In Conversation With Emily Kenway: The Truth About Modern Slavery

RedHanded

Wondery | RedHanded

True Crime

4.5 • 18.2K Ratings

🗓️ 13 April 2021

⏱️ 56 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Emily Kenway is a writer and activist. As a former advisor to the UK's first Anti-Slavery Commissioner she was at the heart of modern slavery action. She has written for a variety of publications including the Guardian and TLS.

In 2019, over 10,000 possible victims of slavery were found in the UK. From men working in Sports Direct warehouses for barely any pay, to teenaged Vietnamese girls trafficked into small town nail bars, we're told that modern slavery is all around us, operating in plain sight.

But is this really slavery, and is it even a new phenomenon? Why has the British Conservative Party called it 'one of the great human rights issues of our time', when they usually ignore the exploitation of those at the bottom of the economic pile? The Truth About Modern Slavery reveals how modern slavery has been created as a political tool by those in power. It shows how anti-slavery action acts as a moral cloak, hiding the harms of the 'hostile environment' towards migrants, legitimising big brands' exploitation of the poorest workers and oppressing sex workers.

Blaming the media's complicity, rich philanthropists' opportunism and our collective failure to realise the lies we're being told, The Truth About Modern Slavery provides a vital challenge to conventional narratives on modern slavery.

Emily's incredible book 'The Truth About Modern Slavery' is available via this link

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The video version of this interview is available on Patreon for all $10+ Patrons.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Hello Superkins here, and I've teamed up once again with the LEGO Group to bring you series
0:04.3	two of my podcast at your leisure. Join me as I chat to chart toppers, catch up with comics
0:10.9	and yak with YouTube legends, finding out what they get up to when they're not busy being famous.
0:16.8	Expect more excellent guests, sharing more unusual hobbies.
0:22.0	So why not join us on the journey? Listen to the at your leisure podcast with me,
0:26.4	Superkins on Global Player. Welcome to our what is this our third interview second? I feel like
0:34.0	maybe second. We'll go with that. Excellent news and today we are welcoming stunning journalist
0:40.6	and swanky published author, deep friend of the show Emily Kenway, welcome to Red Handed the
0:46.0	interview series. Emily is going to change the world, but she's going to do it firstly by changing
0:55.6	the way we think about modern slavery. So thank you so much for coming to have a chat with us, Emily.
1:01.2	Where are you based? Are you a London person? I am a Londoner, but at the moment I'm mainly
1:06.3	giving in Wales actually, which is the... Oh, wow. Yeah, lockdown has sent me there because my
1:12.5	partner lives there, so getting to see and then fresh air has been really good. Nice. Yeah, I think
1:18.9	I'm also out in the country for lockdown staying with my mum. I've been here since November,
1:26.2	I'm moving back to London on Saturday, but it has, I mean, I'm sick of it now, but initially I was
1:31.1	like, oh, the rolling field is fantastic. It's much better than being in a flattened London,
1:35.1	and it's shing to get back now. So Emily, if someone to give you a word to give you a cursory
1:41.2	Google, one of the first things they see is that you were an advisor for the Independent Anti-Slavery
1:46.0	Commission. How does that happen? That is quite the accolade. That is quite the bullet point on
1:49.9	your LinkedIn. How does one get to be one of those? So the Independent Anti-Slavery Commissioner is a
1:56.2	role that was created in the Montslavery Act in 2015, and it's this role, this position that
2:03.8	is supposed to encourage good practice in tackling modern slavery, basically, in the UK. And so for
	...

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