to him, it is a global wildlife trafficking hub, in particular for the growing trade in ivory, including from African elephants. "The ivory trade is huge, as is the trade in wild cats, and bears, and slow lorises [a type of small primate]," he wrote in an email. He has identified 60 species traded in Mong La, of which "a third is globally endangered and also about a third is legally protected."

Nijman said the trade is "largely, if not totally illegal" under Burmese and Chinese law, but buyers are not checked for animal parts by Chinese authorities. The tiger paw was likely fake, he said when I asked about it, but added: "Real tigers are sold in the high-end trophy shops further in town."

Like any town that survives off of gray- and black-market economies, Mong La is filled with facades and fakes. The most obvious is a towering building that is a Sheraton Hotel, or so the screaming, orange neon-lit letters would have you believe. (The American hotel chain's website reveals it has no such establishment.) It is one of dozens of buildings built during an ongoing construction boom in Mong La that has churned out huge hotels, gleaming new shopping malls, and high-rise residential complexes.

The town also boasts a coal plant, a golf course, and a zoo, while the surrounding mountainsides are covered in sprawling rubber plantations. Such development would be the envy of many impoverished Burmese towns and cities, but Tom Kramer, a longtime researcher of the country's ethnic conflict, said wealth gathered from Mong La's questionable economic development model benefitted only Lin Mingxian and those around him.

"It's a very top-down organization... It's not democratic and the development is just about building infrastructure and buildings," he said. "There has been a long period of peace and this brings wealth, but this doesn't go to the ordinary people."

The owner of a construction company from Mandalay, in central Myanmar, told me at a local restaurant that he was building two hotels in Mong La, including one with 100 rooms. He said he first visited seven years ago when "there were only farms along the roads and maybe five hotels in downtown.

"There is a construction boom," added the businessman, who asked not be named. He added many companies "build very fast, it's not safe... They don't do any calculations on the construction design and there are earthquakes in this area."

Asked what he thought of Mong La's development and business prospects, he said, "Chinese visitors are still increasing, but this place is no good. It can break down any time. When the Chinese government changes their ideas about Mong La, it 's game over."

This article originally appeared on VICE US.

[micaramel]

Artists: Kader Attia, Fiona Connor, Danilo Correale, Alexander Deprez, Jos Jansen, Mathew Kneebone, Klara Lidén, Frederik Lizen, Melanie Manchot, Lieven Martens & Simon Van Honacker, Sam Meech, Karl Philips, Ann-Sofi Sidén, Pascale Marthine Tayou, Dennis Tyfus, Oriol Vilanova

Venue: Extra City Kunsthal, Antwerp

Exhibition Title: Daily Nightshift

Date: March 21 – June 28, 2020

Curated By: Kunsthal Extra City in collaboration with Simon Delobel and Olivier Goethals

Click here to view slideshow

Full gallery of images, press release and link available after the jump.

Images:

Images courtesy of Extra City Kunsthal, Antwerp

Press Release:

In recent years, the night, and the urban night in particular, has been intensively discussed by city residents, policymakers, researchers and artists alike. The group exhibition Daily Nightshift casts a spotlight on this discussion, exploring a number of the complex tensions of urban nightlife.

“Going out” and partying go hand-in-hand with nightlife. Simultaneously with the dimming daylight, people start to relax and share elation. They gather as friends or like minds in places where they can express themselves freely and in confidence. In addition to the usual ports of call, important “safe spaces” are also being created to offer marginalised communities a place where they feel they belong. What is suppressed by day, can be let out at night; dusk offers just that little bit more tolerance and concealment than the light of day.

A padded nightlife offering is also vital to the vibrant image that so many cities seek to emanate. Of course, the economic impact and cultural influence of nightlife establishments is not to be underestimated. Cities that bristle with life at night seem to hold limitless promise.

Nevertheless, this story of nights drenched in euphoria and economic profit is not entirely unproblematic. In their article from 2014, urban geographers Tim Schwanen, Irina Van Aalst and Ilse Van Liempt poignantly outline the changes many city districts are going through.2 After these somewhat neglected areas are made trendy again (often due to the arrival of creative industries and hospitality businesses), large franchises start to appear and disseminate their standardised experience. These changes rarely benefit less-well-off, non-white and non-mainstream consumers. Rather, it is all done with a view to maximising profit by attracting relatively risk-free, wealthy consumers (such as “young urban professionals”). The consequences of this feed back into the same problem: gentrification always benefits the same, universally similar activities; the new residents of the redeveloped areas aren’t so pleased with night-time nuisance; and unwelcome visitors are moved onto other places in the city, spatially spurned.

The latter social differentiation is characteristic not only of nightlife but also of night-time work. In Belgium this is defined as the labour carried out between eight in the evening and six in the morning. Recent figures from Steunpunt Werk show that only 3% of Belgian employees carry out nighttime work.3 This percentage is strikingly lower than in neighbouring countries: in the Netherlands 9.3% work at night, while in the UK it’s 6.3%. In cities such as London, where there are many statistics available regarding the night-time economy, the percentage is increasing exponentially, DAILY NIGHTSHIFT 1 ARUP, “Cities Alive: Rethinking the Shades of Night”, 2015, p.13 2 VAN LIEMPT, Ilse, VAN AALST, Irina en SCHWANEN, Tim, “Introduction: Geographies of the Urban Night”, Urban Studies, October 2014 3 BAERT, Denny, “Belgen blijven bij minst flexibele werknemers van Europa, alleen weekendwerk zit wat in de lift”, ‘VRTNWS’, 6 August 2019 accounting for as much as a third of all employees.4 Even more remarkably, up to a third of these night-time workers in London are from BAME (Black, Asian or Minority Ethnic) backgrounds. Compared to day workers, there are almost twice as many night workers earning below the London Living Wage. There is a sharp edge to the night economy: who can afford to play and who must work to make ends meet?

