A movie called James’ Journey to Jerusalem centers around issues of identity as they relate to economic prosperity and security. The lead actor does a great job bringing the viewer on a path of evolution from missionary to mercenary. Here is the Rotten Tomatoes synopsis.
In the imaginary village of Entshongweni, very far from western civilization, the young James is chosen to undertake a mission–a pilgrimage to holy Jerusalem. But Israel is no longer the Holy Land that James and his people imagined. At the airport, James is suspected of trying to infiltrate the country in order to work illegally. He is jailed and destined for deportation. Inside the dark cell, as James prays to God to allow him to complete his mission, a miracle occurs. A mysterious stranger posts bail for him. But it soon becomes clear that James’ freedom has come at a price–his savior is a manpower agent, who rescues illegal migrant workers in exchange for employing them in hard labor jobs. From then on, James’ journey to Jerusalem turns into an unpredictable journey through the cruel heart of its economic system. With good teachers, a bit of luck and some lateral thinking, James learns the tricks of the game and plays it towards an inevitable end.
A human trafficking story in Al Jazeera just brought this to mind because the accused is an Israeli national.
Last year, Mordechai Orian, the head of the labour firm that had recruited the Thai farm labourers, was arrested and charged in a federal court with forced labour conspiracy.
In lawsuits filed on Tuesday, the EEOC said that Global Horizons Inc, Orian’s Beverly Hills-based company, had recruited the labourers to work on six farms in Hawaii and two in Washington state between 2003 and 2007.
[…]
The EEOC says that the workers were being subjected to fees until they had almost no income left at all.
“They were nickeled and dimed to the point where they really didn’t have any pay,” said Anna Park, regional attorney for the EEOC Los Angeles office.
The EEOC says that some of the workers were forced to live in crowded conditions, and their quarters were infested with rats and insects.
Workers of other nationalities on the same farms were not subject to the same conditions, Park said.
Officials also said that the workers had their passports taken from them, and were threatened with deportation if they complained.
It sounds just like the movie, but with a very different ending.