Thankfully slavery has pretty much disappeared in the world by the 21st century and it is hard to believe or imagine what life used to be like when slavery was a major feature of life – would you like to be a slave to someone? Slavery is an aspect of life in the world of The Tribe – and the subject of this worldview article…
Tribes with Slaves
Slaves are kept by some Tribes for a variety of reasons. Tribes in the series with slaves include the Locos, the Nomads, the Chosen and individuals like Ned in Series 3. Other Tribes are totally against slavery – like the Mall Rats.
Why have Slaves?
Some Tribes like the Locos in the series feel slavery is a good idea and benefits them (but not the slaves!). The creative team behind the Tribe feel that the exceptional circumstances in the Tribe – a world with no adults but only children and teens recovering from a devastating “virus” and building a new world and the struggle to survive – would make slavery reborn.
Tribes have slaves because they are economical and serve a function – At the Gathering in Tribe Series 1, the Demon Dogs and others had slaves whose purpose was to generate electric power by riding bikes hooked up to transformers and generators. The Demon Dogs obviously felt slavery was good for this reason – they needed slaves to do mundane work (like generating electric power). In old days slaves were similarly kept for mundane work like manually picking cotton or serving food to their “masters”.
How many slaves do you have? Slaves are kept by some Tribes because the number of slaves they have makes them appear powerful – slavery, they feel, is good for their image. For example, the Locos have lots of slaves in Tribe Series 1 and this makes others feel the Locos are powerful and gives them a certain reputation – Zoot was also aware that slavery would make other Tribes fear him, and this was a useful function for him!
Slave to the love of Zoot Slaves are also kept out of religious or idealistic beliefs. In The Tribe, the Chosen routinely “grab” slaves because the Chosen feel they are honestly doing them a favour! The Guardian wants slaves because these people can theb be “taught” how good Zoot is (the Mall Rats would claim “brainwashed” instead). So slaves are enslaved for their own sake (according to some) so that the slaves will see the light of day and change their beliefs/become assimilated into a Tribe like the Chosen.
Slaves as punishment Some people become slaves in the Tribe out of punishment. The Locos and Chosen adopt this strategy – if a member of the Locos or Chosen does something the leadership feel is wrong then they will be punished – and what better way to punish, humiliate and demean them by turning them into a slave?
“That will be 5 slaves please” Sounds strange doesn`t it? Imagine buying something from a shop and paying with slaves! Well, in the Tribe there is no money anymore in the new world without adults – and we feel some Tribes (like the Nomads) would trade goods (like food or batteries) with other tribes are pay for them with slaves. The Nomads also get safety and protection by “paying” slaves to the Locos – and in exchange, the Locos do not harm the Nomads.
How would it feel being a slave?
An obvious question and an obvious answer! Being a slave would no doubt be horrible. Imagine having no freedom to do what you want when you want – imagine having to do manual and menial horrible boring tasks for a “master” or “mistress”. Slavery sucks!
How would it feel owning slaves?
Well, some people in the Tribe (and in the real world in the past) obvoiusly felt slavery was accetpable – and they owned slaves. They may have felt a degree of guilt about having slaves but their self-interest in the “benefits” they felt slavery gave them seem to dominate their thinking – so slavery continued.
The Mall Rats – no to slavery!
Slavery is wrong! This is the perspective of the Mall Rats – morally and ethically, it is wrong to “own” slaves because you can`t “own” a fellow human being and treat them badly or however way you want. It is wrong to deny anybody their liberty in this way. So the Mall Rats are opposed to Tribes who favour slavery – like the Locos, Nomads and Chosen…
Slavery still in our lives today?
Sadly you sometimes read of instances in the world where isolated cases of slavery continue. But as a system of ruling a country, slavery has thankfully disappeared in the year 2001.
But due to slavery`s big impact in history, it is still a part of our lives in some ways…
Phrases – Sometimes you can still hear (or say!) things like “Go on, crack the whip” or “she`s slaving away in the kitchen”. You can guess the origins of phrases like that in language!
Literature – If you pick up a book occasionally you may encounter a story with slavery in it in some way – ranging from Mark Twain`s “Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn” to modern writers` books.
Movies – Go to the cinema and you may see a film about slavery – recently Steven Spielberg did “Amistad” about slavery in 18th Century America.
Politics – Slavery was so bad that it is hard to erase the memory – and there are still consequences from slavery in the way people live their life today. Slavery and discrimination is therefore still a political issue and hot potato in countries such as the USA.
The future?
So slavery was a feature of the past in societies such as the Romans, Ancient Egyptiants, the European countries, the USA, China, Japan – everywhere really!
In the fictional future world of the Tribe we feel a disaster (like the virus) would change the world around and the exceptional circumstances arising from it would let slavery slip back in to lifestyles.
Thankfully today slavery has gone – and hopefully it won`t be part of our future. It`s up to us all, however, to make our futures…