In some parts of the world the market for night-time employment is growing significantly faster than the market for daytime employment. Mobility is a good barometer of this: the City of London found, for example, that half of all night-bus travel was for employment purposes, and that the largest growth in the use of public transport was between ten in the evening and seven in the morning. Many companies are operating more and more on a 24/7 basis, necessitating a solid urban transport network to get their workers to their locations.

Night work is nothing new, especially since the Industrial Revolution, when artificial lighting made it possible to keep people working longer. The difference with today is the increased digitisation of a globalised world. As essayist Jonathan Crary writes in his already-iconic book 24/7: Late Capitalism and the Ends of Sleep, there is no moment, place or situation in which one cannot shop, consume or exploit.5 The notion that everything is always possible touches every part of our personal, social and professional lives. It is a realisation of the dream of the (late-)capitalist system to never have to stop production or consumption, but rather to allow them to flow into each other infinitely. Time is indeed money, and time can no longer be spent on “doing nothing”; it has become too expensive not to profit from it, to paraphrase the artist Jenny Odell.6 However, this hyperactivity ignores the responsibility that people take on when they choose to be complicit in this system and is driven by artificial desires that can never be satisfied. The division of the 24-hour rhythm into a life by day and a life by night is coming under great pressure from our non-stop, 24-hour society and “the incontestable priority of getting, having, owning, coveting, envying, all of which inflames the restlessness of the world, operating without pause.”7

All this refers only to the official, legal economy. The night-time is the time favoured for the illegal economy: drugs, prostitution, the smuggling of contraband, gambling, restaurants and shops serving as covers for illegal (or at least sketchy) practices. Such activities may flirt with the limits of legality, but that doesn’t make them any less profitable.

In some places and for some people, these clandestine activities, combined with the occasional nuisance caused by revellers, contributes to a feeling of being unsafe in the city at night. And this is on top of the fact that the darkness of the night is already associated with danger and fear. The concern arising from these factors has resulted in new forms of surveillance and preventive measures, such as CCTV and ID (card) scanners at clubs. In this way, the “undesirables” are expertly excluded. Everyone behaves according to the social codes of the (local) government, police, and public health service, which are prescribed with a view to safeguarding the well-being of each individual and group (and encouraging spending, of course).8 Ironically enough, this approach often has the opposite effect. Historian Bert De Munck calls this the “prosthetic paradox”: the more surveillance technologies that appear on our streets, the more anxious people feel 9.  In addition to this, more and more people are becoming aware of their right to privacy, something that seems hard to reconcile with these technologies.

There seem to be two opposing ways of dealing with the convergence of leisure, labour, the (illegal) economy and (un)safety in the city at night. In some places the urban nightlife is encouraged, with the ultimate goal of cultivating a marketable 24/7 city. In other places, the nightlife is becoming more strictly regulated, sometimes leading to the dimming of the city’s lights, both literally and figuratively. A combination of the two approaches is also possible. There is a constant negotiation taking place in cities regarding how their nightlife is to be regulated. Besides, the urban night-time and its economy have recently become the subject of intense debates, some of which can be enriching, but others of which overlook the real, slower developments unfolding in cities. It is these connections and sensitivities that the artworks in the exhibition Daily Nightshift question, respond or refer to. The combination of works in the spatial landscape of the exhibition tells a story about how the urban night is used, experienced and regulated today. Every day, every night, shift after shift.

The exhibition Daily Nightshift is the result of a collective project. The project began in May 2019, when a broad range of people living and/or working in Antwerp, including representatives of various organizations, were invited for a workshop at Kunsthal Extra City. The goal was to come together and reflect, across our various disciplines, and to build a bridge between what was going on in the art world and what was going on in the city of today. We assessed the urgent themes of today’s cities. These would go on to serve as inspiration for Kunsthal Extra City’s artistic programme in the future. The theme of ‘nightlife’ was chosen for this first exhibition of 2020. In this brochure you can find more information about each artwork. The exhibition follows a fixed route; in this brochure the artists appear in the order you will encounter them in the space. The numbers assigned to the artists in the following pages correspond to the numbers on the labels in the exhibition.

1 ARUP, “Cities Alive: Rethinking the Shades of Night”, 2015, p.13

2 VAN LIEMPT, Ilse, VAN AALST, Irina en SCHWANEN, Tim, “Introduction: Geographies of the Urban Night”, Urban Studies, October 2014

3 BAERT, Denny, “Belgen blijven bij minst flexibele werknemers van Europa, alleen weekendwerk zit wat in de lift”, ‘VRTNWS’, 6 August 2019

4 GLA Economics & Mayor of London, “London at night: an evidence base for a 24-hour city”, https:// bit.ly/2wYYAQp; London Night Time Commission, “Think Night: London’s Neighbourhoods from 6pm to 6am”, https://bit.ly/38cITCl

5 CRARY, Jonathan, ‘24/7: Late Capitalism and the Ends of Sleep’, Verso, 2014, p. 30

6 ODELL, Jenny, in: COOK, Sarah, ‘24/7: A Wake-up Call for our Non-Stop World’, Somerset House Trust, London, 2019, p. 13

7 CRARY, Jonathan, in: COOK, Sarah, ‘24/7: A Wake-up Call for our Non- Stop World’, Somerset House Trust, London, 2019, p. 137

8 VAN LIEMPT, Ilse, VAN AALST, Irina and SCHWANEN, Tim, “Introduction: Geographies of the Urban Night”, Urban Studies, October 2014

9 DE MUNCK, Bert, “The Prosthetic Paradox”, ‘Angst & Ruimte / Fear & Space’, NAi Publishers, Rotterdam, 2004, pp. 8-15

Link: “Daily Nightshift” at Extra City Kunsthal

from Contemporary Art Daily https://bit.ly/3el9LDj

[shivshankarannairmalta-blog]

Shiv Shankaran Nair - Seven Ways To Tell You're Suffering From An Obession With EU’s Mis-targeted Response

