Pubblichiamo oggi un articolo in inglese di Raúl Zecca Castel apparso il 14 novembre 2017 sul portale openDemocracy. Si tratta di un breve ma intenso – e drammatico – resoconto di come il processo di privatizzazione dell’industria saccarifera dominicana abbia determinato l’emergenza di nuove forme di schiavitù basate sulla trappola del debito. A farne le spese, come sempre, gli ultimi della scala sociale: i migranti, in questo caso haitiani.
Haiti, a former sugar colony, was formed through the rebellion of slaves, yet now many Haitians find themselves completely subordinated to the private sugar companies of the Dominican Republic.
“We are like slaves in freedom, we work and we do not earn any money, we work for nothing … we cannot even buy shoes, a shirt, a pair of pants … we are like slaves in freedom because we are free to leave the job, we know that there are other places to go and work. We can leave, so we are free. But when one does this job he is like a slave, a prisoner, because without money he can’t go wherever he wants. He has to stay and pay debts at the shop … and then the job has to be finished.”
