Every August 2nd since 1995, Thai CDC celebrates Freedom! And this year is a milestone as it is the 25th anniversary of Thai garment workers being freed from conditions of slavery. It was at the pre-dawn hour of August 2nd, 1995 that Thai CDC participated in the multi-agency task force that liberated 72 Thai nationals from years of enslavement in a makeshift garment factory just east of Los Angeles in El Monte, CA.
To commemorate the 25th anniversary of the workers’ freedom is an article on the El Monte Thai Garment Slavery Case in the Smithsonian Magazine. Please click this link to read the full article:
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smithsonian-institution/20th-century-slavery-california-sweatshop-was-hiding-plain-sight-180975441/
Having been with the El Monte Thai workers from the very first day of their liberation as an active participant in their resettlement and in their fight for justice, it has been gratifying for Thai CDC to witness all the redress and restitution they achieved.
There were also wider implications that resulted from this landmark case. The case launched the anti-human trafficking movement pioneered by Thai CDC which led to the co-founding of the Coalition to Abolish Slavery and Trafficking, the passage of the Trafficking Victims Protection Act by the United States Congress, the co-founding of the Asian Pacific Islander Human Trafficking Task Force, and the creation of our Slavery Eradication and Rights Initiative.
With the guidance of Thai CDC and their own consciences, these workers declared that modern-day slavery existed and must be fought against. They joined labor protests, rallies for workers’ rights and other political actions, crossing ethnic and cultural lines. Hence, the most remarkable and inspiring aspect of this case has been witnessing the transformation of the workers from helpless and voiceless individuals to a powerful force for change.
As the Thai workers nobly pointed out themselves, their case was never simply about money because one can never put a price on freedom. It was, and still is, the focal point of another ongoing struggle that is being enacted every day around the world. It is the struggle to bring accountability and justice to an economic system that has grown dependent on the ruthless exploitation of a defenseless and disenfranchised labor force to churn out ever increasing profits of unprecedented proportions. The El Monte case was pivotal as the first major case to receive national attention where the old divisions of race, class, language and ethnicity were wiped away to form a single, united movement focused on the combined issues of human rights and social and economic justice for all workers. Truly, it was the first labor struggle of global proportions our city has seen, proving that if capital could redraw the old boundaries in its favor, so could the people.
