A Dream of Freedom

It’s hard to think of two more discordant images. Less than a week after Beijing kicked off the one-year countdown to the 2008 Summer Olympics, a new report emerges of even more people found working in slave-like conditions in central China. On one hand the plastered smiles of syncopated dancers and their Olympic dreams, on the other the suspicious stares of abused adults and children who have been living a nightmare. The uncovering of more slaves at least means people are still looking for them, and that victory hasn’t been simply declared after the first discovery. But other reports of liberated kiln workers going missing again, such as those compiled here by Danwei, suggest that these vulnerable people might be falling into trouble again. It’s clear that fixing this problem will take much more time and attention. Perhaps that should be the 2008 dream.