In 2015, based on Frontex, your EU Agency for protection regarding EU borders, a record associated with 1,820,000 illegal immigrants entered the particular EU (these were the actual ones officially detected as well as recorded, at least another 400,000 are thought to get escaped detection). Regarding these illegal migrants, most of the flow from Africa is focussed upon using Libya as getting a launching pad straight into Europe. Italy and to a lesser extent Malta, are the reluctant hosts. In Malta exactly where I live, we view a lot a lot more Eritreans, Somalis and additionally to a lesser extent Nigerians and also Ghanaians on the streets. on just a new little island of white Christians, your growing quantity of black Muslims has created one thing of your schism. Middle-class liberals, talk about human legal rights along with asylum coming from persecution. the vast majority in the population, such as many politicians irrespective involving their credo, talk about mass deportations. Shiv Shankaran Nair When in a while, we wake as significantly as bloated bodies around the beaches when a smuggling boat features given in order to Davy Jones Locker. This as well as the prior year, get seen a new severe backlash within the EU against illegal migration. The Particular agony of Syrian refugees may be blunted by a huge quantity of economic migrants, via Pakistan, Afghanistan along with The Particular Sahel who have jumped about the Syrian bandwagon. However, Europe’s refugee crisis isn't just an urgent humanitarian disaster, nevertheless in supplement has spawned a tremendously profitable industry. Refugees along with migrants are paying immense sums associated with money in attempts to reach Europe, syphoning greater than billion money per year into an underground economy of traffickers… Between 2000 as well as June 2015, migrants and also refugees have got compensated traffickers more than 16 billion euros to achieve Europe, in accordance with The Particular Migrants’ Files, the information journalism organization that has analysed thousands of payments in order to smugglers in order to estimate the actual size of your trafficking market. The EU provides reacted by throwing funds in the problem inside its usual unfocussed way. EU and also African leaders, meeting at Valletta inside November 2015, highlighted the necessity to adopt action concerning conflicts, human legal rights violations as well as abuses. This specific included conflict prevention, support for state creating and also the rule of law, and also reinforcing state capacity for you to ensure security along with fight terrorism. They additionally showed up with the concept of launching an audio and video programme advising against travelling without having legal visas or as the Valletta press launch input it “EU and African leaders agreed to improve usage of details around the risks of irregular migration and provide a practical take a look at living conditions inside European countries. “ Pertaining To nearly all economic migrants, the actual video ended up being like an invitation to travel . the very best economic conditions in the countries from where the vast majority were escaping, were more serious compared to the worst scenarios shown within the European countries. On 16th December 2016, The Particular EU Emergency Believe In Fund with regard to Africa adopted a new €37 million package deal in order to improve protection associated with migrants and to strengthen effective migration management in North Africa. Almost all the money is allocated in order to Libya, Morocco and also Tunisia, with regard to amongst other items (I youngster anyone not) “a €5.5 million programme to guide prevention regarding racism and xenophobia against migrants” As someone who offers expended greater than 2 decades working in Sub-Saharan Africa, I'm flabbergasted as associated with this total waste involving money, not merely inside the irrational programmes that are supported, nevertheless the complete mistargeting of the countries that are beneficiaries of the EU largesse. The point the EU wants to become able to focus on is actually Northern Niger, through where 90% in the illegal caravans associated with misery originate. The Actual primary northern city of Agadez, is a significant transit zone for 1000s of West Africans attempting to reach Algeria and also Libya en route in order to Europe. Agadez, which usually I as soon as visited a decade ago, in my way in to become able to the desert wanting to prospect for Gold, ended up being then a new fly-blown shit hole, together with even drinking drinking water at a premium. the merely hotel throughout town has been thus dire which I spent three nights sleeping during my Territory Cruiser. However, since the 15th century, Agadez continues to be certainly 1 of the actual continent’s most critical trading hubs, your gateway among West as well as North Africa. Now, it is truly a town operate by human smugglers. Weapons, drugs, laundered money, hapless migrants, indentured prostitutes that they most pass through Agadez. An outstanding article in the Huffington post (http://highline.huffingtonpost.com/articles/en/the-21st-century-gold-rush-refugees/#/niger9 ) offers an about the ground look at events throughout Agadez. The Republic of Niger, whose President Alhaji Mahamadou Issoufou, whom I get recognized for more than fifteen years, has struggled for you to manage the actual situation. Alhaji Issoufou, any dedicated socialist came to power along with faced your ire associated with France with regard to cancelling the particular Uranium mining permits regarding Areva, which for fairly much forty many years paid out any pittance with regard to mining the fortune worth of Uranium. However, with just about all the rise involving Al Qaeda in the Maghreb, along with collapse of Uranium prices, Niger has certainly not been able to manage the actual flow of illegal migrants. President Mahamadou Issoufou’s government passed a new tough anti-migrant smuggling law in Might 2015 that will establishes prison regards to approximately 30 years for individuals smugglers, inside exactly what it stated was a bid in order to protect vulnerable youthful Africans. Officials inside Niger, ranked as the poorest country upon earth through the United Nations, understand that implementing the brand new law indicates cracking down on endemic graft in a country in that a younger policeman earns less than $190 the month. The Actual fact that Agadez thrives will be proof of the undeniable fact that what the actual law states doesn’t work. The confidential national police report, that I have got seen, concluded in which Agadez, which in turn acts as a gateway towards the north, had been an ‘El Dorado’ pertaining to safety forces. The idea discovered there were a lot much more than 70 smugglers ‘ghettos’ active within the town, each 1 protected with a compensated police agent. A separate statement from the HALCIA anti-corruption agency exactly the particular same year said that payments to become able to security forces and local authorities totalled $450 per vehicle and $30 for each foreign migrant around the route in between Agadez and the Libyan border. The Actual HALCIA mission found out that bribes paid through migrants were necessary to maintain the security forces working as funds earmarked inside the military spending budget to buy diesel for vehicles, spare parts along with meals merely disappeared in Niamey. Instead regarding spending profit Morocco in “programmes to aid prevention involving racism and xenophobia against migrants”, the actual EU needs for you to be funding institutional capacity building throughout Niger along with Chad. Additionally, Frontex ought to train and fund the actual salaries associated with Nigerienne military and also border control forces. President Issoufou has already invited EU to station troops or Frontex forces inside Niger to destroy up the particular routes of men and women smugglers. I agree which these are quit gap measures, but the logistics and furthermore the routes with regard to smuggling are not built overnight, plus a policy involving steady harassment and interception involving smugglers will discover a sudden drop throughout illegal migrants washing up upon Europe’s shores. In the final analysis, there is no alternative to some policy associated with Fortress Europe. Illiteracy, overpopulation, civil wars and corruption inside Sub-Saharan Africa can not be eliminated, reduced maybe, however, not eliminated. therefore there will possibly be the steady flow associated with individuals that have absolutely absolutely nothing to shed and who are willing to do what it really takes, in direction of the brilliant lights regarding Europe. The Particular only approach to reduce the flow is often to sanction the particular governments that allow his or her countries to be utilized as staging points and, to bring stability for you to Libya, which usually during the Gaddafi times acted as Europe’s guardian in the Mediterranean shores.- Shiv Shankaran Nair

