May 17 2008
On our own doorsteps: Emma Thompson reflects on slavery
(Source: Mario Romuli / UN.GIFT, published in Newsweek)
For better or worse, celebrities like to get involved in causes. But I’ve never seen anyone approach it quite like Emma Thompson. Thompson, who chairs the Helen Bamber Foundation which assists survivors of cruelty, wrote in Newsweek that she became invested in the issue of slavery when she learned about a Moldovan sex trafficking victim who had been held at a brothel in the very neighborhood Thompson grew up in. She remembered walking by the brothel as a schoolgirl and giggling about prostitutes and sex.
Much as we need international organizations, national governments, the police and courts to bring traffickers to justice, we must all examine how we behave. The solutions lie in all our hands. Businesses must ask searching questions about their suppliers and not let themselves be fobbed off with convenient answers. As consumers, we need to think about what we buy, where it comes from and under what conditions it’s made. Everyone can make a difference.
Watch Emma Thompson’s portrayal of a modern-day slave in the Helen Bamber Foundation’s public awareness video. (Warning: Contains disturbing and intense depictions of sexual assault.)
[…] (Source: Mario Romuli / UN.GIFT, published in Newsweek) For better or worse, celebrities like to get involved in causes. But I’ve never seen anyone approach it quite like Emma Thompson. … Read the full story… Source: On our own doorsteps: Emma Thompson reflects on slavery […]
I love Emma Thompson! She’s such a great person to take up this cause and bring attention to this issue.