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Illegal Immigration and the Global Network of Criminal Enterprise

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Most readers are already knowledgeable about the facts of the illegal immigration problem in the United States, but fewer are likely familiar with the closely related issue of human trafficking. Human trafficking is a form of modern slavery which includes the illegal smuggling, transportation, and trading of people, as well as forced labor or sexual exploitation. On the surface, many imagine the victims of human trafficking as domestically kidnapped women forced into prostitution, but the data shows that human trafficking more frequently affects illegal immigrants.

This article aims to explain the interconnected relationship between illegal immigration and the human trafficking industry. To clarify, my goal is not to inspire sympathy for illegal immigrants, but rather to illustrate the necessity of border security in curbing human trafficking. Understanding this connection will allow you to skillfully debate immigration with shitlibs by appealing to their emotions, rather than with facts (which they are likely to dismiss).

Immigration and Trafficking

Immigration and human trafficking are very closely related. Despite their closely knit relationship, few make the connection. Lately, the global industry of illegal border crossing has grown wildly out of control, attracting all sorts of criminal enterprises: pimps, drug cartels, corrupt governments, and even terrorists.

Allow me to break it down in simple economic terms: where there is a market demand for illegal immigration, there will inevitably be a black market solution to facilitate illegal border crossings. Many immigrants want to come into the United States illegally and there is no shortage of human traffickers willing to get them across the border for the right price. The consequence is that many immigrants find themselves in debt bondage to smugglers.

Some fall victim to a bait-and-switch, being promised one job by the trafficker, only to be given a far worse job when they finally arrive in the country. The lucky ones are forced into menial labor for little or nothing, living in horrible conditions. Those who aren’t so lucky may find themselves coerced into prostitution and kept in line through forced drug addiction. Some just end up missing or dead.

The Numbers

Human trafficking is believed to be among the fastest growing activities of transnational crime organizations. According to the Global Slavery Index, there were approximately 40.3 million people enslaved in 2016, 71% of which were female. As of 2005, it is believed that 350,000 illegal aliens are smuggled into the United States from Mexico each year; across Europe, that number could be as high as 800,000 annually.

Due to the nature of the crime, it is difficult to determine exactly how much the human trafficking industry is worth. The International Labor Organization (ILO) estimates that the global human trafficking industry generates $32 billion annually, with half ($15.5 billion) of that being made in industrialized countries and one third ($9.7 billion) made in Asia. However, in 2014, the ILO estimated that forced labor alone generates around $150 billion annually.

While the United States is among one of the worldwide leaders in action against modern slavery, our economy invests $144 billion annually in products at risk of forced labor – far more than any other developed country in the world. On the other hand, Mexico is listed as one of the only nations failing to take any action against modern slavery. Earlier in 2018, the State Department released a report identifying Belarus, Russia, Iran, and Turkmenistan as the worst countries in terms of protection against human trafficking and forced labor. According to a Protection Project report, Brazil and Thailand are among the worst countries in the world in regard to their record of child sex trafficking.

Research also suggests that human trafficking is at its highest volume in areas near international travel hubs with large immigrant populations, such as California and Texas. According to the U.S. Justice Department, it is estimated that anywhere from 14,500 to 17,500 people are illegally trafficked into the country every year, but the Global Slavery Index puts that number at 57,700 when accounting for both U.S. citizens and immigrants. Unfortunately, a concrete number for that metric is unclear since obviously illegal immigrants avoid documentation.

In 2011, the Justice Department published a report which included the following findings

– Between 2008 and 2010, Federal anti-trafficking task forces opened 2,515 cases of suspected human trafficking.

– A stunning 82% of suspected incidents were classified specifically as sex trafficking and almost half of these involved victims under the age of 18.

– About 10% of the incidents were classified as labor trafficking.

– In confirmed sex trafficking incidents, 83% of the victims were identified as U.S. citizens, whereas labor trafficking victims were almost entirely illegal or legal immigrants (67% and 28% respectively).

– Finally, 25% of victims were granted a “T visa”, a special work visa that allows them to stay in the country on the condition they cooperate with law enforcement and testify against suspected human traffickers.

As shocking as these statistics are, the report acknowledges the likelihood that the data is incomplete due to the unscrupulous nature of human trafficking cases.

Supplementary data can be obtained from Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) records. In 2009 alone, ICE opened 566 cases, leading to 388 criminal arrests (more than double the arrests made the previous year), resulting in 148 indictments and 165 convictions. Meanwhile, between 2001 and 2007, the Justice Department prosecuted 360 defendants in human trafficking cases, resulting in 238 convictions.

Where Are They From?

According to a 2011 State Department report, most human trafficking victims are from the Philippines, Thailand, India, Mexico, Haiti (#ClintonFoundation), Honduras, El Salvador, and the Dominican Republic. This study also found that a higher number of cases were found in high population international travel hubs with a high volume of immigrants, such as California, New York, Texas, and Florida.

According to data from the National Human Trafficking Resource Center, about 979,000 of reported human trafficking cases are from California, making it the most affected area in the country. However, Atlanta, Georgia is regarded as the United States capital of human trafficking, due to its large airport; a 2014 study by the Urban Institute showed that traffickers in Atlanta grossed over $32,000 in a single week. Southern Florida is also considered a hotbed of human trafficking, specifically Miami Beach, where authorities arrested 36 suspected traffickers in 2017 alone.

Hotline statistics from the Polaris Project suggest that people from Latin America make up one-third of human trafficking victims in the United States, with most coming from Mexico, Haiti, Honduras, El Salvador, and the Dominican Republic. Unsurprisingly, it is estimated that nearly 29% of these victims are illegally smuggled into the country across the southern border with Mexico; however, it is also believed that a majority of these victims enter the United States on work visas.

According to the Polaris Project, Central American or Mexican males with seasonal H-2A visas comprise most agricultural labor trafficking. Although the visa program requires employers to provide workers with suitable housing, they frequently live in squalor and are denied necessities such as beds and indoor toilets. In the construction industry, most trafficking victims are Mexican or Central American men, who either have an H-2B visa or are in the country illegally. This type of abuse emphasizes the need for reform of our work visa programs, as well as further oversight and regulation.

Sex Trafficking

Research conducted by the University of California at Berkeley discovered that roughly 46% of people enslaved in the United States are forced into prostitution. From January 2007 to September 2008, of the 1,229 cases of alleged human trafficking nationwide, nearly 83% were sex trafficking cases. Findings by the State Department in 2009 suggest that sex trafficking is closely tied with illegal immigrant smuggling operations headed by Mexican, Eastern European, and Asian crime organizations.

In the realm of sex trafficking, the Polaris Project reports that most victims – over half of whom are minors – are from Mexico, Central America, or the Caribbean, with only 11% coming from the United States. A massive 96% of victims are females from Mexico or Central America, 63% of whom are minors.

The ILO claims that 4.5 million people worldwide are affected by sex trafficking. Statistics gathered by the International Organization for Migration suggest that of the trafficking victims it assisted in 2011, 35% were minors. In 2008, the State Department estimated that 2 million children are exploited by the global commercial sex trade.

Sex trafficking heavily relies on deception, with victims usually being promised work in a service industry, only to have their passport and identification confiscated and wind up instead locked in a brothel, where they are forced to undertake sex work to earn their freedom. Often, drug addiction is used to manipulate the victims. To make matters worse, the victims typically receive a meager fraction of the money they earn, if any at all. This massive global industry is predicted to gross around $32 billion annually.

Children

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services reported that between 240,000 and 325,000 children are at risk for sexual exploitation every year. Additionally, a 2001 study from the University of Pennsylvania School of Social Work predicated that up to 300,000 American youths may be at risk of commercial sexual exploitation at any given time. Back in 2000, the State Department calculated that there are approximately 244,000 American children at risk for sex trafficking every year.

Those most vulnerable are homeless and runaway children. In 2009, the National Runaway Switchboard claimed that one-third of American runaway youths will be lured into prostitution within just 48 hours on the streets. In 2013, there were over 10,000 reports of child sex trafficking documented by the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC), which they claim represents only a “tiny percentage” of the total number. The NCMEC puts much of the blame on websites such as the now defunct Backpage.com. Although Backpage.com sends the NCMEC an average of 300 suspicious ads every month, the NCMEC maintains that this number is “inadequate” based on their data. Online classifieds sites are attributed to increasing profit margins and diminishing risks for traffickers, who often use social media to recruit potential victims.

Drug cartels, paramilitary forces, and other criminal organizations recruit girls as young as 10 to sell to sex tourists on online auctions, where prices run in the thousands of dollars. In Brazil – where it is estimated that up to 250,000 children work as prostitutes (although some sources put that number closer to 2 million) – law enforcement agencies have labelled the BR-116 highway as a hub for the child sex trade; based on the distance, it is believed that every ten miles of highway will have a child selling sex on the side of the streets over a total of at least 262 locations.

People Smuggling

Illegal aliens have increasingly turned to smugglers known as coyotes, to lead them north through Mexico and across the southern border. In China, they are known as “snakehead” gangs. Unfortunately, there is a growing trend of coyotes coercing illegal immigrants into exploitative labor arrangements to repay the debt owed to the smugglers. As known smuggling routes become more dangerous, the costs migrants must pay has dramatically risen, leading to some coyotes selling their illegal immigrants into forced labor or prostitution to recuperate their expenses. Due to fear of deportation, abuse, and other crimes these crimes often go unreported.

In cases of unaccompanied minors, it is not uncommon for them to be forced into prostitution only for the coyote to falsely lead their families to believe they died in transit. Many actually do die in people smuggling; in 2004 there were 464 recorded deaths during attempts to cross the southern border and it is believed that every year 2,000 drown in the Mediterranean Sea attempting to be smuggled into Europe.

The smuggling industry is believed to be highly lucrative, grossing more than $5 billion annually according to experts like Douglas Massey, a sociology professor at Princeton University’s Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs. In Mexico, border crossing fees can range from $1,500 to $2,500 and a large coyote organization can smuggle up to 500 people in a single day. Some estimate smuggling fees from Mexico can be up to $4,000, whereas trans-Pacific crossings can cost up to $75,000. As of 2003, people smuggling between Mexico and the United States garnered over $5 billion annually; similarly, people smuggling operations in the European Union yield around 4 billion euros in profit each year. Drug cartels have made sure to get their cut of the money generated by coyotes, either by extorting taxes from them or getting directly involved in the business themselves. Cartels have been known to use coyotes to smuggle drugs across the border in addition to smuggling people.

Illegal immigrants often fall prey to deceitful labor recruiters who then exploit their vulnerabilities (e.g. language barrier, illiteracy, fear of deportation, debt, and drug dependence) in order to maintain control over them. It is not uncommon for traffickers or smugglers to manipulate illegal aliens by facilitating remittances to their families back home.

A National Security Threat

Coyotes also pose a full-fledged national security threat. Border agents are on the lookout for “an ever-present threat [that] exists from the potential for terrorists to employ the same smuggling and transportation networks, infrastructure, drop houses, and other support and then use these masses of illegal aliens as ‘cover’ for a successful cross-border penetration”, as quoted from the Border Patrol’s mission statement.

Recent news has proven this threat is not as outlandish as it may seem. In early 2017, the former director of Venezuela’s immigration office alleged that during his seventeen month tenure, the failed socialist government kept money flowing in by selling at least 10,000 Venezuelan passports, visas, and other documents in cooperation with the Bolivian government to citizens of Syria, Iraq, Pakistan, Palestine, and Iran.

In the past, the Venezuelan government has been accused of providing passports for members of al-Qaeda as well. Ironically, the U.S. government has been aware of Venezuelan passport fraud since 2006. The Venezuelan government’s ties to Hezbollah date back as far as the 2006 Lebanon War, when Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah thanked then-President Hugo Chavez for his support. Chavez has also been accused of allowing Hezbollah members to stay in Venezuela, as well as using his country’s Middle Eastern embassies to launder money.

The United States Treasury has also accused members of the Venezuelan government of providing funding to Hezbollah. A former Assistant Secretary of State for Western Hemisphere Affairs is on record testifying that Chavez’s government provided funding to not only Hezbollah, but also Iran.

Current CIA Director Mike Pompeo has also acknowledged the Venezuelan government’s ties to Hezbollah and Iran. It is also known that the Lebanese-born former Venezuelan Vice President, Tareck El Aissami, has a long history of direct collaboration with Hezbollah, as well as drug cartels.

Contributing Factors

Interestingly enough, there is a direct correlation between human trafficking rates and globalization, as referenced in the 2010 book Sex Trafficking: Inside the Business of Modern Slavery by Harvard University lecturer and activist Siddharth Kara. The reason for this correlation is the increase in cross-border trade, coupled with a rising demand for cheap labor. Import competition in rural markets such as in Central America has also forced impoverished people to migrate to industrialized economies like the United States, in search of higher wages. This creates the ideal climate for organized criminal operations to form trafficking circles, aided by the technological advances brought about by globalization.

A 2011 paper published in Human Rights Review titled “Sex Trafficking: Trends, Challenges and Limitations of International Law” noted that since 2000, the number of sex trafficking victims has risen while the associated costs have declined: “Coupled with the fact that trafficked sex slaves are the single most profitable type of slave, costing on average $1,895 each but generating $29,210 annually, [there are] stark predictions about the likely growth in commercial sex slavery in the future.”

Researchers have closely examined what variables make Latin Americans especially vulnerable to human trafficking. While factors like poverty and violence provoke Latin Americans to emigrate to the United States, there are also motivating factors at play which are totally in our government’s control. These compelling factors, such as employment opportunities and other incentives, are something our government has the power to limit, yet still refuses to do so.

Legislation and Prevention

Human trafficking is criminalized not only under federal law, but also in over half of U.S. states. Related legal efforts focus on regulating the tourism industry, as well as international marriage brokers. Human trafficking is of course a federal crime under Title 18 of The United States Code; specifically, Section 1584 classifies forced labor and involuntary servitude as criminal offenses and Section 1581 prohibits forcing a person to work through debt servitude.

In addition to defining human trafficking as “any individual who provides or obtains labor or services for peonage, slavery, involuntary servitude, or forced labor,” The Victims of Trafficking and Violence Protection Act of 2000 (TVPA) also distinguished between forced trafficking and voluntary smuggling. This law took measures to increase maximum sentences for traffickers, allocate resources for victims, and create avenues for inter-agency cooperation. However, while trafficking victims were previously regarded as criminals, this law allows victims to remain in the country on T-1 visas. The TVPA also created annual country reports on trafficking and tied foreign aid to anti-trafficking efforts. Under the section on Severe Forms of Trafficking in Persons, any minor engaged in prostitution – regardless of citizenship status – is considered a victim of human trafficking, irrespective of whether or not any migration has occurred.

Currently, the TVPA has been reauthorized three times, most recently in 2008. Among the amendments to the law, it most notably requires the federal government to terminate all contracts with contractors involved in forced labor and also extends jurisdiction to cover all foreign U.S. nationals and permanent overseas residents. Under the Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act of 2003, the Bush Administration authorized over $200 million to combat human trafficking. However, a downside to this law is that it allows the government to help victims by stabilizing their immigration status. In a similar vein, the Department of Health and Human Services allows non-citizen victims to receive the same federally funded benefits and services as a person with refugee status.

There are also Safe Harbor laws, which protect trafficking victims from prosecution of crimes committed while under the influence of traffickers and also provide resources such as counselling and housing. Although victims are protected under federal law, they can still be prosecuted under state law; however, a federal law known as the Stop Exploitation Through Trafficking Act of 2013 encourages states to pass their own Safe Harbor laws.

President Trump took action by signing a bill titled “Allow States and Victims to Fight Online Sex Trafficking Act”, which gives federal and state prosecutors greater power to crack down on websites that host sex trafficking ads and enables victims and state attorneys general to file lawsuits against them. The bill was conceived in response to a massive child prostitution scandal involving Backpage.com.

Federal human trafficking laws are enforced by the U.S. Marshal Service, the FBI, the DEA, ICE, the Justice Department Civil Rights Division and Criminal Section, among other federal agencies.

In addition to legislative measures, the federal government has also established The National Human Trafficking Resource Center Hotline (1-888-373-7888), which responds to questions and tips in 170 languages and distributes materials in 20 languages.

Beyond government, the following national opposition organizations have been established to prevent human trafficking and offer help to victims:

– Global Alliance Against Traffic in Women: lobbies for anti-trafficking policies.

– Coalition Against Trafficking in Women: lobbies for anti-trafficking policies.

– The Trafficking Education Network: aims to better equip people to respond to human trafficking crises by providing educating and training.

– Worthwhile Wear: an international organization that helps victims escape prostitution or human trafficking and provides survivors with vocational training and employment. Also operates a U.S. program called The Well, which offers up to 2 years of housing, restorative services, and employment to adult female survivors of human trafficking.

Summary

Human trafficking and illegal immigration are intertwined so as to be nearly synonymous. If you’re in favor of open borders, you simply cannot claim to be against human trafficking. The best way to prevent human trafficking is to build the wall, among other border security measures.

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Countries With Licensed And Top Brothels

A brothel is a place or an establishment where prostitution takes place or where one indulges in sexual activities. There is no denying that prostitution is one of the oldest professions in the world and is still very much in demand.

Over the years, brothels have evolved and changed, and today, esteemed clients look for only licensed and top brothels to fulfil their needs and fancies. Countries from worldwide have the legal authority’s permission to earn their living through this profession. Tourists from different parts of the world visit the countries only to spend good times with the licensed and top brothels.    

The Top Licensed Brothels

Licensed and top brothels in the United States and the rest of the world are fast-growing in numbers and demand. These brothels are meant for high-end clients who are willing to pay more for legalised and special services. These brothels hire only expert and trained sex workers who carry the expertise, experience, and reputation. Thus, conscious customers search for only licensed brothels that carry a top reputation.

Some of the leading licensed and top brothels run only in those countries where prostitution is legal. As a client, one must be aware of those countries where prostitution continues to exist despite bans due to poverty. However, there are countries where the government understands the plight of sex workers and has legalized their profession and given them health and social benefits.

Some of the countries where prostitution is legal and one can find licensed, and top brothels are as follows:

New Zealand – Legalized prostitution since 2003, and the brothels operate under public and employment laws.

Australia- In Australia, brothels are legal in some areas while decriminalised in some areas.

Austria – Brothels, and prostitution are completely legal in Austria, and every prostitute is required to register and be an adult.

Belgium- Belgium is now operating legal and high-end brothels with fingerprint technology and is trying to remove any stigma associated with the profession.

Brazil- Brazil is one country where prostitution has been legal for many years now

Colombia - Prostitution is widespread in the legalized sex industry in Colombia.

Denmark - Prostitution is legal in Denmark, and the government helps sex workers with disabilities.

Ecuador- Prostitution is legal here, and one can run a brothel, become a pimp or sell their body without any issues.

Germany- Germany has proper state-run legal brothels, and the sex workers are provided with health insurance and receive tax benefits like any other workers.

Greece – Greece considers prostitution as an actual job in society and provides equal security and rights to the workers.

Netherlands - Netherlands is famous for its red-window sex workers and is slightly more bold and open about prostitution and legalised brothels.

While few countries have the licenses but their culture does not encourage promoting the profession. Their job runs hidden from the society but still it is not into the good eyes of people.

In some countries such as Canada, buying sex is illegal due to a deeply flawed system such as child abuse and human trafficking. That places the sex workers and escorts as well as their clients in a very dangerous and position. Although prostitution is legal in France, soliciting in public is not allowed. Bangladesh, due to severe minor trafficking problem, there can be some issues, but brothel is legal while male prostitution is illegal. In Indonesia, as there are ambiguous laws related to prostitution, the sex trade can be risky for some workers and minors while being legal.

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Prostitution is a respectable career, say Thai hookers

A group of women sit around a table making #dreamcatchers with colourful bits of yarn, chatting about their families, work and the thick smog enveloping #ChiangMai city in northern #Thailand.

Just another workplace scene, except the women are all sex workers who meet their clients at Can Do Bar, which they own as a collective, benefitting from health insurance, fixed hours and time off - which are typically denied to sex workers. The bar was set up in 2006 by Empower Foundation, a non-profit founded in Bangkok's Patpong red-light district for sex workers who are still stigmatised despite widespread tolerance of Thailand's thriving sex industry. Thousands of Thai and migrant sex workers have learned from Empower to negotiate with bar and massage parlour owners for better conditions, and to lobby the government to decriminalise their work to improve their incomes, safety and wellbeing. "People say we should stop doing what we do, and sew or bake cookies instead - but why are only those jobs considered appropriate?" said Mai Chanta, a 30-something native of Chiang Mai, who has been a sex worker for about eight years. "This is what we choose to do, and we feel a sense of pride and satisfaction that we are just like other workers," said Mai, dressed in a calf-length skirt and a t-shirt that reads "United Sex Workers Nations". Millions of women across the world choose sex work to make an income. Yet only a few countries - including Australia, New Zealand, Germany, the Netherlands, Senegal and Peru - recognise it as legal, leaving prostitutes elsewhere vulnerable to abuse. In Thailand - where stigma against sex work is deep-rooted as across much of Asia - prostitution is illegal and punishable by a fine of 1,000 baht ($32) and customers who pay for sex with underage workers can be jailed for up to six years. There are 123,530 sex workers in Thailand, according to a 2014 UNAIDS report. Advocacy groups put the figure at more than twice that number, including tens of thousands of migrants from neighbouring Myanmar, Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam. https://bangkokjack.com/2018/11/04/truth-about-thai-prostitutes/ RAIDS Thailand's modern sex industry is believed to have been established with the setting up of Japanese military bases during World War II. It expanded quickly during the Vietnam War, when U.S. troops came to Bangkok for their recreation breaks. Over the years, the country has come to be known for sex tourism, with large numbers of male visitors frequenting bars, massage parlours and karaoke lounges that have multiplied as tourist numbers soared. Although prostitution has been illegal since 1960, the law is almost invariably ignored as the lucrative business provides pay-offs to untold numbers of officials and policemen. But sex workers in Thailand have struggled to grow a movement to demand their human, civil and labour rights, in the same way others did, from Canada to Australia, in the 1970s. Since a military government took charge in 2014, Thailand's ubiquitous brothels have been hit by a spate of police raids as tourism authorities pledged to transform the country into a luxury destination for moneyed tourists. Increased global efforts to combat trafficking often provide a pretext to crack down on sex workers, human rights groups say. "Raid and rescue" operations by the police and charities often use laws related to migrant workers and trafficking to fine, detain, prosecute and deport sex workers, said Liz Hilton at Empower Foundation. "The authorities justify the raids saying there is trafficking, but most sex workers in Thailand are in it because it pays more than many other jobs that are accessible to them," she told the Thomson Reuters Foundation. "These women have families to support; legalising sex work would mean they can work with dignity, and without judgment or fear," she said. https://bangkokjack.com/2018/12/27/truth-thai-bar-girls/ The majority of sex workers are women, who can earn between two and 10 times the daily minimum wage - which is 325 baht in Bangkok - according to Empower Foundation. A government official said the raids are meant to check trafficking of migrants and underage prostitution and that authorities have provided sex workers with healthcare and vocational training. "We have discussed legalising prostitution, but it is not an option, as we do not want to be seen as encouraging it," said Pornsom Paopramot, inspector general at the social development ministry. "We want to send out the message that sex tourism is not something that we want to be known for. Legalising prostitution will not back that message," she said. DEVIANT Legalising prostitution could reduce the stigma that sex workers are "deviant and immoral", improve their work conditions and help combat trafficking, said Borislav Gerasimov, an expert with the Global Alliance Against Traffic in Women (GAATW). Thailand is a source, transit and destination country for trafficking, with an estimated 610,000 people living in conditions of modern slavery, according to the Global Slavery Index 2018 by charity Walk Free Foundation. The U.S. State Department recognised Thailand's "significant efforts" to eliminate trafficking with a new task force, and more prosecutions and convictions, by upgrading it to Tier 2 in its latest Trafficking in Persons report. But while human trafficking is prevalent in industries such as fishing, the government's pursuit of sex workers is keeping it from better protecting them, said Anna Olsen at the International Labour Organization (ILO) in Bangkok. "Trafficking for the purpose of sexual exploitation is a serious issue, but it is distinct from sex work," she said. "The conflation of the two fails to recognise that working in the sex industry is a practical decision for many." The general election in March saw several LGBT+ candidates promising to decriminalise sex work. The women at Can Do Bar are hopeful, said Ping Pong, a founder member of Empower Foundation. "When we started, we were told, 'You are sex workers - you can't get social security, you can't get time off.' But we did," she said. "We are not going to sit around waiting for someone else to do things for us. There is a new government now, and we are ready to knock on the new labour minister's door," she said. - Thompson Reuters – Stay up to date with BangkokJack on Twitter, Instagram, & Reddit. Or join the free mailing list (top right) Please help us continue to bring the REAL NEWS - PayPal Read the full article

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Israel may be known for

Israel may be known for its religious and historical sites, but it is also home to a thriving escort industry. Escort girls in Israel are a popular and discreet way for clients to fulfill their desires and fantasies. While escort work may still carry a stigma in some parts of the world, in Israel, it is a legitimate and accepted profession. Escort services in Israel cater to a diverse clientele, ranging from locals to tourists and even business travelers. These services offer more than just companionship; they provide a unique and unforgettable experience for their clients. Whether it's a romantic dinner, a night out on the town, or a quiet evening in, escort girls in Israel are trained to provide the ultimate pleasure and companionship. One of the reasons why escort services are so popular in Israel is due to the country's progressive and liberal views on sexuality. Unlike other countries in the Middle East, where prostitution is illegal and frowned upon, Israel has a more open and accepting attitude towards sex work. The industry is regulated and monitored to ensure the safety and well-being of both the escorts and their clients. Escort agencies in Israel offer a wide selection of girls to choose from, catering to different preferences and tastes. Some specialize in providing services for high-end clients, while others cater to more budget-conscious individuals. The girls are often educated, well-spoken, and well-groomed, making them ideal for accompanying clients to high-end events and functions. <a href="https://banot-hamot.co.il/%d7%a0%d7%a2%d7%a8%d7%95%d7%aa-%d7%9c%d7%99%d7%95%d7%95%d7%99/">נערות ליווי-recommended website</a> One of the most attractive aspects of escort girls in Israel is their discretion. While the industry is legal and regulated, many clients prefer to keep their activities private and confidential. Escort services ensure that all information, including personal details and interactions, are kept strictly confidential, giving clients peace of mind and a worry-free experience. In a country that is often associated with conservative values, the presence of escort services may come as a surprise to some. However, the reality is that Israel is one of the most progressive countries in the Middle East, especially when it comes to women's rights and sexual freedom. Escort girls in Israel have the opportunity to make a good living and have control over their own income and work schedule. Despite the many benefits of working as an escort in Israel, there are still risks involved. As with any profession, there is always the risk of encountering unscrupulous clients. However, escort agencies in Israel have strict screening processes in place to ensure the safety of their girls. They also provide training and support to their employees to handle any challenging situations that may arise. In conclusion, escort girls in Israel offer an exciting and fulfilling career for women and a unique experience for their clients. The industry is not just about providing sexual services but also about companionship, charm, and intellectual stimulation. With Israel's growing tourism and business sector, the demand for escort services is expected to continue to rise. As long as it remains a legal and regulated profession, escort girls in Israel will continue to thrive and provide a valuable service to their clients.